Fodera Performance, Classic Style
Featuring top-shelf tonewoods including a hard rock maple neck with birdseye maple fretboard, and an alder body topped with gorgeous burl maple, Fodera's Emperor 5 Standard Special 5-string offers world-class playability in a collector-worthy package. This peerless axe delivers the tone, playability, and visuals that have made owning a Fodera a goal of the world's top bass players, but at a fraction of the cost of a custom model. And this bass was built by the same luthiers who produce Fodera's top-of-the-line models, to specifications devised specifically for Sweetwater. Top it off with custom dual-coil pickups, a Fodera/Pope 3-band preamp, and chrome hardware, and you couldn't ask for a finer bass than the Emperor 5 Standard Special.
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Exceptional tonewoods, appointments, and playability
Custom tonewoods meet professional performance in Fodera's Emperor 5 Standard Special electric bass. The hand-selected alder body and 3-piece hard rock maple neck serve up a classic combination of resonance and sustain, while the silky-smooth compound-radius maple fretboard delivers the fluidity you need to nail everything from rootsy grooves to high-register solos. Add to that the powerful connection you get from a fully adjustable high-mass bell-brass bridge, and the Emperor 5 Standard Special delivers the look and feel you'll only get from a premium, luthier-built instrument.
Premium Duncan pickups deliver warm, passive tone
The Emperor Standard Special packs a pair of dual-coil pickups designed in a collaboration between Fodera and Seymour Duncan. They're built with passive dual coils, which integrate with the natural qualities of the tonewoods to produce added punch on the low end, focused mids, and smooth highs. At Sweetwater, we love the sound and responsiveness of these pups. They deliver a beautifully warm and organic tone; and while the coils are wired in parallel for noise-free performance, you'd swear the Emperor Standard Special was loaded with single-coils.
Fodera/Pope 3-band preamp offers amazing flexibility
While the basic tone of the Emperor Standard Special is warm and punchy, with powerful lows and clear highs, it features a Fodera/Pope preamp system that lets you craft the ideal tone for any live set or studio session. This preamp ensures a strong and clear signal, but it also comes with an active 3-band EQ, which is astonishingly musical. Round out the highs and boost the bass, and you have an ideal R&B tone. Back off the lows and add a bit of a boost to the mids, and your ideal slap-and-pop tone awaits. What's more, you always have the option of bypassing the active electronics, allowing you to output the purest tone possible from your pickups.
Built in Brooklyn, New York, by Fodera's world-class luthiers
When you're a small instrument company like Fodera, you don't have a custom shop for high-end orders and a main production shop for standard models — you simply have a shop, and the same artisans crafting the made-to-order instruments make the production models as well. In fact, each Emperor bass is handcrafted with the same materials used for custom orders by the very same luthiers, and if you wanted to order a custom model with these exact specifications, you'd get the exact same bass. Pretty cool, right? That's well over three decades of master craftsmanship behind literally every instrument that leaves the shop, and you'll feel it in every note you play.
Fodera Emperor 5 Standard Special Bass Guitar — Sweetwater Exclusive Features:
- A handcrafted 5-string bass guitar with active electronics and retro vibe
- Built by top luthiers using the same materials found in Fodera's custom models
- Comfortable hand-selected ash body
- 3-piece hard rock maple neck, 24 frets
- Plek'd compound-radius birdseye maple fretboard with mother-of-pearl dot inlays
- Fodera/Seymour Duncan dual-coil passive pickups deliver warm and full-bodied tone
- Fodera/Mike Pope active preamp includes a highly musical 3-band EQ
- Fully adjustable high-mass bell-brass bridge
