Please stop the "Whatever sounds good to your ears" responses

[louloomis]

Hi Everyone.

I don't know if this qualifies for a sticky thread, but I hope it does:

WHAT is the purpose of responding to someone's query for real, specific information with:

"Go listen to the piece of gear, dude, like, whatever sounds good to your ears is what you should get."

That is a completely useless answer. That is like telling people not to use the library because they should just use their imagination instead. Regardless of what you think of that analogy....

Everyone knows that listening is a part of being a good musician when it comes to playing, writing, and gear, of course.

By people constantly throwing this "non-response" type of response into threads you are doing nothing but wasting server disk space. What result do you really want - for people to stop reading and posting and contributing to this amazing community of bassists? Or just to pretend you're some kind of enlightened purist?

We all know, under the best of circumstances, that we should go to that one, giant music store which is completely quiet, filled with every single piece of the latest vintage and modern gear, is acoustically neutral, and try out whatever we want...and even bring along our bands and recording studios so we can be sure we're getting what we really want....as examined under all circumstances.

Think about it. This is ridiculous already. Enough.

LL

[Foamy]

Whatever works for you.
:-)

[T-Bird]

Hi, LL

As a newbie here, but not with music, I believe that one reason behind those answers is the fact that we are dealing with a phenomenon that can't be put into words or numbers.

Another might be the fact that we tend to be somewhat biased when it comes to the gear that we own or use, some more than others . So the only thing you can trust, trust no-one has made us careful what to say.

What annoys me more, are the daily new ohms, watts, db etc. questions that have been answered the previous day, and the day before, and the day before that. Hopefully not since the beginning of this marvellous site.

Just the 0.02€
Sam

[lemur821]

No, it's like telling people to go to the library rather than ask us for a synopsis. There's only one way to get the full story on a piece of gear, and that's playing through it yourself.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by louloomis

Hi Everyone.

I don't know if this qualifies for a sticky thread, but I hope it does:

WHAT is the purpose of responding to someone's query for real, specific information with:

"Go listen to the piece of gear, dude, like, whatever sounds good to your ears is what you should get."


By people constantly throwing this "non-response" type of response into threads you are doing nothing but wasting server disk space. What result do you really want -

Tone is subjective and almost impossible to describe in words!

What one person may like, another may hate!

So it is impossible to say what is best for another person!

The aim is to say to people - look, you have to go and listen and decide what you like, there's no way round it - go to music shops and try as many basses or amps as you can - that's the only way to decide what suits you!

It's just being honest and giving the best advice possible!

Whereas saying XXXXX is exactly what you need is at best a total guess and at worst dishonest and unhelpful - to the point of encouraging others to spend money on something they won't like and will then have to waste more money trading in and losing on the deal!


Do you want the truth, the best possible advice or guesses that are totally subjective?

I would day a list of totally subjective personal preferences is waste of server space - not good honest advice!

[superbassman2000]

i think this thread wastes more server space--me tell you what bass you want is more of a waste because who is to say it will work for you? i like putting my bass through guitar effects, while many bass players dont. I hate the pbass, but maybe it'll work for you. I am not a huge fan of markbass, but maybe it'll work for you--some people like the Jaco tone, while some like the jamerson tone...there are too many variables for there to be one bass for one genre. thats why there are tons of options.

but for people who need to be told what to use
do this--

fender jazz->ampeg head->ampeg cab.
does that make you feel better?

[slowhand mike]

i think what louloomis was trying to say was give your opinions, your feedback and what you think about something, not everyone can get out there and try everything, i know i can't. it doesn't matter if you are biased as we are all capable of overlooking the biased quotes but can take in the descriptive ones, if serveral people reply with the same feeling then you can be pretty sure its goona sound like described (give or take a bit) if they differ greatly then you can take it how you want, or it may just be very flexible, but it certainly is better than just saying judge for yourself, we are gonna do that anyway in the end. but as not every store has every bit of gear a good feedback can help narrow down which store to go to in the first place.
and for beginners it is an awful thing to say, i know i hated it when i got that response last year after having an 8 year break from playing, i didn't know what sounding good was, i didn't know what basses to look at, what amps to stay away from etc. yeah i did go and try stuff but had no idea what to look at or where to go.

[Bruce Lindfield]

I still don't think it works - hundreds of people could say that a particular bass/amp combination sound warm, full and bassy - but it wouldn't stop it sounding muddy,dull and unfocused - to my ears...

[Baryonyx]

Well, if it sounds good to you, then go for it! I could go on all day about how Wal basses sound amazing, but if the guy buying has different taste in tones to me he'll be very disappointed!

[Diggler]

I'd buy for playing comfort and feel first, then price. I use processing to get the sound I want.

95% of club goers out there won't be able to tell the tone nuances from a Rickenbaker to a Music Man to a Peavey to a Squire, IMHO.

Amp sound? Who cares. It's a stage monitor. Most of your sound should be going through the PA anyways.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Not if you're playing 'acoustic' level volume gigs with a small Jazz group...

[Toasted]

Originally Posted by Diggler

95% of club goers out there won't be able to tell the tone nuances from a Rickenbaker to a Music Man to a Peavey to a Squire, IMHO.

Indeed they won't be able to tell the difference between a bass and a guitar

[TrooperFarva]

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

i think this thread wastes more server space

+1

Maybe he's right though. NO, he is right. From now on, the only acceptable basses are

Musicman Stingray
Musicman Sterling
Fender Jazz
Fender Precision
Sadowsky anything

That's it, the rest are crap

Also, for amps
Mesa 400+
Ampeg SVT-VR or Vintage SVT

and cabs
Bergantino NV
Aguilar GS
Bergantino IP

And thus, the list is complete. If you don't like the items on this list, your tone is utter garbage, regardless of what you may thing of it. Additionally, if you're looking to buy something, don't try out anything, it's pointless, I hear, instead, buy from this list.

[Phalex]

My new generic answers:

Rickenbacker basses

Solid State amps

Made in USA

The Number 4

Uruguay

Hot Pink

and

Pentavalent Bonding


These are the only answers I will give to highly subjective questions from now on.

If you don't share my opinion, well, you'll just have to go out and see what sounds good to your ear.

[Deacon_Blues]

Lots of wisdom in this thread.

The best advice is to trust your own ear, but I understand that it's difficult as a beginner to know what a good sound is, to know the differences between cheap and expensive instruments and to know what fits your hands and musical taste. I once bought a Telecaster for about 1000 $ and although it sounded great, it wasn't my sound. Found out that gradually... I traded it in when I switched to bass. Again, it was difficult to know what to get - what to look for and what to avoid... I bought a Warwick Corvette std. and have been quite happy with it, but not everything. Guess I need a new bass soon...

[MonetBass]

Originally Posted by slowhand mike

i think what louloomis was trying to say was give your opinions, your feedback and what you think about something, not everyone can get out there and try everything, i know i can't.

I agree with that. However I understand what the other folks are saying, too. Bottom line is, if you really want to know about a piece of gear, there are TONS of opinions in the REVIEWS SECTION. If noobs would utilize that feature here on TB more, we'd probably have fewer "What should I get?" threads.

[Matt Till]

Uhm: huh?

I'm just restating what has been said, but it's the truth. In order to find the "Right _______ for _________" You should really try out instruments at a store and find what sounds best... to your ears.

Example, Right Rig for Rock: Rick + Ampeg. If you have that setup, you will have an absolutely killer rock bass rig. I've seen the combo hundreds of times and it always sounds perfect... but if that's the right rig, and every rock bassist has ist, every rock bassist will sound the same.

If you can't get to a huge music store that is completely quiet, etc (If you are really interested in a rig, a lot of them will let you go into a soundproof room and crank it up a bit), find out what your favorite bassists (tonewise) uses and go for a variation on that. But if you are ready to lay down some serious cash on any piece of gear, I recommend making a road trip out of it. Take the long drive to the nearest good music store.

"Whatever sounds good..." might not seem helpful, but it's logical as hell, and helps decrease copycat rigs. One of these days, I will probably have a Rick and SVT, but I certainly won't be the only one.

[Phalex]

Pentavalent Bonding

That's all I got to say about that........

[brianrost]

I've been house bassist at jam sessions for many, many years. I've seen first hand how many different sounds people can coax from the same amp in the same room, sometimes even with the same bass.

I've had people tell me they loved my amp as well as people tell me they hated it. I was bringing a Walter Woods head and Bergantino cabinets for a while and got complaints about that $3000+ rig. I reverted to my "beater" rig, just a 15" EV with an old A.M.P. head ($300 invested) and suddenly all those complainers were in heaven

I run the tone knob on my P-basses (strung with old flatwounds) about 1/4 of the way open yet one guy tells me "I don't care for that bright sound you get"

Etc.

You really do need to use your ears. I can tell you a lot of things about gear because I've been playing bass for 33 years now but I can't tell you if the sound of a particular item is right for you. I do know that you can hand me almost any bass guitar and tell me to plug into almost any amp and I can make it work. Why I chose my own gear is because some things work better for the sound I want to hear than others, that's all.

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by louloomis

Hi Everyone.

I don't know if this qualifies for a sticky thread, but I hope it does:

WHAT is the purpose of responding to someone's query for real, specific information with:

"Go listen to the piece of gear, dude, like, whatever sounds good to your ears is what you should get."

That is a completely useless answer. That is like telling people not to use the library because they should just use their imagination instead. Regardless of what you think of that analogy....

Everyone knows that listening is a part of being a good musician when it comes to playing, writing, and gear, of course.

By people constantly throwing this "non-response" type of response into threads you are doing nothing but wasting server disk space. What result do you really want - for people to stop reading and posting and contributing to this amazing community of bassists? Or just to pretend you're some kind of enlightened purist?

We all know, under the best of circumstances, that we should go to that one, giant music store which is completely quiet, filled with every single piece of the latest vintage and modern gear, is acoustically neutral, and try out whatever we want...and even bring along our bands and recording studios so we can be sure we're getting what we really want....as examined under all circumstances.

Think about it. This is ridiculous already. Enough.

LL

Good idea. You should buy what the salesman tells you sounds good. Or, better yet, ask me. I'll tell you what sounds good to you, a complete stranger.