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Poll:Which is most important in a bass?

Which is most important in a bass? (please rank)

  • 1. Tone

    Votes: 46 36.5%

  • 1.Playability

    Votes: 83 65.9%

  • 1. Aesthetics

    Votes: 6 4.8%

  • 2. Tone

    Votes: 64 50.8%

  • 2. Playability

    Votes: 36 28.6%

  • 2. Aesthetics

    Votes: 14 11.1%

  • 3. Tone

    Votes: 16 12.7%

  • 3. Playability

    Votes: 7 5.6%

  • 3. Aesthetics

    Votes: 88 69.8%
  • Total voters
    126
#21
I just cannot stand an instrument with an inherently bad sound. Take for example Victor Wooten's ying-yang-the satinwood/ebony one. It played like butter, had great balance, had a great neck shape, etc.. It looks stunning too! But IME it sounded terrible, what with the combination of an alder body, satinwood/ebony top, bolt-on maple neck, and ebony fretboard make for an overly bright tone, plus the EMG pickups added their strangled, sterile compression to the mix… so yeah, unless they make one with warmer-sounding woods and better pickups, its not for me :/
 
#22
Tone and playability (tie), then aesthetics.

For me, the goal is to ID the tone I want from a bass, then find one with that tone that has great playability. In reality, there are so many options from different manufacturers for P's, J's and other basses that people can always find one that fits them. It is usually possible to find both.

And crappy-sounding basses can not always be made to sound good. Better, maybe. Good, not always.

IMHO, what's the point of having multiple great playing basses that all produce the same tone? If a project calls for a passive P-bass for I'm certainly not going to take an active Jazz because it plays better...
 
#23
1.Playability
2.Tone
3.Aesthetics
there are some questions about tone being the first, but if we're talking about better instruments, you won't get sh***y tone out of them like some Squier Bullet series. I have two custom handmade basses, with high quality wood and high quality hardware, and tone can be altered with pickup swap.
man, if a bass looks awful, and I don't mean color, but the whole thing, I won't buy it I.E. B.C. Rich Warlock, and it can be the best sounding and best playing bass in the whole wide world!
But say Music Man Stingray, 4 string, one humbucker, they have different neck profiles, one can be perfect for me, the other one can be the worst I ever tried. The feel of the neck is the most important thing to me in an instrument. You can always buy a new pickup if the original sounds too thin or boomy.
 
#30
groooooove said:
depends on the basses.

most instrument (unless theres a severely warped neck..) can be setup to play like a fodera or whatever you like.. .
Click to expand...

Unless it's got bad neck dive, or it's too heavy, or has inherently 'different' ergonomics (Ric, Steinberger, Westone Rail, Thunderbird etc.....).
For these reasons I say ergos should be first. You often can't fix that. You can often (but not always) 'fix' tone.
 
#31
smcd said:
"Playability" isn't just low action. It's the overall feel of the bass. If you don't like balance/neck profile/body shape of a bass, there really isn't anything practical you can do to improve that. Especially if the bass is neck-thru design.

Improving the tone is a lot more than changing pickups. You can change the electronics, bridge, strings in an almost infinite number of combinations. Almost any "junk" bass can be made to sound good. But that same "junk" bass can't always be made playable.
Click to expand...

PLUS, you can change the settings on the amp....

I have always felt it is much more "in my realm" to change the parameters of sound than feel...meaning that I will do less permanent (and expensive) damage to he bass by tweaking knobs and some light soldering
 
#35
In my mind, playability is the most difficult to fix, so that comes first. Tone comes second. If a bass has bad tone, there are many options to help address that. In third place is aesthetics. That said, I don't know that I'd buy an instrument that didn't look good to my eye. I believe there are enough offerings in the market place that allow one to choose an instrument that shines in all three categories.
 
#36
Playability
Tone
Aesthetics

There is some range here to consider, of course. Yes, a bass that sounds absolutely like crap is not one I would consider, but, if I like the playability better than the tone, it can still be a winner. Everything sounds better when I plug it into my 72 Bassman 100. If I like the tone a lot better than the playability, I know from experience that it will sit in the case.

Aesthetics matter if I'm going to hang it on the wall of the living-room.
 

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