Simple basses

[fretno]

That is a DiMarzio Will power . It's a fantastic sounding bass . It's a Warmoth Dinky P in trans Neon orange w/ Lowe Mahogany 32" conversion neck . The CT clone is a Christopher Small , really fine instrument . Thanks man !

 

[dennis james]

To each their own. I've always been of the mind that the fewer controls the better, on both basses and amps. Simplicity is a beautiful thing.

 

[RoaDan]

So, when I started playing bass, having tons of pickups and controls and things seemed like the best thing in the world. Tons of tonal variety, active preamps or pickups, what-have-you...but now, as I've become a performing musician and done more semi-pro work, even a simple J-bass setup stresses me out! Having more than one pickup and knob (well, maybe two if you include tone but that isn't like necessary) seems superfluous and too busy now. I guess I'm becoming an old geezer...ha ha. Maybe eventually I'll ditch electronics entirely and go back to upright Have you guys had similar experiences? Or am I just weird?

I have had the attitude of "KISS" from the get-go. I have never understood the desire for so many tonal options most of which will never be used. I also think bass amps have too many tonal options. I have pared everything down to basic volume and tone (lo-mid-hi) control, found the sound I was looking for with each of my instruments and never looked back...

 

[Sam Dingle]

agreed. I don't want any basses with weird pickups or setups. I put my nose in the air durring high school at any fender bass. Everyone plays one, why should I? Fast forward to now, playing full time for 3 years and currently in grad school on upright bass, I have 4 fenders, one is active but I typically play it passive lol.

 

[fretno]

this is one of my main fiddles , it has a tonestyler in it and it's simply perfect . If you've never used one before and love a simple bass I recommend you try one .

 

[Selios]

I don’t mind a simple on-board EQ, but as soon as a bass has 2 pickups and some switches I suffer from option paralysis!

 

[TeamScorpioRI]

You could always go no knobs. This is just a simple on/off switch for the pickups. No other controls.

 

[fretno]

I don’t mind a simple on-board EQ, but as soon as a bass has 2 pickups and some switches I suffer from option paralysis!

I just need a main Volume control and I'm good . I actually use the v control alot and would be lost without that .

 

[mambo4]

every new parameter is something that can potentially go wrong.
simpler gear allows me to focus on musical parameters that matter more to me.

 

[CallMeAl]

I may have recently taken this idea a little too far. One of the pots on my jazz bass crapped out and rather than replacing it, I just wired the pickups in series with one volume control and tone. I realized that 100% of the time I'm playing my jazz, I have both pickups on full anyway. So I got a 3 hole jazz plate and just have vol/tone. Works for me. I'm loving it.

I did that too! I ended up getting a P bass and selling it, but it was a cool mod

 

[GretschWretch]

There is nothing simple about these:

and the 6072s are even worse. That is part of their charm.

 

[Ghook]

Although I think SRF 700 is enhanced with it's adjustability. I also think more knobs and switches is a function of marketing. I remember my first elec guitar...an H48 Meteor Harmony ..brand new. My buddy got a 3 pickup multi knob and switch Tesico ...I was jealous LOL. He also got a Silvertone 1464 twin 12 amp. Thank God or we would have been a very quiet band

 

[fermata]

I've pared down to one (passive) bass with one pickup. I do use the volume and tone controls, although I'd also be happy with an on-off switch and a two or three-position tone switch (a la Chet Atkins). And a very important factor is very responsive strings that allow my to vary the sound significantly through technique. (Playing acoustic guitar for about 20 years shaped how I approach tone production; the big difference with an electric instrument is how light my touch can be.)

 

[Maxdusty]

Not meant to offend, but I don't understand players that want to get that "classic" basic P bass sound, yet have their P Bass hooked up to a gazillion effects pedals and EQ devices and wondering why they can't get that vintage sound.

 

[A9X]

Those Alembic things, while beautiful, just look like a panic attack waiting to happen...

The pickup and EQ design is positively brilliant, but you need to understand what Ron was thinking when he designed it. My background is electronics so I got it right away and could dial in a huge variety of tones without much effort.

not to mention they cost so much you'd need a whole insurance plan for them!

Aprt from the Distillate which I bought new (and paid a lot for, but I was very young then), the Series basses I bought secondhand for less than some new American Fenders at the time. They can be very good value secondhand.

 

[lz4005]

You could always go no knobs. This is just a simple on/off switch for the pickups. No other controls.

One of my favorite gigging basses has a setup like that. Just one pickup and a mute switch. You have to approach it from more of an acoustic mindset, in that you do all your tone and volume changes with your hands.

 

[Gougedeye]

Maybe eventually I'll ditch electronics entirely and go back to upright Have you guys had similar experiences? Or am I just weird?

In my opinion, you're weird....This is what you need.
nikki sixx thunderbird - Google Search:

 

[Minimalist]

So, when I started playing bass, having tons of pickups and controls and things seemed like the best thing in the world. Tons of tonal variety, active preamps or pickups, what-have-you...but now, as I've become a performing musician and done more semi-pro work, even a simple J-bass setup stresses me out! Having more than one pickup and knob (well, maybe two if you include tone but that isn't like necessary) seems superfluous and too busy now. I guess I'm becoming an old geezer...ha ha. Maybe eventually I'll ditch electronics entirely and go back to upright Have you guys had similar experiences? Or am I just weird?

After a few years I started to understand that it is way better to shape my tone with my fingers. In the beginning I used quite a bit of EQ now I use very minimal. If/when I use EQ it is more to correct any issues I have with the room/venue and not to shape my tone. For 100% of music you can create good and tasteful tones with a passive J-Bass or a PJ bass. Sure there are other options but it is more a want than a need. That's at least my experience.

 

[sotua]

So, when I started playing bass, having tons of pickups and controls and things seemed like the best thing in the world. Tons of tonal variety, active preamps or pickups, what-have-you...but now, as I've become a performing musician and done more semi-pro work, even a simple J-bass setup stresses me out! Having more than one pickup and knob (well, maybe two if you include tone but that isn't like necessary) seems superfluous and too busy now. I guess I'm becoming an old geezer...ha ha. Maybe eventually I'll ditch electronics entirely and go back to upright Have you guys had similar experiences? Or am I just weird?

My main bass is a JBass with series-parallel mod. 99% of the time I run it in series with volume and tone wide open. Simple is good, particularly when you have an instrument that is plug-n-play good.

/thinking I should get a PBass or a Stingray and be done with it - it seems like I favor single pickups

 

[DukeCC]

I'd prefer one pickup, one (volume) knob if I could.

To be tweaking the amp EQ only to find that the guitar tone knob is not fully cranked on irks me.

If it has to be there a lockable tone knob would be a nice feature.