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Tech advances in basses since the early days

#61
Things we see now:

- Sound reproduction. Amp modeling is the future and it's a real innovation that didn't exist in the early days of bass and guitar. It's changing the landscape of what we as instrumentalists will be able to do, even if many people don't realize it yet.
- Sound reproduction. Speaker technology is crazy these days; I wasn't born until 1986 so I can't comment on older technology, but I know that we didn't start out with small, ridiculously powerful full-range speakers. It's crazy that my QSC K12.2 is equivalent to, if not better than, my dedicated Markbass CMD121P (sans extension cab) in terms of output and power.

Things I'd hope to see in the future:

- Hot-swappable pickups. It'd make sense to just have a connector.
- Line 6 Variax bass! I want to use one with my Helix!
- New building materials for bass. Most of them use wood out of tradition, but electric instruments (unlike acoustics) don't really need to be made of this material. I'd love to see more innovation in this area with materials that might be more sustainable and more consistent. It's been done before, and I think it needs to catch on again.
- Alternatives to nine-volt batteries for active preamps. I can charge my smartphone's lithium-ion battery and it'll last for days. Why can't I do that with my bass? Also, why isn't there a way to turn them off so that the battery won't drain when a cable's plugged in? You'd think that you could turn the volume knob all the way down to OFF or something, right?
 
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#62
juggahnaught said:
Things we see now:

- Sound reproduction. Amp modeling is the future and it's a real innovation that didn't exist in the early days of bass and guitar. It's changing the landscape of what we as instrumentalists will be able to do, even if many people don't realize it yet.
- Sound reproduction. Speaker technology is crazy these days; I wasn't born until 1986 so I can't comment on older technology, but I know that we didn't start out with small, ridiculously powerful full-range speakers. It's crazy that my QSC K12.2 is equivalent to, if not better than, my dedicated Markbass CMD121P (sans extension cab) in terms of output and power.

Things I'd hope to see in the future:

- Hot-swappable pickups. It'd make sense to just have a connector.
- Line 6 Variax bass! I want to use one with my Helix!
- New building materials for bass. Most of them use wood out of tradition, but electric instruments (unlike acoustics) don't really need to be made of this material. I'd love to see more innovation in this area with materials that might be more sustainable and more consistent. It's been done before, and I think it needs to catch on again.
- Alternatives to nine-volt batteries for active preamps. I can charge my smartphone's lithium-ion battery and it'll last for days. Why can't I do that with my bass? Also, why isn't there a way to turn them off so that the battery won't drain when a cable's plugged in? You'd think that you could turn the volume knob all the way down to OFF or something, right?
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You can do the lithium battery with a bass!
Warwick sells lithium kits and you can still run 9/18 as a backup.

They do the lithium as a standard on their most expensive line as well!
 
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#63
Strings are the main advance, and I look forward to more innovation with new micro-scale strings.

Another one is digital modeling. I was a complete luddite as a lad, but now that I'm into a little bit of what is possible, I really don't know that I'd want to be without a digital effects/modeling platform. There's just not many good reasons to limit yourself by not having the ability to make a million different sounds on your instrument.
 
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#64
silky smoove said:
There are some of the higher tech considerations which never really became mainstream but were at least interesting. The two that jump to mind are the Torzal Twist basses, and Lightwave pickups.
View attachment 4358385
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Wowwie.... last time I saw something like that, a bridge had a come-apart...

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Interesting concept, though... wonder how it plays.

As for my own ideas of solid advancements in basses and bass technologies, I'm going to go with relicing and stickers. And bass-specific effects. And Joe Dart.
 
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#65
I can usually hang with just about anything...just about. The tapered post on tuning keys is empirical evidence of a benevolent higher being. Bass Manufacturers take note: there is absolutely no redeeming quality of untapered posts that compensates for the lifetime of frustration associated with using them.
 
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#68
JimmyM said:
(NOTE: Yes, I have way too much time on my hands at the moment. I've been under the weather so don't be hatin'.)

As low tech as I can appear sometimes, I'm not all against tech. I'm glad it exists and I find a lot of it useful, and it makes me happy to see what may be coming along the horizon. So I'll give a little list of the stuff I think has been truly innovative and impactful to the bass world since the days when Fender, Danelectro, and Gibson were about it for bass choices, then I want to hear yours. Two requests, though...

1. No blatant product bashing.
2. Try to keep it specific to the instrument itself.
3. If you disagree with someone's choices (and you will), that's cool but don't be a jerk about it.

Anyway, here's my list:

---Roundwound, tapewound, and coated strings: DUH!!! Not a fan of tapes or coateds, but they were innovative when they came out.

---Added strings: People have been adding strings to instruments for centuries, but builders have to be creative with technology to build necks that can handle the tension and stay stable on some of these basses, especially since there seems to be no limit to the amount of strings some want.

---Active electronics: Not everyone likes them, and I tend not to use them so much anymore, but they are certainly innovative for their time, and that can't be denied.

---Advances in saddle technology: The bent plate works and works very well if you know how to finesse it, but I would like saddles that are a little less crude than the threaded saddles, and I want them mounted on bent plates. Good luck with that in today's market but a guy can dream...

---Hipshot Bass Xtender: I was a latecomer to them, but I love them. I find it crazy how the head of Hipshot was able to design something that you'd think has no right to work if you look at it, but it works incredibly well if you follow directions.

---Kahler Bass Whammy: Kind of a frivolous choice, I admit. Some folks love them, some folks think they're stupid. But they were the first one ever made that stays in tune, and though I don't want any more basses with them, I'm glad to have the one I have. And I've found (read: stolen) some cool uses for it that aren't just divebombs, though divebombs are fun.

---Pickups that convert string tones to synth/digital: Wish it was better than using a keyboard, but it's been improving since the early Roland synth guitars, and it opens bassists and guitarists up to the creative possibilities that were only possible with keyboards before.

Everything else that's happened, I tend to believe are variations on themes that came before, have dubious or unproven claims about what they do, or fall into the category of "Good idea on paper."

Feel free to add your own thoughts and nitpick mine, but don't make me come over there and straighten you kids out while I'm trying to play my banjo!
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The truss rod wheel tuning thingy. Best thing ever. No tiny cover screws to lose. No taking off pick guards. No removing neck. Sting in something sturdy and turn.
 
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#69
Altitude said:
2 - Ironically also a Kubicki thing, the laminated neck made of many thin pieces of wood. Was it 23 pieces on the Factor? It provided total neck stability without sacrificing the sound of wood. Again, probably too expensive to build though.
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The mid 60's Teisco EB200W I had uses a multi laminated neck similar to those used later by Kubicki. Very stable neck.

IIRC, the first use of that type of multi laminate design was for German Kar 98 rifle stocks during WWII. It's still used today for laminated stocks.
 
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#74
cnltb said:
I think there have been many technical advances since the early days.
Whether employing these yields better instruments remains a matter of opinion. (Imho).
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Right, and that's what makes it difficult to decide what are real innovations vs variations on a theme, which let's be honest...most are variations on a theme.
 
#75
droo46 said:
Software has made huge strides in the last 10 years. When I first started playing bass, it was pretty obvious when you heard modeling amps in Logic, but these days they are indistinguishable from the real thing. I've heard extremely professional sounding recordings that were just made in Garageband using built-in effects and a single audio interface. The level of sophistication that you can get for so little cost is absolutely unreal.
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I'm still not buying into it since I'm a tube snob, but it's definitely gotten better.
 
#76
micguy said:
One nitpick for the OP: Round wound strings are not an innovation in the bass guitar realm. They existed long before the first bass guitars (look inside an old piano or harpsichord). Leo could have chosen round wounds, but he was trying to emulate an upright sonically, which is why flats ended up on the first Precisions.
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Point taken.
 
#77
getBAK said:
It's only been eluded to that I've seen here.
Being able to adjust a truss rod in-place.

Early basses had to have the neck removed for adjustment. Not sure how they ever got the neck relief settings right.
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Sorry, but Fender did that as a manufacturing time-money saver while other companies had been doing it for a long time before Fender came out.

Btw, how they got them to get the neck relief settings right was all guess work...take it off, do it, put it back on and restring, rinse repeat till set. PITA, but it generally only took me a couple tries to get it right.
 
#78
The only real true no-doubt-about-it advancement in bass design since the '50s Fenders, for me, is the easily accessible and adjustable truss rod wheel. Everything else is a matter of taste. In another recent thread we touched on the fact that the Mustang Bass is more popular than ever and it has probably surpassed the P bass in popularity if you only look at current, pro, indie bands. I'd say Hofners are a close second, especially in the studio.
 
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