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20 Bass Shootout!

#81
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...

I couldn't agree more. The general disdain for Gibson on TalkBass is perplexing. I did exactly what you said - eyes closed listening. It was just more confirmation for me which basses were the standouts.
I like Fenders plenty, but the Jazz in this video was just awful, IMO.




lowendblues said:
I guess I'm the only one that liked the les Paul? The rick was a real close second for me. But then again, I'm reviewing this on a nexus 7 tablet.
Click to expand...

I also really liked the Les Paul.
 
#83
BassDaddy77 said:
I couldn't agree more. The general disdain for Gibson on TalkBass is perplexing. I did exactly what you said - eyes closed listening. It was just more confirmation for me which basses were the standouts.
I like Fenders plenty, but the Jazz in this video was just awful, IMO.






I also really liked the Les Paul.
Click to expand...

I also liked the Les Paul and the Epi Tbird. Actually I was very impressed with nearly all the Gibson products and with the exception of the Fender P bass I wasn't that fond of the Fender sound tracks. Exactly opposite of what I thought I would like.
 
#84
BassDaddy77 said:
I did exactly what you said - eyes closed listening. It was just more confirmation for me which basses were the standouts.
Click to expand...

The way to do it is to put the mouse right over the pause or stop button on the video, don't move the mouse hand - close your eyes and when you hear FATNESS and that appealing tone that strikes that chord in your gut hit pause, then see which bass it is.

You might just learn something about yourself.

I listen for width and girth.

BassHappy
www.innertainment.net
 
#86
To my ears, I liked:
Gibson EB2 1965 (that one surprised me!).
2014 American P-bass
Yamaha BB414 (another surprise).
Most others sounded nasal...but good, not as good as those 3 I mention here.
Great video BTW. Thanks so much...
How did you get your hands on all those basses?
 
#87
I really liked that you used a pick & round wound strings - it makes their sounds so much clearer, and easier to define - thanks.

I still liked the Ibby SR, and in no special order I also really liked the Stagg, Gibson Ripper, Gibson Krist Novocelic, Squire 51' P, and the Fender Std P.

The Squire really suprised me ... so did the Fender P.
 
#89
I listened again (to Riff 1), this time with high quality headphones and closing my eyes before I finished judging the sound of any particular bass.

Like before, the Am Std P Bass and the Ric are hands down the best--nothing else is even close. They are apples and oranges, but I prefer the Ric a little more than the P. The other two P Basses had pretty good sounds as well but the Am Std was just tops.

With the headphones, I found there were some, like the EB-2 and the Epi T-Bird, that I actually liked a little better than before but they were still not anything spectacular. And the Yamaha I actually liked less with the headphones.

I don't really like the Riff 2 recordings as much in general so I'm not going to comment on it in depth. The picked arpeggio is not my bag, and I don't like what it does to the tone of most of the basses. Although the Ric does get props for sounding a lot cleaner than many of the others with the heavy attack of the pick. (Don't have hurt feelings that I don't like it Johan, it was good of you to do a picked version.)

EDIT:...Okay fine. In Riff 2 the Ripper suddenly got my attention and the Am Std P Bass wasn't quite as good but still a solid contender. And the Jazz Bass got a little better but it still had a weak/phase-y quality to some of the notes. When mine sounded that way I wondered if it was the skinny neck or what.

EDIT 2: Big thanks to Johan for putting these together.
 
#90
If all I played was that riff the Les Paul bass & Jaguar bass would be out of the running, but the others had something going for them--I liked the Ibanez the best, but I own one--so take that into account as well.

The p Basses all sounded good--even the Squier-and so did the Jazz Bass.
 
#92
Johan gets high praise from me for the time, effort and expense
he puts into his demos.

Above and Beyond!

The only thing you can't tell from this demo is how the basses
feel and how easily they play or not.

That's where each instrument needs to be evaluated on its own merit.
 
#94
Thanks again, I love these kind of comparison videos & I know this must have taken awhile to make/edit. I preferred the new P bass followed by the Rickenbacker best overall. I liked the Ibanez least followed by the Jazz only because it didn't sound as good in the 1st clip, 2nd clip was much better for the jazz, I'm a fan of Jazz bass's generally. There was something shrill about the highs of the Ibby that turned me off. I liked the Gibson bass's overall & that Gretsch Electromatic had an interesting tone. I could hear the springy tone of the Ripper in the 2nd clip that I've read about.
 
#98
That is so much fun to listen to! I liked the Ps and the BB414, which confirms I like that good old split coil pickup in the neck position. As always, our opinions might well change if these were played in a mix, and change again according to genre and the make up of the band. Still, this was a great video. Did I mention how much fun it was? :)
 
#99
You made an excellent effort on these vids! Great sound snapshots of each basses tones. Looks like you have access to a lot of models. Really enjoyed the vids and I was surprised at how some models didn't have an even-ness of "tone" "volume" or "attack" from string to string. Thanks Man, helped me think about how to narrow down my search for my next bass...
 

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