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Ask vs Alder
- Thread starter chjohnst
- Start date
Alder is a little warmer sounding than ash. Ash can be heavier depending on cut of wood. ash will look better in transparent finishes such as natural, sunburst or any other translucent finishes Fender makes. Both have their reasons for being favored.
alder has more bite in my opinion. i generally prefer alder.
ash has solid bottom with good highs.
ash has solid bottom with good highs.
I have found the opposite of Madbassplaya - Alder tends to be warmer, with a slight dampening of highs. True as is brighter; Swamp Ash isn't quite so bright but is nice and light.
However, any more, this only seems to matter with passive instruments, since the differences are fairly small. Now, Mahogany or cedar DO sound very different than Ash or Alder... much darker.
However, any more, this only seems to matter with passive instruments, since the differences are fairly small. Now, Mahogany or cedar DO sound very different than Ash or Alder... much darker.
cedar bass! omg, that would smell soooooo awesome!
Each morning you open your hardshell case would be like getting a high-five from the sun as you wake up
Alder seems to have a bit more mid punch and a smoother high end than ash. The P-Basses with the most noticeable mid range are almost always solid color instruments which are, for the most part, alder bodies. That's not to say there aren't ash bodied basses with nice mid honk.
Alder=60's
Ash=70's
You won't find better explanation than this...
Ha, I think that's pretty accurate!
One thing to remember is that some pickups (P, J, and MM) have such a strong tonal signature on their own that you'll be hard pressed to know which woods were used. Other pickups might be a little responsive to changes.
Wen dealing with differences in weight, alder is often lighter than a lot of ash, unless you're dealing with swamp ash.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
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- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
I agree! I find neck and fretboard woods to be far more important to the tone of a bass than body wood...
They surely make a difference, as well, but it isn't huge. Think of it this way: You have maple, then you have maple with a comparatively small amount of rosewood or pau ferro. Fret size is supposed to make a tonal difference, as well, as is the nut material and bridge mass... There is a substantial amount of body wood in the equation.
Of course everything plays a role on tone. Frets is a big deal, that's why NO bass sounds like Warwick.
Regarding wood specifically, I still think that it's like this:
Fretboard > Neck > Body > Top
I don't know either, but I've had a few basses that had everything the same, with the exception of the fingerboard. This included a few Peavey Cirrus and Millennium basses. I had a Millennium with a pao fero fingerboard and bird's eye maple. I could definitely hear a sonic difference. I also have some Cirrus basses with ebony fingerboards and some with pao fero fingerboards. The difference isn't quite as great, but the I can also hear a difference here as well. Naturally, since no pieces of wood is exactly the same, it's not exactly possible to rule out that it wasn't all 100% attributed to the fingerboards alone.
This may help. Unfortunately, they haven't done an alder/maple bass for comparison...
Invalid Link Removed
cedar bass! omg, that would smell soooooo awesome!
Each morning you open your hardshell case would be like getting a high-five from the sun as you wake up
These basses are especially popular with gerbils and hamsters.
Considering the manufacturing variations in some of the pickup winding and magnet structure as well as the different densities of ash or alder from different tress, I personaly don't think the species of wood makes a noticeable difference unless you were swapping the same necks and pickups into different bodies for an A/B test.
Jim Carr
Dr. Jim
- Jan 21, 2006
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- fEARful Kool-Aid dispensing liberal academic card-carrying union member Musicians Local 72-147
Thanks for posting links to those clips--they are favorites of mine. I found them, too, when I was ordering my Sadowsky a couple of years ago, and have posted the link quite a few times on TB since then. It usually silences the "wood makes no difference" assertions pretty quickly.
The clips had such a strong effect on me, that after hearing them for the first time, I immediately called Kevin Drexler at Sadowsky and revised my order to have a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard even though it cost quite a bit. I had wanted ebony because my upright has a great old ebony fingerboard, but wow, ebony is so so so bright compared to Brazilian rosewood.
Back on topic, according to somethings Roger Sadowsky has said, it is tougher now to find light weight Alder, so the Alder is chambered in his NYC line. I agree that Alder is warmer.
However, rosewood and ash actually can sound great together, too. Here is my old 44-01 (keep her happy, Josh) in a photo from the dealer in Austin, TX.
