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Help: I don't know what I want anymore

#41
JazzyJacuzzi said:
TL;DR: I need a light versatile bass that can get me from Gloria Jones' Tainted Love to Muse's Starlight, passing by Dua Lipa's Don't Start Now and Queen's Don't Stop Now.
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2 basses is my limit. I need a backup, just in case.

I own a passive Mike Lull PJ5 with TI flats and an active Sadowsky Jazz 5 with NYXL rounds. I'd cover all of those songs and more with either of those basses. They were both bought used and for less than your budget, but any P and J would work just as well.
 
#42
Easy. Pedulla Thunderbolt. The biggest sleeper bass in history. They didn't get the attention of the neckthroughs...because bolts...but they are surreal in the ground they can cover. Get two. One set with flats...one set with rounds...and you've got everything you listed. No doubts.
 
#44
great comments by all... the only thing I would add is regarding the short scale. I don't find it limiting, and the sounds from different ones are quite different now as more offerings come to the short end of the stick. Some short scales can be quite cheap for experimentation. I believe experimentation is the primary uses of the Bronco bass... they don't stay stock for long.

Also regarding short scale and any ideas of limitation or "its a toy" is not entirely accurate. The bronco is a bit of a toy, and cheaply built. Stanley Clark's alembic on the other hand is not. Also regarding limitations of the short scale.... Stanley Clark.

And yes I'm in the group that thinks strings matter a lot. I have not liked the voice of a bass that looked great on paper. I swapped out strings and gave a proper setup, and I ended up loving the sound. And it's the cheapest way to test new voices....
 
#45
I like your preference for one bass. I don't share it because they are like paint brushes to an artist. Which one feels right today?

The comment about versatility being in you is the real deal. Play one bass. Practice getting any tone you want out of it. Can you play thuddy muted walking bass lines and rude aggressive round wound tone from the same bass? You can. Without changing strings for the next tune? You can. Takes your willingness. Your ears. Your touch. You can.

Listen to every form of music in the world. Listen to the time and the timbre. Make those sounds with your fingers. Play the french horn part. Imitate the bass drum sound in some Americana. Listen to acoustic '20s to recent jazz and duplicate that sound of the bass. Sit there and repeat until your fingers make that sound.
 
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#48
two fingers said:
I

I play in a cover band that handles everything from modern country to old soul to pop to funk to rock. I have a pretty versatile bass. But it doesn't "nail" every tone.

Here's the thing. Nobody cares. Get close. Nail the songs. Put on a show.

Do all of that and both you AND your audience will have a blast. Don't bang your head against a wall trying to chase after every tone on every song. You don't play like all of the players on the original recordings anyway. It's a fight you can't win. But, then again, you don't have to.
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Every word of this. When I read the OP, I thought I could do that with my P-bass or my Yamaha TRBX305 no problem. I have knobs on my bass and can dial tones pretty well. I can play up on the neck for a fuller tone or near the bridge for a thinner sound. I can palm mute and thump notes. It's not going to be perfect, but as the Bob Reynolds song goes, "Can't wait for Perfect."
 
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#49
If your Jazz was too thin for modern pop then the problem was with your particular bass - not with the Jazz configuration. I've been using Jazz basses on corporate and wedding gigs (covering everything from cocktail jazz to current top 40) for the last seven or eight years without a problem and know several other people who have been doing the same. For the material that calls for deeper/keyboard bass consider an octave or synth pedal.
 
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#50
If you like your P bass...why not just buy a set of rounds put on the P bass and see if it gets you the tones you want for the more aggressive stuff? If so then buy another P bass with same specs and string on with flats and the other with rounds...keep it simple...
OR
Get a PJ back and put on rounds...

BTW, you're not having a mid life crisis are you?....lol
 
#53
JazzyJacuzzi said:
TL;DR: I need a light versatile bass that can get me from Gloria Jones' Tainted Love to Muse's Starlight, passing by Dua Lipa's Don't Start Now and Queen's Don't Stop Now.

I've been playing bass for over 15 years now and have owned quite a few Jazzes, Precisions, PJs, Stingrays and even a Warwick at one point. In the past two years, I've had an American Original 60s Jazz and American Original 60s Precision, which I have recently sold for a Music Man Stingray Special HH.

Thing is, I don't like owning more than one bass. I always end up playing my favourite one and leaving the others in the closet.

I loved the tone of the Precision with La Bella flats best, but it didn't work for the faster songs and those where the bass needed to cut through the mix. The nut width (1.73) wasn't the greatest either. The Jazz worked for those songs, but sounded thin for modern pop.

I like the feel of the Stingray HH, but I don't know about the tone. It works great for some things, but too hi-fi or aggressive on other things.

I've been going around music stores trying stuff this past week, but most of them don't have all that many basses. I really enjoyed the Squier 60s Mustang. I've been eyeing Serek basses for a while and was thinking maybe I could get them to build a short scale versatile bass, but I'm worried having a short scale bass as my sole instrument will be limiting. I also really enjoyed the American Professional II Precision. But again, it's not the most versatile instrument.

But again, everything seems, I don't know, disappointing? What would you be looking at with $3k?
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A jazz bass, and a set of fralin standard pickups.

A PJ bass, and a set of fralin standard pickups.
 
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#54
JazzyJacuzzi said:
TL;DR: I need a light versatile bass that can get me from Gloria Jones' Tainted Love to Muse's Starlight, passing by Dua Lipa's Don't Start Now and Queen's Don't Stop Now.

I've been playing bass for over 15 years now and have owned quite a few Jazzes, Precisions, PJs, Stingrays and even a Warwick at one point. In the past two years, I've had an American Original 60s Jazz and American Original 60s Precision, which I have recently sold for a Music Man Stingray Special HH.

Thing is, I don't like owning more than one bass. I always end up playing my favourite one and leaving the others in the closet.

I loved the tone of the Precision with La Bella flats best, but it didn't work for the faster songs and those where the bass needed to cut through the mix. The nut width (1.73) wasn't the greatest either. The Jazz worked for those songs, but sounded thin for modern pop.

I like the feel of the Stingray HH, but I don't know about the tone. It works great for some things, but too hi-fi or aggressive on other things.

I've been going around music stores trying stuff this past week, but most of them don't have all that many basses. I really enjoyed the Squier 60s Mustang. I've been eyeing Serek basses for a while and was thinking maybe I could get them to build a short scale versatile bass, but I'm worried having a short scale bass as my sole instrument will be limiting. I also really enjoyed the American Professional II Precision. But again, it's not the most versatile instrument.

But again, everything seems, I don't know, disappointing? What would you be looking at with $3k?
Click to expand...

Not trying to pop that gas bubble you are working on, but just a couple of observations. The first is if you want one bass, that one bass has to be one you can get the required notes out of it. The second is, and I don’t mean to be insulting but a good EQ can work miracles. It does take time, often a lot of time to get a bass dialed in.

As for shopping basses, and thank heavens I don’t need one. The music stores in my area are totally barren of out the box ready to go quality instruments. The other thing when shopping, odds are the bass you are trying will not have your favorite strings on them.

A little while back, somebody posted suggesting buying parts based on your specs, then having a luthier assemble it. All in, estimated at $1,200+ including a custom paint or finish on the body.

I probably wasn’t real helpful but I wish you well on your search.
 
#55
I feel your pain...
images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSeiBifQscq7h6OMH837ZnhK5bOOeVU3V7trA&usqp=CAU.jpg
 
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#57
A search for the perfect bass that does everything well is futile. I doubt such an animal exists. Aside from GAS or having a backup bass, the primary reason many players own more than one bass is so they can cover different tones or styles. Even if it’s just to have one with flats and another with rounds.

I would consider keeping what you have and add a second bass that will do what the first one doesn’t. Of course a second bass with different strings will get you much closer to your goal if you can live with maintaining and staying proficient with two.

Just my suggestion.
 
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#58
I'm not going to make any specific product recommendations because you can get there with a variety of offerings. That said, I think with the breadth of songs (and sounds) outlined in the first post, there are a few things that would probably be helpful to have in a single instrument.

5 strings - many pop songs are a keyboard bass part and aren't in "E". The ability to play it as written often calls for a 5 string. They only have 5 additional notes, but they add a lot of versatility. Plus, every 5er has a built in 4 string. :D

2 coil-switchable humbucking pickups - you want flexibility in sounds to work with the song, 2 is better than 1. :)

Active preamp - this will also give you a much wider and more flexible tonal palette. Highly recommend you find one that can be bypassed for passive tones when you need them.
 
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#59
Yeah, the one-bass-that-does-it-all thing is a toughie… you can get close - something like an L2000 gets you most of the way there - but there isn’t really such a thing that gets you all the way there that I’ve been able to find in 30+ years of trying to find it.

So what I do instead of trying to sound like X,Y and Z, is do it with a sound that isn’t like X,Y, or Z. I’ll try my own tone, and even playing style, to an Old Standard instead of trying to imitate the original. Something like use my Tony Franklin to play Yes - Tempus Fugit is quite approachable and gives a very unexpected sound on a P bass with a ton of muah. Or Toto, Daves’ gone skiing on the Jaco soloing the neck pickup. Try YYZ on the L2000 (until my hands start to snap off my arms).

Also, jam to something where, say, the original is primarily slap, but play completely finger style - Rock You by Dirty Loops is one I jam to sometimes on my FLs kinda hacked up with my own fingerstyle version of it.

and so on. But the idea is try to get away from imitating the original and instead redo it with your own playing and tone, and your own basses.

Thats what I do. And in a lot of cases I actually enjoy my tone and improvised playing almost as much as I would if I could cop it correctly. More often than not, I sound horrible, but, at my skill level I’m used to that. But the experiment can be fun, at least.

anyway just a different approach that may help get you out of the I-just-can’t-nail-that-Jamerson-sound-what-bass-do-I-need syndrome…

L
 
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