MAYONES JABBA AND COMODOUS Kev Sanders dips into the Mayones jar for some tasty, but pricey, bass snacks I f you’re a central European metal bass player, you’ll know all about Mayones. If you haven’t yet heard of them, the chances are it won’t be long before you do. The company has an impressive online presence – Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and their own brilliant website. As well as all this social activity, Mayones is rapidly gaining a reputation for building excellent quality instruments at much more affordable prices than we’ve come to expect from custom builders. Build Quality Both the Jabba and the Comodous are part of the MBC range, meaning they’re both built by a single luthier in a workshop. Let’s take a look at the Comodous first. I know from reading the spec that there are some tasty timbers used in this bass: an American ash body, a maple top and a through-neck made from nine layers of maple and mahogany. The spec says that the fretboard is ebony, but it’s rosewood: a very nice piece of rosewood, but rosewood nonetheless. With regards to the neck and body, we’ll have to rely on what the spec sheet says because the whole bass is covered in an ‘aged gold’ finish. Personally, this look doesn’t really do it for me. I can’t help thinking it looks like a bass shop’s Christmas decoration (Bah, humbug! – Ed). However, what definitely does do it for me is the hardware and pickups. The gold hardware is of the highest quality, 050 Bass Guitar Magazine Mayones Jabba and Comodous Basses Price £1935, £3600 with a separate bridge and tailpiece, Schaller M4 tuners and gold knurled controls. The pickups are Bartolini soapbars, which, along with the three-band Aguilar preamp, should combine to make a seriously good-sounding bass, whatever you think about the appearance. If the Comodous looks like a Christmas bauble, the finish on the Jabba reminds me of those slightly scary statue guys who cover themselves in silver paint and stare at you until you put money in their (silver) top hat. Actually, I think the silver works better than the gold, giving the bass a bit of an industrial look, but to be honest I’m still not entirely convinced. The Jabba follows fairly conventional Jazz bass materials and construction, with an alder body, maple neck and bound rosewood fretboard with block inlays. The neck joint looks tight and super-solid, with six bolts and subtle layering and sculpting around the end of the neck, allowing for better access to the top end. The hardware is top quality, with Schaller M5s and straplocks, and a Mayones custom bridge, which looks very similar to the old Badass design. Pickups are Delano JJs and there’s a custom Mayones preamp consisting of volume, balance, mid, stacked treble/bass, and passive tone controls, and an Active/Passive switch. Sounds and Playability Let’s try the big six-string Comodous first. Picking up the instrument, it immediately feels comfortable. The set-up is nigh on perfect, and the smoothed body contours and shallow neck profile makes it feel as light and as easy to play strapped on as it does when you’re sat with it on your lap. Plug in and the quality of those pickups and preamp are striking. There’s no hiss or hum here, just a lean, clean and powerful bass tone. The Aguilar preamp is easy and intuitive to use, and with the gain on your amp upped to give you enough headroom, the sound is as good as you’ll hear from any six-string available today. With the active switch on and the pan set slightly towards the back pickup, the tone of the upper range immediately reminds me of those beautiful John Patitucci solos on his Yamaha TRB 6P: clean, accurate and dynamic. Turn to the front pickup and up the low end and the sound is huge. You need decent amplification to reproduce the dynamic range of this bass, but if you have that, then you won’t be disappointed with the tone. It really is stadium filling. Between these two extremes the sound is everything you could want: weighty and detailed, with the quality of the woods lending a smooth and rich timbre. So, on to the Jabba. Being a big fan of high-quality super-Jazzes, this was the bass I was most looking forward to playing. Following the Comodous was always going to be a challenge, however, and despite the obvious quality of the Jabba, I have to say that first impressions weren’t as good as I’d hoped. This was partly down to the setup, which needed a bit of tweaking before I could really get to grips with the Contact Details Mayones [email protected] www.mayones.com Bass Guitar Magazine 051 Mayones Jabba and Comodous Basses Price £1935, £3600 Technical Specification Technical Specification Jabba Comodous PRICE|£1935 MADE IN|Poland BODY|Alder NECK|Maple FINGERBOARD|Rosewood NECK JOIN|Bolt-on construction, six bolts FRETS|24 SCALE LENGTH|34.25” BUTTONS|Straplocks MACHINE HEADS|Schaller M4 BRIDGE|Mayones Vintage PICKUPS|2x Delano ELECTRONICS|GP-BP2 active 2-band CONTROLS|Volume, balance, middle, stacked treble/bass, active/ passive switch HARD CASE|Included PRICE|£3600 MADE IN|Poland BODY|American ash with maple top NECK|9-ply maple/mahogany FINGERBOARD|Rosewood NECK JOIN|Through-neck FRETS|24 SCALE LENGTH|34.25” BUTTONS|Straplocks MACHINE HEADS|Schaller M4 BRIDGE|Mayones two piece PICKUPS|2x Bartolini soapbars ELECTRONICS|Aguillar OBP3 active CONTROLS|Volume, balance, middle, stacked treble/bass, passive tone, active/passive switch HARD CASE|Included sound, but the Jabba also didn’t feel quite as comfortable to play as I’d expected. The body shaping and contours are all fine, and the neck, although quite chunky, was still comfortable, but combined with the slightly weighty feel, it took a while for me to settle with it. I soon found that the front pickup, being so close to the end of the neck, meant that slapping was bit tricky until you got used to it. However, lengthen the strap, crank up the volume and this bass starts to make a lot more sense. The controls will be familiar to anyone who’s played an active Jazz, and this makes dialling-in your sound quick and easy. With the pan rolled towards the neck pickup, and the stacked treble and bass on full tilt, you have a kicking rock bass sound. Hit it hard with a pick and it gets even better. All those metal bass players obviously know a good thing when they hear it. Conclusion While Mayones have obviously thrived for the last 30-odd years on making instruments mainly for our heavy metal brethren, I think it’s only a matter of time before everyone else cottons on to these basses. They have a lot to offer on all fronts, with top quality materials, hardware and build quality at a price that’s very reasonable for hand-made instruments. Although the gold finish on the six-string Comodous could possibly be a bit gaudy for some tastes, the bass is a cracker, and if you’re in the market for a top-quality, hand-made six-string you really should try one. That said, I’d like to see Mayones be a bit more confident in their own design. The Comodous is very close in appearance to the Warwick Thumb 6, and immediately invites comparisons with that bass. The fact is that the Comodous, in itself, is a fantastic-sounding instrument and it would be great to see it gain its own distinctive visual identity. After playing the Jabba for an hour or so, it started to feel much more comfortable. Realising that, first and foremost, this is a bass designed to be played loud and hard, it made much more sense. It’s perhaps not as versatile as the Comodous, but it’s still a great bass, and even among the multitude of hand-made five-string super-Jazzes available, it stands out as great value. Thumbing through the Mayones brochure, I notice that both of these basses are available with a range of options and natural finishes. That being the case, could I have the Jabba with the Buckeye burl top, the Bartolinis and the Aguilar preamp please? What We Think PLUS|Great value for hand-made basses featuring top quality timbers, electronics and hardware. Wide range of options available MINUS|Design of the Comodous a bit derivative, Jabba perhaps not as playable and versatile as a Jazz OVERALL|If you can live with the finishes of these basses, both represent great value for handmade instruments, with the Comodous in particular being outstanding in terms of sound BGM Rating Jabba BUILD QUALITY SOUND QUALITY VALUE Comodous BUILD QUALITY SOUND QUALITY VALUE 052 Bass Guitar Magazine