This week I found that for some TB members a P bass sound cheap, this makes me think, what bass delivers an expensive sound? The value of the bass has nothing to do with my question, I want to know what is an expensive sound. Lets say that I want to sound expensive, fancy, sophisticated, a sound that only the higher economic class can appreciate, what bass should I play?
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Best expensive sound
- Thread starter pedroims
- Start date
There is no such thing as an "expensive bass sound" IMO. It either sounds good or it doesn't. Some prefer boutique while others like off the shelf. Nothing wrong with either.
I think it's easier to tell if someone uses a really cheap set of pedals rather than if they use a cheap bass. I have difficulty telling the sound of my Squier VM Jazz apart from the American Standard I was playing in my local music store. However, my effects sound awful compared to others I hear on YouTube or even on songs.
Woody
Woody
- Jun 30, 2010
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
"an expensive sound" is an interesting concept. "…Man, that guy has an expensive sound!" Maybe a colourful way of saying 'a rich sound' but so far I've yet to hear either version. Start using it next time you are at a show and see if anyone knows what you're referring to. 
If a P sounds cheap then something should sound expensive right? A J perhaps? Why people says a P sound cheap, I mean this mid centered sound which sounds like the first sound you get with budget amps and basses. A sound that every one can have it.
- Jun 30, 2010
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All semantics - a P (a basic 1 pu bass) can sound huge and flavorful w/ideal placement in the mix…, or not - depending on many things starting w/the player. So if I wanted to attempt to start the usage of the word "expensive" to describe really choice, tasteful playing - it would have less to do w/the machine and more the players creativity. To take it further, something 'expensive' means you would be less willing to overplay (too many notes= devaluation of bass) so 'choice' notes played with authority. Like owning a Lamborghini and just cruising in it (not flooring it when some nob revs their engine next to you at an intersection). Actually that's a pretty fitting analogy because it's about implied value. A creative player plays less notes while implying many notes. "Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away"
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Obviously Alembic. You're going to pay a whole lot of money for that sound.
Funny as last summer I picked up an American Standard P bass. Grant you, it's the least expensive bass I own currently. To my ears, this thing kills it, but in a mix setting. By itself, meh. Kind of what the P is really known for as just sitting in the mix. Cheap sounding to describe a tone can mean anything--boomy, thin, midrange heavy would be a much better descriptor of the particular tone. Your thin might be another's articulate, another's boomy might be your fatness of tone.
Here's another analogy. The Fodera AJ Presentation is essentially P bass taken to the umpteenth level in terms of price 35k vs 1.4k. 6 vs 4 strings, 36" scale vs 34" etc. cheap sound vs expensive sound? No just a different means to an end result. Both sounding incredible in the mix.
Merely a tool, as the other poster said, the player has a lot to do with it.
Why don't you go ask the people who say a P sounds cheap? If I say the color blue sucks, why would you go ask a whole other group of people why red is a good color? The whole point of this thread makes no sense...
I don't understand this thread at all either. Add me to that list.
- Jun 30, 2010
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Granted Yo-Yo Ma plays an amazing cello using an amazing bow - but I hear Yo-Yo Ma when I listen to him. I repeat, it's semantics. If I played his cello w/his bow… you get the picture.
Because I can? I did not know that I first need to ask for permission, forgive me if I created a thread that disturb your little kingdom.
When I first started out, I was playing cheap, old and muddy basses. One-note-after-another was about all they were good for or you'd just get sonic soup. Then some guy showed up with an F-bass and showed me what chords (or arpeggios) were like on a higher-end bass. That was transformative and stands out to me as the difference between cheap sound and expensive sound.
ps - I should add - I don't mean to overplay. rather that an articulate bass opens new possibilities
ps - I should add - I don't mean to overplay. rather that an articulate bass opens new possibilities
It seems logical to me that the more folks pay for concert tickets or admission at the door, the more expensive the bass will sound. So to answer the OP's question, if you want to sound expensive, fancy, sophisticated, and have a sound that only the higher economic class can appreciate, charge more for your performance. And don't worry about what bass you're playing.
M. M.
M. M.
Didn't read the whole thread however, my definition of an expensive sound is a bass that sounds amazing by itself but tends to get easily lost in a thick mix
To me p's and stingrays seem to cut through better than ALMOST everything else but I wouldn't define it as an expensive sound.
To me p's and stingrays seem to cut through better than ALMOST everything else but I wouldn't define it as an expensive sound.
