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A "tone is in the hands" story...

#63
I don't know, he had a fat wad of cash, but I said "No thank you, my daddy bought this bass for me 15 years ago"........I sold it a month or two ago, but still have the fretless P neck. If only my dad had known that I really couldn't fathom 3 knobs, he might have insisted on a P bass
 
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#68
Now wait a second. Having sold every bass I made from either word of mouth or the buyer heard me in a store trying amps, effects etc. I can say the instrument can help quite a bit. I'm no great shakes as a player and it was usually touring or recording folks that bought me stuff.

Can't say it's all hands, but mileage varies...
 
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#69
Once played through a guy's rig including his Jazz Bass just because the stage was a quick revolving cast of characters and wanted to alleviate as much chaos as possible. His guitar, his rig, didn't touch his eettings on either - just played. After I was done he came up asking "What settings did you use? How did you get that sound??! Told him I had no idea - and I didn't because I didn't think I sounded all that well. lol. Just had about 25 years more experience I guess.

Side note: 4 different guitar players and each came up with his own pedal board = what a mess! Each one had problems and was spaghetti getting his stuff to "sound right". Two guys insisted on using their amps. I dunno -- if you're in a fast revolving stage setting seems to me good to follow the KISS method. But that's just me. Pity on the sound guy!
 
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#70
BAG said:
The comments about good sound out of cheap amps reminded me of the best bass tone I've heard for a long time. He was playing through a small-ish Behringer amp as a monitor and going out of the built in DI to a pretty old cheap PA..... and sounded fantastic!
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So do i: a Behringer ULTRA BASS 1200 ... full punch with the L-Berger; got a MXR M80 instead the internal d.i. for low mid control.
 
#71
ThePublic said:
Now wait a second. Having sold every bass I made from either word of mouth or the buyer heard me in a store trying amps, effects etc. I can say the instrument can help quite a bit. I'm no great shakes as a player and it was usually touring or recording folks that bought me stuff.

Can't say it's all hands, but mileage varies...
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I don't think any of us are saying equipment doesn't matter. Clearly, a fine instrument encourages and cajoles us to produce the best music we can. I think Kesslari's point was that some people--like the audience member in his story--think that the instrument is the only thing that matters.
 
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#72
kesslari said:
My wife reminded me. Many years ago I was playing doumbek (Arab goblet drum - lots of fun) in a Middle-Eastern band, as well as in a World Music fusion band. Both were playing at a festival in Santa Barbara, on consecutive days.
We finished our set, first day, and a guy comes out of the audience and says "I want to buy your drum". I tell him there's a store literally 2 blocks away that sells them and he can buy one brand new. He says no, he wants to buy *mine* because he likes how it sounds.
I tell him I really don't want to sell it because I'd have to go buy another one. He's insistent.
I say "It costs $110 brand new just down the street. If I sell you this one I'd charge you $125. It's really not worth the extra, just go buy a new one." He remains insistent and counts out the money.
OK, two blocks for $15 - at that point in my life, a good deal. I took it.
Next day we're performing - finish our set, same guy comes up and says "how much for THAT one?" I ask what the problem was, he says "I took yours home but it doesn't sound as good"...

Sigh... and :D
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We keep hearing "your tone is in your hands", but it can take some people years to accept it, so they keep buying new gear, chasing that elusive tone. I currently own three basses; valued between one and fifteen grand. I can hear subtle differences, but my band mates say they all sound great, so it must be my hands:-)
 
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#73
Ian Lewis said:
We keep hearing "your tone is in your hands", but it can take some people years to accept it, so they keep buying new gear, chasing that elusive tone. I currently own three basses; valued between one and fifteen grand. I can hear subtle differences, but my band mates say they all sound great, so it must be my hands:)
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When one understood this and has worked and figured out his haptic skills, gas will immediately stop ... even cheapos can have their qualities, try to finger them out. :bassist:
 
#74
BergerHead said:
When one understood this and has worked and figured out his haptic skills, gas will immediately stop ... even cheapos can have their qualities, try to finger them out. :bassist:
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...and if this aspect of the tone were all there was to it, you'd be right.
However, not everybody attends solely to the tone heard by the audience and disregards all else.
 

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