Stopped careing long ago bout high end basses etc.....I now play a couple of cheap lightweight Squiers which I set up and tweak myself and the thing Ive finally realised..tone really is the fingers and your overall approach to practising and playing and not on thousands spent.
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- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Any of the opnions here work fine for me. Whatever keeps the music going is a beautiful thing.
For me, I've had a lot of basses in my lifetime. Sold some perfectly nice ones and can't always remember why. The one constant is, they just never felt like 'my' bass. The ones that have stuck around feel like my bass for whatever silly reason. My Drake is MY bass all the way. It was made for me and feels like it. That could be all in my head, but who cares?!
My Gretsch SpectraSonic is my bass. Maybe there's some snob appeal that they're really rare, but it gets the most work. My '76 P bass is amazing, but for whatever reason hasn't become 'my' bass. Maybe someday
For me, I've had a lot of basses in my lifetime. Sold some perfectly nice ones and can't always remember why. The one constant is, they just never felt like 'my' bass. The ones that have stuck around feel like my bass for whatever silly reason. My Drake is MY bass all the way. It was made for me and feels like it. That could be all in my head, but who cares?!
My Gretsch SpectraSonic is my bass. Maybe there's some snob appeal that they're really rare, but it gets the most work. My '76 P bass is amazing, but for whatever reason hasn't become 'my' bass. Maybe someday
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Humans have more in common with each other than not, but we don't seem to let that stop us from murdering, starving, imprisoning, and torturing "them."
Beer, cars, and cigars are all pretty much the same thing too, aren't they?
Sorry, the bass matters. And no, tone isn't all in your fingers. That's just some pithy sounding phrase someone came up with to sound smarter than they are.
"And no, tone isn't all in your fingers. That's just some pithy sounding phrase someone came up with to sound smarter than they are."
Kind of a glass half full/half empty kind of thing, says more about the observer than the item, with a bit of arbitrary judgment before the period.
Tone may very well be in part the instrument but I've never seen or heard a bass make a sound with out fingers being involved, other than falling over, or runaway feedback.
It's not the hammer and nail that build the house. Nor instruments plucked from the tree ready to sing.
Just a simple observation, ultimately it all starts in the mind of the artist and produced by the tools built to that purpose.
Kind of a glass half full/half empty kind of thing, says more about the observer than the item, with a bit of arbitrary judgment before the period.
Tone may very well be in part the instrument but I've never seen or heard a bass make a sound with out fingers being involved, other than falling over, or runaway feedback.
It's not the hammer and nail that build the house. Nor instruments plucked from the tree ready to sing.
Just a simple observation, ultimately it all starts in the mind of the artist and produced by the tools built to that purpose.
I think you’d care more if you could only afford 1 bass.
Let's agree to disagree.
All I know is, whether I play a P or a J (or anything else) and regardless of whether it's strung with flats or rounds, is active or passive, is amped or DI... the resultant noise always sounds exactly like me playing a bass.If it were possible to buy a particular bass to get a particular sound there would be no GAS and the massive turnover of instruments wouldn't be what it is...
I´ve said this somewhere else, before, but this seems a more relevant place... I have owned many different basses and amps, used picks and fingers and almost always have had my sound that I like. I firmly believe that the differences between different basses and amps(excluding absolute crap) are greatly overstated. Yes some tone is in fingers, strings etc but in the end I have always found that EQ fixes most differences.
I choose basses because how they look and feel, and in the end that is what matters, then figure out how to get the sound I like. I´m sure there are many more here too. Live..the differences are even less.
I choose basses because how they look and feel, and in the end that is what matters, then figure out how to get the sound I like. I´m sure there are many more here too. Live..the differences are even less.
I will gladly play any bass as long as it's my Ric 4003.
While it is true any wood worker in the shop can grab a tool and use that tool as a means to an end, a true craftsman knows which tool performs that task best and chooses that tool.7
You can get one particular tone out of one particular bass. That's why so people have more than one. There isn't one perfect tone that works in all situations. You might need a P with flats for this tone, a round wound jazz for that sound, or a fretless 6 string Thumb bass for something else.Let's agree to disagree.
If it were possible to buy a particular bass to get a particular sound there would be no GAS and the massive turnover of instruments wouldn't be what it is...
I can't make a framing hammer out of a screw driver. I can't use a torque wrench to solder. Basses are tools, and each does different things. Sometimes you need one thing, sometimes you need another.
You will always have your note choice and style, but no one can make a 4 string P sound like a 6 string fretless with humbuckers.
I guess I’ve never been in a situation where people complained I had the wrong bass or tone. Must not be a good enough or in enough demand player. We’re just in the boonies out here so people probably don’t care as much.
Hmm, I can get more than one tone out of one particular bass. Fingers, pick, play by the bridge, play by the neck, tickle the strings, dig in, tone controls... but generally speaking, bass guitars all sound quite a lot like bass guitars in the end. My view is that people enjoy buying lots of different basses because they like to collect basses. Nothing wrong with that. But yes, you're right up to a point. I think a P bass, a J bass and possibly some kind of fretless would cover 99% of situations one is likely to encounter. Let's say three basses, then.
If it’s not in your fingers why do you sound like you and I sound like me on the same bass?
Don’t think I misunderstand. Some folks select and dial their rigs so it all does sound the same. Yet besides that.......?
Don’t think I misunderstand. Some folks select and dial their rigs so it all does sound the same. Yet besides that.......?
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
The difference with so much bass gear vs. guitar is the huge amount of EQ available and of course headroom from a powerful amp.
A great setup on a mediocre bass goes a LONG way imo....but of course that setup needs to fit the individual player.
Any cheaper amp and speaker setup needs to be played well within its design limits....pushing any cheap/subpar amp/speaker rig will sound like crap usually.
They all have different songs in them.
Given the correct tuning and range pretty much any bass can play pretty much any song, but specific basses will bring out things that you and they have inside.
Given the correct tuning and range pretty much any bass can play pretty much any song, but specific basses will bring out things that you and they have inside.
