What makes a bass guitar good? wood, pickups, what?

[rafmagana]

I know the answers might be subjective, but I'd really like to know why some basses are too expensive and others too cheap, I have a 5-string active Ibanez GSR-205, it's an entry-level bass, very cheap, but I've seen some Fodera basses which are waaaay expensive than my Ibanez. I understand different woods in acoustic guitars matters but just don't understand it on electric and bass guitars.

I want to improve/tweak my cheap bass (I play reggae, ska and jazz mostly) if wood doesn't matter then I have a potentially good bass in my hands but it's lacking of something, that's why I'm asking this, so the questions are:

1. Does the wood the bass is made of matters? I'm very sure I won't be able to tell the difference in sound of an electric bass guitar made of an expensive wood against another one made of cheap wood.
   
2. Does the pickups matters? I know they does, just don't know how. I wouldn't know which pickups to buy.
   
3. Does the strings matters? I use RotoSound Jazz Bass (flatwounds)
   
4. Would a very good and expensive bass guitar sound good through a cheap amp? I have a Fender Rumble 75w combo for practicing and monitoring. It's a cheap combo too.
   
5. Would pedals like the Sansamp Bass Driver and Aguilar Tone Hammer help a bad and cheap bass to sound good? Would they destroy the sound of an good and expensive bass?

Thanks.

[tangentmusic]

Very subjective indeed. To me, the most important factor is "Feel". How the bass feels in your hands. How it feels to play. Strings, p'ups, bridges, tuners and the like can all be changed out. Feel cannot. Sometimes these "upgrades" can help the bass feel a bit better to play, but an instrument that just does not feel right from the beginning can be very difficult to correct. An inexpensive bass may feel better to a player than an expensive one. It's all an individual matter.

[superqwertyboy]

I like composite necks, as far as wood... maple for me, alder or maple body, bartolini mmc "dark" p'ups, xl160 (105-50) nickel strings, I think pedals suck tone from the signal... thats just my preferences

as long as you dont push the amp, it should sound nice

[peledog]

Everything mentioned. (well, not the amps) A bass is the sum of it's parts.

[Sparkdog]

It isn't any one thing, but the combination of all the things it's made of...wood, hardware, electronics, and strings.

When it works, it works, when it doesn't you can spend a lot of time and money replacing stuff that might fix it or might not (IME)

There's a whole culture here at TB that debates the relevance of wood with religious fervor. Some feel it's crucial, others say it doesn't matter at all.

My personal experience has been that if a bass doesn't sound good when it's played acoustically it will never sound really good amplified. It can sometimes be improved with better pickups, but never pushed into "great" territory.

[FenderBassist]

+1 on the "Feel".

Yes, wood matters. You can usually do fine (after researching) with common woods such as alder, ash, possibly basswood and the like. You won't find too many plywood basses to avoid these days. And you don't have to buy super exotic woods to get a good sound. Just decide in advance what sounds you are shooting for.

Yes, pickups matter. You can usually do fine (after researching) with standard brands such as Seymour Duncan, Bartolini, possibly Fender and the like. You won't find too many cheapo pickups unless you're shopping for bargain bin models. Again, just decide in advance what sounds you are shooting for.

Yes strings matter. Sounds like you already have a fine set of strings, if they suit your musical style(s). In the case of ska, reggae and jazz, flats should be great. I also love flats.

In general, it's better to have a decent amp than a cheap amp, a better bass won't make that much difference in the quality of a cheap amp's produced sound. A "larger" (or better quality) amp might help lend the characteristics to your sound that you are wanting. I found that out through buying my first amp, which also was a 75W combo (Holmes). Switched to a Peavey head and 2x15 cab for the bigger fatter sounds I wanted.

A SansAmp is a fine preamp to help get certain sounds out of most amps that might not normally provide you (such as classic SVT-style). I used to use one with a pair of combos to get a rounder sound. But it isn't a substitute for having proper power/speakers.

Hope these are helpful:

Warmoth Custom Guitar Parts - Wood Descriptions

Poly vs Nitro Guitar Finishes - Ed Roman Guitars

Pickup Guide for Beginners? - Seymour Duncan User Group Forums

www.bass-strings.com/bass-string-guide


Keep on groovin'

[FenderBassist]

Just curious, who are your favorite bass players with the sounds you really like?

EDIT: Just looked at the link to your bass model. Agathis is not a bad wood at all. Looks like a fine bass to start with (better than the one I did hehe). If you are happy enough with your electronics (pickups, EQ bass boost) then I would think that a better amp would be the way to go for starters. You can always pick up up a backup bass (such as a Jazz or Jazz clone) later.

Bring your bass to a Guitar Center or similar, and play it through some larger amps to see if you can get the sound(s) you're looking for.

[KingRazor]

What determines the price of the bass are the cost of the materials, cost of labor, and production method/amount able to be produced in x amount of time for y cost.

Low end Ibanez basses use cheaper materials, made in places where the labor is cheap, with a high rate of production. Therefore, they can sell them at a low price.

A custom hand made bass by an independent luthier is going to cost a lot more because of the time and effort required for one person to make one bass.

[CORBS]

Originally Posted by rafmagana

• Would pedals like the Sansamp Bass Driver and Aguilar Tone Hammer help a bad and cheap bass to sound good? Would they destroy the sound of an good and expensive bass?

Thanks.

To a point, yes and yes. Any time you use overdrive or distortion or even drive a tube amp you are losing parts of the sound and replacing them with the distorted sound. This can be very subtle and not sound like distortion at all, but add a fatness and depth to your sound. That's what makes tube amps and tube emulator pedals like the ones you mentioned desirable. If you want to really change the sound of your bass, I'd look in to Compression pedals. Those can give a large variety of sounds and can help improve shortfalls with you bass's sound, like not enough midrange, too much treble, no sustain, etc.

[FenderBassist]

A very inexpensive way I got a fatter sound out of my practice amp:

BEHRINGER: BDI21

The BDI21 (which is a total clone of a far more expensive model) cost me in the neighborhood of $30 new.

Gave a lot of richness and fatness to my Fender tones through a pair of generic 1x15 180 watt combo amps (using either one or both).

EDIT:

+1 on the Compression unit suggestion

[rafmagana]

Originally Posted by tangentmusic

Very subjective indeed. To me, the most important factor is "Feel". How the bass feels in your hands. How it feels to play. Strings, p'ups, bridges, tuners and the like can all be changed out. Feel cannot. Sometimes these "upgrades" can help the bass feel a bit better to play, but an instrument that just does not feel right from the beginning can be very difficult to correct. An inexpensive bass may feel better to a player than an expensive one. It's all an individual matter.

I like my bass, I feel good with it, I love its color, it's orange , B string sounds weak though, I like the feel when I'm playing, I mean, physically. But haven't found a tone I like, maybe I'm bad eq'ing but I just can't find the right sound, I always find it too bassy that my ears hurts or too trebly that sounds like if I knock a sheet of metal, Rotosound Jazz strings made it a little bit better, not so much, maybe it's my Fender Rumble 75w combo, don't know, but I can't get a good sound out of it even practicing, don't talk about gigs.

[rafmagana]

Originally Posted by Sparkdog

My personal experience has been that if a bass doesn't sound good when it's played acoustically it will never sound really good amplified.

What do you mean by that?, how could I play an electric bass acoustically, I can barely hear it.

[mongo2]

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Maybe, depends on the amp but I'm not a fan of that Rumble.
5a. Maybe, but an SABDDI worked better for me by making a house PV Combo 300 sound better.
5b. Maybe, depends on how they're set.

[KingRazor]

Originally Posted by Sparkdog

My personal experience has been that if a bass doesn't sound good when it's played acoustically it will never sound really good amplified. It can sometimes be improved with better pickups, but never pushed into "great" territory.

My personal experience has been that all basses sound the same acoustically, and that the true character of the bass only comes out through a (relatively transparent) amplifier.

[aServantLeader]

Originally Posted by rafmagana

What do you mean by that?, how could I play an electric bass acoustically, I can barely hear it.

You are right you barely hear it but you can and immediately tell.

I love my Ibbie SR305DX, but that is because it is only the second electric bass I have ever held / played.

I never understood why you would play other basses when you where not in the market for one WEEELLLLLL,

I was waiting around for a friends guitar to be serviced and while waiting I started looking at different basses, one even caught my attention to the point I sat down with it and started playing it unplugged.

The clear sound of the instrument was so awesome sounding that I was thinking "WOW" as my buddy came from 10-15 feet away and said "You need to plug that thing in."

So I did and I was in love, I am going over my Ibbie to see if dirty or new strings will even get close to what I experienced with the Peavey that I found.


So yeah, strum a few without amplification, when it does resonate well though the instrument, it is a beautiful experience.

[rafmagana]

Originally Posted by FenderBassist

Just curious, who are your favorite bass players with the sounds you really like?

Aston Barret, Jaco Pastorius, Paul McCartney

Originally Posted by FenderBassist

If you are happy enough with your electronics (pickups, EQ bass boost) then I would think that a better amp would be the way to go for starters.

That's exactly the thing, I don't what's wrong with my sound, don't know if it's the strings, the electronics, the pickups, my amp, just don't know.

Originally Posted by FenderBassist

Bring your bass to a Guitar Center or similar, and play it through some larger amps to see if you can get the sound(s) you're looking for.

The thing is that I live in a very small city in Mexico, there's no stores with large amps , all I buy I buy it on internet or when I go to a larger city or when I go to USA. Very sad.

[aServantLeader]

Originally Posted by KingRazor

My personal experience has been that all basses sound the same acoustically, and that the true character of the bass only comes out through a (relatively transparent) amplifier.

What Ibbie are you using King? Because yesterday I was floored by the sound of a bass before I even plugged it in.

[rafmagana]

Originally Posted by CORBS

If you want to really change the sound of your bass, I'd look in to Compression pedals. Those can give a large variety of sounds and can help improve shortfalls with you bass's sound, like not enough midrange, too much treble, no sustain, etc.

Any recommendation on compression pedals?

I'd tell you something, I don't know what compression does, but I'll investigate

[KingRazor]

Originally Posted by aServantLeader

What Ibbie are you using King? Because yesterday I was floored by the sound of a bass before I even plugged it in.

Used to own a SR405QM, but I gave that away to a friend who really wanted a good 5-string.

I now own an SX P bass.

Whenever I go to guitar shops, I no longer bother to test basses acoustically, since it never tells me jack squat about their amplified tone.

I've never played a bass that I thought had a "good" acoustic tone, and the ones that had "bad" acoustic tones were due to the strings/setup.

[rafmagana]

Originally Posted by aServantLeader

You are right you barely hear it but you can and immediately tell.

...I sat down with it and started playing it unplugged.

The clear sound of the instrument was so awesome sounding that I was thinking "WOW" as my buddy came from 10-15 feet away and said "You need to plug that thing in."

So yeah, strum a few without amplification, when it does resonate well though the instrument, it is a beautiful experience.

OOOH, I gotcha! I'll do that with my bass, thanks!