Im not sure about that Magnum but I used to have the Magnum II with the active EQ in my collection at one time. Depends on many factors, your playing style, and what you think sounds "good".
With fresh strings, most basses sound good and the Magnum II was no exception, but not for everything. Its horrible for slap bass: both for tone (due to the positioning of the pickups) and because the neck pickup is right in the way - the string keeps smacking the pickup for a loud metallic "smack" and the pickup doesnt allow the clearance for finger curl under the string for the pop
With Finger style, by cutting "muddy" frequencies (on the amp or mixing board as well as the onboard preamp) between 50hz and (especially) 250hz, - trying to stay as flat as possible - it can get a near Alembic sound (somewhere between 70s Alembic basses and Peavey T-40 basses) . I do not play with a pick but I imagine its pick sound is decent, too. I also prefer roundwound "piano string" tone but I can see how using flatwounds and proper EQing technique I could have gotten a decent punchy fundamental type of sound out of it, too (a la John Deacon or Kelly Groucutt, the latter who did play a Magnum II later in his career) out of the Magnum II
the bridge PU can be soloed and, by keeping mids and lows as flat as possible and rolling off highs, it does a decent nasally "faux fretless" for Jaco-esque sounds.....However, the neck PU soloed is a toneless mud turd and hard to dial in anything good here ( there is a technique called "fake upright" in which the neck PU soloed, the player uses the side of the thumb and a palm mute to emulate an upright. The Magnum II can do this but is not the best bass for it -- that sound works way better when that pickup is mounted toward the middle of the bass.
Its biggest negative is weight: it is very heavy. It also wasnt balanced and was the neckdive king.....it was these two reasons were the primary reasons I got rid of my Magnum II.....
Bookmarks