John Morga

I've played several instruments
over the years. This is my current
gigging bass thanks to master
luthier,Tommy Rosamond and
the gang out at USA Custom
Guitars on the West Coast. Tom
cut this rear-route Ash bass body
in the classic Fender Jazz style.
It's topped with AAAA-grade quilt
maple veneer and has routes for
a large, 3-hole control cavity,
side jack plate instead of front,
both P-style and J-style pickups,
and through-the-body string
ferrules. Tom also cut the Fender
Jazz style Maple neck with a pre-
drilled head stock and a flawless,
midnight black, Ebony fingerboard.
Tommy was kind enough to leave
the top dots off and not ruin the
fingerboard. Both pieces shipped
unfinished, clean, and sanded to
220 grit. I completed the
instrument with hand-sanding
down to 1500 grit, numerous
coats of tung oil, and gold
hardware. I've played dozens and
dozens of gigs with this axe since
2001. It still performs flawlessly
today.

I have been using EMG sound equipment for many years now, both in production
basses and basses I've modified. My favorite pickup configuration uses the
famous Fender split-coil, P-style precision pickup (1951) in the neck position and
a Fender J-style Jazz pickup (1960) in the bridge position.

The EMG P & J combination is a single combo assembly that gives me lots of
flexibility for a wide range of tone blends on my bass. The P-style pickup has
tons of full deep, low, and warm powerful tones. It uses short, squat coils that
have very little resistance and suck in lots of sound from the strings. These coils
are not in series like a the passive P-pups so there's about twice as much low end
as the old traditional P-style pickup. The J-style (LJ) pickup has tons of midrange
and extended high frequency juice for a well defined sharp staccato bass. Again,
unlike the old J-style pickups, this pup also has very little resistance and maintains
the "narrow aperture" for that growly Jazz Bass tone but instead of typical
side-by-side Pole pieces the EMG-LJ uses a single-pole crescent shaped magnetic
field that kinda follows a modern radiused fingerboard. So the outside strings
have the same loudness as the inside strings. Both pickups are noiseless and
dead-quiet and are powered by one 9-volt battery. Used separately, or in
combination, I can produce all kinds of sounds for both new and traditional bass
playing styles from a tight slap funk to a smooth Motown groove

For tone shaping, I use EMG's BTC System. These EMG systems are said to be
the most widely used bass EQ Systems in the world. This circuit comes pre-wired
and has an audio-tapered balance control (blend) and master volume with the
bass and treble on a concentric pot. 12dB of cut and boost EQ are available for
bass and treble and all controls are center detented. This circuit is also extremely
quiet, uses surface mount technology, and requires very little current from a
9-Volt battery... So, there are two 9-volt batteries in my bass, one for the
pickups and one for the tone circuit.

I've never been a big gear hog. If gear works well, I tend
to be loyal to it for many years. All of the larger venues
I've played in have their own sound systems. The front of
the house usually takes my DI and handles my sound. For
lots of smaller places though, I like my own gear. My head
is a Yorkville 400B which I've owned since 1994 and still
works flawlessly. I use a Line6 Bass Pod now for effects
and amp modeling.

I've made use of several cabinets over the years. As I've
gotten older though, one thing remains unchanged...
commercial bass amp speaker cabinets are cumbersome
and heavy. This bottom (photo) is a home made cabinet
that, besides good sound, had two primary goals: 1) it
had to be light, 2) it had to fit in the trunk of my car. This
cabinet uses an Eminence 4-ohm C2515 driver. This driver
can handle a 300-watt load and has a resonant frequency
(Fs) down at 38Hz. The C2515 uses a Neodynium magnet
that weighs only 7oz. My prior cabinet (also 1x15) used a
speaker that weighed over 20 pounds bringing the whole
cabinet close to 80 pounds. This cabinet (photo) is under
35 pounds. Check out the photos of it's assembly in the
Photo Gallery (home page).

BAND HISTORY:

1978	yeah, ok, High School... I started playing bass in a band named TEMPEST
1992	BEYOND BLUE 6-piece originals, Pop, R&B, funk, rock. Manhattan, Staten Island, NY
1995	NEXT 4-piece Classic Rock, 80's, 90's, originals. Staten Island, NY
1998	THE BUREAU 3-piece Classic Rock Power Trio. Suffolk County, NY
2000	NZ3 4-piece Classic Rock, Alternative, Pop, Funk. Nassau & Suffolk County, NY
2004	THE UNNAMED 4-piece Classic Rock 60's, 70's, 80's. Suffolk County, NY
2006	P. BENNY AND THE JAM 4-piece Classic Rock, Alternative, Pop, Funk. Suffolk County, NY
2008	LEFT JAB 4-piece Party Band. Classic Rock, 50s - 90's, Pop. Nassau & Suffolk County, NY