Ridiculous Ways To Describe Tone

[Alien8]

Someone on here was selling a bass whose tone he described as "pillowy". Another person described the EQ on a particular amp as being very "musical" - as opposed to what?

Umm... Not. Musical?

 

[Zooberwerx]

Pharmaceutical references: "sounds like a P bass on steroids". Why steroids? My Pedulla sounds like an EBMM on anti-convulsives. Steroids aren't good as they'll make your nuts shrink and that will throw off your action fer sure.

Riis

 

[Humbled]

I had a female singer one time ask if I could make her monitor wedge sound more squishy...

 

[bass10bfb]

Round as a basketball.....

 

[Robroy]

I collect vintage hi-fi stuff and have a substantial vinyl LP collection. I love playing it on very nice equipment. As much as I love playing my LP's, there is no way I would argue they sound better than a CD from the same source. It's not even close. Yet a lot of people say vinyl sounds "warmer". Yeah, and people say tube hi-fi amps sound "warmer".

Warm = distortion.

It's great in a guitar amp. Not so much in a system designed to reproduce music, adding as little color as possible.

 

[Robroy]

I had a female singer one time ask if I could make her monitor wedge sound more squishy...

Compression?

I'm a business analyst. It's fun to talk about "squishy" requirements.

 

[joebar]

Kinda reminds me of the wine snobs describing wine. "I'm tasting some woodsy tones with a fruity nose and a floral finish" lol! So pretentious!

I always thought "tubby" was a silly description for bass. Even though it kinda makes sense.
Oh... and "Slaptastic" was another good one.

I am the wine snob you are referring to. it isn't pretentious to those who are passionate about wine.

if I have to explain, you wouldn't understand.

 

[Robroy]

Pharmaceutical references: "sounds like a P bass on steroids". Why steroids? My Pedulla sounds like an EBMM on anti-convulsives. Steroids aren't good as they'll make your nuts shrink and that will throw off your action fer sure.

Riis

Sounds like a Squirrel on ipecac.

 

[Humbled]

Warm = distortion.

Might it, however, be accurate to say Warm = second order harmonic distortion ?

 

[Robroy]

I am the wine snob you are referring to. it isn't pretentious to those who are passionate about wine.

if I have to explain, you wouldn't understand.

I discovered that 7-up does wonders for two buck chuck.

 

[joebar]

Someone on here was selling a bass whose tone he described as "pillowy". Another person described the EQ on a particular amp as being very "musical" - as opposed to what?

pillowy or spongy is an excellent adjective for certain basses with poor sounding B strings.

 

[Robroy]

Might it, however, be accurate to say Warm = second order harmonic distortion ?

Could. Distortion is great in an amp used to CREATE music. But terrible in an amp used to REPRODUCE music. Even second order harmonic distortion. I really love what tube distortion does for guitar. Heck, I love what a super resonant wooden box does for the sound of a violin. It wouldn't work for a loudspeaker, though.

 

[joebar]

and Warwicks have a silky grit.

that a good way to put it.

 

[WannabeBassman]

Don't forget "wet" and "dry". I assume those correspond, roughly, to "muddy" and "crisp", maybe? Or maybe "bubbly" and "clean".

 

[ZBirdV8]

I describe things in terms of EQ:

"This amp carries low end really nicely."
"This amp has a lot of mid-tone punch."
"This amp is very treble-y or twangy."

That way it's actually objective.

 

[Slevage]

Someone on here was selling a bass whose tone he described as "pillowy". Another person described the EQ on a particular amp as being very "musical" - as opposed to what?

Dah---- NON Musical

 

[Snaxster]

Someone on here was selling a bass whose tone he described as "pillowy". Another person described the EQ on a particular amp as being very "musical" - as opposed to what?

Though I can't speak for that person, and though sonic characteristics that are not typically "musical" may be used to make excellent music by someone, ever, I do use the term "musical" to describe some audio devices, so here's my take:

As opposed to merely accurate or functional.

That is, for that listener, in that application, the processor (or pickup or whatever) performs in a way that sounds more like music (best of all), or at least more like a musical instrument (still good), than like a technical instrument (not so good, unless you're making music that capitalizes on such devices and the sounds they tend to enable).

 

[crucislancer]

Between burpy basses and farty cabs it's a wonder we don't have more females around here.

I've never dreamed of describing any tone as "burpy" before I started reading these forums and I still have no idea what it's supposed to mean. But the most ridiculous terminology I've heard has been "haunting mids" and "breathy compression," both of which, I believe, originated on TGP.

I've seen "burpy" used in reviews in Bass Player mag since the 90's. I've always found it a silly adjective to use for bass tone.

 

[Robroy]

I've seen "burpy" used in reviews in Bass Player mag since the 90's. I've always found it a silly adjective to use for bass tone.

My speakers were farting in a show and finally sharted.

 

[BassFishingInAmerica]

Blue, brown, black, campy, ratty, cheesy, tinny, ballsy, warm, wimpy, ballistic, hot, sexy, sloppy, saucey, heavy, hard, harsh, swishy, squishy, squashy, rude, crude, lude, moody, hoppy, floppy, jumpy, bumpy, boomy and ... BADASS!