Matt's tone here is friggin' awesome, and since it's so awesome (despite Matt being a cunt) I assumed this was an upper end USA bass. It's a Spector NS2000 Q4, which (if my Google-fu is correct) is a relatively inexpensive import. And while I can't find any of those on eBay it looks like they're under a grand, which is right in my wheelhouse since I get the urge to record bass about once a year..
If you can find the standard NS-2000/4 basses, they're closer to the classic Spector specs. Maple/maple neck-thru, brass nut. The NS-2000/Q4 is a basswood body bolt-on neck with a standard plastic nut.
That or find an NS2A which is pretty much a classic NS-2, just made in Korea with passive pickups.
Oh and if you dig Meshuggah's tone on their first 2 albums, that was done with a Spector NS2A.
AFAIK Spector produce basses in the US, the Czech Republic and South Korea. The Czech produced Euro series is supposed to be really nice and are about half the price of a used US Spector, or about twice the price of a new Korean model.
And China. Basically you can't go wrong with any of them, so long as it's not one of the Chinese ones.
That gruff, aggressive, muscular tone comes from two soapboar EMG's both wide open. Those are only EMG HZ's on that bass. If you go full-fat EMG 35DC you'll be in heaven.
Personally I hate preamps on basses. I'm Really simple when it comes to tone. I don't want anything to fuck with me, or for me to get option-paralysis and never actually settle on anything (I'm bad enough with swapping pickups!) so I've got no real opinion on the preamp end of things... I did have a Spector Legend 4 Classic after that orange one (which is the predecessor to the NS2000 range, same spec, made in Korea etc) which came with a TonePumpJr preamp. It was good. Everything on 10 was super aggressive and spanky, but when A/Bing it with recordings done with that orange NS2000 I way preferred just the natural tone of the EMG HZ's.
If I had serious money to throw at a bass, I'd get this - Euro4LX-TW
Spector all the way for me. I've been a convert for 3 years now and won't play anything else. My main is an '87 NS2 (which is from the Kramer era) - instant AiC/Queensryche/Black Album bass tone. I also have an '84. IMO, while the low end ones are good, the higher end ones are killer. You can even occasionally find a Czech made bass for under a grand. The sound is really a combination of the active EMG P/Js/custom active preamp/solid maple wings and maple neck through.
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