Low-end Machine Designed for Decades of Performance
Since 1983, Fodera has designed electric bass guitars for top musicians like Anthony Jackson, Victor Wooten, and Oteil Burbridge, and they have poured all their experience and know-how into their Monarch 4 Standard Fretless bass. Designed from the ground up for optimized performance, Fodera instruments use only the highest-quality tonewoods. For flawless playability, this Monarch 4 Standard features a comfortable walnut body, a figured walnut top, and a quarter-sawn, 3-piece white oak neck capped with a breezy, fretless ebony fingerboard. The electronics package includes two Fodera/Duncan Dual Coil pickups and a Fodera x Trickfish preamp. You'll savor the Monarch 4 Standard's tight low end, liquid midrange, and perfect amount of high end — equaling a fat, punchy, balanced tone that'll grace any track onstage or in the studio.
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Tonewoods that don't mess around
Custom tonewoods meet professional performance in Fodera's Monarch 4 Standard electric bass. A walnut body combined with a 3-piece, hand-carved white oak neck delivers impeccable sustain, rich resonance, and a slightly compressed midrange. The secret of white oak lies in the minuscule air pockets that result in enhanced growl thanks to their resonating, chamber-like quality. All the while the silky-smooth ebony fingerboard, devoid of intruding frets, ensures you find the fluidity to nail everything from rootsy grooves to high-register solos.
Top-shelf Duncan pickups deliver warm, punchy tone
The Monarch 4 Standard packs a pair of Dual Coil pickups Fodera designed in collaboration with 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 pickups. They deliver a beautifully warm and organic tone; and while the coils are wired in parallel for noise-free performance, you'd swear the Monarch Standard Classic was loaded with single-coils.
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 Monarch 4 Standard Features:
- A handcrafted 4-string bass guitar with active electronics and retro vibe
- Gorgeous figured walnut top delivers excellent looks and tone
- Built by top luthiers using the same materials found in Fodera's custom models
- Comfortable hand-selected walnut body offers impeccable sustain, rich resonance, and a slightly compressed midrange
- Hand-carved 3-piece white oak neck with enhanced resonance and growl
- 34-in. scale length; 24 fret lines
- Ebony fingerboard with fret line inlays
- Fodera/Seymour Duncan Dual Coil passive pickups deliver warm and full-bodied tone
- Fodera x Trickfish active preamp
