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Does your bass sounds better when somebody else is playing it?
- Thread starter kerrycares
- Start date
What awes me more than a very skilled player is the person having absolutely no training or experience playing, that picks up an instrument, creates original ideas that are good or really good on the fly. Like a child’s drawings before they’re taught ‘how to’ draw or paint.
My well trained mind has in many ways inhibited my creative side with rules, theories and conventions of tradition.
Learning skills is a matter of desire & dedication. The absolute natural, not bound by tradition or rules, that’s where I just observe and listen. Or, wish I could learn to forget conventions & rules.
My well trained mind has in many ways inhibited my creative side with rules, theories and conventions of tradition.
Learning skills is a matter of desire & dedication. The absolute natural, not bound by tradition or rules, that’s where I just observe and listen. Or, wish I could learn to forget conventions & rules.
Your first sentence directly contradicts your third sentence.
If the "sine wave" didn't develop until far away how would you hear more lows when you're close to the speaker? You would hear less lows if that was the case.
Also, headphones would have no lows at all, since they're about an inch from your ear drums.
Your second sentence is correct, but not for the reason you think.
Higher frequencies are more directional. If your speakers are pointed at your legs and you're standing 1 foot away, all the highs and high mids are going to miss your ears.
When you stand farther away, which we tend to do when someone else is using our rig, the higher frequencies have room to spread out and hit your ears.
Of course, some speaker and cab designs are more directional than others.* And you can mitigate directionality by lifting the cab up closer to your head and/or angling it towards your ears.
As for OP's question...no, never.
*I played one gig with a guy who brought a Marshall 4x12 cab instead of his usual 1x12. It was acceptable volume on stage but so painfully loud to people sitting 20 feet away in the bar the place cleared out before the second song was over.
Something you should be aware of is the way you process sound varies depending upon if you are playing or casually listening. I suggest you record and listen to yourself and maybe you will find that you sound better than you think...or maybe not
.I have a Boss DD7 digital delay that can save about a 40 second loop, so it's an easy experiment for me.
You have some nice gear!
I let Dave LaRue play my bass once and it did sound better in his hands, but hey, that's just Dave. I'm happy to say that usually my basses don't sound better in someone else's hands. Was not always the case 
Hate to admit it, but... ONLY My P basses.
For some reason (maybe because My top 10 are active), Yeah...
For some reason (maybe because My top 10 are active), Yeah...
Zack Sewell
Commercial User
- Jul 31, 2017
- 34
- 59
- Disclosures
- All gear listed is my own and not related to the store I work at.
I freaking hate letting people use any of my music gear. I'm not a selfish person typically but it's such a personal thing that I just don't want anyone affecting.
Yeah, I'd say just different. Largely because someone else will (naturally) play differently than I do plus I am no longer listening from the same reference point.
I remember one time back in college (I had been playing for about a year at that point) where someone played my bass far better than I could at that point so it sounded pretty good then. Does that count?
I remember one time back in college (I had been playing for about a year at that point) where someone played my bass far better than I could at that point so it sounded pretty good then. Does that count?
To be fair... the stuff I don’t own always sounds better than the stuff I DO own..
Interesting you mention this. As a player who enjoys using a cab for monitoring, I'm always afraid of being too loud. Soundmen and audience attendees both have told me to turn the amp up.
Sometimes it does. I allowed a bass player buddy to try my trusty L-2000 and what I heard was just smooth. Made me GAS again for my own bass, imagine that!
I'm always struck by how different a bass sounds with someone else playing it. I have a friend that seemingly makes any bass sound like it has worn in flats on it. He also finds that I can play a bass with a pickup closer to the bridge (Stingray or Patriot) and have it sound OK, where he can't.
.
It's a bit like smoking someone else's pot.
You always get more stoned than when smoking your own!
(How I made that connection to the OP is beyond me!)
It's a bit like smoking someone else's pot.
You always get more stoned than when smoking your own!
(How I made that connection to the OP is beyond me!)
Nope, I'm a lefty so nobody else plays my bass. 
Usually not. Happens when some people bring "alternative" techniques my gear doesn't even know exist (tapping, advanced forms of slap, etc.). I often go all "wow, does my bass/amp/whatever sound good!" probably for 10 seconds before I fall into the "this guy/gal's doing real gnarly ****!" point of view.
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