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My Music Man Is Starting To Bug Me

P

plangentmusic

Inactive
Jun 30, 2010
1,922
45
Manhattan
#1
I have a 1993 Sterling Bass and for almost 20 years it's been the go-to never fail bass. But it always had a certain high/mid quality to it that I never liked on recordings. (It's fine live, because it cuts). The midrange control on the guitar also isn't really mids, just more of that unpleasant high midrange so I tend to cut that and work from there. With some fooling around, you can get a lot of sounds out of that baby. It's also really loud and the pu's are silent.

So what's the problem?

It's that damn Squier J Deluxe I bought as a backup. And it's kicking mister Sterling's A$S! It's hotter. It shows more band width on recordings. It doesn't have that clanky high midrange aspect. Tighter lows. It plays easier, and dare I say, has more versatility in sounds.

I feel like I left my faithful wife of 20 years for a cheap whore.

Am I wrong?
 
#4
There's no wrong or right. You have to go with what you hear. My go-to bass is a Fender Jazz, but I recently got a Sterling fretless 4 because the neck is just the perfect neck for my hands, plays like butter. But I know exactly what you mean about the tone. I put on black nylon tapewound flats, I've got the toggle in the neck position and the low dialed all the way up on the bass, and my Genz Benz has both the low button and the mid scoop button on, with the highs and mids dialed down to 9 o clock. It sounds great like that, but that's a heck of a lot of EQ.

Oh yeah, I am replacing the p/u too in a couple of weeks, with a Nordstrand 4.3.

Sounds like I hate the Sterling but I actually love it. The tone is just a little crazy. And it won't replace the Jazz as my regular bass for rock. I use the Sterling fretless for jazz when I can't use an upright.
 
#6
I just picked up an SB14 and I'm really loving the sound. One bass can't do everything but so far I can cover most of the sounds I need with it: thick fingerstyle (series), burpy Jaco (single-coil) and slap (parallel w/mids scooped and treble down a bit). I had a G&L L2500 Tribute for a bit and I thought its 2-pickup variety would be perfect but I'm starting to think the single MM humbucker is fine. I haven't been able to get Jamerson's sound from it (yet) but that applies to every bass I've owned/played except for the P-bass with flats I had for a while.

I think the Sterling/SB14 is the most useful bass I've owned so far. As a former Jazz Bass player, I'm also really enjoying the neck. This is a bass where, even if I've already done my daily practise, I want to go back to it later in the day. Not too many basses do that to me :bassist:
 
#7
MarTONEbass said:
I think the problem might be that you are evolving as a musician, even 20 years later! I never enjoyed the sound of single pickup bases, and the MM stuff always sounded hollow with that mid range clack, IMHO. Any dual pickup bass is going to be more versatile than a single pickup bass as well.
Click to expand...

So....people who like single-pickup, Music Man basses are not evolved as musicians? Because you don't like them? :confused: :rollno:
 
#8
plangentmusic said:
I have a 1993 Sterling Bass and for almost 20 years it's been the go-to never fail bass. But it always had a certain high/mid quality to it that I never liked on recordings. (It's fine live, because it cuts). The midrange control on the guitar also isn't really mids, just more of that unpleasant high midrange so I tend to cut that and work from there. With some fooling around, you can get a lot of sounds out of that baby. It's also really loud and the pu's are silent.

So what's the problem?

It's that damn Squier J Deluxe I bought as a backup. And it's kicking mister Sterling's A$S! It's hotter. It shows more band width on recordings. It doesn't have that clanky high midrange aspect. Tighter lows. It plays easier, and dare I say, has more versatility in sounds.

I feel like I left my faithful wife of 20 years for a cheap whore.

Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

My post is #8, your response is #176

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=673480&highlight=roots+music
 
#9
lucas vigor said:
My post is #8, your response is #176

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=673480&highlight=roots+music
Click to expand...


Ha! Yes, and both responses are still valid. There is an undeniable clankiness, but with a little tweaking it can be tamed. But this is the thing with sound and perception and being subjective and all the variables. If you get a sound that works, it works. And sometimes too many options work against you. At some point you have to settle and be happy and just make music.

But I have to admit when something is simply superior. It's just that I never expected it to come from a cheap bass. I've played Sadowsly's and Smiths and though "Yeah, that's okay, but my Music Man is just as good if not better in its own way. " Then I played this Squier and it was like; "Huh, gotta admit -- this sounds better."
 
#10
MarTONEbass said:
I think the problem might be that you are evolving as a musician, even 20 years later! I never enjoyed the sound of single pickup bases, and the MM stuff always sounded hollow with that mid range clack, IMHO. Any dual pickup bass is going to be more versatile than a single pickup bass as well.
Click to expand...

That must mean all the guys that play P-basses are a bunch amateurs....:confused:
 
#13
Are people really going to flame-on about their perception of what another poster said?...

Evolve: to come forth gradually into being; develop; undergo evolution

To the OP, it sounds like your tastes may be changing. If you've found a bass you like, play the hell out of it and don't worry about what bass you aren't playing. :bassist:
 
#17
back in the late 70's-early 80's i started using a stingray instead of my rics and p basses on just about everything. in about '84 i went back to using my '62 p bass, since for the kind of music i was playing, i felt that a mellower/fuller/rounder tone (with a slightly slower attack) suited the music that i was playing better, and they're both single pickup basses, so i'm not sure if i was 'evolving' or 'de-evolving' ;).
 
#20
I think you're experiencing what another poster on another thread called the "Squire Mind F**K".
I'm experiencing the same thing with my Squire 5 string Affinity Jazz. At $230 this cheap little tart is just running circles around my other high dollar jazz basses and is causing me to rethink my love for for stingrays as well.
I think Squire has a winner with these things and at the low price point I'm seriously considering picking up a couple more Squire variations - like the 60's pbass and the 70's tele pbass. heck I might even consider trying out the Squire thinline telecaster guitar.
 

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