Can You Tell The Difference??? MAPLE vs. ROSEWOOD

[12bass]

Not sure which is which.... but I'm hearing more midrange presence in A and prefer A overall. B sounds a bit darker/bassier.... might have a bit of brightness on top, but seems a tad lacking in the midrange.

 

[Fran Diaz]

Unfortunately I'm not near my home system so I can't listen to the samples right now but that's a good point, considering the OP's chicanery in his Alder/Ash thread one has to wonder if this is believable.

If it isn't a hoax, the only thing that could be revealed by this comparison is that two necks can sound different since the comparison sample size is precisely 1 and there is no way to isolate the tonal effects of the fingerboard wood from the effects of the rest of the wood in the neck.

I don't understand why so many people felt so offended by the little trick on the other thread.

If I put two glasses of orange juice on a table and I tell 100 people to taste them and tell me which one is orange and which one is lemon I'm sure that 100% would say that both of them were orange. Why? because the difference between orange and lemon is pretty obvious.

What Dan was trying to show here is that the differences between alder/ash and maple/rw are very, very small tonewise.

The ones that guessed wrong could just have smiled at their own conclusions but instead of that many overreacted. Come on guys! It was just a little game.

 

[rob72]

Don't care which is which, I prefer to play on maple so that's what I'll end up listening to unaccompanied. I'll adjust knobs to get the sound I'm after.

 

[tortburst]

Not sure which is which.... but I'm hearing more midrange presence in A and prefer A overall. B sounds a bit darker/bassier.... might have a bit of brightness on top, but seems a tad lacking in the midrange.

This is what I think as well. So based on what everyone says about maple being bright and snappy I voted A as maple. To my ears it's too subtle a difference for me to care much.

 

[Xavier Zed]

I will go with A-rosewood, B--Maple. Nice test Dan, thanks.

 

[danclaro]

Maple vs Rosewood is a question that I find perplexing because of the conventional wisdom (that they are very different) vs my own experience with different basses and different strings... I chose 1 for maple because it seemed a bit brighter and snappier right from the start. However, 2 is also bright, so if I was choosing between these two P-basses I'd have to go by looks and feel.

Dan - What P-pickups are these?

 

[fenderhutz]

These clips are darn close. B has a touch more low mid to my ears and A has a slight bump around the 1-2kHz range when the strings are plucked/fretted.

B sounds like my rosewood P bass. So I say rosewood is B.

Every maple board I have had has had that ever so slight 1-2kHz clank. So I vote maple A.

 

[Elavro]

Clip A is Maple and clip B is Rosewood imo

 

[LDonnie]

I suspect A is maple and B is rosewood for the same reasons others mentioned. I am probably going to be wrong, because I also suspect you twitteled with the volume and tone knobs, which also change your sound

 

[nivagues]

I hear no difference

 

[mongo2]

I don't understand why so many people felt so offended by the little trick on the other thread.

Not offended just cautious. I got the 2A/2B "non-test" right in the other thread.

 

[-=DanAtkinson=-]

I couldn't tell. IMHO, fretboard wood is less important than body wood, which is less important than strings. I strongly prefer maple to rosewood, based solely on looks.

Actually, I find it much easier to tell a difference in fretboard wood than body wood.

 

[Nurb]

I hear no difference

Me neither.

 

[-=DanAtkinson=-]

IMO, having experience in choosing the materials to build an instrument is kinda like chef's experience in cooking. you have to know what ingredients to use and how to use them. it doesn't take any experience to know if the result tastes good (and even that's subjective), but if you're creating something you should be very familiar to what degree each ingredient will do in order to have a desired outcome.

for example, to make spaghetti sauce, anyone can throw some tomato sauce in a pot, add garlic, basil, oregano, mushrooms & wine, you just have to know how what type, how much of each, and when to add them to yield balance and taste great, instead of having one ingredient overtaking another.

Agreed! So in other words, things like body wood and fretboard wood are actually small contributors to the overall tone, and it's more about the sum of all parts?

 

[sixtyneedles]

Both are Ebony!!!!!

Seriusly though id love to hear some pick up tests

 

[michaeln]

I voted for B being rosewood, but I bet I'm wrong. I have a feeling this thread is to prove that what we THINK about the two woods isn't necessarily true.

 

[DaZombieWoof]

Now what we need is a test with identical necks except for reinforcing bar content. One with none, then one with graphite and one with steel.

 

[Bassdirty]

By op's definition of snappy and warm, I would guess 'A' is maple and 'B' is rosewood.

Or is that what they WANT us to think?...

I would guess that as well..but maybe its one of those "tweak the knobs" scenarios, just to make "A" sound a lil' brighter...then say "HA..Your all wrong."



I will say that (to me) "A" sounds Brighter, or snappier...or trebley..er.

 

[Joebone]

So, is there any truth the rumor that birdseye maple has a sponginess to it that mimics rosewood?

 

[SharkUSMC]

I'm not all fancified like the rest of you to know what is supposed to sound like what, but sample A sounded a little more crisp and forward. Sample B was a little mellower to me. They were close enough that it would make little difference in a mix and could probably be EQ'd to be indiscernible to my ear.

I went ahead and voted A as Maple and B as Rosewood based on Dan's description.

Nice play on both samples, and thanks for taking the time to go through this and "host" the discussion so to speak.