Playabilty or Sound Quality

[jaybones]

Playability first. After that, I can always get the sound I want with changes to pups, electronics, strings, FX, or EQ/amp settings.

 

[sedan_dad]

Playability first and foremost. In the real world band environment subtle tone differences will never be heard. Turn on the radio. Pick a random song. Tell me if you can tell what kind of bass is being played. What kind of amp is being used or is it direct. Is he using flats or rounds? What brand? If you can recognize a particular player it's from his style more so than anything else.

 

[MD]

 

[monkeyfinger]

Look if a bass is unplayable, it's just unplayable. I won't touch it because I won't enjoy playing it no matter what I get out of it. But let's assume the bass is at least decently playable. (And most basses are IMO.) At that point, it's all about the sound for me. These days I am looking for a sound that inspires me. That means it needs to have a unique character. Something with personality. This is where most basses fall short these days IMO. They are sort of generic sounding. I get bored rather than inspired.

 

[Korladis]

sound. always sound.
Show me a bass produced these days that is not "playable". yes, you may prefer one neck profile to another, but both are playable.

If I don't like the neck profile, I'm not going to buy the bass. Simple as that. Being merely "playable" doesn't cut it.

 

[Korladis]

There is really no reason to choose given today's build quality. But in a hypothetical situation where there is only one bass in existence and I have to pick between sounding great / playing poorly or playing great / sounding poorly, I would pick playing great. I would then b--ch and complain about how crappy this bass sounds - I'm hitting all the right notes, so it's not my fault. Or my other choice would be to just play guitar.

Instead of complaining, why not upgrade it to sound better?

My Peavey sounds better (though it looks worse) now than when I got it.

Same with my Epiphone T-bird, which sounds considerably different

The thing is...what bass doesn't have "tone"? Even a $150 bass is going to sound pretty good these days. Electronics and pickups are amazing even at lower price points. The real differentiator is playability. Nicer basses are going to have more stable necks that'll get you the action you want, and little quality of life things like rolled fretboard edges. After that you're mainly choosing ergonomics.

I guess if you have a very specific tone in mind you might make certain concessions to ergonomics in order to get it. I've definitely done that, but ergonomics, playability, and just simply weight are becoming considerably more important in my post-30 world.

I think a lot of tone is amplification anyway. Though with every setup I've used, the biggest difference has always been whether I'm the one playing through it or not.

I agree. Shouldn't be. Still, I keep seeing basses with terribly thick neck profiles being manufactured. I can't figure out why anybody would do anything that wasn't sharp/modern C, and there's hardly any reason to go thicker than 20mm (front to back) on any neck, but hey, to each their own, some people like to suffer ;-) Neck thickness is THE single thing I link the most to playability. I play 5ers and personally won't touch any neck over 21mm thick. OTOH most people don't care, in fact such thickness data is very unlikely to show up in most manufacturers' specs, much to my dislike. I think it's a VERY BASIC thing to know (along with string spacing at bridge and width at nut -probably the least ommited of these params-), moreso in these times of people sometimes buying online basses they haven't had the chance to try.

I prefer flattened D profiles. I hate sharp C, if it means what I suspect it means.

Why do I have to choose?

Because that's how the "would you rather?" game works?

Would you rather a bass with strings or a bass with pickups?!

Man these threads are starting to get ridiculous.

Pickups. Strings cost less.

Wow, a music teacher actually said that? I hate to counter your mentor, but I can think of at least one (arguably rather important) person who cares.

Indeed. I've never understood that line of reasoning. "The audience doesn't care if [whatever]!"

Well, I care.

Ultimately I'm not doing this for the audience. I'm not delusional enough to either think that I'm going to make much money off of playing bass, or that I'm so awesome that the world needs to hear my playing. I play bass because I enjoy it. And when an instrument is comfortable for me to play, I enjoy it more.

No doubt. I raised two trumpet players and taught bass and guitar in my home studio for 20 years. Any instrument can be an ergonomic challenge. With the case of a bass or guitar, you can find an instrument that is less challenging. To the extent possible, I think player comfort matters and the less physically challenging an instrument is, better and more satisfying playing will result. In the case of bass guitars, shopping around until you find one that plays easier is a distinct possibility.

I would tell my students they are front and center for every one of their performances, best seat in the house, and they should enjoy their performance and make it as rewarding and satisfying as possible, even in terms of personal comfort.

Exactly. Besides, brass players can and do buy different mouthpieces depending on what they find works best for them, of which comfort is a consideration (bad trombone player here).

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Instead of complaining, why not upgrade it to sound better?

Because we're in hypothetical land where you have to choose between playability and tone.

 

[Korladis]

Because we're in hypothetical land where you have to choose between playability and tone.

On the bass. Aftermarket parts still exist.

As do amplifiers, pedals, preamps, etc.

My tone comes more from my amp and cab than from my bass, honestly.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

On the bass. Aftermarket parts still exist.

As do amplifiers, pedals, preamps, etc.

My tone comes more from my amp and cab than from my bass, honestly.

You're missing the whole point of the thread.

 

[Korladis]

You're missing the whole point of the thread.

I'm not. You get two choices. A really comfy bass to play whose sound is nothing special, or a fantastic sounding bass that isn't that comfortable to play.

For me, the answer is obvious. My sound has a lot more to do with my amplifier and cabinet than my bass, and changing one of those out makes a lot more difference in my sound than using my Peavey vs. one of my Rickenbackers vs. my T-bird. So even if aftermarket parts are off the table, I pick playability.