A Fender Precision Bass is a classic example of " getting it right the first time ". It is what all other electric basses were born from. You can't put a price on that.
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Best expensive sound
- Thread starter pedroims
- Start date
...could be best value, the best one could afford, best of the bunch, best for a certain use, best left at homeBut you do bring up an interesting point I overlooked - the OP's title being "The Best Expensive Sound" - mostly we're still debating what sounds expensive! He's looking for the best expensive sound. I fold.
My point is that people throw around the word "best" as if it has some kind of objective, consensus meaning. It doesn't. "Best" is inherently subjective - and relative. So putting it into the title of a thread, without further qualification, is an exercise in futility. You'll get like a hundred different opinions...and many of those won't even agree on the proper criteria to use in determining "best", much less whether or not a given item of gear actually meets those criteria.
Then again, a stickler for precision and clarity, like me, is probably in the wrong place if he expect to not be chronically frustrated...
MM
Theres no such thing as an expensive sound or cheap sound and - even if there was - it would always be subjective
- Jun 30, 2010
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
My point is that people throw around the word "best" as if it has some kind of objective, consensus meaning. It doesn't. "Best" is inherently subjective - and relative. So putting it into the title of a thread, without further qualification, is an exercise in futility. You'll get like a hundred different opinions...and many of those won't even agree on the proper criteria to use in determining "best", much less whether or not a given item of gear actually meets those criteria.
Then again, a stickler for precision and clarity, like me, is probably in the wrong place if he expect to not be chronically frustrated...
MM
Agree MM - the question was a minimalist excise which provoked various impressions on its intent more than the solution/answer since the OP. (5 pages ago!) Tangents became inevitable and playfully deliberate in hopes to draw out something at least entertaining.
There's definitely cheap vs expensive sound. Take for instance. I have a Honda Accord. My company car is a Rolls Royce Phantom. The horn on the Honda sounds like the bleating of a dying sheep. It truly is horrible. The Rolls? Well it sounds like angels playing the trumpet for Jesus' entry into a stadium overfilled with born agains. The funny thing is, the dying bleating last call of the Honda does a better job in getting attention and avoiding an accident than the truimphant entry of Jesus in a Rolls. The Honda is so annoying you just can't help but look around to locate the source of the demon itself.
Not all Ps are created equal. Some sound cheap, sound sound rich, some sound expensive. But unless you got a real horrible P with bad frets and 3 missing strings, then it most likely does a good job (depending on the player). But just because it sounds richer and more expensive, it doesn't always mean better suited for the job.
Personally I'd rather concentrate on a more hi fi sound of a good amp and cabinet than expensive sounding p bass. But they that's just me what do I know? The only P, I have a is fake P, as in PJ. LOL
Not all Ps are created equal. Some sound cheap, sound sound rich, some sound expensive. But unless you got a real horrible P with bad frets and 3 missing strings, then it most likely does a good job (depending on the player). But just because it sounds richer and more expensive, it doesn't always mean better suited for the job.
Personally I'd rather concentrate on a more hi fi sound of a good amp and cabinet than expensive sounding p bass. But they that's just me what do I know? The only P, I have a is fake P, as in PJ. LOL
If I were to respond to this question in a nasty way, then I'd get banned though it wouldn't be my fault.
Not fair.
Not fair.
The most expensive sounding basses I've ever played - mostly +2500$ active boutique basses - became expensively boring after a short while. These days I only play expensive cheap sounding basses. 
Soooooo, true! ^
In a band scenario, with crashing drums, wailing guitars, screaming vocals and/or other instruments.....................umm, the bass is just "another rider on the bus" and it's doubtful anyone in the audience notices one way or another.
Talk about cheap sound, Paul McCartney's under $100 cheapo Hofner and outdated (by today's standards) Vox amp back in the 60s was about as cheap as cheap can get. It done him well, eh?
Put a set of Roto Sound 66 Swing Bass Strings on just any bass and it's gonna sound pretty good. (By the way, it's flats for me and I am not recommending Rotos.)
Most of today's bass equipment whether cheap or expensive sounds very, very good. I wish we would have had such stuff back in the 60s when I was a kid.
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"Cheap" and "Expensive" are highly subjective terms, but here's my take. "Cheap" to me, for lack of a better term, reminds me of prior acquaintances that had lo-buck P-clones run thru entry level/clapped out old Peavey combo's. Tone better described as dead/flat/lifeless/muddy due to added lo-mids from both the bass, amp, and old dead strings.
"Expensive" to me indicates a more full, defined, punchy tone, with lots of overtones. Almost 3-dimensional in nature. Can still be a passive bass thru a solid state rig, just has to be the right combination of gear, EQ settings, and technique. These days a $175 Squier thru a GK combo (or something similar) will do that easily with the proper EQ settings.
"Expensive" to me indicates a more full, defined, punchy tone, with lots of overtones. Almost 3-dimensional in nature. Can still be a passive bass thru a solid state rig, just has to be the right combination of gear, EQ settings, and technique. These days a $175 Squier thru a GK combo (or something similar) will do that easily with the proper EQ settings.
I would better say "Rich" and "Minimalistic" instead of "Expensive" and "Cheap". A P sound can be considered as minimalistic because it usually has only what is needed to sit well in the mix and is not very spectacular.
But I can see what people mean by "Cheap". Sometimes I see on YouTube guys playing very expensive instruments. I don't know how super expensive instrument should sound and expect it to be a kind of mindblowing sonic revelation. But the sound I hear is usually pretty common and nothing really special. I get disappointed.
But I can see what people mean by "Cheap". Sometimes I see on YouTube guys playing very expensive instruments. I don't know how super expensive instrument should sound and expect it to be a kind of mindblowing sonic revelation. But the sound I hear is usually pretty common and nothing really special. I get disappointed.
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The most expensive bass sound is the one that is made when you drop your bass
The whole premise of the question seems ludicrous owing to the wide variety of tones coaxed out of P basses for the last 65 years by millions of players. Exactly which P bass through which rig sounds cheap to whom?
