If they can't tell the difference, you probably can't either...

[TNCreature]

May or may not be true. But I think that often people like owning an instrument with a history, or represents an era, a musician, or has a nostalgic "pull" to the owner.
Some of of playing music and owning an instrument is emotional and elusive.
I'm sure there are all sorts of motivations. But yeah, I am sure that some people hype themselves into believe the oldest, or most expensive is "the best".
I personally try to keep it simple, but I do love looking at an old bass!

 

[VWbug]

People can hear with their eyes?!

Blasphemy!

 

[Rebmo]

They are just like Fenders, they don't all sound great, but there are some really great ones.

 

[Dark Horse]

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/if-they-cant-tell-difference-you-probably-cant-either-840386/

Stradivari and Guarneri violins don't sound better according to a University of Paris study. Aparrently, we just think so because they are rare and costly. Maybe there is some of this effect with classic and high-end basses?

There's another thread on the same thing on the 1st page ...

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/if-they-cant-tell-difference-you-probably-cant-either-840386/

 

[DTF]

were the fretboards rosewood , maple , or wenge?

 

[spade2you]

So... the conclusion to take from this is that the wood doesn't matter?

But clay dots and tort pickguards do.

 

[king_biscuit]

I've read an old article about Leo Fender...he too didn't believe that old Fenders sounded better than newer ones.

Leo Fender was practically deaf by the time any of the Fenders got old. He also had a financial interest in selling new instruments, not used ones.

 

[grendle]

I actually get frustrated when I don't hear what I expect to in a bass. If I was to hear what I'm "inclined to hear" then there'd be no problem.

+1

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I should play violin. I thought the difference was obvious. But's it's only a 50/50 guess.

Anyways, a little gloat "Oh yeah!"

 

[eqvolvorama]

I should play violin. I thought the difference was obvious. But's it's only a 50/50 guess.

Anyways, a little gloat "Oh yeah!"

Did you correctly guess which violin was which make? That's where I'd be completely clueless. That to me says that our perceptions of what makes a bass sound "better" are really cues in our head based on a name on the headstock.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Did you correctly guess which violin was which make? That's where I'd be completely clueless. That to me says that our perceptions of what makes a bass sound "better" are really cues in our head based on a name on the headstock.

Nah, just the strad versus the modern test. But it gave me an opportunity to use my Vector that I've been bugging my daughter with for the past week. Heh.

 

[grendle]

It doesn't surprise me at all. Good, dry, wood is good, dry, wood. The idea that different woods have significant, audibly (=blindly) discernible differences in tone doesn't stand up to proper testing, although there's a fluffy mountain of anecdote and magical thinking that says the objective testing is wrong.

They do from a spectrum analysis point of view, and 3 people in the test did get them correct. 7 didn't , but they dont tell you how many they got right or wrong. They did hear the differences but didn't know which instrument is which. It all comes down to personal prefrence in the end. Play what you like.

 

[JimmyM]

I saw Kenny G last year, and he did a bit in his show where he gave away one of his Kenny G brand soprano saxes, but played a song on it first using the same mouthpiece that's on his vintage Selmer soprano sax. Didn't sound nearly as good as his Selmer.

What does this have to do with the subject? I don't know!!!

Don't give me any crap about seeing Kenny, either. Vail Johnson is a friend of mine, dammit!

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I saw Kenny G last year, and he did a bit in his show where he gave away one of his Kenny G brand soprano saxes, but played a song on it first using the same mouthpiece that's on his vintage Selmer soprano sax. Didn't sound nearly as good as his Selmer.

What does this have to do with the subject? I don't know!!!

Don't give me any crap about seeing Kenny, either. Vail Johnson is a friend of mine, dammit!

I like Kenny G. Anyone that would give you crap is the same person that would jump at the chance to trot the globe playing for Kenny G.

 

[Pilgrim]

I actually get frustrated when I don't hear what I expect to in a bass. If I was to hear what I'm "inclined to hear" then there'd be no problem.

This plays out every day with people who install a new bridge, or pickups, or whatever, and are sure it will improve the sound. Miraculously, it usually does.

Even if no one else can hear a difference.

Posts are full of this phenomenon on TB every day.

 

[eqvolvorama]

They do from a spectrum analysis point of view, and 3 people in the test did get them correct. 7 didn't , but they dont tell you how many they got right or wrong. They did hear the differences but didn't know which instrument is which. It all comes down to personal prefrence in the end. Play what you like.

I would add to the last sentence "Openly mock any expert who tells you what you should or shouldn't like based upon their own set of unwavering assumptions or personal preferences, and work to minimize the role of these biases in your own thinking and purchasing decisions."

In a former life I knew a guy who taught wine tasting courses on cruise ships. Before the class began, he'd pour different wines into identical, unmarked glasses. The people you might describe as "posh" would sometimes refuse to form or articulate an opinion as to which wine they liked best until they knew enough information to infer the price tag. Being awesome, he would completely lie, and trick them into admitting to a love of Charles Shaw Merlot and disdain for some sunken-ship wine from the top-shelves. Then after "correcting" his mistake he'd sit back and watch the cognitive dissonance in action.

But the REAL wine aficionados (in his opinion) didn't care. If they liked Carlo Rossi the best, they'd drink that and pocket the difference, not caring what any supposed expert thought of them. If you can get the same pleasure from an SX bass as a Sadowsky then BONUS! Extra beer money!

 

[VWbug]

Don't give me any crap about seeing Kenny, either. Vail Johnson is a friend of mine, dammit!

Kenny G? Hhhhmmm....




Lol.

(I like Kenny G)

 

[MouseRat]

The study didn't even discuss how well the Strad sits in the mix...

 

[Killerfridge]

But the REAL wine aficionados (in his opinion) didn't care. If they liked Carlo Rossi the best, they'd drink that and pocket the difference, not caring what any supposed expert thought of them. If you can get the same pleasure from an SX bass as a Sadowsky then BONUS! Extra beer money!

Interestingly, the experts are worse at distinguishing differences than lay persons.

In one experiment, wine experts were given 2 wines - a red and a white. None of the 57 experts realised that the two wines were the same wine - a white, one with red food colouring. They described the red in classical "red wine terms" (crushed red berries etc.)

 

[maxiegrant]

I feel vindicated by this. I have always suspected that the real difference between an expensive guitar and a good budget one was merely the price tag. I picked up my Squier VMJ from a room of basses one of which was a Geddy Lee Jazz. I A/B'd the basses and honestly could not tell the difference in sound or feel between them, and decided for $600 less I'd take the Squier. It is still a beast of a bass and I probably am more comfortable playing it than my Rickenbacker 4001 or my Spector. Good manufacture is good manufacture, and good enough is most of the time . . . just as good as it needs to be.

I think the difference between good affordable instruments and higher-priced instruments is often entirely in the treatments and frilly add-ons, and not really in the quality of the instrument itself. I restrict that evaluation to "good instruments, not just any cheap ol' thing.