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Is this a bass player and amp thing or....

USAJO

USAJO

Apr 13, 2005
1,137
1,480
#1
Is this a bass player and amp thing or...
is it a Talkbass, bass player and amp thing?

I have been spending as much time with my Fender Nocaster as I have with my basses lately. I also have divided my time between bass forums and guitar forums.
I don't see this phenomenon on guitar forums that is so prevalent here. It seems here someone gets or endorses an amp and non stop threads flourish encouraging others to join the gang and singing praises encouraging sales. On the guitar forums it almost seems like they love being unique and having an amp everyone else doesn't own. There is no "man you gotta dump what you got and join me" stuff.
Is this a bass player thing or a Talkbass thing?
 
#5
My feeling is that there are a lot of guitarists who like their fancy boutique amps, but in the real world, I hardly ever see these amps in use, and by far, most working guitarists use Fender, Mesa or Marshall. There are always rich folks who want to use boutique amps, but they're not the least bit representative of the majority of working guitarists.

As for bass amps, I think part of it is that we as members of Talkbass don't mind sharing our tonal secrets nearly as much as guitarists, and we seem to be more enthusiastic about our gear choices.

That is the long answer. The short answer is "Play what you want and have fun and don't worry about others."
 
#6
JimmyM said:
My feeling is that there are a lot of guitarists who like their fancy boutique amps, but in the real world, I hardly ever see these amps in use, and by far, most working guitarists use Fender, Mesa or Marshall. There are always rich folks who want to use boutique amps, but they're not the least bit representative of the majority of working guitarists.

As for bass amps, I think part of it is that we as members of Talkbass don't mind sharing our tonal secrets nearly as much as guitarists, and we seem to be more enthusiastic about our gear choices.

That is the long answer. The short answer is "Play what you want and have fun and don't worry about others."
Click to expand...
Agreed! I may like to make all of my stuff "unique" in my circle of friends (tossing stickers on my basses, modifying some of the electronics, etc.) but I'm totally not against someone else using what I've got. (heck, I'd take it as a complement if anything! :D) What I use works for me and what I do, if it works/doesn't work for someone else, then more power to them! :bassist:
 
#7
The sense of community on this forum is also a little bit atypical of some places on the internet, I think. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of forums that are good, like this one, but the majority are hostile and exclusive. So the point is, I think compared to the average forum, people here tend to be pretty openly helpful, and that includes sharing information and recommendations.

Another thing, as a part time guitarist myself, is that I think with guitar more so than bass, the majority of tone is held ampside. Which is to say that there is more at stake by having everyone in the world using your amp. Especially given the popularity of combo amps with guitar, relative to bass. With bass, given how many people use active electronics and then mix and match heads and cabs, there are a lot of opportunities for somebody to veer off in a different direction. On the other hand, if I go tell you to buy the same Fender twin I'm using, you've got like 60% of my tone right there alone.
 
#8
not_jason said:
The sense of community on this forum is also a little bit atypical of some places on the internet, I think. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of forums that are good, like this one, but the majority are hostile and exclusive. So the point is, I think compared to the average forum, people here tend to be pretty openly helpful, and that includes sharing information and recommendations.

Another thing, as a part time guitarist myself, is that I think with guitar more so than bass, the majority of tone is held ampside. Which is to say that there is more at stake by having everyone in the world using your amp. Especially given the popularity of combo amps with guitar, relative to bass. With bass, given how many people use active electronics and then mix and match heads and cabs, there are a lot of opportunities for somebody to veer off in a different direction. On the other hand, if I go tell you to buy the same Fender twin I'm using, you've got like 60% of my tone right there alone.
Click to expand...
See, I've always believed that 95% of a tone is in the hands. My guitarist uses a Marshall JCM 900 combo when we do gigs that we drive to, but when we fly and have to rent backline, he asks for a Fender Twin Reverb because JCM 900 combos are impossible to get, and he sounds exactly the same.
 
#10
A guitarist who sounds the same through a Fender and a Marshall, I would think is using a processor to get most of his sound or a bank of pedals. My experiences with both Fender and Marshall is they sound nothing alike. I'd say the variables in guitars and guitar amps may ( operative "may") be greater than basses. And also most guitarists don't hear all of the little nuances that we claim to hear in a bass cab or amp but in a guitar they will hear every tiny detail.
When I think about it, it may be that Talkbass requires endorsers identify themselves so the promoting of brands on a forum is more obvious. I don't ever see a guitar forum reference "endorsers" but then no one on the guitar forums I visit really wants others to get the same gear they use. So the need to identify an "endorser" isn't needed. They seem to want to have their own unique gear and sound.
I agree that much of tone comes from the hands with both bass and guitar unless you use a processor or a bank of pedals.
My conclusion,it is a Talkbass thing.
 
#12
I think there are two separate issues going on. First, the endorser thing that really makes me tired on Talkbass. I find the few guys who get involved with a single company and then do a 1000 posts recommending that amp or cab to every player with every tone goal and style to be not helpful at all. That does seem to be a Talkbass thing, but thankfully it's limited to a handful of TBers, and most can easily 'read between the lines' regarding what is going on there. Of course, many other endorsers are balanced and helpful.

However, most is a bass player thing to me. If you look at the current 'state of the art' guitar amp, it's either an old Fender or something that looks like an old Fender... open back, 112, 50 watts, tube. Not a whole lot to talk about or get hyped about IMO.

Bass amplification... you've got to be kidding.... 5 pound amps and 50 pound cabinets that are twice as loud and to many of us MUCH better sounding than the 125 pound cabs and 60 pound heads we lugged around back in the day... you better believe there will be a lot of excitement and 'you can't believe this thing'.

If you take the handful of 'endorsee' type posters, or posters who have become 'friends with the manufacturer', etc. out of the mix, there really isn't that much 'artificial hype' going on here IMO. However, there is a lot of true, general excitement regarding truly unique stuff... small, light great sounding super powerful heads, new tube amp executions, lightweight great sounding cabs, internal powered DSP loaded bass amps, etc., etc., etc.

It's a VERY good time to be a bass player IMO, and TB reflects that excitement!

IMO as always.
 
#13
Maybe it's a bass thing. There are fewer bassists in the world, so I could imagine less variety of amps. Also, not to inflame, but guitar amps are fairly easy to design, whereas the engineering of a powerful bass amp is more forbidding to the neighborhood boutique amp maker. There is no point to trying to make a 2-pound guitar amp, because it wouldn't have tubes. Because bass gear starts out bigger and heavier, there is more of a point to advancing the technology, but this makes it harder for the boutique shop to keep up.
 
#14
I think the strides in Bass Gear have come a long way and products reflect that. It is acceptable to rave about something if in fact that manufacturer has their own forum because after all, it IS their forum. On an open forum the ability to voice ps. and neg comments are allowed. Also as thinking human beings I believe that every post has the pre-qualification to start the unspoken "in my opinion" so if something works for some one and they are thrilled with it is indeed with the prestatement mentioned above. Without opinions there would be no forums... we would all be stuck with manufacturer adds as the basis of opinion which is a "you've tried the rest now try the best" pizza box mentality. Some products are great products and their CS bites it big time. Some companies make garbage but have great CS. And on and on and on. So I think (in my opinion) that if a company under promises and over delivers it is something to rave about. Does one size fit all? No. Is there 1 best for everybody? No. Two players on the same same gear sound different so how exactly do pre qualify every statement to be made? Should there be a disclaimer at the top of every post?
 
#15
USAJO said:
On the guitar forums it almost seems like they love being unique and having an amp everyone else doesn't own. There is no "man you gotta dump what you got and join me" stuff.
Is this a bass player thing or a Talkbass thing?
Click to expand...

I think it's a talkbass thing, and an "availablility of guitar gear" thing. The talkbass thing has already been covered.

The "availability of guitar gear" thing is major though. Their is a seeminly endless number of choices of guitar gear at every price point from literally hundreds of companies, as well as 50 years of vintage gear to choose from. Guitarrists have no problem finding their unique niche gear whatever their budget is.

Affecting this is the fact that what is acceptable in guitar gear varries much wider than what is acceptable in bass gear. Many inconsisencies, wierd distortions, strange gain tones, etc, that would be unacceptable in a bass amp, can be desireable in a guitar amp. This especially affects older gear.

A non-specific example:
That silvertone/sears/whatever-brand guitar amp from the 60's with it's mediocre clean tones, and strange distortion is a "unique find" with "tone that fit's ___ style", while it's sister bass amp from the same era/is would be pretty much an oversized, underpowered bedroom/garage practice amp, with no live use, and likely only the most minimal use in the studio.

Likely it would end up adverstised on ebay as "old tube amp, great for guitar"...which it probably is.
 
#18
I've got a slightly different take on this, based on my limited (relatively new member here) experience with this forum.
Talkbass appears to have more "working stiff" type musicians, bassists who are content to play someone elses music for a paycheck. Guitar forums I find are more biased towards the starving artist / "my brainchild/band is going to make it one day" attitude. The contrasting mindsets have very different goals indeed: someone hoping to simply gig and/or record with the highest quality is not going to be very guarded with their gear recommendations whereas someone who is trying to preserve the small (and unique) niche they've carved out for their or their bands sound is probably going to be a little secretive.
 
#20
Interesting. While I appreciate the wealth of information to be found here, many including myself, aren't afraid to go their own way when it comes to choosing bass gear. I've never purchased an instrument or piece of gear because it was popular. In fact, the opposite usually occurs. I recently made a major new gear purchase but steered away from two quality amp products partly because of the over-hype/over-buzz around here. Guess I wanted something not quite so popular. And no sacrifices in sound quality were necessary. YMMV. Mine sure does. ;):)

M. M.
 

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