Sweetwater Exclusive Emperor 5 Standard!
When you need a boutique bass with unrivaled performance, you just can’t beat Fodera’s Emperor Standard 5-string Sweetwater Exclusive. 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. At the same time, the hand-selected alder body, myrtle top, 3-piece hard rock maple neck, and Plek’d compound-radius rosewood fingerboard are the same features you’d find on a custom model, and this bass was built by the same luthiers who produce Fodera’s top-of-the-line models. Top it off with custom Dual Coil pickups and a Fodera x Trickfish preamp, and you couldn’t ask for a finer bass. Step up to Fodera boutique quality with the Emperor Standard 5-string. It's available in limited quantities — and it's only available at Sweetwater!
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Duncan pickups deliver fat, punchy tone without the hum
The Emperor Standard Sweetwater Exclusive 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. Fodera/Seymour Duncan Dual Coil pickups 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 was loaded with single-coils. They sound great whether you use them passive or with the onboard Fodera preamp.


Exceptional tonewoods, appointments, and playability
Custom tonewoods meet professional performance in Fodera’s Emperor 5 Standard Sweetwater Exclusive electric bass. Projective, bright, and clear, the myrtle top and alder body deliver bodacious tone while the silky-smooth compound-radius rosewood fingerboard 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 delivers the look and feel you’ll only get from a premium, luthier-built instrument.
Craft your signature voice with the Fodera x Trickfish preamp
The Fodera x Trickfish preamp is an enhanced iteration of Fodera’s onboard preamp, developed in collaboration with the renowned tone experts at Trickfish Amplification. This exceptional preamp offers unrivaled performance, featuring a lower noise floor and extended battery life compared to previous models. It’s compatible with both active and passive pickups, and it operates in both Active and Passive modes. Additionally, it features a passive Tone knob that functions in both modes, along with a shapeable active EQ. The Fodera x Trickfish preamp also allows for deep configuration via internal dip switches, enabling you to easily adjust the preamp’s overall output gain, the frequency sweep of its passive Tone control, its lowpass and highpass filters, and the frequency center of its active Midrange tone control — no soldering or additional circuit jumpers required. With the Fodera x Trickfish preamp, dialing in your signature sound is moments away.


Fodera: superior playability, tone, and build quality
Established in 1983 by custom luthier Vinny Fodera and pro bassist Joey Lauricella, Fodera enjoys a reputation as the Ferrari of boutique basses. Fodera basses give you the superior playability, sonics, and build quality of the custom models played by bass legends such as Victor Wooten, Anthony Jackson, and Oteil Burbridge — in a more affordable axe. Handcrafted in the US with the same materials by the same top luthiers, Fodera “production” instruments offer no options, allowing them to be built in small runs instead of one-offs, thus holding down the cost. Play a Fodera and take a step up to boutique quality. You’ve arrived.
Fodera Emperor Standard Special Features:
- A handcrafted bass guitar with active electronics and boutique vibe
- Crafted by top luthiers using the same materials found in Fodera’s custom models
- Hand-selected alder body, myrtle top; satin finish
- Quartersawn 3-piece hard rock maple bolt-on neck, Standard profile; satin finish
- Compound-radius rosewood fingerboard, 24 frets, dot inlays
- Fodera/Seymour Duncan Dual Coil passive pickups deliver warm, punchy, full-bodied tone
- Fodera x Trickfish active
- Fodera Standard bridge, 19mm string spacing
- Brass nut; Gotoh tuners
