Basses that just sound BAD...

[AltGrendel]

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

 

[RSmith]

Carvin Icon 5, very modern, very touchy tone knobs, and a sweepable mid control that seemed to take the tone from unusable to unusable deluxe. Too bad because it had a incredible feel and balance and fret job. Thought about putting Nordy j pick ups in it but I couldn't bring myself to accept the space that would be left in the pick up cavities>

 

[MonsterTruck88]

I've yet to play a bass that I absolutely couldn't stand... I like most basses I hear. In my experience, tone has everything to do with the amp/cab set-up than the bass itself.

 

[Sijjvra]

Any bass with a boring "warm and mellow" tone setting. God I'm sick of that tone.

Most Fenders sound like bland crap to me.

Actually a lot of "higher end" basses tend to have that "warm" boring tone so I guess I'm just the polar opposite of a gear snob. I've had and played expensive basses from high end brands that just sounded dull and played cheap little "made in China/Korea/India" axes that had way more zing to them.

But mainly it all depends on how good the bassist is, and how they have their tone set up. Take a crap bass with a good player who knows how to set an interesting tone and that bass will sound great, no matter what it cost or where it was made.

 

[kcole4001]

The only bass I've ever just immediately put back down was an old, beat 4001 copy I found in a pawn shop in Halifax years ago. It looked a lot like a very worn genuine Rick except for the TRC, but this was also before I knew the giveaway clues to spotting fake Ricks.

It was black, white plastic and binding, had "Electric Bass" on the TRC and was TERRIBLE.
Didn't even begin to think of plugging it in.
Thought it might be interesting, but BOY was I wrong!

Incredibly high action, the most dull sounding POS I've ever picked up.
Before anyone comes up with a smart response saying that real Ricks are the same, I own 3 and definitely would never own any if they resembled that junk in any way other than looks.

Even my first POS short scale plywood bass was yards better than that.

 

[jarrhead]

Any gibson/epiphone bass!

Oh, as well as the GSR200 Ibanez. It's usable, but the total lack of woods gives a really odd sound.

 

[lousybassplayer]

Sorry if I sound like a troll, but am I the only one who thinks this thread is ridiculous. I don't like Warwicks for totally irrational and personal reasons, but that hardly means they are crap. It also doesn't make me wrong. Yet it apparently is wrongto state that they sound like ass, since thats an opinion. ???

The only basses that we can conclusively say are crap is Rickenbackers, right

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Every Gibson except the T-bird.

and

Any Fender played by a hack.

 

[SirGrotius]

I was fiddling about a GC recently and picked up like a $1000 Squier, you know, the black and white one with a maple neck. Maybe it was just me, but it felt like I was holding a piece of plastic and the strings looked like they were about to rip off the headstock. The sound was so fake I wanted to die.

 

[Thankful birds]

I hate the sound of anything with a single mudbucker, as well as any super attack-y active pickups (alembic comes to mind). Nice passive p-bass tone all the way for me.

 

[xXxTWO FACExXx]

My Epiphone Explorer Bass and to think I tried to slap on it too I spent a half hour one day to see what kind of tone I can get out of it and it just kept going downhill I sold it,thank god, and bought myself a P-bass thats arriving tomorrow.

 

[bassbenj]

Gibson EB2 and Hofner Beatle Bass, to cite two expensive dogs that offer no clarity of tone but plenty of downright bad sound. The EB2 is esecially horrendous, it's hard to tell what notes you're even hitting on the E string due to the total sludge of the mudbucker p/u and the Hofner has a thin but muted sound that doesn't even resemble a musical instrument--more like an amplified washtub through a cheesy horn! Both have bad short-scale necks. Who cares if famous guys play/played 'em? They still suck. And don't even think of playing either of these basses above about the 10th fret. You guessed it, bad intonation is part of the package, too.

+1 on this. It's so odd that these two "famous" makers should sell some of the worst crap on the planet. Gibson should simply give up admitting they ever made a bass. Only the T-bird comes close to a bass and the reversed horn attachment makes it only suitable for neck-dive lovers. And Hofner's are horrible beyond words. ZERO sustain. Horrible tone. Bad intonation. By FAR the WORST bass I ever played irrespective of price. And Oh yeah. Just as icing on the cake, you get slide switches for that intermittent static on your tone that we all know and love. Feh.

 

[shaboda]

Some folks will say "it's all in the hands" and "great players can make anything sound good". I believe that is true, but only 2 a point. A bad sounding, bad playing bass is NOT going to be as beneficial to a player as a good sounding, good playing instrument. I had a Series 10 Bentley that I started on in '87 and It was so bad that I put it under my bed for 3 months... when I pulled it back out, and opened the case, the neck was cracked at the 2nd fret due to a bad glue joint at the headstock. It was replaced by a BC Rich Warlock, equally as horrible, only in a pointy red form. Also had a Washburn 5 that had a horrible Preamp in it, which in my mind, If you have to replace pickups AND a preamp in an instrument that you're already not thrilled with, it's probably not worth the $$ to try and upgrade it, cuz you'll never be happy. Also had a Mid 80's Made in Japan P Bass that had the worse playing neck.... and a Warwick Corvette w/ Ovankal Neck that was horrible to gig on.. so I guess no matter what brand ya go with... you will have winners AND losers.

 

[Joey3313]

I haven't heard any that I would call "bad", just inappropriate for situations.

 

[Spleenface92]

I've had some truly bad bass tones. about 3 out of every 8 fenders made are duds. I seem to have lucked out. I love my Jaaaag. I've hated every one I've played since I got mine. I'd say worst bass tone I've ever experienced....was surprisingly a fender american Precision. It was one of those 3 in 8. Worst bass tone in general? My jay turser P-copy BEFORE I modded it. So thin and horrible.

 

[addylewis]

It's all subjective really innit?

I love a nice Fender...but for the wrong STYLE the wrong Fender can sound crap! I remember a few months ago I was recording my parts on my bands demo and I decided "Hey, I'll dig out my Mustang and try that - not played it for a while!" ...and halfway through the first take on the only song I tried it on I stopped playing coz it just sounded WRONG, the tone was just too wooden in comparison to the Jaguar I was using (thats actually the first time I've ever really noticed a REAL difference in bass "tone" - same settings on the amp and everything, it just wouldn't be possible to even EQ it to be more like the other one I was using!)

I don't really know many other bass SOUNDS as it were apart from Hofner, Stingray and Rickenbacker...I know for what I do the Hofner wouldn't work, the Rickenbacker probably would but a short-scale bass probably just wouldn't cut it (we do our own stuff - pop/rock/indie...if we sounded somewhat "retro" like the Strokes or someone then yeah the mustang would proably have made it onto at least a couple of the 6-odd recordings, but we sound modern so no way)

 

[nostatic]

Glad I'm not the only one that thinks EB-0 when one says, "mud fart."

 

[Bongolation]

Speaking of those mighty Rogues, I was told by our good friends at the local Musician's Fiend that they are actually made by Ibanez.

Any truth to this?

Not exactly.

Most Rogue electrics were made by Cor-Tek. Ibanez makes nothing. Cor-Tek makes most of the better Ibanez instruments.

I've seen a few recent Cor-Tek Indonesian Rogue guitars that were superbly built, BTW, inside and out. I'm not 100% on their designs, but the execution was excellent.

 

[Bongolation]

Sorry if I sound like a troll, but am I the only one who thinks this thread is ridiculous.

No.

Perhaps a majority of posts and threads are ridiculous in "Basses."

Nearly all "tone" discussions are ridiculous. Think about it.

 

[bassramos]

Lakends and Older Fender Precision basses sound pretty horrible! That famous session bass player lady Janes Jameson had a pretty dead awful tone on those old Detroit funk tunes like by The beach boys, Mavin Gaines and the Supremes Stevy wonder. She Used an old Fender, just awful. What do you guys think? I like 6 string basses with really low action and accentuated highs and high mids, especially when it is a blues bass player that is slapping alot of the time!