SCRAP LUMBER BASS vs. ALDER BASS - Can You Tell The Difference??

UPDATE: The correct answer is revealed here.


Ok gang, you ready to get crazy?

Let me introduce you to my latest audio test subjects. In one corner, we have a 60's style Jazz bass with an Alder body from Warmoth. In the other corner, behold...THE SCRAP LUMBER BASS!



That's right. A bass body made from old, beatup, dusty scrap lumber from my basement. The wood came from Home Depot. About $10 for 8 feet of it. Obviously high grade stuff!

I actually got this idea from TB member "Lackey" in the "Wood Matters Club" thread. He challenged me to build a bass from balsa wood for my next project. Well, I didn't have any balsa, but I did have this stuff. And I was bored tonight. So I figured, why not see if people can hear the difference??

For the audio recordings, I kept everything the same except for the body and bridge. Each bass has the same strings, pickups, and neck. I took precise measurements of the Alder bass to make sure all components were positioned in the same location on the Lumber bass.

Now, for these audio tests, I decided to simulate a real-world scenario. I recorded each bass in a mix, with drums and 2 guitar tracks. No vocals. So I'm being very conservative with the complexity of the mix. Also, I cranked the bass track higher than any proper audio engineer would.

I recorded three tracks. I used one of the basses twice. It's your job to identify which is which! Vote for your pick, and feel free to post a reply with your comments.

HERE ARE THE CLIPS:

Clip X
Clip Y
Clip Z

And please, you "tonewood" folks, don't try to make this a flame war. This is all in good fun. If we all approach this with an open mind we might learn something.

(Just in case somebody tries to accuse me of lying about the answers, I've already emailed one of the Moderators with the correct ones.)

EDIT: Some of the tonewood folks have complained about the bass being "boomy" on the clips. This is because I kept the bass track totally raw, without any studio typical EQ adjustments to cut the lowest frequencies. (Ironically, I did this to appease the tonewood folks who complained about my use of compression on a prior test.)

So, I have revised the clips with a more typical studio EQ applied to the bass track. The "boominess" should be gone.

Below is a screen capture of the current poll results. Let's see if things change any going forward...

sonic assassin said:

Z is the only one that sounded different to me. not bad though. smooth playing.

i feel like under different circumstances, the difference would be more obvious.

Click to expand...

Different circumstances... do you mean like with a couple of vocalists, a keyboard player, a noisy audience, and a mediocre soundman? Or do you mean just the bass by itself, playing a solo, listening on headphones?

bassacechase said:

The only difference I notice is the lick is a little different on X, and I heard a little more string noise on Z. How much for the lumber bass? I can't really head a noticeable difference so I didn't vote...

Click to expand...

You should vote the 4th option!