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Are bassists more gear / tech savvy?

Do Bassists tend to be more tech savvy than other musicians?

  • Yes

    Votes: 85 58.6%

  • No

    Votes: 41 28.3%

  • I reject the premise!

    Votes: 19 13.1%
  • Total voters
    145
#41
In my experience, bassists are no more or less tech savvy than any other musicians. Some musicians are into learning about new and different technology and about gear for instruments other than what they play and some are not. I think it depends on the individual and not on the instrument that individual plays.
 
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#45
No, I don't think so. It may be what a lot of us would like to be true, but I think gear savvy doesn't have anything to do with what instrument you play; being interested in gear overall like PA, recording, other instruments etc is a separate illness all of its own. :) In my experience it's equally probable a guitarist, keyboardist or bass player has an interest in gear beyond their own instrument.
 
#47
gfen said:
Guys on forums are more technically minded than those who aren't because they spend an inordinate amount of time talking about things that others may not care about.

Right now on a guitar forum there's a thread about how bassists don't care about tone or FOH and just give DI to the sound guy and move on.

At least you know you've got the singers beat, their forum is probably filled with hair care tips.
Click to expand...
I hate singers
 
#49
I knew I'd become the crusty old bass player when I was debating the definition of personal tone (But who do YOU sound like?!) with my guitarist nephew after he purchased a Kemper modeling amp. He was very tech savvy to the detriment of defining who he was as a player.

As he's now at Belmont and I still primarily play in my basement, I voted "no," bassists are not more tech savvy. :rollno:

friendlybass said:
Hell half of us can't even wrap our heads around watts
Click to expand...
This is why I buy TC Electronic amps because their "watts" are easy to understand. :thumbsup:
 
#51
IME Many good musicians (regardless of instrument) are tech savvy if they want to keep abreast of technology that assists in their goal to continue to improve their sound. AND many good musicians aren't tech savvy because they are happy with their current sound/gear.
 
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#54
A lot of us older guys had to be in our younger days. Not all of us could afford the expensive amps and had to be creative in getting the job done.
For example, a fellow local player's main amp died. He had an old Bogen fifty watt tube amp as a backup and a single cabinet with a fifteen in it.
That rig sounded awesome! We used odd combinations of equipment available and learned what worked.
Just my two cents. :)
 
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#57
In general, I would say the answer is no.

In my current band, I am definitely the most tech/gear savvy guy. Our drummer has a little bit of knowledge about gear but our guitarist is completely useless on the subject. Aside from knowing where to "plug in" and how to turn an amp on, there's not too much more he knows about equipment. What makes the whole thing ironic though is that he is actually studying to be an electrician right now. I still don't get it.
 
#58
In a word, no. I feel that most musicians (at least in my experience) aren't tech savvy. I'm the only one I know personally who knows most of the "tech" side of things besides the immediate needs of playing their instrument. I pretty much maintain all my band's gear and setup when something goes wrong for that reason. Now, I'm not a huge tech guy, but I know a lot more than anyone else I've ever met! (Learned just about everything 100% from TB, too!)
 
#59
Acoustic356 said:
As a former guitarist, I think guitar players are equally as savvy as bass players, but they only talk about it with other guitarists.

Guitarists obsess over tone. Which tubes produce the right amount of tube breakup and when. If you know one that plays a tube amp, ask him why he uses those tubes and you will see.

They also can tell you the difference between distortion and overdrive as well as why and when you would want to stack them. They obsess over the brown sound as well.

Don't get them started on the Strat vs. Les Paul discussion as that will start a holy war.

Then they will talk about guitars with different scale lengths, why the reverse headstock will give you the Jimi Hendrix sound because it changes the tension on the...

They also obsess over pickups, volume and tone pots, bridges, nuts, tremolo (bigsby, Floyd rose, lever, locked, floating)...

I would go on, but I think it would bore you.

... But this is why a guitarist can come into a room, plug in and play.

Bassists have a different set of worries. We have to tune our low end to the room. We can be too boomy if the put us in a corner. We won't be able to hear ourselves of we're too close the the amp, we may have to adjust to cut through a mix. I think we have to be more room aware.
Click to expand...


I agree. I also agree that musicians who spend significant time on forums are more tech savvy than others. I am a guitarist who learned to play bass and comparing all the issues of both, guitarists have more issues/variables.

Let's talk pups, in addition to HBs (std and mini), single coils, laces and split (aka P by bassists) all of which exist for both) guitarists also have P90s, PRails, rails and neck mounted pups on some jazz boxes. And for the dual HBs, in guitars they get played in series, parallel, inner coils, outer coils... I'm gonna stop.
 
Last edited:
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