Overhyped Features You Just Had to Have

[JW56789]

The thing that makes me wonder:

It's very common these days to have onboard 3-band EQ, which when fed into a modern head or combo going through a ton of EQ in said amp. Between the two, I can only imagine the train wreck that occurs to tone. I see these posts with guys wondering about how to get a bright sound, or their amp is breaking up in the deep end, and often wish I could see how they've tweaked the knobs.

And confession-time: I sure as hell went through the 'more knobs please !' and surely committed the misdemeanor mentioned above. Now, I'd really just like separate bass and treble, gain, and a balancer, and IF I could go straight into a power amp, I'd be happy. The older I get, the more I appreciate Anthony Jackson's sig Fodera: One passive pickup and a gain knob. Yessir . . . . .

 

[bigtone23]

The only things that were pretty hyped up became pretty standard things in time.
First came active electronics--got on that and liked them. My onboard eq is set to flat 99% of the time, however.
The 5 string bass--jumped on it, too and really liked it. It's been 3 years since I gigged my fiver, but a project is coming up that will require it and I look forward to it again.
Tweeters/horns in cabs. I used to run a much brighter tone in the 90s. Not so much now, but the tweeter/horns are not fully turned off on my cabs that still have them. They are set to about 25% or so.

 

[BBQV]

In my teens, I used to think I needed active electronics, five strings and a 24 fret 35" fretboard.
Now, at 50, I play a Telecaster bass...

 

[DoctorNop]

I was (and still) a Sheehan fan... So it was obvious that I should really get some scalloped fretboard if I wanted to shred on the upper register. I wasn't able to shred at the time, but of course the scalloped fretboard was the only answer to my problem.

13 years later... I have not used my scalloped neck since 12 years.

 

[andruca]

I gigged for some years with a Peavey TKO80 (old square ones), and SansAmp BDDI (v1). Huge sound. The TNT had the Black Widows, but I know exactly the sound you're describing.

I happen to still own a TKO-80 (and a 75) too. And indeed have 2 of those TNT150s so 4 Peavey combos (and still browse classifieds for both a Combo 300 and a DataBass to add to my "anti-boutique" collection). All mine (including the TNTs) have Scorpion speakers. All of them have added cheapo' piezo tweeters and they all put most modern combos to shame. The live rig I use the most is the MS60B (using mostly the SansAmp emulation) into either one or both of my TNT150s. For me any amp is usable as long as it's dependable and gives lots of clean volume and enough EQ for easily adjusting to different rooms' acoustics. In that sense both Hartke (owned a first mosfet 3500 head -won't ever regret enough selling it- and my current 3500 -still a workhorse- with several cabs, now all gone) and Peavey (owned a MarkIII head, currently own the aforementioned 4 combos, plus a 410TVX+115BXBW cab stack) have been SUPERB to me, best bang for the buck there is. My sound, with OD crunch and all, is built at a prior stage (a preamp or emulating solution) and I sound as tubey as it gets on any amp, given it puts out lots of clean volume and has enough low end authority. I have more amp for less money than almost anyone I know (hardly more than 1000€ all in all, add some 400€ for my RBI and Zoom pedal). Not only that in terms of quantity/power/whatever, I also get to sound warmer, ballsier, thicker (yet tighter) than most bassists around. I was about to buy a Peavey VB-2 tube head at one point some 15 years ago (I loved it in fact, totally felt I had to have it). Fortunately I got the RBI and understood the preamp+clean loud amp path was the path for me. Saved me lots of money and proved a way better solution.

 

[Wisebass]

I like MIDs

same same

three band active electronics, I just had to have it
hasn' t seen a battery in 10 years

but it gives me some nice options:
Fading out the mids so nobody can hear me playing with a band. That's cool when you haven't rehearsed your stuff
(just move your fingers fast for impressing the others )

Creating dozens of sounds I don't want or don't need
(makes you look cool on youtube demos: see what my bass can do)

shaping that "killersound" using the three knobs on the bass and the four knobs eq of my amp,
just to find out that it's the same sound,
using the bass passive and turning only one or two knobs on the amp

may the bass be with you

Wise(b)ass

 

[LanEvo]

In the late-'80s I got really wrapped up in "features"

Neck-thru ... better than bolt-on
Multilaminate necks ... better than single
Carbon/graphite ... better than wood
Angled headstock ... better than straight
Active pickups/EQ ... better than passive
Complicated bridges ... better than simple
5- and 6-strings ... better than 4

When bass shopping, I'd essentially add up "features" to decide which one to buy. Tone and feel were lessser considerations. Ergonomics and weight weren't considered at all.

That strategy lead me to "prefer" basses by Carvin and Ibanez rather than something like a Fender or EB/MM.

 

[LanEvo]

As I wrote that, I realized this is how most people shop for cars.

Looking at features rather than ergonomics and the driving experience is why everyone is lumbering around in 6k pound trucks with AWD, 7-speed automatics, Bluetooth, sat nav, iPod connectivity, head-up display, etc. etc. And it's why people will spend Porsche money on a Hyundai Genesis "luxury vehicle."

Are they fun to actually drive? Do they provide any tactile joy? Do you smile every time you get behind the wheel?

No one seems to care or notice.

 

[AshInAmsterdam]

As I wrote that, I realized this is how most people shop for cars.

Looking at features rather than ergonomics and the driving experience is why everyone is lumbering around in 6k pound trucks with AWD, 7-speed automatics, Bluetooth, sat nav, iPod connectivity, head-up display, etc. etc. And it's why people will spend Porsche money on a Hyundai Genesis "luxury vehicle."

Are they fun to actually drive? Do they provide any tactile joy? Do you smile every time you get behind the wheel?

No one seems to care or notice.

The old "it gets me from A to B" thing seems to apply to instrument purchases for many people. Fine if that's what they need, but I suspect a lot fewer people would give up in the first year if they had something more suited to them.

 

[Silas Stingy]

I liked the idea of the 3 tubes in the GB streamliner head. Some were talking as if was going to sound like an SVT or Mesa 400. It's a nice amp but I just couldn't get it to transport me back 30 years as I thought.

 

[wvbass]

Oh, this is easy...... The much-dreaded ART Nightbass. That damn thing gave me fits!!! I delivered newspapers, pizzas, cut grass, played gigs, literally everything to get one of those. I finally got myself one, and that damned thing..... Man, it sounded like crap. So friggin' cheezy-sounding. I was PISSED, to say the least. I think that's why I'm more of a purist, when it comes to effects.

I have a friend in Parkersburg that still has one of those sitting on a shelf. I'll bet it hasn't been powered on in twenty years. I used the ADA bass preamp for a while. It sounded great, but I found it to be cumbersome. It had all those blue, rectangular buttons on the front and what I really needed it to have was knobs.

 

[77stingray]

I got an Audere preamp and my band started calling me "Z Mode." I still don't understand what that is, except an irritating nickname.

 

[David Jayne]

Aural Exciter. 2Tek bridge. Lightwave.

 

[LowEndOperative]

800 Watts.

My bad, you said overhyped...

 

[brianrost]

Crazy electronics in the bass, popular in the late 70s/early 80s.

I owned a BC Rich Eagle with a 6-way varitone switch, coil taps for each pickup, phase switch, defeatable gain-only preamp plus the usual pickup 3-way toggle, volume and tone. I did the math:

Each pickup alone had 12 combinations, then with both pickups on add another 48 (!!!), then preamp on or off for a total of 120 combinations before I touched the tone knob. Not surprisingly, many of them didn't sound very good. I mostly used the neck pickup only and the varitone either off or in a position that scooped upper mids.

 

[Drucifer]

Hard-shell cases. I recall being unwilling to buy a bass if it didn't have it's original hard-shell case. Now I only use gig bags, and I have a collection (15+) of hard-shell cases in my attic.

 

[GeneralElectric]

Two pickups, I guess?

 

[Thegrandwazoo]

I was caught up in the original active electronics hype. Not that they're better or worse, just different. But in the 80's you wouldn't catch me playing a lowly passive bass.

I was dead-set against actives all my life, til I played my first EBMM Sterling. I now realize that both are awesome and have their uses.

 

[LanEvo]

I used the ADA bass preamp for a while. It sounded great, but I found it to be cumbersome. It had all those blue, rectangular buttons on the front and what I really needed it to have was knobs.

I've got one of those MB-1 preamps. I actually think it sounds really good. Unlike most preamps, it's genuinely very versatile. The compression and chorus sound great, and you can do pretty much whatever you want with the EQ and still get a good tone.

It's not as tricky to program as I had expected it to be...but it's a major PITA to adjust on the fly. That really limits its utility outside of a recording type of situation where you have time to fine-tune each preset.

 

[Thegrandwazoo]

I also remember desperately wanting a Warwick and when I finally got one didn't fall in love with it. That was my last non-Fenderish bass in 20 years.

Hear, hear! I wanted one so bad I could just barely put up with it, then when I bought a German Corvette (maybe one of the skinny-necked Thumbs would've been different, but I doubt it), I couldn't sell that thing fast enough. I hated everything about it after one day, haha!