Heavy or light bass?

[Eilif]

If the OP wants heavier basses, then never fear there's plenty of options available in current production. I've recently played Ibanez and Schecter instruments in the 5-700 range that were clearly influenced by Fender that have that lovely eye-catching ash body that is almost always unnecessarily heavy.

Even stuff like Fender, Lakland and others make heavy instruments. Just go on sweetwater and look at the weigts. The ones that have been around a while are the heavier ones.

For my self, I'm only in my 30's but 3 hours with a heavy instrument is exactly no fun. I'm moving completely toward instruments that are at least under 9 pounds, ideally under 8. Even my beloved T-40 only gets taken out on recording sessions and the occasional short single-set gig.

 

[Ian Lewis]

Seems like the trend right now is manufacturers making their basses lighter and lighter. I was in GC the other day and played a new EBMM Stingray and I couldn’t believe how light it was. It was a complete turnoff, to be honest. I’ve owned two EBMM basses and they were both a significant amount heavier than this one. One of them was a USA Sterling which is partly marketed as lighter than the Stongray, because it has a smaller/slimmer body. But those are still quite heavy compared to what I’m mostly seeing on the shelves...or hangers....today.

Maybe I’m just old school or something but back when I started playing guitar and bass it seems like the good, American stuff was stout and heavy and the cheap overseas stuff was light and made out of very inferior woods.

I’ve been criticized for thinking this way in the past, but I just feel like I get better tone and sustain from heavier, denser woods.

Am I alone here? Do I need to adapt or am I destined to buying only 10-20 year old basses, LOL?

I own a very heavy bubinga Warwick Corvette, a slightly lighter Infinity, and a much lighter Ibanez SDGR. All strung the same. Their tone appears to match the weight of the woods. Very heavy, heavy and light.

 

[Manuel Bass]

Great name. It's colossal, epic, ginormous, humongous, gigantic, mammoth, massive, monster, monumental, prodigious, vast, and tremendous.

Bad ass!!

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I think heavy woods producing a heavier tone is a myth. I own four Ibanez basses-- not one over 8 pounds, and they sound heavy, believe me. I always get a nice fat round bottom out of my basses. Ibanez has found the sweet spot between performance and weight. Players no longer need to play 9-10 pound basses to sound awesome onstage. This is just my point of view for my playing.

 

[Murv M]

I have owned many high end basses of different weights from Pedulla, Warwick, Lakland and even had a Peavey T40 back in the day which was like a boat anchor. I have owned 7 Music Man basses with my current one being a StingRay Special 5 HH in dropped copper which is my avatar pic. It weighs only 8.1 lbs and has as much sustain as any of the heavier basses I have owned and it sounds as good or better than any of the other MM basses in my past. So it's just fortunate that it's my best MM ever and it's light to boot. With all the new changes, lighter hardware, roasted maple neck and 18 volt preamp they really hit the nail on the head. Of course that's my opinion but after 6 previous MM basses I think I have a pretty good history to make a fair comparison.

 

[zontar]

I think heavy woods producing a heavier tone is a myth. I own four Ibanez basses-- not one over 8 pounds, and they sound heavy, believe me. I always get a nice fat round bottom out of my basses. Ibanez has found the sweet spot between performance and weight. Players no longer need to play 9-10 pound basses to sound awesome onstage. This is just my point of view for my playing.

Well my experience agrees...