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Bigger weight = Bigger sound?

#21
I personally think it has more to do with woods.

When I think of a light bass, I think of Basswood...which to me sounds like crraaaap. You could add a 5 pound bridge to make it a 13 pound bass, but it's still going to be basswood...or whatever...let's not pick on basswood....and it's still going to sound like crrraaaaaapppp.

My Lakland is ash and is probably the lightest bass I have. Also the ballsiest, most bottom, most output, just stellar.
 
#25
mmbongo said:
I personally think it has more to do with woods.

When I think of a light bass, I think of Basswood...which to me sounds like crraaaap. You could add a 5 pound bridge to make it a 13 pound bass, but it's still going to be basswood...or whatever...let's not pick on basswood....and it's still going to sound like crrraaaaaapppp.

My Lakland is ash and is probably the lightest bass I have. Also the ballsiest, most bottom, most output, just stellar.
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From my experience, basswood doesn't sound great. Just a kind of woody thud. Add strings and pickups though it can make a very decent bass.

:hiding:
 
#26
Twenty years ago, in the "brass nut era", heavy was all the rage. In modern times, lightweight and resonant are the buzzwords. Opinions change as fashion.

I play lightweight ones live, but my solid walnut bodied, rosewood necked P gets taken to the studio. It's heavy, but it sounds tight as a nun's buns and even across the strings, and records beautifully.
 
#27
Modern Growl said:
I find weights effecting tone to be pretty consistent when compared to a ligher/heavier version of the same instrument.

If all other things are equal (say a 4 String Ash/Maple Jazz)

- An 11lb ^ spec bass will have the lows and high's accentuated, with an overall tight & compressed sound.

- An 8lb ^ spec bass of the same config will have a more bloomy bottom, wider & rounder midrange... not as "tight" sounding (warmer?)

I find this true to with alder/ash/etc...
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+1 this is true every time.
 
#29
Modern Growl said:
I find weights effecting tone to be pretty consistent when compared to a ligher/heavier version of the same instrument.

If all other things are equal (say a 4 String Ash/Maple Jazz)

- An 11lb ^ spec bass will have the lows and high's accentuated, with an overall tight & compressed sound.

- An 8lb ^ spec bass of the same config will have a more bloomy bottom, wider & rounder midrange... not as "tight" sounding (warmer?)

I find this true to with alder/ash/etc...
Click to expand...

Yeah... I think this is exactly what I've heard, too.
 
#31
All the heavy basses I have owned (GnL, Warwick, ATK, T40) have sounded much muc better both live and solo then the lighter basses I have owned. I don't know for sure if it's the weight but the heavy basses had a solid, penetrating tone and all those basses cut through the mix with no problems. The light basses I always had to fiddle around with EQ or I couldn't use them live. They had the "no-tone". They had volume and sometimes sounded good unplugged but in a mix they were lacking.
 
#32
koa1-1.jpg


My biggest sound. My lightest bass.
 
#33
If heavy basses produce better tone, then someone had better notify builders like Sadowsky, Dingwall and Elrick (and many others) who routinely produce instruments with fat tone that are very light. Better also notify all their customers, who are paying hefty prices......I guess they must all be deaf?????
 
#34
lomo said:
If heavy basses produce better tone, then someone had better notify builders like Sadowsky, Dingwall and Elrick (and many others) who routinely produce instruments with fat tone that are very light. Better also notify all their customers, who are paying hefty prices......I guess they must all be deaf?????
Click to expand...

I guess my first highly opinionated analysis is that the most opinionated aren't always the most experienced. My 2nd and 3rd are just because a guy hears a difference doesn't mean there's a real difference and just because a guy doesn't hear a difference doesn't mean it's not there. Fourth is that I've found a good amount of tone snobs to be suffering from a mild to moderate hearing loss from loud volumes, mostly guitarists.
 
#37
I've been a TBer for almost 4 years and others have been a TBer for even longer. In my almost 4 years with this forum, I learned that there is no agreement or scientific proof about speaker size, different kinds of woods for bass bodies, maple fret boards vs rosewood vs ebony vs pau ferro or whatever, or heavy basses or light basses or.................you name it concerning bass guitars............... sounding one way or another.

So, I don't know why these type of questions keep coming up all of the time because there just is NO ANSWER.

Usually, I've seen that with these type of questions the thread turns into an on going arguement and soon or later a TB Moderator closes it out.

One thing that I have learned to be a fact is that a bass will sound anyway it wants to sound! There is no rhyme or reason.

The best advice from this forum has been to try out as many different basses as you can, pick one and buy it, play it and enjoy it.

Other than a heavy bass being a pain to play for short or long periods. They can have either a big sound or a small sound.

There is no answer to this question about heavy basses.
 

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