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Does your bass sounds better when somebody else is playing it?

#62
Frankie Fender said:
Yes.

I have also noticed when I go to sell gear, and people come over to try it out they wind up sounding incredible and have me second guessing why I am selling the equipment in the first place. I admit it is some sort of disorder I am plagued with... ;)
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I've made my mind up, I'm not selling anymore gear no matter how much I buy. I think I'll change my handle to "BASS HOARDER" :)
 
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#64
More often I've had other people sound worse on my gear than I do when they don't get that it's set up to be played with the volume and tone on the bass all the way up.

I had a guitar player sit in on bass at a gig once, he genuinely looked scared/shocked when I told him he had to turn both knobs all the way up to be heard.
 
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#65
As a general rule we don't welcome "guest" players so no real opportunity for anyone else to play my basses.

We have, over time, changed up for a song or two where I've played acoustic and our guitarist has played my bass. The tone doesn't really change when he plays but what I do notice is we seem to miss the "groove" I expect because he plays my bass like his guitar, playing his lead-type licks all over the place instead of staying with the beat. Just his style I guess.
 
#66
Yes. And it’s not even about skill level. There are times when I sit and fight the amp trying to get that perfect sound, then I take a break, someone noodles around on my bass and I’m like “oh, it was there all along.” I do my best to stand as far away as possible and take in the whole mix, but I think there’s something about your brain processing the sound you’re making with your fingers before you actually hear it. When someone else plays, your brain doesn’t get to do that. I bet if you record yourself playing live, you’ll notice it sounds better than you thought.
 
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#67
Everyone plays differently so naturally it will sound different...now if it sounds better then perhaps you have a "take a look in the mirror" time in the near future with yourself and what you're doing "differently." :D
 
#70
I've only experienced this a few times, and I wouldn't say others sound better on my basses, but I usually like hearing how my gear sounds in others' hands. It's interesting. In one case, the guitarist in my band borrowed my bass to sit in with another band, and I liked hearing how it sounded with his very different technique.

Interestingly, the guitarist in my last band likes hearing me play his guitars. He spent serious cash (won't even tell me how much) on a custom triple-humbucker beast with complicated electronics, and I think he hasn't always thought it was worth it. But when I play it, he loves how it sounds, which I think validates it for him. And I think it's awesome.
 
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#74
Acoustic356 said:
It takes 24 feet for the sine wave of an E string to complete its first cycle. The sound that you hear close to your amp is different than the sound that you hear further away. You tend to get more bottom end when you are closer as well.



#thingstoconsider
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With my 61 year old drummer's ears I can hear 38hz in headphones. Our ears "hear" changes in pressure not wavelength. Given a sine wave of 40 hz, that change in pressure happens 40 times a second no matter how close or far we are to the source.

The effect you describe is real enough but it has nothing to do with wavelength except that wavelength affects how the sound interacts with the room so you're hearing the affect of room modes and not distance to or from the amp. Another variable with distance is the change in direct and reflected sound but again this is independent of wavelength.

Mugre
 
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#75
More than 20 years ago, I sat in the audience for a couple of songs and let another guy play my 1996 American Standard Jazz Bass. I always felt the Jazz sounded thin and wimpy, but it sounded great from the audience. It wasn't a matter of musicianship, I think, but more a matter of hearing the bass from a distance in context with the rest of the band.
 
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#77
My gear sounds better when other people play it, but it's more because the people who would be interested in playing around with my gear are simply more skilled musicians than myself.

I remember when I took my bass in for help with a setup. The guy who worked on it tested it out by doing a very funky, very fast solo sort of thing. Then he told me he wasn't a bassist. :bawl:
 
#78
I wriggle and squirm listening to bad fretting, inappropriately wimpy or messy sounding right hand technique, lack of enthusiasm, lack of care, bad rhythm..... incorrectly played parts without noticing they're wrong...... playing my fretless out of tune...

Of course... that can be when hearing someone else play my bass,.... or it can be when i'm listening back to my own tracks in the studio. LoL
 
#79
Totally dependent on the player.

Most folks who play my basses are not primarily bass players and almost always sound worse to me.

When my pedal steel player comes over for my lesson he makes my steel and amp sound out of this world, while I can barely take flight.
 
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