Anybody else really not care anymore?

[PWRL]

I usually play whichever bass I think will sound right for whatever I'm up to. However, sometimes I switch it up, just to see what will happen. I don't really have a favorite, anyway. It generally works out pretty well.

 

[DiMarco]

Change is the spice of life.

Also, through my Mesa amp the Rics sound great but the rest so-so. My Japanese Fender P bass sounded dull through it and I was thinking of selling that bass because of this.
Then I played the same P through a full tube Trace Elliot HexaValve and it sounds DA BOMB through that, now I want to sell the Mesa Prodigy amp instead. Oh well...

 

[Bad azz tone]

WAIT,WAIT,WAIT!!!!!!!! SO,let' see if I have this correct. You want me to believe that some of you think it' ok to step onto a professional stage in front of thousands of people with your$79.00 Tesco bass and your $89.00 bass amp? And that you are going to sound and play perfectly. CHECK PLEASE!

 

[gully_jones]

Pretty much. I ran of #@%*'s to give in 1986. As for basses my philosophy is:

 

[40Hz]

The ROOM... now THAT'S a big part of it.

Oh man! Ain’t it ever?

Now we’re cutting to the chase.

 

[Nephilymbass]

Still thinking this through and want to reserve the right to change my mind at any time...

Also not sure yet if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I'm choosing right now to see it as a good thing.

Last night I broke out a bass I haven't gigged in years. My Warwick Fortress One.

Lo and behold, it was hands down the band's favorite of any bass I've gigged yet. Gotta admit, it kicked some major butt. I loved playing it too as it's real comfy, balances well, has great action, and lots of versatility. So I'm driving home and I start thinkin...

One day my Caprice sounds like the greatest bass on earth. Another day, different room, different levels on everyone, all of a sudden it sounds like a completely different animal. Same holds true for my Jazz, my Bongo, my Ric and every single bass I've ever played or owned. One day sounds freaking awesome, the next - who knows? Last night the stars were all aligned for the Warwick. When I take it to the next gig I may very well wonder, what was I thinking or hearing?

That being said, I love playing even when I don't feel I've got the greatest sound I could possibly have. I'm starting to really feel like the bass means little to nothing. As long as it's set up to my liking, anything and everything I want can be found in my amp EQ and fingers - or not. Either it's there, or it isn't, and there's no way I'm going to have precisely what I like most, every time, in every room, with every band. Unless I'm playing in the same room with the same band every gig. That ain't happening.

I'm really starting not to care a single bit about the bass I'm playing. Beginning to feel like I never want to comment on a bass again, too - which I've said before and I know makes some people here happy. This is one of the reasons I never really listen to anyone else's comments regarding a bass, also. It doesn't matter.

I love all basses.

And I don't really care anymore.

At least for today .

How about you?

In all honesty I have a “meh” attitude about most basses. There’s a few though that are very inspiring to play. I play what I want to play and don’t really care about others approval. Except my wife. She complained the entire time I owned my silver sparkle stingray, but ya know, I have to live with her.

 

[FlatwoundFunk]

I’ve never really much cared about what bass I’m playing as long as it sounded decent and wasn’t unbearably painful to play. I do have basses I prefer to play. And a couple I actually enjoy playing. But to me, any real magic there is, is to be found in the performance rather than the instrument itself.

Maybe it’s a little bit of arrogance on my part. But I’ve always believed (and by now I have the track record to back it up) that I can wring a decent performance out of virtually and bass that gets handed to me, as long as it can hold its tuning fairly well.

When I first started out, an old jazzer told me; “Don’t ever marry your instrument. If you're smart you won’t even go steady.”

His point was that you’re “The Bass,” not your instrument. He said instruments get stolen, broken, lost, and sometimes have to be sold to get some emergency cash all the time. Life throws a lot of curveballs our way. So if you hang your entire identity as a player on a single instrument, you’re bound to end up being very sorry some day. He said to learn how to get “your sound” out of anything you play. Even learn how to get it out of something you don’t play. That’s what separates a musician from some guy who can just play something.

Wise words. Glad I took them to heart.

Thank you for this.

 

[the_home]

Another who also has a Fortress One. I love the feel and balance. Band doesn't like the
'Wick grind. Still play it sometimes just to annoy Dave. But it's so enjoyable to have a few in the herd just for the sake of variety. Different sounds and different feel elicits different inspiration.

 

[40Hz]

Singers...like their opinions matter. They only matter when they sign the check. Too bad they often do.

Got that right.

Once again Jim is spot on the sugar.

 

[Engle]

At the end of the day, the bass is a tool.

A 26 oz framing hammer with its extra weight and cross hatch on the head is ideal for hammering 3 1/4” spikes and a 16 oz hammer with a smooth face is better for finishing work. Some folks will build a whole house with the 16 oz. And most will opt for air nailers as they are more efficient.

I like having lots of tools and basses. I know I’m fortunate to live in a time and place where I can afford that luxury. I also know that I could make do with one bass if I had to.

 

[40Hz]

Based on my own experiences, I’m of the opinion that most times you’re playing live, unless the FOH rig is top notch and you have a genuine sound pro rocking the house board, one bass is pretty much sonically interchangeable with almost any other bass for all practical purposes. At least within that context.

And while it’s true that a PB won’t sound like a Ric, which won’t sound like TBird, which won’t sound like a (fill in the blank 20 more times) it doesn’t really make that huge a difference in the mix as long as the quality of the playing is there.

At low volumes in tiny venues, or in the studio where you can actually hear and mix for nuance, that’s a totally different story. But for the average live stage volume levels the bass mostly just needs to be there for it to work.

Or so I think.

But maybe that’s just me.

 

[kodiakblair]

But maybe that’s just me.

Nope not just you. I've long thought the same.

 

[slobake]

I own two basses. My main bass is an American Standard P and my backup is a MIM 50's P. I like my main bass, no problems. Maybe I'm boring.

 

[BaltBass5]

I have been playing for 30 years now and although I love my sound and my gear and I constantly get compliments on it I am ALWAYS searching for the next sonic level. I think most serious musicians are that way....it’s “the curse”

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

I am at the point where I will just grab one of my four basses for a gig. Whichever one I feel like playing that night.

 

[Pocket4]

Part of the mystery of GAS may very well be grounded in deciding bass guitar rotation to align with the forces, or even just the room. I don't know. It might be a way to better understand why we made the leap to own the bass and ask what makes it perform better or not.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Another who also has a Fortress One. I love the feel and balance. Band doesn't like the
'Wick grind. Still play it sometimes just to annoy Dave. But it's so enjoyable to have a few in the herd just for the sake of variety. Different sounds and different feel elicits different inspiration.

Learned last night that the "Wick grind" can be easily dialed out just by cutting back on the treble. I only recently started turning the tone knobs backwards on my active basses, and it has made a HUGE difference. In the past, in all my original bands, I wanted aggressive only. It was almost as thought I was phobic of doing anything other than turning them up from the center point.

 

[buldog5151bass]

I own two basses. My main bass is an American Standard P and my backup is a MIM 50's P. I like my main bass, no problems. Maybe I'm boring.

. You, Jamerson, and about a million others.

 

[two fingers]

I'm with ya Joe.

I'm in a really weird place right now. I absolutely LOVE my new Hammersmith. It is literally everything I ever wanted in ONE bass.

That being said, I came across my first bass ever last year, a 4 string P bass. And I love it. I just p it flats on it and it's just buttah!

Also, I built a parts bass 4 string P bass. Sucker weighs just over 7 pounds and has a growly DiMarzio PAF era pickup. It's a featherweight beast! And I don't even play 4 strings (or I didn't anyway).

And my 5 string P bass....

And my.....


Oy...... I love 'em all.

The Hammersmith is still getting most of the live time by far. But the others aren't going anywhere right now I suppose.

 

[superdick2112]

Learned last night that the "Wick grind" can be easily dialed out just by cutting back on the treble. I only recently started turning the tone knobs backwards on my active basses, and it has made a HUGE difference. In the past, in all my original bands, I wanted aggressive only. It was almost as thought I was phobic of doing anything other than turning them up from the center point.

Same experience with my Spectors.
There is a whole universe of tones available with just a turn of the knobs.
Try a set of flats on the Warwick for yet another mind-expanding experience.