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20 Bass Shootout!

#66
Wow!

If this had been a Fender vs Gibson thread I'd have jumped in on the side of Fender. However, after hearing all these basses side by side in a similar setting I think overall I liked the Gibson/Epiphone basses best. The only Fender standout was the Am Std 2014 P bass, other than that one I wasn't really taken by the Fender samples as much as I was by the Gibson samples.

Since this is nearly 180 degrees opposite of what I thought I'd hear, can it be explained? Is there something about this test that favors the Gibsons? Said another way, if the OP could adjust the Fender Jazz bass to sound its best, what would the Epi Tbird sound like if you made the same adjustments to it?

Great posting and thread, a real eye (and ear) opener for me.
 
#67
I kind of like the Yamaha BB414 sound best, then the P Basses. Though I'm listening through cheap speakers in a moderately noisy office environment.

Everything sounded decent to me except for most of the Gibson basses. They sounded anemic and lifeless.

Oh, and the Starcaster was terrible as well.
 
#69
Thanks! No it's a standard T-bird.

Cheers

BassDaddy77 said:
Another great vid Johan. I really appreciate your effort in bringing these shootouts to TB. They really are a lot of fun to watch. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of this 20 bass shootout series!

I have to say that the Am Std Jazz was really disappointing. Really weak and uneven sounding. I thought the Ric, Les Paul, and Jag sounded the best regarding the bridge pickup.

It seems a bit unfair to evaluate the single pickup equipped basses (3 Precisions and the EB-2) within this context as they certainly had much more bottom end. Having said that, I personally thought these 4 sounded great - especially that EB-2. The Squier is quite impressive for it's price point!

Is that Epiphone T-Bird the "Classic" model with the Gibson pickups?
Click to expand...
 
#72
I liked it too, but with all that treble it requires all the tighter playing in order to swing. Furthermore the string height could be higher, cause the strings bounced against the fretboard a little bit out of time.

Cheers
Johan

danroche said:
Playing these back, while the ESP and the Ibanez sound a little harsh, I'll bet they cut through in a mix something splendid. I kind of dig the Ibanez clank to be honest.
Click to expand...
 
#77
I had only seen it once, and really forgot over a couple of days what was what. How revealing, at least to me, to keep my eyes closed and just LISTEN to each instrument with no pre-concieved notions about looking and SEEING which bass he was playing. Highly recommended - I think it would change your perspective on at least a couple of the instruments which you probably have some bias or prejudice against.

Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

BassHappy
www.innertainment.net
 
#80
BassHappy said:
I had only seen it once, and really forgot over a couple of days what was what. How revealing, at least to me, to keep my eyes closed and just LISTEN to each instrument with no pre-concieved notions about looking and SEEING which bass he was playing. Highly recommended - I think it would change your perspective on at least a couple of the instruments which you probably have some bias or prejudice against.

Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

BassHappy
www.innertainment.net
Click to expand...

Totally. I have a sneaking suspicion that in a blind test of solo bass tones you'd see Gibson and Rickenbacker scoring higher than they usually do in sighted tests. They just have these reputations that seem to precede them.
 

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