I can see only one theory that rationalizes both the "I need this bass and/or this amp to get my sound" position with the "it's all in the hands and any bass/amp will do" position, and that is that, off the stage, all bass sounds the same and it is all pretty crappy. There's no amount of playing or paying that'll rise above.
The corollary to that is: if you sound "just as good" playing through some shoebox as you do an SVT rig, then maybe you just didn't sound so good playing through the big rig, so playing through some p.o.s. amp doesn't really detract from your sound.
(I'm using the word "you" in a general sense. This isn't directed at anyone in particular.)
And, really, if you don't think a cheezy backline and half-assed sound reinforcement doesn't distract from the sound of a good band, then you haven't seen some of the acts that get wedged into various venues out in the mid-west. Believe me, you can tell a difference.
Haven't any of you experienced that difference yourself? Am I just hallucinating that, when I moved from an MIM to a MIA Deluxe, that it didn't sound better and do a better job? That when I moved from a used Peavy to a new 3Pro that it didn't bloom into a room all that much more? I'm sitting here totally blown away by my enlightenment this summer moving to an all-tube amp for most shows, on how I seem to be able to change the tone by just thinking at it, almost as well as twiddling knobs; on how it'll go from laid-back to punch-you-in-the-face on a note-by-note basis just by how I play it--something no other amp I've played could do--and yet it seems there is a some coolness factor involved with saying "yeah, but I can do that on any ol' solid state lump". No, you can't. Stop kidding yourselves. Now, maybe your direction takes you where ss sound can go, and power to you, but for the variety music I play, the equipment makes a big difference in what I can do, the range I can cover, the speed I can get there, and the quality once I'm there. I can compromise as much as the next guy, and I could "play" our whole show through some Rumble 30 or something, but there's no way it's going to sound as good, and a pretty good chance it'll fall completely apart when I start stomping synth pedals and octavizers and such.
So, JimmyM, I'm glad you survived your shows, and thanks for sharing the experience most of us will never have and starting the discussion. But go stand in front of that B-15 rig of yours and then tell me it was only as good as what you used that weekend. (Rhetorically speaking, of course. This is no personal challenge.)
The corollary to that is: if you sound "just as good" playing through some shoebox as you do an SVT rig, then maybe you just didn't sound so good playing through the big rig, so playing through some p.o.s. amp doesn't really detract from your sound.
(I'm using the word "you" in a general sense. This isn't directed at anyone in particular.)
And, really, if you don't think a cheezy backline and half-assed sound reinforcement doesn't distract from the sound of a good band, then you haven't seen some of the acts that get wedged into various venues out in the mid-west. Believe me, you can tell a difference.
Haven't any of you experienced that difference yourself? Am I just hallucinating that, when I moved from an MIM to a MIA Deluxe, that it didn't sound better and do a better job? That when I moved from a used Peavy to a new 3Pro that it didn't bloom into a room all that much more? I'm sitting here totally blown away by my enlightenment this summer moving to an all-tube amp for most shows, on how I seem to be able to change the tone by just thinking at it, almost as well as twiddling knobs; on how it'll go from laid-back to punch-you-in-the-face on a note-by-note basis just by how I play it--something no other amp I've played could do--and yet it seems there is a some coolness factor involved with saying "yeah, but I can do that on any ol' solid state lump". No, you can't. Stop kidding yourselves. Now, maybe your direction takes you where ss sound can go, and power to you, but for the variety music I play, the equipment makes a big difference in what I can do, the range I can cover, the speed I can get there, and the quality once I'm there. I can compromise as much as the next guy, and I could "play" our whole show through some Rumble 30 or something, but there's no way it's going to sound as good, and a pretty good chance it'll fall completely apart when I start stomping synth pedals and octavizers and such.
So, JimmyM, I'm glad you survived your shows, and thanks for sharing the experience most of us will never have and starting the discussion. But go stand in front of that B-15 rig of yours and then tell me it was only as good as what you used that weekend. (Rhetorically speaking, of course. This is no personal challenge.)
Well, for better or worse, I pretty much am the same online as in real life, only smaller.
