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Light weight basses with good tone
- Thread starter Patten
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- light light weight tone weight
Another vote for Ibanez. If you want really light, go for the Ergodyne series, made of luthite. I used to play an EDA and absolutely loved it.
Another vote for Ibanez. If you want really light, go for the Ergodyne series, made of luthite. I used to play an EDA and absolutely loved it.
I had an EDB 600 back in highschool (15 years ago), ended up selling it to the bassist of Wings of Scarlet because it lacked personality of tone. The EDB definitely wasn't light though, the EDA has a much smaller body that the EDB. I just never could jive with the blasé tone, always falling short.
-Benny
So there's no such thing as a light bass with good tone but your number one is one of them? Makes all the sense in the world.
Sorry, no relationship between weight and tone, at all.
To the mate with such conceptions, I suggest to play and own more basses. You will experiment all kinds of weight to tone variations. Too many factors that contribute to the final result.
Aaaaanyway....for a beginner I suggest a P. Everyone should start with a solid, classic well known type of bass. Even a jazz suits, for me even more than a P. But the P just works everywhere and its tone prevails even with not so good amps or user errors. Best beginner no brainer bass IMO
To the mate with such conceptions, I suggest to play and own more basses. You will experiment all kinds of weight to tone variations. Too many factors that contribute to the final result.
Aaaaanyway....for a beginner I suggest a P. Everyone should start with a solid, classic well known type of bass. Even a jazz suits, for me even more than a P. But the P just works everywhere and its tone prevails even with not so good amps or user errors. Best beginner no brainer bass IMO
- Jun 30, 2010
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Some Parker Hornet bodies were made with Luthite - and yah, they were far from light which was puzzling ATC. They sounded good though...
My NYC Sadowsky 24F5 is 7.35lbs, my NYC Sadowsky WL4 is 7.85lbs. No lack of tone there 
.
Later
Rob
. Later
Rob
SOMEBODY must have mentioned an Aerodyne P or Jazz by now, too lazy to read the whole thread. They really are light weight and sound great, particularly the Jazz.
I did say mine is BUBINGA. Bubinga is heavy, ash is lighter (the one i recommended). I like heavy basses, remember? Get some sleep.
+1 to that! I love my sr500. Lightweight, great feel, think neck. Excellent tone. Also that extended neck joint is nice for upper fret access!
Watch for American Deluxe Fenders from around 1999 to around 2007 (I don't remember exactly), because these had downsized bodies, and some ash samples are very light. I had a 1999 American Deluxe Precision that weighed about 7.5 pounds, and with a natural finish it was gorgeous. Too bad I didn't get along with the active electronics. You might also encounter the P-Lyte, which is chambered and very light.
Otherwise, I agree with the Ibanez SR650/655 suggestion. Very light, and excellent ergonomics with good tone.
G&L basses with empress bodies are excellent, but might be difficult to find used and might be outside your price range.
Otherwise, I agree with the Ibanez SR650/655 suggestion. Very light, and excellent ergonomics with good tone.
G&L basses with empress bodies are excellent, but might be difficult to find used and might be outside your price range.
I don't know about the EDB, but I never found to complain about my EDA's tone. Nice rich, full tone from the soapbar with plenty of bottom, then you dialed in the piezo's to shape the sound. The only thing it didn't have was jazz growl. But it wasn't meant to do that anyways.
The piezo's on the EDA helped out a lot, wasn't fond of the soapbars at all... both EDB and EDA series. I found the opposite to be true, sterile and hollow even when sounding "big." I'm glad you liked yours, it's awesome how people can precieve the same thing in different ways and be able to tell you why.
I had a Peavey Axcellerator 6 string (18v) that was super light and I'm not talking by 6 string standards... like 7lbs and 35" scale. Felt like nothing. I honestly regret selling that thing.
My buddy has an 86' I believe, Modulus that is an Ash body and graphite neck. That bass is very light, like stupid light and sounds absolutely huge. He inhereted it from his father, only thing that really made it through the house fire. Everything scortched around it, the modulus prevailed. A G&L jazz made it scortched and they had to put a different neck on it, left the scortch marks on the body... fire relic... the G&L is much heavier.
What would did you use for the body? Also what were your neck wood choices?
I've been toying with the idea of a chambered and fully carved swamp ash P w/ mm pu in sweet spot, 2TEK route and painted metal flake green. Less than $500. I would really like to try a Status neck and I thought a Warmoth build would be fun and a great way to try a Status neck before commiting to one on the Stingray I have coming.
Do you think a Graphite neck would be too heavy for a chambered swamp ash body? This is my main concern, yet the graphite is still in the same weight range as a full maple neck.
-Benny
Respectfully disagree. I have a sub-8-pound 5 string bass made with roasted Alder and maple that sounds amazing and a 12 pound bass that I am still trying to dial in...
