Leave that thing alone: Fretted or Fretless

[sargebaker]

Hey guys, I'm gonna be playing "Leave that thing alone" with my band for some show at school. I'm not sure which bass to use, The Fretted (Spector Legend 6) or the fretless (Carvin LB76F) both sound pretty cool with the song, obviousoly the fretted will sound more like the original... but the fretless adds a kinda cool vibe to it, what do you all think?

[SunShine]

You have to use the fretless.

[sargebaker]

wow 31 ppl looked at the thread and only 1 gave their opinion Anyone else have any input?

[sargebaker]

Well I guess it'll be fretless, it sounded good tonight when I wasn't screwing up

[jenderfazz]

I play that song with my keyboardist all the time (he's also picking up guitar). I've played it with fretless and fretted, with Geddy clank and warm goodness. I think it's fun to crank up the presence and drive on my Sansamp and get that Rush in Rio tone, but the quintessential LTTA tone is the one Ged uses on Counterparts. It's got that growl and stuff but it still sounds very bassy. If you can get that on fretless, by all means, do it. I think it might just give you that growl without being over-the-top clacky. Plus it'll give you your own tone. That's probably the most important part. It's your unique touch.

[pdusen]

I Disagree. I think the bass tone on the Counterparts version is somewhat muddy, and (dare I say), off-key in spots? In my opinion, Rush in Rio has the definitive LTTA tone, with Different Stages in close second.

That said, if you can play the song on fretless and get a great sound, by all means do it! I know I'D like to listen to a fretless version of that song. Myself, i can play it well enough on fretted, I think I'd be lost on fretless, heh.