Music Man Joe Dart II - Flexible Funk Machine or Just A Gimmick? - LowEndLobster Review

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Music Man Joe Dart II: www.music-man....
Ernie Ball Music Man is no stranger to controversy when it comes to their basses. Between drastic redesigns and short lifespans of instrument models, everyone has an opinion on Music Man. I am personally a huge fan of their basses with the Stingray being one of my favorites. Today we're taking an in depth look at one controversial instrument, the Music Man Joe Dart II. The third instrument in the Joe Dart lineup sports a simplistic control setup and relies on the player's hands to solely shape the tone. Some may scoff at the control setup, but there have been plenty of more expensive boutique instruments that go sans controls all together. Is the Joe Dart II a pure funk machine, or is this all just a gimmick? Let's find out!
This bass and all my other basses with rounds are strung with SIT Foundation Nickel Plated Stainless Steel 45-105(125) unless otherwise noted. Check them out at sitstrings.com/
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[@surfrduede]

Joe’s best sounding bass was the MIM Jazz with Seymour Duncan Antiquities in it he played before sponsorship by EBMM

[@sr60030]

Fuck I miss that And I miss the: "Joe dart on the fender bass"

[@surfrduede]

@@sr60030 I don’t blame him for taking the $ (it’s had to make a living in the music game), but the that 2k turd of an instrument he’s pushing was the result of too much hubris (and loads of compression). Cat can play though…love his cover of “one of those nights” with Theo. That’s the Joe Dart sound I’m envious of. Be well…

[@iamthemoneyj]

I also liked his tone on the pre joe dart bass Marco robelli. Like on a walk to remember

[@itspaddyd]

Wrong, the best Joe Dart bass was the one the JD was modeled on, Jack's shitty MM copy

[@mrebear9758]

​@surfrduede I doubt there's much in it for him in the Ernie Ball deal. They generally give you a small royalty on the sales of your signature models and, unfortunately for him, the JD models have all been produced in very limited numbers.

[@MotoGreciaMarios]

Thank you for the honest review Lobster. Seems like a money-grab by Music-Man. I don't think the product justifies the price, although I have to admit I like the sound and looks.

[@EddieG1888]

The price of these for what you get is insane! I put an ash-bodied five string Jazz together with a 3-band preamp, coil tappable pickups, and tight string spacing, for less than a third of the UK price of the Joe Dart II. Save your money, build a parts bass and get one of these for much cheaper. EDIT: Also, what is that five string over your shoulder (not the Dingwall)?

[@LowEndLobster]

The sunburst one is my Valenti 'LEL Signature' M24J5 (I think that's the model). Nino rules!

[@bassimprovjams3772]

Love his Valenti!! Nino is the man!!! And the headstock is beautiful shaped!!

[@EddieG1888]

@Mike V. Yes, I have. Ive been playing for well over 25 years now. I've also got a self-assembled Warmoth 4-string Dinky J, and two self-assembled 5-strings, all of which I'd put alongside an Ernie Ball any day of the week. The two 5-strings, which have Kent Armstrong Claymores paired with 3-band preamps (Bass Mods and Noll respectively) and series/single coil/parallel switching for each pickup can easily stand up to a Musicman.

[@kennyblackbird5674]

I played my guitar along with you while you were playing on the Music Man and I thought the MM 's tone was quite musical ( no pun intended). That bass is probably better suited for when you are recording, that way you can manipulate the volume pre and post gain.

[@Miniontaart]

This is the first video of yours I’ve ever seen, randomly got it recommended and I’m glad I watched! You seem like an absolute class act and a lovely guy and your review was both professional and thorough. I totally agree that the bass may be nice in terms of build quality and that it’s intentionally gimmicky but it kind of supercedes the joke level into downright disrespect towards the customer. Anyway, thanks for the review and have a lovely day 😊

[@LowEndLobster]

Thank you Olivier! Welcome to the channel :)

[@maxbarrett6625]

to be completely honest, I love Joe Dart but have been disappointed in his tone since he put down the Fender Jazz bass and picked up these signatures

[@michaelplaysbass]

Haven't watched the video yet, but just had to comment that the length of this video being 21:12 is.... probably just a coincidence. Hopefully Lobster doesn't take this one closer to the heart!

[@LowEndLobster]

Ehehe I notice that too! Attention all planets of the solar federation! We have assumed control

[@stevenpipes1555]

Nice catch man. Long live Rock Paper and Scissors!

[@TKiBoule]

hum what am I missing ? Would get it with 16:12 but 21:12 ?

[@griffintaylorr]

@@TKiBoule rush reference.

[@TKiBoule]

@@griffintaylorr huuuuuuuh , ty mate

[@jsorensen]

It's hilarious how you become mortal when you play with pick! LOL. I love how you are not afraid to be critical of a company you obviously love and a bass that is so lauded everywhere else. That's why I watch! Bass on!

[@bazZzment]

Love your energy! Don‘t care about low volume pickups… I find they usually have more dynamic range and special sauce to them. Great video!

[@ampthebassplayer]

Who else really really wants a Jonny Dibble "K N O B S" t-shirt?

[@LowEndLobster]

I would totally rock that

[@AnalogCabinRecording]

Thanks for an honest review. Since the average “Joe” might order this online it’s nice to have a heads up. At this price point, it should be near flawless and have a zero regret, zero surprise factor. This appears to fall short. Let’s be honest… it’s a CNC made bass with anemic pickups and some sub-premium parts. And that non-routed rear cover plate is really sad.

[@roma5869]

Why are these basses so expensive??

[@addamsapple1233]

The quality, craftsmanship, and they pay their workers well

[@matthewreynolds1878]

Sadly, the bass doesn’t even sound that good in Joe’s hands. In the recent live recording vulfpeck put up, it is consistently absent from the mix and when it’s there, it’s not that good.

[@BenCrippsBass]

I agree! He always sounded best on his Jazz bass

[@rustyshackleford8489]

100% a gimmick. I love Joe’s sterling bass with the one pickup, but as soon as this was announced I knew it would be another Jazz Bass copy. For $2700 its a rip off, ever for half the price at $1350 is still way too much. Huge L from Vulfpeck.

[@IamaMrE]

I completely misread the title as Joe Dirt. Boy I was confused going into this one

[@LowEndLobster]

LOL

[@misterbreakit2006]

Wow. This is definitely one of those don't meet your heroes situations. On its own, it sounds fantabulous. However, even your beat buddy drowned it out. OK, that's a matter of settings, but a whole band would ailence it totally.

[@LowEndLobster]

Yeah man, this was a tough one. I loved the tone out of the box, but the more time I spent with it the more obvious it's glaring flaws were. The tone is killer, but it just can't hold its own once you start introducing other instruments

[@flipper2gv]

Worst case scenario, can't you just boost the output with a compressor (or a simple boost) pedal?

[@thejoetandy]

Yep. Passive/Direct wired instruments have a lower output, but they allow you to use only the preamp and boost circuitry you really love via pedals. Lots don't like being tied to a specific onboard pre-amp, and the comparisons in the video are very apples to oranges. The main benefit of active electronics is lower noise for pit/orchestra/stupid contexts; with stuff like the John East active buffered stuff being essential for a lot of those contexts.

[@Jayeadgbe]

I may be missing something here... but if a bass has "low output" can't you just turn up your amp/DI etc to compensate? Unless you are already running at max volume. I do understand that plugging from bass to bass, lower output ones can seem "weak", psychologically speaking...

[@PorchBass]

Bingo! It's psychological. Lobster needs to gain up. The bass should have flats too

[@nestorraschia8540]

Yep I totally agree. I have the same bass strung with Labella flats 45-105. I changed the knobs for the standard Ernie ball music man chromes. The time I gigged with it was a killer bass you just need to turn up your master volume and that’s it.

[@offbeatbassgear]

And I'm going to go with just a gimmick, as are many of the EBMM signatures, like the Cliff Williams, an identical model to any late seventies Stingray at about three times the price. EBMM makes really good basses, I just find many of these signature series instruments to be really lacking in any improvements.

[@phipschi4255]

Right, and the "roadworn" looks so hideous on the back of the Cliff signature bass

[@offbeatbassgear]

@@phipschi4255 I forgot about that feature, the whole thing is incredibly expensive for what they are. EBMM doesn't really need to be engaged in this whole signature thing, since the Stingray/Sabre/Bongo have their own market established.

[@flipper2gv]

If the player doesn't want to customize the instrument and the company wants to make a signature model, what can they do in terms of improvements (except maybe have better luthiers work on it)?

[@johnsilver8059]

A simple google search will tell you that the proceeds from the Cliff Williams model go to the American Alzheimers Association Gulf Coast Chapter. So, yes, it’s expensive.

[@offbeatbassgear]

@@flipper2gv It's the pricing I see as the issue here, now as John Silver says below, the profits went to charity. I think that's great, but there's a much bigger market for a bass that's priced two grand versus seven grand, that translates into more donations for the charity and a more reasonable version of what's a totally stock Stingray in a seventies early eighties configuration.

[@mattbridges8908]

I'm pretty sure the low output was an intentional choice to avoid an overly dark and mid-rangey sounding pickup. More akin to the vintage p and j bass pickups that were used to record a lot of iconic bass lines from motown into the 70s. The knobs look really great, kind of reminiscent of the old Harmony cupcake knobs, maybe not the cleanest execution but the visual effect from 3 feet away is that bass looks awesome. I think it sounds good too. I can't understand what you mean by "I was getting drowned out at rehearsal" ... Turn your amp up. It's not like professional guitar players would say that a 60's stratocaster is "too low output" they are lower output than say a Gibson 335, but that's on purpose... It's what makes a strat sound like a strat. Low output pickups are what make this sound like a joe dart bass. I don't know why I seem to take issue with your review, I already own a bass and I like it and I don't plan to buy this bass any time soon, I guess it just seems like you don't like the bass for a bunch of reasons that someone else might really like it.

[@tigerscott2966]

For $2,600 you can get 3 Harley Benton basses, 1 G$L 1000 bass, 1 2x10 bass cabinet a big screen television and still have enough left over for a hooker...

[@prestonnunez7]

I'm new, and sort of confused here. Low output pickups translate to getting lost in a band setting? isn't this something a compressor + gain will fix no problem? Wouldn't a lower output bass take gain later a lot better than higher output basses? Seems like this was built to spec for Joe who uses a lot of compression and a lot of tube gain. But again, i'm new so I am likely missing something very obvious here. @lowendlobster what am I missing?

[@PorchBass]

Don't you have a gain knob on your amp? Lord above! It's like saying 'my strat is so much quieter than my Les paul.' I'd bet Joe uses a compressor/pre not suited to active basses.

[@LowEndLobster]

Thanks James. Even with the gain cranked, this bass feels like you're not getting out what you're putting in. I think you're right on the comp scenario.

[@PorchBass]

@@LowEndLobster I am honoured to receive your response!

[@sunn_bass]

Awesome review. My general rule is that most signature models are overpriced and lacking. Plus I'm not a fan of unusual shaped pickups as swapping them leaves very limited options. As for pickups, I think lower output pickups doesn't always mean weak sounding pickups. I have a few basses with lower output but sing though a mix with just a tad boost on the amp. Some of those lipstick pickups are lower output yet sound great for example. But in the case of this bass though, you nailed it as there was nothing that sounded great from what i heard. Very blah and anemic sounding to my ears. Keep up the reviews. Glad you're back on youtube.

[@stevenpipes1555]

Could it be that the poor quality of the knobs is on purpose, to mimic his origionals? It would seem to me that those would have originally been taken from some sort of old appliance or radio or something. It doesn't seem right that the poor quality would have been overlooked.

[@duartebriz]

Thanks for this review. I was not expecting this rating at all... it seems more a collector's item than a gigable instrument.

[@shugemery]

Fun to see your review. I'm on a bass quest as I just started grooving in December. My mandolin led me to the bass. Never had I heard of Joe Dart until I started watching all the bass content on You Tube. Love his staccato type picking. Somehow I am kinda smitten with those odd knobs. Seems they pulled them off of some bedroom drawers. I'm really enjoying your channel and your style. With your bass collection...which 3 are your favorite to play? The ones you pick up the most? The ones you want to go to lunch with? I give you 5 claws!

[@thomasfaraone4213]

Why couldn’t Fender give him a signature? At least it would be easy to swap for real tone controls

[@colb999]

$2700? Not a chance at even half the price for me. A HB JJ450 with some work done and maybe new tuners, if they were actually required and some Dimarzio Js and for $500 you'd have something that would likely sit better in the mix. This is just EBMM MIA price gouging.

[@vince8081]

Looks and sounds killer, can't wait to see the fearless Flyers live in Paris next month... great review, thanks. :)))

[@scottharvey7047]

Love the sound, but looks like it came from IKEA

[@Steakfinger]

Low output generally sounds better to me. That's what the volume knob on your amp is for.

[@jonlavigne3270]

I have an SX six string Jazz bass and the pickup output was really low as it shipped. I bought a couple of really powerful magnets and stuck them under both pickups. Signal was boosted a lot. I don't mind having to do that to an SX. I would be angry if I had to do that to a $2700 bass, though.

[@shadifrick]

Joe Dart fanbois are the ones who are going to dish out the 3K for these basses....I've played both the original Joe Dart and this one, and I'm not impressed. I'll stick with my D Lakin and Fender basses...

[@shadifrick]

Honestly....I thought Joe Dart sounded best with his MIM Jazz Bass....

[@michaelkeefer4293]

It's hard to believe MusicMan has come out with a bass that just sounds meh! Especially for that price! I was noodling around on my 2008 SR5 HH while watching this review and some of the same DNA is in the tone of that JDII, but man I agree with you that it lacks the punch, growl and low end that you expect from a MusicMan.

[@markkarwan9360]

I like the tone a lot- even if it's not the 'punchiest' or 'bassiest' as you say... it has a sort of purity and clarity that stood out to me as more jazz-like than either of the other two jazz basses. I could probably live with the low output. But I really need a tone knob on my jazz bass (and prefer two). The way you describe the neck sounds amazing. If it were literally half the price I'd be intrigued. Maybe 1/4 the price given the tonal limitations.

[@floydlay9189]

LOBBY AND BULLY,,,my favourite,,{PASSIONATE BROTHERS ON BASS}

[@LowEndLobster]

KZbin cut off the comment preview so all I could see was "passionate broth" lol

[@Blakeadam52]

This is entirely off subject of the video. But my truss rods on my Rickenbacker have gone completely exhausted, its a 2011 and i was wondering since you know so many helpful things if you might know where i can order new truss rods? I tried reverb, google, etc and came up short. Thanks in advance if you know of somewhere!

[@gary9816]

They killed the Joe Dart signature line, whether it's Joe himself or Musicman. The first Joe Dart signature sterling was so perfect, then the short scale was a complete disappointment, I wonder if they even sold 10 of those since the short scale was released. Now this ugly thing is born, idk what to say. Why not just stick with a tried and true design like what they do to the John Myung line?

[@handidrummed]

My favorite in the comparison is the Sire and that costs like $1000 or so, right? Insane price for just a "meh" bass.

[@LowEndLobster]

Thanks! Yeah the Sire probably has about $350ish bucks of electronics upgrades ($200 sadowsky pre + $150ish for the pickups), and that would probably put it at around a grand (for the non ash model, mine's the ash one). I got my V7 Vintage used for like 450 a couple years ago. I wasn't a fan of the stock electronics as a lot of it felt like carryover from the V3 with a nicer body and neck, but the DiMarzio/Sadowsky combo sounds so good to my ears. It's become one of my favorite Jazz basses in my collection.

[@jimdemetri8168]

Idiotic waist of money. A good jazz at half that price out pace that thing. Want to sound like dart ?? Learn to play like dart . Its as simple as that .

[@LowEndLobster]

I had to refrain from clutching my pearls ;P. Great comment though as many associate JD with his MIM Jazz and that tone. This MM doesn't hit the same, and for the price that definitely hurts.

[@adrianvanwormer3327]

'Proprietary gun stock oil and wax'? I'm a kit-builder, and a great fan of Tru-Oil and Birchwood Casey's matching gun stock wax, but one of the reasons I like them is that they're the easiest, most forgiving things out there when it comes to application. To be honest, I like those products because I'm too LAZY to use something better, and even in a factory setting the costs would be much lower than something like nitro if only due to having no hardware overhead for sprayers and compressors. Too sum up: the neck finish on this bass is not the flex its makers would like you to think. :)

[@LowEndLobster]

Tru!

[@keithjackson4990]

Awesome review Lobster! I wanted one of these but I’m glad I saw your review. Not so much now! Thanks! 🎸

[@bmac1205]

'Slightly' neck heavy? Really? Looks more than 'slightly'

[@LowEndLobster]

It wasn't bad on a strap but I'm surprised they didn't use the lighter stingray special tuners.

[@swizzarmygrizz]

I gotta imagine that Joe Dart will end up with Fender. He started on a Jazz, he clearly wants MM to make him a Jazz. Just play a Jazz bass. The control gimmick is terrible IMO. Put the dumb knobs on it, but have a tone control. I get the artist wanting to have the actual configuration they use for the signature model but in this case come on. I would rather have the time control if I was only going to have one knob. They could have used a concentric setup even too kinda keep the one pot look.

[@exhainca]

Maybe your pickups are out of phase - hence the weird output level?

[@LowEndLobster]

Sadly not the case here. I even sent it to music man and they said it was in spec. I believe Caprice owners experienced similar low output

[@perrysar5954]

As much as I love a Music Man,there's a magic in a Jazz single coil tone that Music Man can't replicate

[@southtoe3607]

agreed. The Fender Jazz bass is the icon that it is for good reason. Literally the Heinz Ketchup of bass guitars.

[@hyperluminalreality1]

Nerd rant. That knob style is called RCA. Image search RCA knobs and/or RCA BC-6A. They were high quality Bakelite knobs that were on RCA audio consoles attached to Daven stepped attenuaters with solid silver contacts. Many radio stations and recording studios used them in the 40's and 50's. The old stuff was so cool. Too bad these white plastic knockoffs are molded and painted so badly. Not a fitting tribute to all the old RCA consoles and limiting amps that used these knobs. Even Les Paul's original multitrack console and tape preamp rack used these knobs. Important knobs in audio history.

[@DiogoBaeder]

Crap value. A lot of price for so little bass. Of course, I haven't seen the bass live and I'm judging by what I see here on KZbin, but I've seen tons of custom-made basses with as good build quality of the JD2 (and also JD1), sometimes even better, but the tone of it is really underwhelming and I can see why you were having problems cutting through the mix. Of course, this is fixable in an amp or with a preamp pedal, worst case scenario with a graphic EQ somewhere, but I don't like changing the tone too much just to fix a tone that doesn't already sound great by itself. If I'd use a bass that sounds like that, I'd rather buy a much cheaper bass and not worry about getting stolen.

[@Oscaraha]

Man, I think that bass sounds like a really nice old jazz bass with flats, one of my very favourite sounding basses. Wouldnt pay that much for it though, but I never buy basses new.

[@ewetoo]

This sounds like a bass designed to be boosted from the amp/eq, from a pure neutral tone. as your comparison suggests. It would be nice if this was made part of the marketing so people would know at least it wasn't a bug but a feature!

[@MegaBassfunk]

Seems as though it suffers from the same personality defects as I found with my Caprice. I wanted to love it so much, but It didn’t happen for me. I feel that I know exactly what changes it would need to become a personal winner for me, but modifying a $2700 limited edition bass is pretty much out of the question IMO

[@BenCrippsBass]

All the Joe Dart basses are gimmicks and Music Man are really taking the piss with these! Over priced for a ordinary looking ugly bass with limited tone options. Whoever signed off on these basses at MM should lose their job

[@Asmuk]

Don't you think the light weight was due to the wood, the carved part below the neck socket, and the tuning pegs configuration (so, the headstock is shorter)?

[@Belman5]

Nice slapper, and fingerstyle. And yes.....ugly big knobs unfortunately.

[@nurrwick]

I got a NOS Caprice bass in February of 2020 (just in time for all those gigs!) and can confirm that the output is lower than I expect. However, I think that's why we have gain knobs on our amplifiers... back when I was playing live and using a Squier VI, I fought extensively with the fact that it was SO much quieter than any of the 4-string basses I played alongside it. It meant we had to do our setlists as blocks of "what can be played on which instrument." Initially, I got around it with a BYOC boost pedal, then I put hotter pickups in it that also made it sound more bassy anyway. For the Caprice, I eventually realized I don't care, and I'll either use a boost or just play it and not switch between instruments. Music Man themselves suggest an almost comically high pickup height, but since the magnetic pull of the pickups is so low, you don't *seem* to get much in they way of frequency wobble or intonation problems. I haven't done a lot of science on it, just noting during setup with the Peterson. Incidentally... the pickup poles on the Caprice's covers are misleading. If you pull the pups, you see standard fender-style double magnet rods on the bottom of the bobbins. I haven't tried to separate the guts from the covers to see if they are just inlays into the covers or if for some reason the pole pieces change from dual-small to single-huge inside the bobbin, but I thought that was fascinating, and I wonder how many of the other recent pickup designs are similarly configured. I haven't had the pickup out of my short-scale Stingray, but I have pulled my Bongo's neck S and bridge H pickups and they appear to be thick magnets the whole way through. Not that it stops me from enjoying the Caprice. I brought it home because I thought it was the best-to-me sounding PJ I have ever heard, and I really like the feel and look. I wish I had found out about the line earlier so I could have tracked down the diamond blue/maple version, but the heritage tobacco is handsome and the body wood on my example is pretty.

[@thejoetandy]

Any chance you can rip off the control plate and see if there is a cap permanently in place and what its value is?

[@Jayeadgbe]

Yes! Also curious on this

[@bmac1205]

$2,800?!?!?!?!? Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. For that shizz??????????????? No thanks. Complete with suzy homemaker knobs, what a joke.

[@cbassgob]

Too expensive. A company like Cort could build this with same material and quality for around 800-1000 €. Nothing fancy, ash body, maple fretboard ans neck, passive....we must pay too much for the brand and the name of the artist. The sound is absolutely conventional. For musicman fan, Joe's fan or collectors. In Europe musicman is more expensive. But 2700,$.... it's again too much. We could buy many cool basses for the price of this one.

[@jjfloyd618]

BM is right. Ugly body shape, ugly (cheap) knobs. What are you getting for $2700+? Joe Dart’s signature & some dopey sunglasses etched on the neck plate. Without his name & the flame maple neck it would be considered an entry level instrument that should be @ the bottom price point tier for a USA made Ernie Ball.

[@stevebadachmusic]

A very underwhelming bass. At best, I found the tone was just OK. But as always, I appreciate you putting these basses to the test.

[@マットウィテカー]

ミュージックマンのジャズベモデル出たけど、値段の割に音がイマイチでその価格でもっと良い物を他のメーカーから買えますよって事かな？ いつもあなたのレビューを楽しみに待ってます！ thank you always

[@danielelise7348]

If I had this bass,the only thing I would do is get 2 really nice chrome volume knobs,that's all it needs,but having said that,this thing is NOT worth $2700 & apart from that, it's really quite boring,you are definitely paying for the name in this instance.

[@american23t]

For the price💰 lack of bells🔔& whistles😘 it's not🚫 likely many bass enthusiasts will be beating 💓 the doors down at the local Guitar🎸Center looking 👀 for them.

[@toledo2983]

To me this is the best of the bunch. Sire Bass ist VER cheap sounding, no matter dimarzio Pups, FGN has too much of snarling and noisy, i would definitely pick the Music Man out of the three.

[@bnutz3k]

Simply an opinion: No. It is hideous. Oh, I like that one with the white finish that just flashed by. Can't do them nude basses. :D

[@bnutz3k]

Ahahaha! Those knobs. Thank you. When you getting one of them Sterling sparkles? Mine completely cured any GAS I had for another EB. It is perfect. I can't even bring myself to change the strings. It's like it's perfectly tuned for Slinkys.

[@LowEndLobster]

I have my eyes on the sparkles. I got to play one at a shop in Michigan and dug it.

[@bnutz3k]

@@LowEndLobster Accidentally clicked thumbs down, of course. It makes me real happy. Also, it's about 8.9 lbs, which is good! Curious about your thoughts on Sterling's idea of "roasted". Or maybe they do it a particular way you happen to know about it. It's like extreme roasted, near charred. I love it! 🥰

[@bassimprovjams3772]

Been waiting for this, you can definitely hear the low output. I understand why they do this, but same with the John Myung signature with no eq for 3k most people want to dial in a certain tone and a eq helps boost in a live setting very beautiful bass nonetheless thanks for the video lobster 🦞 that Joe dart doesn’t touch even the sire, that’s a shame. Still a beautiful musicman tho it sounds like your playing with 2 yr old strings just not any special tone to it.

[@billyhooks99]

For the price I totally agree with you on this instrument. I did however like the tone of the neck pickups when you played it. As a side note I have decided that the slap bass playing is like bluegrass fiddle tunes, they have names so you can tell them apart. 😉 thanks lobster as always man great video. 👍

[@abouc]

Who wants a bass without tone controls?! This seems 100% aimed at collectors, whereas Tim Commerford's signature bass line was thoughtfully crafted with player-centric features.

[@VHToff0li]

Lobster you should get one SX Spb62. They are absolutely inexpensive and maybe even better than harley Bentons in terms of what you get for the price as Jonny Dibble stated on his video. Makes me thinks how overpriced this Joe Dart II is.

[@anpcm]

Is there a sub $1000 passive jazz bass that sounds exactly like the Joe Dart II? I want one.

[@offbeatbassgear]

I'm guessing pretty much any of them made by a decent brand.

[@garrettlowell7637]

Love my Joe Dart ii; play it with my band all the time. No problem to cut through the mix, and I like the unique look of the knobs-I don’t find them to be low quality. Overall, this bass is not a gimmick. Plays great, sounds great, the neck is just amazing, the case is cool. Maybe intended as a collector, but now I play it more than all my other basses. Mine is numbered in the very low teens. I also have the first Joe Dart, and it’s amazing as well.

[@sicilianmammalian]

Would a preamp solve the dynamic issues? I’m leaning towards getting a squire cv over a sire because I could get a better neck from warmouth and replace anything I had issues with, probably just slap a preamp in it and call it good for awhile then get a new nut, bridge and tuners before replacing the pups and get a ebony neck (I actually like the stock cv pups)

[@LowEndLobster]

A preamp probably would, esp if you had a gain control. I would not do what you are proposing as that's a huge waste of money. Warmoth necks aren't like a holy grail of necks or anything and aren't worth putting on a Squier of all things. If you're that committed to the idea of a parts Jazz, I'd probably just go with MIM parts like what I did with my DIY P bass.... though at the end of the day, a lightly modded Sire V5 checks all the J boxes for me.

[@acvisanu]

Why buy a signature bass and change anything? The knobs complete the signature looks. Pickups are intentionally limited for a purpose. I have one that’s factory unrestricted it sounds pretty awesome.

[@myflyisopen.8732]

Gain boost will not save that bass. It's also so overpriced. I also despise proprietary equipment and parts. You can crank the volume up as much as you want, the intrinsic properties of that bass does not cut through enough. I had a jazz bass that has that issue no matter the settings. Mid bump, mid scoop, bass boost, treble boost, series/parallel switching, volume boost, changes in compression, unity gain to my spares and #1 bass ... it might track good, but it got swallowed up in a live setting no matter what I tried.

[@latonyahemingway3752]

I’ll stick with my StingRay5 Special and Sterling StingRay short scale. This model just doesn’t justify the price.

[@visog]

Scope creep... version 3 will have more dials than an Alembic, half-fretted 7-string with a whammy....

[@ronviejo4994]

name: Music Man= $1000. name: Joe Dart = $1000. bass made of ash with stove top knobs: $700. Made in Commiefornia.

[@jerryjones8513]

I just don`t get the Joe Dart thing. I don`t see value for money in this instrument. I will stick with my MM Sterling that will rip your face off at 20 paces!

[@xMTLKx]

If I want a jazz bass, I chose the FGN it's a no brainer, now I understand the idea beind this bass Like a stingrayish jazz bass but neh, doesn't work And I won't even talk about the price, all those signatures are just a way to put a high price

[@a_wretch_like_me9665]

This bass is a joke for that price. $2,699 for a plain Jane looking passive bass with low output pickups, no tone control and cheap knobs. Hard pass.

[@baileywatts1304]

The knobs look likwe hardware store home lighting dimmer knobs. Very disappoint. The hardware store can bring great things, like those triangle tuning keys on the Garry Willis bass but I very agree with lobster about the knobs on the Joe Dart basses.

[@paulsteezo1772]

Sweet Playing Maestro Lobster!!! Welcome back!!!

[@Steakfinger]

Being heard isn't about volume, it's about frequencies. Add mids and turn up the amp a little. BOOYAH

[@iamgribs]

It sounds decent but the other jazz basses you had sounded better. Well to my tastes. The highs sound muted. That would work well in a Motown kind of scenario but not elsewhere. Maybe this one could be modded??

[@honestbrute9216]

If the knobs aren’t fragile, why is then perceived lack of quality an issue at all? Does it work? Are they accurate? Cool.

[@maakatipa4613]

When your paying $2,800 for a bass, there should be no downsides anywhere. Weak pickups, cheap knobs, less than basic controls..... Musicman are doing themselves a disservice by putting this out on the market. When companies do this sort of Bull Shite it just makes me not want to purchase any of their gear, no matter how good some of their other basses are.

[@Ceremyjohen]

I had a EBMM Caprice which suffered from the same anemic pickup output. It didn’t last long. One other thing about the Joe Dart II is there aren’t any replacement pickups for it.

[@latonyahemingway3752]

I had 2 and completely agree.

[@oscarmorales-cn3hz]

If I had only listened without knowing the brand, I would have said it was a $300-400 bass. Not more than that...

[@philreid984]

I like the goofy knobs but I wouldnt pay $2700 for the privilege of having them 😂

[@TheCrusader1099]

i think its way to overpriced...500 bucks would be ok....btw: that FGN sounds absolutely awesome!;)

[@Highrollinhunter]

No thanks I will stick with my modded Squier P bass.

[@glenndjubilee]

I'm not really impressed with this bass. It sounds like a Fender. I wouldn't buy one one as I prefer the MusicMan tone for a MM bass.

[@impasceticfinalp2923]

Why don't just increase your amp volume, rather than adjust pickup's height?

[@o-g-ob4399]

I love Joe Dart the bassist, but him putting his name on two crappy Music Man basses is not good. Both basses have zero depth of tone!

[@mr_ozzio5095]

That's where my wardrobe door knobs went, ill have them back please..... and the bass too(trade it in)😉

[@35Danconn]

Whenever I see a "signature" bass I tend to look away. It might be a good instrument but you're paying for the name on top of everything else.

[@thestonecutters6177]

imagine spending that amount of money and getting to a gig and it won't cut, you only have one available sound... its like a practical joke..

[@ralphhenderson7270]

Looks like somebody's unfinished proto-type project in a high school woodshop class.

[@stuartanguish5111]

I thought he was a jazz player, I definitely think he’s gone for the money! Saying that I think it’s a nice idea

[@albundy2239]

The knobs remind me of something my grandma would have on her furniture. 🤦‍♂️