Do you think the scale will ever tip back towards hi-fi/active basses?

[DavidEdenAria]

Frankly those stories sound like hooey to me in any sort of current context. I can't imagine a producer saying to someone who plays a Strat with a Floyd Rose that they should play the ES335 sitting in the corner. That's not their sound, and they're not going to play their best on a type of guitar they're not familiar with. Same with basses. If an engineer can't get a good sound without a musician playing a specific type of instrument I'd be wondering if another engineer should be brought in.

Then there is the story of Black Sabbath i think on the 'Mob Rules' album where apparently the engineers and Geezer were searching for a specific bass sound, they spent almost a week experimenting in the studio...Geezer was trying different basses and the whole thing was viewed by the rest of the band as a waste of money...Pretty sure Martin Birch was the producer.....Geezer made his sound on Fender basses in the early days but being rather curious and taking who knows what, he liked to try different things.

As i mentioned Lee Sklar plays lots of basses these days as one example...still the producer usually has quite a bit of say and it depends on the artist and who is paying the bill.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

More proficient bass players because they otherwise should/would be practicing instead of opining on tb? Just a wild guess...

Not everyone is hired for “their sound.” Someone recording music for commercials doesn’t really care about “your sound.” And neither do most bandleaders and solo artists of renown. Sure, they might hire a famous name for “their sound,” but us folks without a name don’t get that luxury, and if you don’t give them what they want, they’ll find someone who will, and they’ll let their friends know you’re a trouble maker.

So refuse to play that 335 at your own risk.

Carol Kaye...P bass with a pick....Carol got so much work how much practice did she need?

 

[Snert]

Carol Kaye...P bass with a pick.

And an Ibanez SRX700 for a long time.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

And an Ibanez SRX700 for a long time.

And an Ibanez SRX700 for a long time.

Yes she did...i dont know about other basses, i think she may have mentioned a Danelectro that was modded....Carol did not like Fender Jazz basses i recall.

 

[JIO]

Carol Kaye...P bass with a pick....Carol got so much work how much practice did she need?

Yah... and your point viewed from this thread or even that tangent?

And an Ibanez SRX700 for a long time.

What she was music historically (primarily '60s) known to play... wasn't that bass.

Yes she did...i dont know about other basses, i think she may have mentioned a Danelectro that was modded....Carol did not like Fender Jazz basses i recall.

Yes - most famous bass players are known to have played a variety of basses. Think Stu Hamm... who Fender initiated their 1st "Signature Bass" in his name in the '90s. (pro players do everything tied to their income - it's how they make a living)

 

[DavidEdenAria]

Yah... and your point viewed from this thread or even that tangent?



What she was music historically (primarily '60s) known to play... wasn't that bass.



Yes - most famous bass players are known to have played a variety of basses. Think Stu Hamm...

The thread is about the studio scene being a P bass thing....it was big for decades and then it went HI FI or whatever, now apparently the P bass thing has returned but its news to me!

 

[Snert]

What she was music historically (primarily '60s) known to play... wasn't that bass.

She kept playing after the 60s and when I first heard of her, she was playing the SRX.

In the 60s, any player had little choice of what the could play, and the P was the most common, so saying that the reason the P was used by someone back then is like saying people in the 1920s drove Model Ts.

 

[Chickenwheels]

There's that story of Sean Hurley moving to L.A. with a five-string active Lakland to become a session player just to realize it's a P-bass world out there. It wasn't always the case though. There was time when hi-fi or active basses were all the rage, like Warwicks, Ken Smiths, Alembics, Tobias, Zons, Spector etc.

Do you think the scale will ever tip back towards hi-fi/active basses? If so, how do you think it'll happen?

That Sean Hurley thing is ancient now.
I’m no A list session dude but over the last few years I’ve gone back to more “modern” basses. They’re heaps more fun and interesting and I just want to do whatever I want to do. Which has been fretless Wal basses.
I’d really love to find a Steinberger 5 string, actually. I played an XL2 recently and it was incredible.
I also dig Kubicki and all the fun Japanese stuff from yore, like the Tune Bass Maniac. Fantastic instruments.

 

[iTzPrime]

Active basses are getting more and more popular, and in the studio as well. The breed of engineers that can only mix a pbass and want exactly that sound, is quickly going extinct.
The Sean Hurley story is nice, but at the end of the day he is part of what now is a niche part of musician ship.
Modern production often utilize synth bass in addition to an electric bass and the sound get shaped in a way that it doesn't matter if it is a p or anything else.

 

[mmon77]

It all depends on your perspective, music-wise. I listen to allot of modern metal. It's all multi-scale 5+ string basses. If I decided to switch tomorrow and listen to grunge or post grunge, it would be all FSOs.

You know what I would like to see? I would like to see those types of guys do it on a P bass for ***** and giggles.

Also saw these guys about a month ago and they blew my mind.

This is what I would imagine Animals as Leaders would be if they played basses instead of guitars.

 

[BlueTalon]

I heard that the reason people don’t buy music anymore is that they’re tired of P basses, but it could just be a rumour.

That made me laugh.

 

[themickster]

I’m tired of seeing multiscale active 5 string basses on every Instagram suggested video..

Oh you poor thing

 

[Rib 13]

There's that story of Sean Hurley moving to L.A. with a five-string active Lakland to become a session player just to realize it's a P-bass world out there. It wasn't always the case though. There was time when hi-fi or active basses were all the rage, like Warwicks, Ken Smiths, Alembics, Tobias, Zons, Spector etc.

Do you think the scale will ever tip back towards hi-fi/active basses? If so, how do you think it'll happen?

Hurley did that when the retro trend came in ( about 2009 or 2010). Pop tunes by John Mayer, Elle King, etc had all gone retro. That was the 2010s trend. No different than the hi fi hairy 1980s trend, the flannel broody 1990s trend, or 2000s whiney singing P bass with a pick pop punk trend......trends come and go and the 2010s are in the past......its almost 2024

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

I wasn't going to reply, but I must ...

The original post and the one I'm about to throw down are an excellent study in perception/opinion.

I've been playing the bass for a long time. I've seen a few "fads" come and go, but the bass seems (to me) to be less of a platform for experimentation than a guitar in general, of course. (and let's avoid the synthesizer discussion?).

Some things came-and-went. Some things stuck. Much do my dismay, the latter is the case with active electronics. I first remember active pick-ups on guitars and then, I saw the fad migrate to basses.

I was away from music for a few years and the "insanity" (my own personal taste) of active guitars had pretty much died while active electronics had become an epidemic.

Try an experiment? Go to Sweetwater's website (they have the best search/filtering features) and just get to electric bass guitar in the search parameters.

Look how many are available. Then, check off "passive" (not "active/passive") and see how many are available.

If you're like me and prefer 24 frets, the pickin's get even slimmer.

I tried this little experiment and since it's late (04.38), here and I don't want to wake up SWMBO, I'll post the video in a few hours(-ish).

 

[Fynn]

I would bet that it's mostly an active world nowadays. Most of the biggest genres have bass players that use active HH basses. Sure you still see a lot of the classics (even though many of them are active too now), but I don't think when you turn on the radio on the pop channel, you will hear many straight passive P or J basses. And pop is what most people listen to.
So when we go by how many people listen to active basses (knowingly or unknowingly), then that would probably be the majority. If you think about all the small bands (especially younger players), you'll probably see a lot more of the classics as they are the most popular models still to this day.

 

[JimmyM]

Hurley did that when the retro trend came in ( about 2009 or 2010). Pop tunes by John Mayer, Elle King, etc had all gone retro. That was the 2010s trend. No different than the hi fi hairy 1980s trend, the flannel broody 1990s trend, or 2000s whiney singing P bass with a pick pop punk trend......trends come and go and the 2010s are in the past......its almost 2024

So back to the 70s?

 

[direktor]

I strongly feel OP and Hurley have a point. If you pay attention to popular music, the kind where the bass truly is a supporting role, I hear a ton of thumpy, low sustain, semi-hollow body sounds. Foil pickups. dead strings. Pinned compressors. Tame Impala has inspired large amounts of copy cats in this space. Further, as far as aesthetics go, if anybody is slinging around a guitar or bass for image, anything old is what's cool. Key word I hear a lot is "authentic" (I work adjacent to the pop music biz). It's a disgusting word, but it does describe the vibe a lot of young music listeners and creators go for (and Fender as OG has it in spades). And usually the sounds to go with it. See Fender's recent juggernaut in the Guitar Center world. There's exceptions occasionally, and if so I'm usually hearing Stingray funk sounds, usually in modern R&B-ish tunes.

The high midrange and high end IMO is reserved for synth sounds, not the high-harmonics of a bass, in almost all pop music anymore.

There are large and important niches that don't go this way. Prog is gaining steam from Youtube bedroom players (Polyphia! Covet!). Thank god that the internet has given rise to music (and instrument) subcultures so we don't get subsumed by Tame Impala hipster thump.

All of us here are at least >25 years old, far into finding our own musical niches and not really caring about what the music biz is pushing (some of us stopped listening to the latest DECADES ago). That's good. But I absolutely believe it when Hurley says old rules the roost. I can't count how many times I've set foot in a Los Angeles recording studio for a shoot and the studio inventory is ALWAYS a 60s/70s P or J, usually both. Greg Kurstin had a nice collection going.

 

[MegaSwing]

Depends on your scene, I guess. Anything that provides a bass presence will always have a place in nearly every kind of music. That’s essential, not really a matter of public fickleness. They got buttons, sliders, plug-ins, preamps, and loops for all that.

 

[BassyBill]

I’ve been through a lot of basses before finding out that I’m basically a four string Fender player. P, J, PJ, fretted or fretless gives me the choices I want.

 

[Wisebass]

Hi folks

There's that story of Sean Hurley moving to L.A. with a five-string active Lakland to become a session player just to realize it's a P-bass world out there.

Nice story! Let me guess, Hurley switched to Fender? And got an endorsement gig?

Do you think the scale will ever tip back towards hi-fi/active basses?

When I started playing bass and drums (early 80s), folks were saying we all would be replaced by synths...

Didn't happen! (Or did it and I was just dreaming all those years? )

If so, how do you think it'll happen?

How it will happen? Maybe drummers will start to buy electric drumkits?

Sure, they might hire a famous name for “their sound,” but us folks without a name don’t get that luxury

Some are hired for their creative input (their own lines, playing style and sound) others just to play

whatever is on the sheet (as fast as possible, without any hassle)

Having an "attitude" isn't very helpful

So refuse to play that 335 at your own risk.

I am not a guitarist...

So back to the 70s?

...maybe I would try that ES...

...for a 70s sound it needs some rattle canning and stickers! (lotsa stickers!!!! )



To sum it up: Trends come and go. Drummers get hired and fired.

Sometimes bassplayers are allowed to bring all kind of stuff (active basses, pedalboards etc)

Maybe some producers will explain to AI not to have an attitude and play that Pbass in the corner?



greetings

Wise(b)ass