• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

AUDIO TEST: Maple+Maple vs. Alder+Rosewood!

CAST YOUR VOTE HERE!

  • BASS 1 is brighter than BASS 2. The MIX clip is BASS 1.

    Votes: 13 6.6%

  • BASS 1 is brighter than BASS 2. The MIX clip is BASS 2.

    Votes: 37 18.7%

  • BASS 2 is brighter than BASS 1. The MIX clip is BASS 1.

    Votes: 74 37.4%

  • BASS 2 is brighter than BASS 1. The MIX clip is BASS 2.

    Votes: 43 21.7%

  • I can't hear any difference whatsoever!

    Votes: 12 6.1%

  • I can hear a difference, but I have no clue which bass is being used in the mix.

    Votes: 19 9.6%
  • Total voters
    198
  • Poll closed .
#161
-=DanAtkinson=- said:
+1

You can't get rounds to sound like flats. I've tried. All you can do is get them to sound like rounds with the tone rolled down.

Flats have a completely different vibe. They are the sound of a bass fully embracing itself as a bass, with no shame. They proudly declare their bass-ness without compromise. They do not try to pretend they are a guitar.

:hiding:
Click to expand...

...tone rolled off. Pluck with the meaty part of your thumb...big ass thump. About 95% the sound of flats.

Now tell me how to get 95% the sound of roundwounds with your flats...

Cheers,
Cameron
 
#162
cassius987 said:
Yeah but the harmonics of fresh rounds almost feed back on each other, I could see it obscuring the important parts of the tone--i.e. the stuff below 2 kHz. Flats easily cover up to 2 kHz, I have tested this with my basses equipped with flats.
Click to expand...

and so do MOST acoustic instruments...2kHz is nothing. A lot of the differences in tonewoods that we are trying to hear live there, not in the low end.

Cheers,
Cameron
 
#163
I didn't read the first thread all the way through, but I got the answer right. Producer ears for the win. I also have studio cans, and so YMMV there. To say you cant hear the difference in woods is crazy! Dan your threads on this subject are enlightening to me because I can hear all the difference, I just do not understand those who say they can't. My hearing is quite blasted from years of loud bar playing, and with my studio monitors I can hear all the subtilty of each piece of wood.

That said, I can hear the maple in every fender copy bass with it and I hate it. I love my non-maple neck. Not sure I like the flats on this test either.. you cannot hear that much. I know you like them Dan, but still the majority of bass players do not use them at all. Rounds respond more to the wood choices, flats fight you and give you one tone: the tone of the strings only.
 
#165
Bassflute said:
...tone rolled off. Pluck with the meaty part of your thumb...big ass thump. About 95% the sound of flats.

Now tell me how to get 95% the sound of roundwounds with your flats...

Cheers,
Cameron
Click to expand...

All your really doing is reducing sustain. It doesn't change the essential difference between flats and rounds: flats have a much clearer fundamental; no ringing overtones. That is why they sound better in a mix.

If I want to lay down a funky groove and I want a flatwound tone I'm not going to achieve it on rounds by playing with my thumb and palm muting....
 
#166
Joelb79,

I'm curious about your take on things. To me...The bottom end of bass 1 was superior to that of bass 2. What is your take on why that difference existed? What is it about maple that you apparently don't like? Is it the bottom or the top that you have a problem with?
 
#167
-=DanAtkinson=- said:
+1

You can't get rounds to sound like flats. I've tried. All you can do is get them to sound like rounds with the tone rolled down.

Flats have a completely different vibe. They are the sound of a bass fully embracing itself as a bass, with no shame. They proudly declare their bass-ness without compromise. They do not try to pretend they are a guitar.

:hiding:
Click to expand...

Yes... hide you should.

I was really digging all of your scientific polls about wood, but now that you have revealed yourself to be a member of what I call "the Cult of Old and Crappy", I'm rethinking things... ;)
 
#169
-=DanAtkinson=- said:
Everyone ready for the big reveal? Here it goes...






BASS 2 was the Maple+Maple, and BASS 2 was used for the Mix.


So, the correct answer would be "BASS 2 is brighter than BASS 1. The MIX clip is BASS 2." Which 18% got correct.

It really surprises me that about 27% of voters said Bass 1 was brighter than Bass 2. I did not expect that. My ears definitely detected more "bite", "snap", and upper midrange on the Bass 2 clips.

However, in the mix clip it became VERY difficult to identify which was bass was used.

Thanks for playing!
Click to expand...

Hmmm - I had ZERO problem hearing that bass two was brighter - really, it just leapt out.

The mix, however... not so easy.

this test has pretty well reaffirmed what I've long believed - Wood *does* matter, just not very much... and that small difference is virtually nonexistent in the mix.
 
#171
mongo2 said:
How is one part of the tone "more important" than another? It's all just tone.
Click to expand...

Go ahead and play us a bass line with something that won't go below 2 kHz and let's see how that sounds. The meat and potatoes of the bass guitar (and then some) are all under 2 kHz and rounds just put a bunch of annoying crap on top of it, in my experience. Just IMO of course--but nevertheless, that's where I'm coming from.
 
#172
SUBass said:
Dan,

I'm trying to get a bass that helps me achieve my goals. Since you're a builder who has at least in part hit my goals with a very specific instrument. I want to know about that instrument and why you think it hit that one aspect of my tonal goals.

As a builder, Why do you think Bass 1 sounds different than Bass 2?
Click to expand...

They sound different because something influenced how the strings vibrate. Given that the only difference between the 2 basses was wood species, it must be the wood.

But the effect is very subtle, isn't it?

Now, swap those single-coil pickups with DiMarzio Model J pickups and you'll hear a big difference. Swap the TI Jazz flats with steel rounds and you'll hear a big difference.

In terms of overall "contribution to tone", you're probably looking at something like this:

The Player = 30%
Strings = 25%
Pickups = 20%
Overall buid/construction quality = 15%
Wood = 10%
 
#176
They sound different because something influenced how the strings vibrate. Given that the only different between the 2 basses was wood species, it must be the wood.
Click to expand...

I agree there...

But the effect is very subtle, isn't it?
Click to expand...

NO!!! NO it's not!!! Not even in the mix. I could CLEARLY hear the difference in tone in the mix.

Now, swap those single-coil pickups with DiMarzio Model J pickups and you'll hear a big difference.
Click to expand...

As far as pickups are concerned...Yes...The spectral content will shift...It'll get bassier....It'll get brighter...But I've NEVER heard a pickup swap change "mushy" to "solid."

Swap the TI Jazz flats with steel rounds and you'll hear a big difference.
Click to expand...

I won't get into strings...That's going down the wrong path here.



To speak in technical terms...Low "E" on a bass is approx. 40hz. What I'm hearing in your clips is something like this:

When low "E" is played on bass 1 I here the true fundamental 40hz with an overtone sequence. When I hear "E" on bass 2 it's like the fundamental is there...But I here much more of the 80 and 120hz harmonics than I do the true fundamental tone of the note. Bass 2 sounds much more "Motown" than bass 1.

In terms of overall "contribution to tone", you're probably looking at something like this:

The Player = 40%
Strings = 30%
Pickups = 20%
Wood = 10%
Click to expand...

I don't 100% agree with that. I do agree that the player makes a difference as there's just an inherent tone that I'm going to produce. But in terms of pure tone...I sound distinctly different playing any bass. Does Joe Public care which one I use? Nope...But I sure do.
 
#177
I don't get the whole flat vs. round debate here. I use both and love them both equally. One is not better than the other. They both sound awesome, and I can make either sound great.

I have to lean with the folks that hear the difference in tone in the isolated tracks as very obvious. To me it was just blatantly apparant that bass 2 was brighter. I think I would hear that difference regardless of Flats or Rounds.

Now about the mix, being that I thought bass 2 was brighter, to my ears the bass sounded upfront in the mix. It wasn't the level, but the eq. So I guessed bass 2 was the one in the mix. What I liked (and what confused me) was that I could also hear that pleasant smoother tone of bass1 in the mix, but I thought it couldn't be bass 1 cuz I imagined that it would sit more in the back of the mix.

I would def pick the tone of bass 2 over bass1, you get the nice smooth tone upfront in the mix.
 
#178
Let me ask a different question....

To Dan...

Since you've played both basses...did the "string" response feel different between them? Did one seem to respond or feel better than the other when playing?


To everyone...

Have you ever noticed a difference in mechanical response or feel between similar instruments?

I'm not trying to stir stuff up...I just want my dream bass/tone.
 
#179
SUBass said:
Let me ask a different question....

To Dan...

Since you've played both basses...did the "string" response feel different between them? Did one seem to respond or feel better than the other when playing?


To everyone...

Have you ever noticed a difference in mechanical response or feel between similar instruments?

I'm not trying to stir stuff up...I just want my dream bass/tone.
Click to expand...

Depends on how similar we're talking.

I can feel quite a difference between various Squier models, for instance. The affinities, VMs, CVs, they all have pretty unique mechanical responses to one another.

The same goes for two similar Fender MIMs, although I have to admit a lot of that was setup.

Guitar Center doesn't provide a great environment for testing such subtleties...
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back