This is true, especially if you are singing lead. Like Saving Abel's "Addicted" and Velvet Revolver's "Slither" come to mind. Being able to hit that open D makes things waaaayyyyyy more manageable.
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Opinions on 4 string vs anything else
- Thread starter JRuben
- Start date
If I can remember where I saw the double one I'll let you know as for the normal bass extenders. The zon hyper bass actually has 4 of them one on every string
I have tried to like various fivers. No luck. I will never play a five string. Just dont like the feel and dont beleive i could evet get usec to it. I probably could if i devoted the time. But dont have thr desire. I often hear musicians say you need a fiver to play in multiple tunings. Yada yada yada blah blah. Its just ignorance. I do very well with 2 4 string basses each with a drop detuner. Eb to C#. And E to drop D. If i need to drop to C. Ill throw that song in a different set and tune one of the basses at the set break. Use a bassbone radial DI with A /B to switch between during a set if absolutely needed. So ill never get a five string. But tons of people love them. I also think its easier for me to have the open D string
This has me wondering ... why would that 5th string matter in this regard? You can play the same notes on the 5-string as on the 4-string, it's a musical or artistic choice you make, not the bass. Please elaborate, I may of course be missing something.
The hyperbass has 4 bass extenders also.
Here's the one that drops 2 strings at once. But I think it was a custom order through Hipshot.
Google Image Result for http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9483/hipshotdoubledetunerimg.jpg
Oh, that's right. Thanks. The issue is that on a typical 5 the tuners are closer together; such that the lever can't release all the way. These are just the normal HipShots.
That double detuner is interesting. I've read a bunch of Jauqo III-X's posts here and know he works closely with HipShot. You can kind of see how an E string detuner for a 5 might work, though perhaps a bit Rube Goldberg-esque.
My logic behind that quote is based on my belief that in two identical basses, but one a 4 and the other a 5, there will be some difference in tone and "vibe" due to the differences in construction of a 4 vs a 5...such as the larger mass of a wider neck/fretboard to accommodate a 5th string, the larger mass of the bridge to hold and adjust the fifth string, how the body wood may or may not transfer the lower frequencies of the low B as efficiently as the other string, etc. IMO and IME of course...
This has been my experience. Five-strings sound compressed, fours seem punchier.
Yeah, well, we all have our beliefs. I'll call this one highly debateable though, generalizing that a four string sounds better than a five string sounds like that much superstition or preconceived ideas to me.
And what the B string sounds like should be irrelevant in this comparison, no?
How many instruments and comparisons do you base that generalization on?
I thought I needed 5. Enjoy playing 4 better. Plus- Playing a 4 taught me to know the fretboard better and move around the neck in a way I didn't with my 5's.
Regarding the supposed difference in sound between a 4 and a 5...
I can't speak for anyone else, and maybe my hearing is totally shot after my career flying in the Navy and also playing in front of very loud amplifiers and their cabs, but in my experience, I usually have to fight to hear just the notes that a bassist is playing. Very rarely is the bass line sufficiently prominent for me to hear much in the way of "tone." The only place anyone can hear much of my tone is in my IEM. That's an overstatement and a generalization, of course, but my point is much of the "tone" that we produce on our bass guitars is only heard by the bassist him-/herself.
IMHO and YMMV, of course.
I can't speak for anyone else, and maybe my hearing is totally shot after my career flying in the Navy and also playing in front of very loud amplifiers and their cabs, but in my experience, I usually have to fight to hear just the notes that a bassist is playing. Very rarely is the bass line sufficiently prominent for me to hear much in the way of "tone." The only place anyone can hear much of my tone is in my IEM. That's an overstatement and a generalization, of course, but my point is much of the "tone" that we produce on our bass guitars is only heard by the bassist him-/herself.
IMHO and YMMV, of course.
Sure, you can set it that way, and you can also set it to where everyone can hear it plain as day.
Mainly the ones I've owned. If you require exact numbers, feel free to peruse my profile...
Just my opinion so as always YMMV. If you can't see the need for or don't think you will use the low B then save your money and don't buy a 5.
If (like my band of old gits) you cannot hope to sing the notes you were hitting with ease 40 years ago then a 5 is really useful for dropping keys (along with all the things already mentioned).
I have just switched back to a 4 (Beatle bass for the 60s band image), love the bass but really missing that low B. I carry a 5 as a spare but so far haven't got to use it.
If (like my band of old gits) you cannot hope to sing the notes you were hitting with ease 40 years ago then a 5 is really useful for dropping keys (along with all the things already mentioned).
I have just switched back to a 4 (Beatle bass for the 60s band image), love the bass but really missing that low B. I carry a 5 as a spare but so far haven't got to use it.
Yeah, well, we all have our beliefs. I'll call this one highly debateable though, generalizing that a four string sounds better than a five string sounds like that much superstition or preconceived ideas to me.
And what the B string sounds like should be irrelevant in this comparison, no?
Fair enough. I never said that a 4 always sounds better than a 5, just that it sometimes CAN for the requirements of a song. Again, just my experience, and I really don't care to convince anyone one way or another.
It's just personal preference, amen to that.
When I played fours, I had the Hipshot D-Tuners on nearly all of them. Once the E string was broken in, I could detune and retune and rarely went out of tune. The main annoyance was that I used various detunings: low D was the most common, but sometimes I wanted open Eb or Db which still required manual detuning. I'm glad I moved to five string (it was for more reasons than hitting low notes), but the Hipshot did help a lot on four.
I've been playing around 40 years: roughly 25 on 4 and 15 on 5. IME, some four strings sound punchy, some four strings sound compressed, some five strings sound punchy, some five strings sound compressed.
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