Bass Shootout

[Classic5]

I posted this thread in a bass forum here in Australia several weeks and thought I might post it here as well for anyone with the bass buying bug like myself. It might just cure you of it........or maybe not : - )

Here's how it goes:

Ok, so we all love our basses and some of us certainly have more than we really need. I'm sure you've heard the question, if you were to only have one bass, which one would it be?

Well, no gigs today so I decided to do some comparing to answer this question. 5 basses, each recorded in passive mode direct into the PC with no other eq, compression or anything. I wanted to hear the intrinsic sound of each instrument. Keep in mind that all of these basses can be eq'd to taste, but which one has that desired sound inherent in it's construction, with no eq'ing?

All basses have both pickups up full and tone control all the way up.

If you have some time (1) See if you can match the sound clip to the bass, and (2) let me know which sound clip is your favourite. Or maybe you think they're all the same and it really makes no difference. :lol:

Here are the sound clips (hope it works it's my first attempt at this):

Best results are achieved if you listen to the clips through some headphones :thumbup:

Bass1 (Belman): Bass1.mp3
Bass2 (Dyson): Bass2.mp3
Bass3 (Fender): Bass3.mp3
Bass4 (Bacchus): Bass4.mp3
Bass5 (HB Roxy): Bass5.mp3

Here are the Culprits:

Belman Classic5, Fender AM Jazz, Bacchus Woodline Classic, Roxy B4, Dyson Soulbass

Although I have my personal favourite, I think at the end of the day what this shootout shows is that they all sound fine and I probably need to offload a few basses A non bass player probably wouldn't even notice any difference in most cases.....

 

[Tommygunn]

Personally I liked the 1st and 4th the best. I'm assuming those are the Belman and the Roxy?

 

[Mola Ram]

I'd have to say 5 is my personal favorite. Seems really even and tight.

I'm going to guess its the Roxy. It seems to lack some of the high end of the rest and I think thats because of the single pickup.

 

[Tommygunn]

Bass5 is the one on the far right. No mix matching

 

[purfektstranger]

I like 4 the most followed by 5.

 

[I<34080]

1 and 5

 

[Sergio_85]

I liked the cat)

 

[Shmone]

5 is my favorite.

 

[4OnTheFloor]

Where's the -bass?

 

[jonnymac]

#5. #4 comes in second.

 

[WoodyG3]

4 is my favorite, I think. I'll take a wild guess that #4 is the Bacchus.

 

[Classic5]

Gou guys are pretty good!

I did mix it up a bit for the sound clips, they are:

Bass1 = Belman
Bass2 = Dyson
Bass3 = Fender J
Bass4 = Bacchus Woodline J
Bass5 = Roxy B4

Different order to the picture.

Well done WoodyG3 - I don't know how you gota that one!

Cheers

 

[Classic5]

Where's the -bass?

Now that would make it just too easy

 

[Bipslapper]

Yeah, the cat looks badass.

 

[jonnymac]

So you said you had your own personal favorite.....which is it?

 

[Tonegasm]

#5 does it for me!

 

[B String]

What kind of bridge pickup is on the Belman? It looks big.

 

[OOZMAN]

5 then 1

 

[bass_snake]

They sound close to each other. But I love 1 and 5.

Fred

 

[Classic5]

So you said you had your own personal favorite.....which is it?

Actually they all have good and bad things about them - but for now I'll say my favourite sounding is 1, the Belman. The neck feels great as well. But it gets heavy on the shoulder during gigs...it also cost the most It's also 35 scale...

The Fender and Bacchus are nice comfortable 4 stringers. The Bacchus seems to be constructed more solidly, but there's just something about the Fender that I like too. Maybe the maple board?

The Human Base Roxy B4 was the cheapest, yet it's light, well made and great sounding.

I'm not too hot on the Dyson as it's very noisy.

But there you go. If I was only able to keep one it would be the Belman.......