"HI FI" and "MODERN" tones

[Yeh Mon]

Can someone please enlighten me on what a hi fi tone is and/or a modern tone? Thanks. I know it's stupid but I have to ask.

[JimmyM]

More of a ringing bright roundwound tone with a lot of sustain, sounds somewhat compressed to my ears, not as heavy on the low end but kind of heavy on the highs.

[MysticMichael]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

More of a ringing bright roundwound tone with a lot of sustain, sounds somewhat compressed to my ears, not as heavy on the low end but kind of heavy on the highs.

This is certainly the common-accepted definition of the terms. I do think it's somewhat of a stereotype...

To me, "hi-fi" and "modern" don't have much to do with favoring one range of frequencies (highs) over another (lows). Rather, it's all about clarity and balance.

Traditional, old-school tone is necessarily oriented toward the low end - simply because most bass guitars and amplification systems that came about when old-school was still new-school, didn't have the capacity to accurately produce the full range of frequencies very well. Modern ones do. So it's not surprising then that modern instruments and modern systems will sound biased toward the high frequencies, to those whose ears are still oriented to old-school tones...

MM

[sockdeluxe_mike]

yeah, i'd say both are quite on it! largely down to manufacturers like Alembic, Ken Smith, Warwick, companies like that who started developing, or utilizing, new active pickups that pick up a much broader frequency spectrum. New amp technology definitely plays a part in this too with hi-fidelity bass amps and cabs representing this extended frequency spectrum.

Two really good examples of people who have what many people consider 'hi-fi' tone are Victor Wooten (everything including his YouTube videos, everything with a Fodera basically! although the sound of some of his particular basses I've read were actually loosely based on a Jazz bass..but anyway ) and Michael Manring as well, I'd say (EXTREME hi-fi in my opinion, although in a different way to Victor Wooten).

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by MysticMichael

To me, "hi-fi" and "modern" don't have much to do with favoring one range of frequencies (highs) over another (lows). Rather, it's all about clarity and balance.

Traditional, old-school tone is necessarily oriented toward the low end - simply because most bass guitars and amplification systems that came about when old-school was still new-school, didn't have the capacity to accurately produce the full range of frequencies very well. Modern ones do. So it's not surprising then that modern instruments and modern systems will sound biased toward the high frequencies, to those whose ears are still oriented to old-school tones...

Well, that's the tradeoff for boosting highs...the perceived lows aren't as prominent even if they're the same setting.