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heavier bass = better tone?

W

woaheasylang

Feb 11, 2009
37
0
#1
i was at a luthier's shop today and i tried both of his works.. during the course of testing the basses, i favored this particular bass over the other but my problem with it is was it was slightly heavier than normal.. the luthier goes, "thats why it sounds better."

just wondering what you guys have to say about this statement. does heavier mean better?
 
#3
the thing i liked about the heavier bass was that it sounded alot more "fuller" than the other one.. like it had a very big low end.. i dont really know how to describe it accurately in words. both basses had the same specs except that one (the heavier one) was single cut and the other one wasnt.
 
#6
I GOT AN AXL ACYLICC, THE SUSTAIN IS SOMTHING ELSE,IT IS HEAVY,I ONLY GOT IT FOR DECORATION IN MY HOUSE REARLY, I USE AN OLD DEAN,AND A FRETLESS TANGLEWOOD,THERE OK..CHEAP GOOD SOUNDS..IF YOU CAN HANDLE THE WEIGHT,BETTER SOUND.....STEVE HARRIS PREFERS A HEAVY BASS,SO THERE YOU ARE IF ITS GOOD FOR S,HARRIS,GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME...GOD SPEED
 
#9
rob7 said:
I GOT AN AXL ACYLICC, THE SUSTAIN IS SOMTHING ELSE,IT IS HEAVY,I ONLY GOT IT FOR DECORATION IN MY HOUSE REARLY, I USE AN OLD DEAN,AND A FRETLESS TANGLEWOOD,THERE OK..CHEAP GOOD SOUNDS..IF YOU CAN HANDLE THE WEIGHT,BETTER SOUND.....STEVE HARRIS PREFERS A HEAVY BASS,SO THERE YOU ARE IF ITS GOOD FOR S,HARRIS,GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME...GOD SPEED
Click to expand...

Whats good for steve harris,and whats good for me,the OP and thousands of other bass players is different. Steve likes SD SPB-1 pickups, I don't. Steve also likes a blue bass with a mirror pg...and I most def dont.


Btw...that button to the left of the "A", press it again.
 
#11
eh, some heavy basses sound like crap and some light basses sound fantastic. and vice versa. but the heaviest hitting, most brutal sounding bass i own weighs 4 1/2 lbs. it's a jay turser beatle bass, and it'll rip your face off.
 
#13
JimmyM said:
eh, some heavy basses sound like crap and some light basses sound fantastic. and vice versa. but the heaviest hitting, most brutal sounding bass i own weighs 4 1/2 lbs. it's a jay turser beatle bass, and it'll rip your face off.
Click to expand...

Yeah I don't think weight is an indicator either, it's more about the sonic/vibration qualities of a particular piece of timber and its interaction with all the other components of the instrument. My biggest and "best" (so subjective a word as to be worthless) bass is my lightest, my '63 P Bass. It should be remembered that the biggest influence on your instruments inherent tone are the transducers (I'm not getting into the it's all in the fingers argument here, which is why I say inherent) which are the pickups. Timbers and hardware come in behind p/ups (and speakers at the other end) when it comes to influencing tone, remember it's an electric bass. That is not to say that timbers/weight have no influence when they are played acoustically, because they obviously do. Whether that influence is positive or negative is back to my original point of each instrument is different.
 
#14
I think generally speaking, the more wood is vibrating the "fuller" sound your going to get. Of course, there are always exceptions. As people in this thread have already pointed out, theres full sounding light basses and weak sounding heavy basses.

However, at the end of the day, the pick ups and your attack is really whats gonna make the difference
 
#15
michaelgilleran said:
I think generally speaking, the more wood is vibrating the "fuller" sound your going to get. Of course, there are always exceptions. As people in this thread have already pointed out, theres full sounding light basses and weak sounding heavy basses.

However, at the end of the day, the pick ups and your attack is really whats gonna make the difference
Click to expand...

Well heavier/denser wood in that case would take alot more energy to make vibrate.

It's just like on acoustic instruments. A light weight acoustic,with thin body wood is going to resonate a lot better and be more responsive than one with thick heavy woods,because it takes less energy to make the lighter body move.

Just like trying to wave a thin sheet,and then trying to wave a thick afghan blanket. It's going to take a lot more muscle to make that blanket move the same amount as the sheet.
 
#16
5string5fingers said:
Btw...that button to the left of the "A", press it again.
Click to expand...

Ha ha! +1

On the heavier basses sound better - what is "better" really?

You have the sound you like, I have the sound I like - what happens if we don't like each other's sound? Well, nothing really I guess we'd listen to different genre's.

Would I like everyone to like my sound - well probably not, cause then there'd never be new music or everything would sound the same - what's the point of that?

I'd say that heavier basses probably produce similar sounds to other heavy basses - because the wood will have similar density - provided the size of the piece of wood is comparable. So if you like the way heavy basses sound then I guess for you heavy basses sound 'better'.
 
#17
JimmyM said:
eh, some heavy basses sound like crap and some light basses sound fantastic. and vice versa.
Click to expand...

This.

I do admit that my favourite basses have been heavy. I like a good jazz bass with a heavy ash body, but I've also played ash bodied jazzes that were complete duds soundwise, even unamplified. So it's not just the weight of the wood, the pixie dust is a factor too. And I've also played my fair share totally awesome lighter basses.
 
#18
my definition of better (as it relates to the situation i stated above and not generally), is that the heavier bass had a fuller sound, and it filled the room.. basically it sounded more bassy while the other one, had a weak low end (like it didnt really rumble as much) and was sort of twangy (even with the tone rolled off). like a very low sounding guitar.

muted plucking by the bridge (ala jaco) also produced very clear ghost notes unlike the lighter one which needed to be tweaked alittle bit to bring out abit of the fartyness(if thats even a word).

heres another question, how are the weights of high-end basses compared to low-end basses? are the high-end ones usually heavier then the low-end ones?

thanks to everyone for your input, very informative stuff. :)
 
#20
Brad Johnson and JimmyM, both nailed it

On the other hand, have you ever tried playing a 4hr gig or a 6-8hr rehearsal with a heavy bass? I have and IME a medium or light weight bass with GREAT tone will do the trick as much as the heavy bass
 

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