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Best expensive sound

#101
If a p bass is considered a cheap sound then expensive sound must be a bass with a scooped sound that works well for bedroom players. I prefer to have the kick ass live sound that a p bass gives me and so do a lot of others. There is a reason it is still the most used live bass.
 
#102
To me there Is an expensive bass sound, it's when lots of exotic woods babingaboababahogany are combined in the neck and body, the best hardware and preamp, and a resulting complex midrange tone that is a little more pronounced than a maple neck/ash body... I really don't like this sound at all, except in smooth jazz which I don't like. Now people are making perfect simple basses (Lull Lakland that other one...with the ski) and they usually just sound good like an great Fender. I have a cheaply made (Asian) but finely crafted exotic laminated wood bass (RavenWest) with horrible low fi high output pickups but they are perfect at getting rid of that expensive sound, and the bass is dark and punchy, which is good.
 
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#103
The most expensive bass sound is the sound in your head you've been chasing.

It's the sound that has you upgrade your pickups and add *that* preamp, that has you change your zingy SS strings every week, and makes you swap the bridge for more sustain... the sound that has you purchase a hi-fi rig with three parallel processing chains, going to 10 separate cabs, the sound that has you commission a build with *that* particular body wood and a laminated neck composed of a 100 kinds of exotic woods, and golden wires and cables...

You get the point :)
 
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#104
BassBrass said:
To me there Is an expensive bass sound, it's when lots of exotic woods babingaboababahogany are combined in the neck and body, the best hardware and preamp, and a resulting complex midrange tone that is a little more pronounced than a maple neck/ash body... I really don't like this sound at all, except in smooth jazz which I don't like. Now people are making perfect simple basses (Lull Lakland that other one...) and they usually just sound good like an great Fender. I have a cheaply made (Asian) but finely crafted exotic laminated wood bass (RavenWest) with horrible low fi high output pickups but they are perfect at getting rid of that expensive sound, and the bass is dark and punchy, which is good.
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Tone is subjective, there is no expensive sound or cheap sound, except when it comes to the cost of a producer and engineer that mixes your album. Even then, the tone is set to serve the song, which may not sound "expensive" on purpose.
Listen to Metallica's St. Anger, do you have any idea how much that album cost to produce? It sounds like sh*t, the entire thing clips like mad, and the snare drum sounds like cookie monster banging on a trash can.
Then walk into a live jazz set, where you will meet some of the best musicians who have no money, but it sounds like an award winning set.
For what its worth my P with fresh strings has one of the best tones of my basses, and i have many, all high end woods preamps and pickups.
 
#105
mdogs said:
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...
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AngelCrusher said:
I don't understand this thread at all either. Add me to that list.
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See post #33. ;)

Sometimes being pwned happens in plain sight.
 
#107
Everyone is dancing around the obvious. It's political.

P's, J's and their many clones or near clones. Built for the many who toil thanklessly, yet totally and efficiently in the mix, on countless tours and in studios worldwide. Often underpaid, without even credit on the sleeve and only appreciated by the engineers and chicks who can't count to six. These basses were played by legends only known by their peers and many are approaching their 60's, still working, still producing, still contributing to the happiness of the masses. At most a sunburst finish, 2-3 knobs, no battery required, able to be understood by even the least trained and still produce the tone required to perfectly fit in, 24/7, without complaint, happy to be a part.

Proletariat, Basses for the Masses, not cheap but workmanlike.

Some, however, wish for a more distinct sound with the ability to split, reverse, cut and boost frequency all without touching the amp or myriad pedals that may be in the chain. These basses sometimes belong to players whose name is actually on the cover, who dictate to their fellow bandmates and get to decide what snacks are on the rider. They, with their upfront and pronounced frequencies can be the engineers worst nightmare. Their players insist on "cutting through the Mix" in hopes that their rapid fire solos, taps, slaps, and harmonics will reach out and be appreciated by the masses, which they never are. The chicks still don't notice. They have impeccable finishes, multi tiered knobs, and many switches which may require an engineering degree to operate. And a battery, added expense and liable to fail and a crucial moment.

Bourgeoisie, Basses of the Elitists, often expensive sometimes lost in the mix.

A word to the Bourgeoise. When the revolution comes and there are no batteries who will you be then?
 
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#108
I'd have to say that a snarling Warwick tone sounds "expensive," and has its' place. For most live work, a passive J-bass is all that I need to sound "good." Active electronics are mostly for the studio, or those low volume gigs where a little tone shaping can help me get through the night (never mind the mix).

We bassists really are "sound chasers." We obsess about such minute variations in tone. Sure, guitar players might even be worse, but look at the sonic and stylistic territories that they inhabit. Such OCD is to be expected in guitarists, but can often be found in lesser degrees of intensity than among bassists on TB.
 
#110
Fat Freddy said:
Why do you think that they'll be no batteries when the revolution comes?.....
Not trying to start a fight....Just puzzled :unsure:.....
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Just kidding around my friend! But, if the revolution happens is it not unthinkable that the masses would relieve the Bourgeoisie of their batteries along with every thing else? The recording engineers may even spearhead the movement!

Again, just Sunday morning humor, however weak it is!
 
#113
A good friend, and bassist once told me that with an electric instrument all the components you use will define your final sound. Equation being: Musician + bass guitar + signal chain + amplifier = sound. Connect a good quality bass to a profession amplifier with a $5 instrument cable and your sound is "cheap cable sound". If the musician is weak in his skills he can make a good rig sound "cheap" with string buzz, poor fretting, uneven plucking. etc.
P-basses might be "old school", but in the hands of a true professional (not me) they can sound awesome. Mr. Willie Weeks comes to mind.:cool:
 
#114
P-basses sound "cheap"? LOL Is this a tongue-in-cheek swipe at pretentiousness?

If so then an expensive sound would be any fretless, regardless of how much the instrument costs, because when you hear a fretless you are hearing somebody who "takes his bass playing more seriously" and who likes to play jazz fusion on pricey coffee table basses, in contrast to the kid in the punk band playing the cheap used Squier P-bass.

Keep in mind that I am approaching this question as if I were once again a 15 year old newb who would say something like "P basses sound cheap".
 
#115
finfrocka said:
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.
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My Ric can cut through and i think sounds very similar to a P. But yeah I agree with this. Expensive sound = one that gets lost in the mix!
 
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#116
Mike SS said:
P-basses might be "old school", but in the hands of a true professional (not me) they can sound awesome. Mr. Willie Weeks comes to mind.:cool:
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I'm here to say that Willie Weeks was the man responsible for my falling in love with the sound of the bass.....
Saw Ronnie Wood's "First Barbarians" At the Kilburn State back in the seventies....Keith and Ron seemed a bit off form that night to me but the rhythm section of Willie on bass and Andy Newmark on drums was nothing less than astonishing...

Truly an expensive sound.....

Walked out of the gig humming bass lines.......Loved it ever since.....
 
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#120
JIO said:
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.
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I was present in the thread when that comment was made by someone. The poster's reasoning was that most bottom-end budget basses are a Volume/ Tone single split pickup P-Bass facsimile. I can understand how a person reasons this as Ive seen P-Bass copies myself brand new on eBay for `~$70 or so with free shipping.........Depending how a person was exposed to the bass guitar instrument, there is a type of logic at work here although its logic based on supposition and innuendo....its also a crock-o'-poo
 

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