The Church of Dan Atkinson / The Wood Doesn't Matter Club

[MEKer]

And, as audiophiles will swear to you, that $100 cable and power "conditioner". Without them----your sound is crap.

[mongo2]

Originally Posted by -=DanAtkinson=-

It's a crapshoot.

That looks very familiar...I wonder where I've seen that before?

[waytoodeep03]

I totally agree on this subject. I turned a $300 tune bass into one that sounds better than a $5000 ken smith. The sound is in the playing and electronics and amp

[dmusic148]

Originally Posted by waytoodeep03

I totally agree on this subject. I turned a $300 tune bass into one that sounds better than a $5000 ken smith. The sound is in the playing and electronics and amp

Well, ok but define 'better.'

[waytoodeep03]

Originally Posted by dmusic148

Well, ok but define 'better.'

tonality.

Ive had tons of people come up after a show and ask what kind of bass is that. It sounds like/better than Ken Smith

[danroche]

Originally Posted by waytoodeep03

I totally agree on this subject. I turned a $300 tune bass into one that sounds better than a $5000 ken smith. The sound is in the playing and electronics and amp

I'm on board with you except for that "playing" stuff. I've heard lots of people swear up and down that practice, technique, and understanding of theory improve sound, but I think that's just outdated conventional wisdom.

[garmenteros]

Originally Posted by danroche

I'm on board with you except for that "playing" stuff. I've heard lots of people swear up and down that practice, technique, and understanding of theory improve sound, but I think that's just outdated conventional wisdom.

I think its more a combination of knowing how to use the eq or electronics on a bass and the eq of a particular amp and your playing technique. Not just your playing. I've seen players with mad chops who always sounded like crap because they don't know how to EQ their instrument or amp that well. Mostly their amp and they keep changing pickups pre but never dominate understanding an amp.

[danroche]

Originally Posted by garmenteros

I think its more a combination of knowing how to use the eq or electronics on a bass and the eq of a particular amp and your playing technique. Not just your playing. I've seen players with mad chops who always sounded like crap because they don't know how to EQ their instrument or amp that well. Mostly their amp and they keep changing pickups pre but never dominate understanding an amp.

That's certainly part of it. I was attempting a bit of sarcasm there, but your point is valid. Knowing your gear is key. Personally I've never observed a player where I'd say "his playing is fantastic, but the sound is crap" - simply because the technique excuses the tone, but I can understand the circumstance.

[gurensan]

A seasoned player can also bring out the good in the bass's tone through technique - like a player whose vibrato makes the frets click in just that way to make the midrange and highs cut like a knife. Gotta love the grind.

My Squier TB sounds a whole lot like my old '74 Tele, but my Tele was ash and my TB is basswood.

Yet, if you take off the neck and all the hardware from any bass and put it all on a body of the same shape but different wood and have the same guy play it, it'll sound somewhat different. The difference would be the only thing that changed - the body wood. The difference won't be related to species any more than the density of the wood is related to species.

Anything that affects the way that energy gets returned to the vibrating string, enhancing some harmonics near the bass's resonant frequency (technically, returning close to 100% of the string's energy at that frequency) and suppressing others, will affect tone.

Wood DOES matter, but it is often overshadowed by everything else. Including the amp.

[gurensan]

Originally Posted by dvh

And, how tightly one grips the neck or how much contact there is with the player's belly

And whether that belly is filled with gas, or... uh... solids.