Basses that just sound BAD...

[Jack]

Jazz basses


When controled by someone who seemingly cannot make them sound good, usually a newbie. But they can sound great as well.

 

[The_Owl]

But, Ibanez's, all new Ibanez's blow.

I second that, being an Ibanez owner. I don't know what i really saw in that bass when I bought it....I guess my ear for good tone is better now, and my technique and groove have improved, so maybe it's just because I'm a better player that I sound better. But then again, after enjoying my Warwick, most lower priced basses sound awful in my ears.

 

[gazman_res]

kubicki's, oh man how i hate kubicki's.

the way they look
the way they smell
they way they play.

if i ever saw one in green.. i'd probably throw myself off a bridge.

i can't wait to sell mine.. i might buy a fender p.. or an ashton or soundgear..

no way....!!!

 

[heath_the_great]

no way....!!!

hey .....
ohhh, you might wanna change it from soundgear..i like the prestige models..i like most of the higher end soundgears...not to mention the orange doug wimbish......

STILL...you suck

 

[gojirin]

I've got a Ibanez Artcore which I bought for it's neck and it's tone...

Now real bad would be my first bass. That was a parallelogram
shaped Vox that even with a black faced bassman amp and a 12" Altec it just sort of made this odd bleeting noise. Heck my friends EB 2 sounded better.
The action was horrible ,too.

 

[blaire]

My brother has a cheapy bass he bought for $200 NEW! As you can imagine it sounds like ****. I cant remember the maker, but its a name Id never heard of . The strings feel like fence wire. Gutless, Empty. :scowl:

 

[jpwinters]

THE PEAVEY T-40 IS THE WORST SOUNDING BASS EVER! END OF DISCUSSION!

I own 2 of them, and can get some great tones out of both. They can sound like a J or a P bass. Maybe the one you tried had something wrong with it.

 

[74rickbass]

People say it often, (and probably has been said in this thread a million times...) Its all relative... I personally love the tone of a Gibson EB-O. what I hear as fat and warm, other people hear as "mud". I also Love the tone of a P-bass with flats, while others think it sounds raw and primitive, I hear it as fat, warm and strong sounding.

I think these basses sound Great, Others think they sound bad...

I guess there are bad basses... (contruction quality, materials...ect) but not bad bass tones... if someone likes the flat dull bass tone of a cheap bass with cheap woods, is that bad tone? not to him!

 

[quartermoonpro]

So nobody has anything bad to say about Dean Basses?? Seen other mass produced basses bashed, but not the Deans?

 

[j-raj]

It might just be that there are individual basses that sound good or bad from some companies.... But generally I have had experience with these basses sounding bad:

Rogues
Cheaper Yammies (sig-models excluded)
Hondos
Memphis'
Some Deans (the 8-string and the Jeff Berlin excluded)
Mako
Wish
Brawley
Copley
Ibanez
....

 

[Blazer]

Okay here's my list of basses that sound bad.

The Kubibky Ex-factor (Sorry about this Heath the great but this is MY opinion) The one I played was a later model with a maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and an amber colored Swamp ash body. Think of Stanley Clarke's live sound, all mids and highs. Lows? Hah!

The Fender Coronado bass The pickups on that one are very microphonic and the hollow body feedbacks very quickly.

The JD supernatural When people talk about "the sound of wood" they must mean this dry clinical thump coming from a lot of high end basses with very complicated active electronics and seventeen pots to control them.

All basses with graphite necks What's up with that annoying Metallic "clank" that everybody digs so much?

Every Ibanez made after 1992 That's the year when the production of their guitars went from japan to all over the goddamn asian region. The Roadstar and the Musician series of the early eighties sound really good.

I really like the Fender Telecaster bass (the version with the big humbucker at the neck) string it up with flatwounds and you can do a very convincing Double bass impression, AND they make great Reggae basses.

 

[kearney]

my gretsch electromatic jet jr sounded bad, that is before we replaced a cheap mini humbucker with a vintage Stingray humbucker

 

[7Stringer]

Every Ibanez made after 1992

I agree with that. I don't like Washburns and I don't like any bass equipment (basses or amps) from Peavey either. That includes the high end Cirrus.

 

[heath_the_great]

Okay here's my list of basses that sound bad.

The Kubibky Ex-factor (Sorry about this Heath the great but this is MY opinion) The one I played was a later model with a maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and an amber colored Swamp ash body. Think of Stanley Clarke's live sound, all mids and highs. Lows? Hah!

rosewood fingerboard? swamp ash body?...man....thats probably why it sounded "bad" to you....the best sounding kubickis had the ebony fingerboard.......what do you mean by later? was it a fender era, post fender?...did it have 2 active modes or just 1

Every Ibanez made after 1992 That's the year when the production of their guitars went from japan to all over the goddamn asian region. The Roadstar and the Musician series of the early eighties sound really good.

ahem.....the ATK's...and i dont think the BTB's sound all that bad..the 300 series with bubinga top sounds the best by far

 

[5stringDNA]

call me crazy, but I played a an Epiphone EB-O the other day that I thought sounded really cool, and this is coming from a Spector addict. I also like some of the cheap active ibanez basses for some strange reason...

basses I cannot stand:
Cheap Wahsburns BLAH
Cheap Yamahas
Austins- especially the plywood ones!
Squire P bass, or any cheap P bass
most MIM Fender jazz basses

 

[Dr. Eagle]

Anything as played by me!

Really, I'm not too fond of the lower end Ibanez Soundgear basses...

...However my friends can tell you. There aren't too many bass tones I don't like!

Bingo... until you get up where Ibanez starts using EMG pickups they don't sound full at all. I tried the SDGR1200 with the ABX pickups (Ibanez brand?) and it sounded too nasal and the controls were really hard to figure out. That's why I bought the SDGR1400 with the EMGs, and honestly I don't play that much anymore, after getting the 6 strings it feels like a toy...

 

[Bronn]

Are some of you guys going Medieval?

It's Squier, a Squire is a Knight in trainning.

 

[Discgraham]

I've never played a Gibson/Epifone that wasn't complete mud. Also, Jackson/Johnson/Fernandez/Rogue/Hondo/any other cheap budget bass just do not have what it takes. Honestly, if you are going to get a bass and have less than $200, don't get a bass. Get a friggin Recorder for a dollar and go for Baroque.

 

[_Unregistered_]

...just bad basses.

I don't think ANY tone can be thought of as bad.

Sure, there are woofy, muddy, dead, boxy tones...but interestingly, most of these have their rightful place in at least SOMEONE'S music.

A lot of what people consider "vintage" tones, are what I'd call a "no tone" tone. Hofner beatle basses with flatwounds. Things that go "DUNT" in the night. No sustain.

Would I want that? Depends. Am I trying to do a "Jellyfish" kinda thing? A convincing early Beatles kinda vibe? A vintage sounding jingle session?

Ya get my drift? Even some of the "worst" tones can have their place, as they just might be historically or musically congruent to what you're trying to do.

Now, that said, a low quality instrument that hinders your ability to play it is no bargain. A bass that has a woofy, dark, or boxy tone when you're trying to sound like chris Squire isn't gonna help you either, and may send you off grumbling about your "CHEAP POS" bass...but sometimes the funkiest yard sale find is just exactly what the doctor ordered.

I remember when Danelectro stuff was considered ABSOLUTE JUNK. Made of friggin' pressboard (aka hardboard, masonite). Now it's "Vintage" gear and highly sought after. Who'da thunk it?

It may not be what you want, but just 'cause it's cheesy, funky and cheap, doesn't mean that someone, somewhere doesn't think it's the cat's @ss.

 

[burk48237]

I worked in a music store in the 70's and the crap that Fender shipped in made Gibsons latter day Tobias basses seem like Foderas. Neck pockets that you could put 4 credit cards in, Bridges made of recycled tin, tunning heads that slipped constantly, an actions so high you thought maybe they were set for slide blues playing, plus the average body weight was about 12 lbs. I know they command filthy fees on the vintage market, but then so do EB-3s. I owned two 70's jazzes which I sold for handsome profits. I always wondered why I couldn't get that great "70's Jazz" tone. But then I finaly started reading interviews with some of the players and found out they were all "slightly modified", you know, Bad ass bridges, new necks, new tunners, new pickups, preamps and worked on by "Roger or someone like that" The only thing that appeared to be stock was the pickguard and maybe the body. I know Fender made some great instruments, pre CBS, and I believe the new MIA products are better put together then any thing from that era. But I challenge you to get great tone out of a stock 70's Fender. As far as new stuff I've played some Modern Jazz Modulus with bartolini passives that were very dead, unresponsive sounding basses. They deffinintly need active pre amps and are way overpriced at 1500 (street) passive.