Different Basses for Different Things

[LiptonJigglers]

Pretty weird thing to post about but I'm just curious and have been thinking, feel free to disregard this if you would like lol. What is your perception of different brands/models of basses? I'm always trying to have as little things as possible that cover the most ground. I have 1 humbucker guitar, 1 P90 guitar, and 1 Fender guitar strat. I have 1 p-bass, 1 j-bass, and 1 Ibanez active humbuckers bass.

To me, the P is best for when I want to play some classic tones, old R&B/Motown, dub, stuff that requires a lot of tubby thump. The J is best for that smooth funky jazz or jam music and also digging into some hard rock. The Ibanez is actually the most versatile in tone, but I have it set up with pretty high action where I can just go nuts on the strings for some distorted metal riffs or beat on it super hard with some hard slapping.

I've never played more than briefly at a store a PJ, Rickenbacker, Mustang, Stingray, Jaguar, Modulus, Lakland, Sadowsky, Gibson, Dingwall, Danelectro, Hollow, Semi-Hollow. Sometimes I think I have all bases covered just with my 3 basses, sometimes I'm like, I want another bass that does something totally different.

What's your perception of different brands/models of basses and where do they fill holes in your jamming? Whether it's rockin out, smooth jazz, heavy dub, articulate fusion jamming, whatever it doesn't matter. This is interesting to me, YMMV lol.

I have 3 passive bass guitars and 1 EUB.


The stock MIM Fender P is my go to for most things.

Maton JB4 is my go to for heavier, dirty grungy rock. With its DiMarzio PJ set up, it's absolutely perfect for this. Nothing else comes close to this baby.
It does a great P tone but it has its own character that separates it from the Fender.

Then I have the Yamaha bb435 PJ, that is versatile, can replicate the P bass well if needed and gets used mainly in the covers band that plays music that spans 7 decades. Having that B string brings in that extra dimension.

The EUB doesn't get used as much as I bought it specifically for a Pink Floyd and Doors covers band, which has now gone kaput.

I'm now in the market for a Jazz with maple fretboard just to open up some more tonal options.

I had an original Ibanez SR405QM from the mid 90s and it was a lovely bass and super versatile. It sounded very different than the others but the neck was to thin for my hands and I kept fumbling the strings with my left hand.

To be honest, I could use any of the bass guitars in any setting and things will sound fine. Some just work better than others in different specific settings.
So yes, I do have different basses for different things.

 

[JIO]

Any player of merit should be able to play any & all styles of music on one bass but I am an advocate of using specific basses for specific music when appropriate, especially when recording. Live I only bring one bass and my band plays a lot of different music.

 

[Derek Kay]

I realised I played better when I kept to the same bass. I kept my best 3 to cover the minimum range, and passed on the rest.

Custom PJ fretted passive with detuner - covers most gigs.

Custom 5er fretted passive for contemporary progressive stuff

Custom frettless active Pbass with detuner for smooth exotic

I'm glad it's more simple for me. I think I can deliver more reliably.
One decent DB does the other half of my gigs anyway, so I'm up against it trying to keep my hand in on anything at all.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

Thats what I don't get though; The common stereotype of punk is a thin pick and whatever garbage goodwill bass you can muster up. I take offense to that and so does my $2,000.00 Stingray .

I am not saying you averted to this but; Punk is not all p.o.s. basses, piercings, tattoos and blue hair, laying in the gutter with needles on the ground. Some of us take it with a touch more refined discernment...or is it discerning refinement?

I stick by what I said, Jazz basses suck for punk and hardcore.

I wish we had a sarcasm emoji. In your opinion Jazz basses suck for that type of music. I use a very thin pick, don't generally play punk music. I also use a relatively inexpensive Jazz Bass, so its offended that you think it sucks for Punk/Hardcore. Btw, I'm old, so idk what Hardcore even is ?
Of course I know stereotypes can be false. If you saw me, you wouldn't guess what kind of music I play. I think any Bass/Guitar can be interchangeable.

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

I wish we had a sarcasm emoji. In your opinion Jazz basses suck for that type of music. I use a very thin pick, don't generally play punk music. I also use a relatively inexpensive Jazz Bass, so its offended that you think it sucks for Punk/Hardcore. Btw, I'm old, so idk what Hardcore even is ?
Of course I know stereotypes can be false. If you saw me, you wouldn't guess what kind of music I play. I think any Bass/Guitar can be interchangeable.

A jazz bass is definately usable for punk or harder genres, if that is all I had---I would use one of the many overdrive pedals or a combination of two or three and probably my orange amp sim pedal. I never tried, It's just not preferred... but yea, it would probably get me close to a usable tone---although, we have come a long way since 60's gear influenced, ie; 70's-80's punk. I prefer active basses & humbuckers for grittier, modern, aggressive tunes. I also prefer precision basses, especially the fat, chunky neck and bright maple fingerboards---sllap a set of new, Italian carbonsteel strings on and the American P basses are mean F'n machines. I also have huge hands and I gravitate away from Jazz basses, because of the skinny necks. Anyhow....

This is Hardcore, International punk here...
Been adding to this playlist for about a year now.

 

[Gervais Cote]

I have 3 passive bass guitars and 1 EUB.


The stock MIM Fender P is my go to for most things.

Maton JB4 is my go to for heavier, dirty grungy rock. With its DiMarzio PJ set up, it's absolutely perfect for this. Nothing else comes close to this baby.
It does a great P tone but it has its own character that separates it from the Fender.

Then I have the Yamaha bb435 PJ, that is versatile, can replicate the P bass well if needed and gets used mainly in the covers band that plays music that spans 7 decades. Having that B string brings in that extra dimension.

The EUB doesn't get used as much as I bought it specifically for a Pink Floyd and Doors covers band, which has now gone kaput.

I'm now in the market for a Jazz with maple fretboard just to open up some more tonal options.

I had an original Ibanez SR405QM from the mid 90s and it was a lovely bass and super versatile. It sounded very different than the others but the neck was to thin for my hands and I kept fumbling the strings with my left hand.

To be honest, I could use any of the bass guitars in any setting and things will sound fine. Some just work better than others in different specific settings.
So yes, I do have different basses for different things.

"Stock MIM Fender P is my go to for most things" : why do we/I have so many basses when things that work just fine can be that simple ? The magic is in the fingers !

 

[Deleted member 394181]

A jazz bass is definately usable for punk or harder genres, if that is all I had---I would use one of the many overdrive pedals or a combination of two or three and probably my orange amp sim pedal. I never tried, It's just not preferred... but yea, it would probably get me close to a usable tone---although, we have come a long way since 60's gear influenced, ie; 70's-80's punk. I prefer active basses & humbuckers for grittier, modern, aggressive tunes. I also prefer precision basses, especially the fat, chunky neck and bright maple fingerboards---sllap a set of new, Italian carbonsteel strings on and the American P basses are mean F'n machines. I also have huge hands and I gravitate away from Jazz basses, because of the skinny necks. Anyhow....

This is Hardcore, International punk here...
Been adding to this playlist for about a year now.

That's cool. When I was coming up playing mostly classic hard rock/metal, Blue Basses were never seen. Except for maybe hair metal.