Take the test - ten questions to bass playing enlightenment.

[Sneakypete]

This test is completely unscientific and no doubt deeply flawed but I'd be interested in how you think you would do and any suggestions for improving it. Test equipment required; a local pub/bar/club you know reasonably well on a night when a band you haven't seen before is playing. Probably best if it's a standard rock/pop band - whether it's covers or originals won't really matter so long as it's not too avant garde or otherwise weird. Method; at a time when you know the band will be playing go to the bar but as you enter you MUST NOT LOOK AT THE BAND - just find a seat where you can hear them but have no visual clues - this is a test for your ears and your brain - the things we often seem to assume are superior to non-bass-playing mortals. Now start answering these questions (easy ones first);
1) How many instruments are playing?
2) How many strings does the bass have?
3) Is it an active or passive bass?
4) Is it an expensive bass or a cheap one?
5) Is he playing with PA support or bass gear only?
6) If it's gear-only is it expensive gear or cheap?
7) Is it a combo or head with cabs?
8) Is the bass amp SS/hybrid/all tube?
9) How many bass speakers are being used and what sizes are they?
10) How does this bassist's gear compare with your own?

What I'm trying to measure is how much what we see influences what we hear. For myself, I think I'd be struggling after Question 2! Your thoughts please, gentlemen.

[mattyiop]

Without seeing how could you ever answer #7

[zachoff]

I pretty much always go to punk rock and metal shows...

1) How many instruments are playing?
Usually 4
2) How many strings does the bass have?
Usually 4
3) Is it an active or passive bass?
Usually Passive
4) Is it an expensive bass or a cheap one?
Usually a Fender P
5) Is he playing with PA support or bass gear only?
Usually PA Support
6) If it's gear-only is it expensive gear or cheap?
Usually an SVT & 810
7) Is it a combo or head with cabs?
Usually an SVT & 810
8) Is the bass amp SS/hybrid/all tube?
Usually tube
9) How many bass speakers are being used and what sizes are they?
Usually an 810
10) How does this bassist's gear compare with your own?
I use a G&L, but the rest is pretty much dead on aside from pedals.

[RustyAxe]

You seem to be focused on gear. Anyone with money can buy gear. Talent and technique is what matters. I don't give a crap what gear the guy's using.

[WJGreer]

Originally Posted by RustyAxe

You seem to be focused on gear. Anyone with money can buy gear. Talent and technique is what matters. I don't give a crap what gear the guy's using.

I think the OP's implied point is that you probably won't be able to discern the answer to very many of those questions at all, and that all of the gear choices we obsess about are in truth unimportant. It's a good way to look at it.

[Sneakypete]

Originally Posted by mattyiop

Without seeing how could you ever answer #7

Okay, perhaps that one was a bit off!
The general point though is that I think some of the differences of opinion we see discussed so frequently on this forum are as much to do with what we like to look at as what we like to hear and that perhaps our ears aren't quite as perceptive as we like to think. I'm certain mine aren't but then I've been playing in bands for many years and the dayjob is often industrially noisy so my poor old lugs are probably missing the nuances that other people find obvious.

[thomasthecat]

I kinda really love this test. HAHA! My dad told me a long time ago, "Its not what you play, but how you play it" and every since then its hillarious to me to watch people argue about gear. You can sound great with cheaper stuff, you can also sound awful with great gear

[RustyAxe]

Originally Posted by WJGreer

I think the OP's implied point is that you probably won't be able to discern the answer to very many of those questions at all, and that all of the gear choices we obsess about are in truth unimportant. It's a good way to look at it.

Ah crap, went right over my head. I need to stand taller!

[TheVoiceless]

I really like this test and hopefully will apply it. But I want to make the statement that the gear you play DOES MATTER A LOT!!! How much its costs does not. If you can buy a Wal bass for $100 bucks its still a great bass.

Sure Wooten can sound good playing a Squire through a Peavy Combo, but he plays a Fodera for a reason. Same reason Tony Levin plays Music Man. Its their sound. I'm sure they would play less expensive gear if they could get "their" tone from it.

[toddj1s]

This seems to be a continuation of another thread about how we tend to hear with our eyes, and maybe a slight offshoot of another thread that mentioned Marcus Miller's comment about basses in particular.

I think we all have seen how a bass can sound completely different in one player's hands compared to another. Most of the subtle differences we hear when playing alone are completely negated in a band situation, and likely completely disappear in FOH. But if those subtle differences make ya happy as a player, then why not. I think most large ticket gear purchases are just for bragging rights or perception from other players. I can honestly say that if I had to take my daughter's purple sparkly Ibanez Mikro to a gig, I'd be completely comfortable. Sure, I'd get a laugh out of it, but does it define me as a player or musician? Nope, at least not in my mind.

[johndough247]

I understand where the OP is going with this thread, but how do you explain the fact that some of us, Pre-talkbass, pre-internet and pre-Bass Player or similar magazines...at least in our early days of discovering bass, heard different bass tones on records, oblivious to whether it was a Fender, Yamaha or Ric, or didn't know who Marcus or Anthony Jackson or Geddy Lee were and THEN sought out where that tone came from?

That's how I got there...I bought a P-bass with flats because I heard the Motown records first, then discovered that's was Jamerson used...same with getting J-basses because of Marcus' work in the 80's...I used to hum the bassline to "never too much" - Luther Vandross before I knew who or what Marcus Miller and a bass (much less a Jazz bass) was!...and getting into Rics after listening to Close to the edge for the first time. I'm sure lots of us have similar stories that don't involve one visual cue to spark our interest.

Whether or not the crowd hears the difference is irrelevant (that can be PA coloring & EQ, or bad ears or both!); I play for them but I don't play FOR them, if you get my drift. We have to be happy and enjoy what we hear so we can enjoy what we do, if we're to keep doing it for a living.

[Sneakypete]

Can't disagree with any of the replies. I'm as guilty of gear-swapping as anyone else and the number of hours I've spent A/B'ing gear in music stores - well, I would surely have been better off staying home and practicing! There is an undeniable pleasure just in owning something you like isn't there? I also say that basses and other gear you really like are played more often and played better than stuff that's just okay. I wasn't seeking to over-analyze - just saying if it makes you happy go with it and don't worry too much whether you have two 4x10's or one 8x10!

[fhm555]

Originally Posted by johndough247

I understand where the OP is going with this thread, but how do you explain the fact that some of us, Pre-talkbass, pre-internet and pre-Bass Player or similar magazines...at least in our early days of discovering bass, heard different bass tones on records, oblivious to whether it was a Fender, Yamaha or Ric, or didn't know who Marcus or Anthony Jackson or Geddy Lee were and THEN sought out where that tone came from?...

Same here. Wore records out listening to the bass lines. Not just trying to pick out the tune, but also trying to get the sound burned in my head so I could try to get it out of the (usually) tired, worn out, second hand castoff equipment I was so proud of when I first started learning to play.

[Ubersheist]

Originally Posted by johndough247

I understand where the OP is going with this thread, but how do you explain the fact that some of us, Pre-talkbass, pre-internet and pre-Bass Player or similar magazines...at least in our early days of discovering bass, heard different bass tones on records, oblivious to whether it was a Fender, Yamaha or Ric, or didn't know who Marcus or Anthony Jackson or Geddy Lee were and THEN sought out where that tone came from?

Yes, that's why after getting into old Yes, I thought about getting a Ric for the same reason.

However, that's NOT what the OP may be driving at. He's talking about a live situation, NOT on a record. There's a big difference.

[bassybill]

Interesting thread. I think we obsess over gear more than necessary, probably because it's an absorbing interest. Can get expensive, though. But at least many of us get to earn some cash with it and so to some extent it becomes partly self-financing / second income stream or however you want to view it.

I think the basic priorities on a gig for me are:

Gotta be heard.
Gotta be able to hear myself.
No obvious farting out, crackling, buzzing, et cetera.
Useable blend of highs/mids/lows for the context.
No negative comments about tone from the band or (sensible) members of the audience.

In other words, journeyman stuff that is up to doing an adequate job with no nastiness, even if it isn't the very best that money can buy. Anything past that is icing on the cake and the bassist is probably the only person who's going to know the difference (and maybe bassist/guitarist members of the audience who can actually see the band - I do get the OP's concept).

I still like to use good gear, though, and it increases my own enjoyment of playing, so that's all fine by me.

[bassybill]

I have an extra question for the test, too - rounds or flats? This probably makes more difference to tone than just about any other factor (at least with new rounds) but even this can be hard to pick out in certain mixes.