Common misconceptions in bass....

[Tao4Now]

Meh, I think he could sound better with an all digital, and much more space efficient, Hardt Inferno 3500

Bah! You kids today with your lightweight "neo" rotisseri! In my day, you cooked onstage with one chicken on one spit at a time, in a rotisserie made of granite that weighed a thousand pounds and took seven roadies to move! And the crowd loved it!

Specs -> http://www.hardt.ca/index.php?lang=en&option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=46

That joke might have been funnier if the domain above had been "http://www.hardt.ke".

Or maybe not.

 

[FunkyMan]

No 8. "You need an active bass to get that big, ballsy, aggressive sound." Ummm, no, Geddy Lee is considered by many the holy grail of bass tone and other than his Steinburger/Wal phase he has played passive basses his whole career. Also reference the many many records of any genre where the bassist wound up recording the tracks with a plain old P-Bass even while using active basses live.

So true. Believe it or not, Richard Bona's tone is passive! For example

 

[joebar]

As someone whose played Fenders for longer than half of TB has been alive, I have to say I truly believe Fenders are overpriced crap, and pretty much always were. I still love them though...

i think that the best kept (not so) secret about fenders is that the squier VM jazz and P's are just about as nice-
for the money hard to beat.

 

[Raw N Low]

Sweet I wanna add one...

10. My playing ability is that of a bass god, because I've spent thousand upon thousands of money of a guitar that was custom built by a artist that took out the time to take my money and tell me how great I am for picking the most expensive options.

Man that one is kinda long.

 

[Raw N Low]

Well if people didn't need tone I guess there wouldn't be a need for the tone knob they constantly fiddle with...

 

[dave_bass5]

1. My (insert bass) sounds just like a Stingray. Large poled pickups do NOT make a bass sound like a Stingray. I can't recall how many times I've heard a TBer claim that their L2000, Ibanez SR, ect sound just like a 'Ray. Uh, no it doesn't.

...

Define the word Like.

If people say one bass sounds like another to them why would you argue, and on what grounds, especially if you aren't there?

At gigs you tend to loose a lot of the unique parts of a basses tone IME. Ive been to very large gigs where you just couldn't tell what bass was being used.

A SR is capable of many tones, and many other basses are also capable of those tones. Of course, each bass will also be able to produce unique tones but thats not what you have said.

My Duck Dunn can get tones "similar" to some of the tone i can get out of my Sub, especially with the EQ set flat. I've got live recordings that show it.

Oh, and when i put a BAII on my Fender HW1 it made a difference. In a good way.

The rest i agree with.

All IMO and not gospel of course.

 

[bassCanadabass]

All original. replaced pickups, pots, pick guard, tuners, and refinished. But other then that, all original.

 

[Brad Johnson]

+1

This attitude is my pet peeve. Some players want to feel superior by sneering at anyone with an interest in gear. Yes, the music is more important than the gear, but even the best musicians care about what equipment they choose to use.

I have a more than passing interest in gear and I also find that my tone is largely defined by how I play.

Of course if this follows the regular course my above comment will be magically transformed to read that my tone is ALL in my hands. How often do people actually say that?


Why do people have the need to see "ALL" where it is neither written nor intended? I'd really like to hear an explanation for that one, considering how rampant this practice seems to be.

In the meantime, I've come across people IRL who can make any bass sound like crap... what would get the credit for that... the basses?

 

[birminghambass]

In the meantime, I've come across people IRL who can make any bass sound like crap... what would get the credit for that... the basses?

Such a good point!

 

[Ric5]

This new bridge makes a huge tonal improvement! I'm probably wrong on this but a solid bridge is a solid bridge is a solid bridge. IME I've never heard an improvement in tone from a bridge swap.

I have a couple of basses that I swapped out a cheap bridge for a different one and it got much better B string preformance.

 

[MadMan118]

You can have the best gear in the world but still play like crap, and I've seen some people get great sound out of cheap basses. Mostly this is all arguing semantics, but I do agree on The micro amp comment. I have a small GK combo which is great at getting a considerable volume in a really small package, but I rely on my 4x10s a d 500w head to really bring the power. I do notice that micro amps lack that just sort of sheer force that say a SVT and 8x10 has.

 

[Ric5]

This SX sounds a lot like a Stingray

 

[Ric5]

Hmm, this is gonna get interesting.

Okay, I'll play. I think the biggest one is Tone Is All In The Fingers, I Sound The Same No Matter What Gear I Use. WRONG: that's style, not tone. You do not have the same tone when you switch from a Fender P-bass to a Warwick Thumb unless maybe you're using a crappy amp and gobs of distortion.

When I switched from a gibson EBO to a Rickenbacker 4001 my tone changed radically!

 

[Ric5]

No 8. "You need an active bass to get that big, ballsy, aggressive sound." Ummm, no, Geddy Lee is considered by many the holy grail of bass tone and other than his Steinburger/Wal phase he has played passive basses his whole career. Also reference the many many records of any genre where the bassist wound up recording the tracks with a plain old P-Bass even while using active basses live.

I really really like 3 or 4 band preamps. It is a great way to control tone.

 

[Ric5]

9. Bass is easier to play than guitar.

For me it is easier.

 

[Ric5]

"jaco only needed 4"

Many of us don't care how many Jaco needed.

I prefer 5!

 

[stoolpigeon]

I'm agree with the #1. A Stingray is a Stingray no matter the size of the pole piece of any other bass pickup.

+867

 

[Ric5]

In my mind there is only one true Jazz and that's a Fender Jazz. You might have a j-style but unless it was made by Fender and it says Fender Jazz Bass on the headstock it isn't a Jazz.

I build my own jazz and p-bass with Fender parts, Fender licensed parts and other parts. There is no logo on the headstock but they are jazz and p-basses.

 

[nealw]

"jaco only needed 4"

Not a misconception. Smug and annoying, yes, but Jaco in fact only needed 4.

 

[GregDunn]

Just to add more fuel to the fire...

We were chatting with GE Smith during my visit to the Fur Peace Ranch, and he was talking about the time he sat down with Jeff Beck backstage and asked him some style questions. GE handed Beck his (GE's) Tele and let him demonstrate a few things. FYI, those two have their axes set up totally differently, GE uses a pick as often as not, Beck plays a Strat fingerstyle these days, etc. etc. GE said that from the moment Beck started playing, "It sounded like Beck, tone and all."

That same weekend, Jack Casady played my Fender P (without touching the controls), right after doing a few licks on his Epi. Uncannily similar, and I guarantee those basses are nothing alike.

And we've all heard the endless arguments about what McCartney was playing on a given track; the Hofner, Fender, and Ric are about as dramatically different as any three basses could be.

I think it depends on how good the fingers are, personally.