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Alder vs. Swamp Ash

#82
mjac28 said:
As I get Alder I get less Ash :)
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#86
vin*tone said:
Correct.... and correct.... I think. I actually have no idea about the body wood it's a MIJ. :D I assume it's alder.

Brad the point is to keep the discussion in context. Sure woods may have an impact on tone, but in the wider context of a band performance - how significant is that? Is it actually possible to say - "Gee he should have used a Bubinga bass on that recording and it would have come alive"? Compared to EQ setting, where the string is plucked, pickup height, preamp, string type, whether the mixer decided to butcher your bass tone by goosing the bass to give the recording "sonic separation" (as per the my recording :atoz:)..... etc...
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My reply was in context. Unless everyone who plays that bass will sound the same, in this case you and me, how would I know? I think I would have a much better idea of what the bass is made of if I played it IRL through clean amplification, not in the mix where I can clearly hear the bass. IME in the mixes I play in (unless it's a bad one) yes, I can tell the difference between my Ash basses and my Alder ones. I can also change my technique to mimic one on the other but that is something I AM DOING, NOT THE BASS. Like mimicing a P on a J.

That's my point. Nice playing and if I had to guess, ASSUMING this is a clean unaltered signal, not knowing how fresh the strings are (Ash tends to accentuate the highs more), whatever way you recorded it, etc. it seems to lean more towards an Alder vibe than Ash. Rounder, not as scooped for lack of a better word in the mids. Not that you can't make technique or EQ changes as I mentioned. Your playing is clean, you don't seem to be digging in and IME digging in, slapping and popping and other more aggressive techniques seem to put the effect of woods more out front IME...

but I hate assuming and guessing which is why I typically refrain from it.
:D

I'm amused by the increasing polarisation of debates these days. Comments like "I can never get a good tone out of an alder bass" just make me think - Jeez man you should practice more. :p
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It's been polarized a long, long time. And I agree... if you can't get a good tone out of ANY Alder bass, it probably ain't the bass. I have woods I prefer but I never assume a wood I don't prefer, like in my case Mahogany, can't work for me. I have two Mahogany basses in my current rotation, a Glasstone 5 and R bass singlecut 5. They both sound great... and nothing like any of my other basses.

It's probably the Dunlop straplocks.
;)

And for the record - I say all that - but am personally particular about alder bodied Fenders.... except my 51RI which I think is ash. :rolleyes:
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My favorite wood in general is heavy Maple. It combines what I like about Ash and Alder and takes it up a few notches. IMO IME of course.
 
#88
I feel like if I can get very nearly the same articulate tone out of a Jazz Bass, a Stingray and a Ric in the same A-B-C session like I did a couple of weeks ago then obsessing over body wood may not be worth it. Are there differences? Probably. Are they worth the split hairs? Not for me.
 
#93
R Baer said:
Right there with ya. But you have to admit, as a dumb kid there was just nothing better than getting together with "the band" and cranking up the amps. Actually, I put most of my hearing loss down to standing next to the cymbals of hard hitting drummers. I always played on the drummer's right and I have much more upper frequency loss in my left ear. Despite it all, my hearing held up pretty well. I don't hear much above 14k or15k, but hey, I'm a bass player and have no use for those frequencies anyway! :smug:
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lol, true. However it does kinda suck though because when certain people talk I have to ask them to repeat themselves all the time. However I am getting better at reading lips. Either that or I just smile and nod my head a lot. Probably calling me names, lol.
 
#94
I was told (by one of the known custom bass builders) that there will be more difference in sound depending on what finish (nitro, satin, poly) the guitar is coated with, rather than the wood it is built with. Based on that, I picked mine to be made with swamp ash. I wonder whether he was correct but I'm SURE he knows more about it than I do ;)
 
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#97
nostatic said:
Sure, you can push tone around with eq and/or technique - but if you keep all other factors equal (at least as much as you can), you can hear differences. At least I can. I have a pair of basses that differ only in fingerboard and body wood. They sound very different - even my wife can pick them out *without looking*.
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Exactly, my wife can pick out her favorite wood whitout looking as well.
 
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