"Modern" vs. "Old School"---which term is more irrelevant?

JimmyM · #1 12-31-2010, 12:53 PM

seriously, i think it's time we drop these two meaningless terms. so-called modern bass/amp configs have been around now for a good 30 years or more. that's not modern to me. and so-called old school tones are way more prevalent in today's music.

instead, i suggest the terms "good" and "bad." no, just kidding...but really, can there be more meaningless terms to describe bass tone than these? i know bass player magazine keeps trying to add meaningless terms to our lexicon, but to me, none of them even compare to the irrelevancy of "old school" and "modern."

thoughts?

**nostatic** · #2 12-31-2010, 12:54 PM

canadian*eh · #3 12-31-2010, 12:58 PM

There should never be Old or New...Just what works for you at the time you are using it!! Just call it the School of Bass forever changing but always the same!!

bass_snake · #4 12-31-2010, 12:58 PM

I hear ya Jimmy...

Fred

wvbass · #5 12-31-2010, 12:58 PM

Doesn't modern really just translate to an extended high end as compared to old school?

billfitzmaurice · #6 12-31-2010, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

can there be more meaningless terms to describe bass tone than these?

Put 'fast' at the top of your list.

JimmyM · #7 12-31-2010, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wvbass

Doesn't modern really just translate to an extended high end as compared to old school?

pretty much, yeah.

JimmyM · #8 12-31-2010, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

Put 'fast' at the top of your list.

lol! and slow, too

canadian*eh · #9 12-31-2010, 01:03 PM

Do you ever sleep Jimmy???...lol Or do you just stay up all night finding some new idea to through out there and get a conversation going?? Dont get Me wrong I love it!! Wish i had the same gift!! keep it up man always enjoy see your new posts!!

KLEIN · #10 12-31-2010, 01:04 PM

To me the term " modern " means scooped mids, and subsonic lows. Like Fieldy from Korn.

Spencer! · #11 12-31-2010, 01:05 PM

What baffles me is people's idea of "old school" tone. Everyone seems to think the basses are supposed to have no high end. Have these people actually played a 60's Fender? They're plenty bright.

wvbass · #12 12-31-2010, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

pretty much, yeah.

Silliness, then. My modern amp has a treble knob, and i can turn it down. Strangely, my old school amp has a treble knob, which I dont really have to turn up if I use an cab with a horn.

I own several amps, manufactured over a pan of twenty or thirty years. When i run different amps through the same cabs, I get similar tone. The bass I us makes more difference than the amp.

My all time favorite amp? The SWR Baby Blue. It has a wonderful preamp (modern?), but it is really the 2x8,1x5 cab that brings it to life.

Even knowing all this, i stll have amp gas, and my next purchase will probably be a genz head of some flavor.

s_mcsleazy · #13 12-31-2010, 01:07 PM

trying to get rid of the phrases "modern" and "old school" are like telling minimoog players to describe it without using the word "fat" or "phat"

odin70 · #14 12-31-2010, 01:07 PM

I dont agree with good/bad. But yes you are right..what is normally called modern is not very hip these days. Its not modern at all.

plangentmusic · #15 12-31-2010, 01:08 PM

Realize, the electric bass isn't that old. There was one sound basically everyone used until Ricks became popular and then came the synth bass sounds of the 80's...after which all the bassists tried to go with that high tech thing. Active pu's, graphite, steel strings, jumbo frets etc.

True, now THAT sound is old and guys are going back to passive, wood, regular frets and nickles or flats. It just sounds more organic.

So, it's no longer new or old or even good or bad. It's really a matter of the bass being a part of two separate fashions.

s_mcsleazy · #16 12-31-2010, 01:09 PM

can i feed my tone after midnight

wvbass · #17 12-31-2010, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spencer!

What baffles me is people's idea of "old school" tone. Everyone seems to think the basses are supposed to have no high end. Have these people actually played a 60's Fender? They're plenty bright.

True, but a lot of the old speaker configuration had the effect of killing the treble response - and a lot of the bass response, for that matter. Imo.

scotch · #18 12-31-2010, 01:12 PM

Agreed, Jimmy.

Of course, "old school" is the new "modern". Unless YOU are decidely old-school, in which case modern is modern except when it's old-shool.

Greenman · #19 12-31-2010, 01:16 PM

To me, old school is getting your sound on back line and DI or mic to house if needed. Modern is my pant legs flapping listening to an 8/10 from fifteen feet away.

Happy new year.

odin70 · #20 12-31-2010, 01:22 PM

Dont know about you Americans but im going to celebrate the new year in two hours. I will let you know whats considered modern in 2011.