- Oct 18, 2012
- 6,683
- 5,538
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- Endorsing Artist: Fender, Spector, Ampeg, Curt Mangan, Nordstrand Pickups, Korg , Conquest Sound
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The most versatile 5 string bass
- Thread starter Jakub
- Start date
- Aug 21, 2003
- 11,588
- 18,607
- Disclosures
- A-Designs Mike Lull GK Tsunami Cables GHS Strings RMI Basswitch Nordstrand Pickups Darkglass
You have good taste Mark...These 2 builders are my favorite in the bolt on in traditional style instruments.
WORD. The audience tends to feel the bass rather than hear it. Hell, the same is usually true for bandmates. So, how well you play is a bazillion times more important than how you sound. That's especially true when covering a wide range of genres: what's important is that you are fluent in the style; your tone is just window-dressing.
Most of the time I play a vanilla P-bass (meaning just the one P pickup). It's active, so I can get a nice snappy tone out of it that sounds great for slap IMO. Those with better slap chops than I can slap a P-bass with flats and make great music.
I don't mean to spoil the fun. Honestly, I get it: it's nice to have good tone, and variety in tone is also nice, so the question is perfectly valid. Still, I'm glad that cnltb added the important perspective. I would even argue that playability is more important than tone. If your bass is uncomfortable it could prevent you from playing well, and if you're not playing well then your tone becomes irrelevant.
It's a circular argument for me, because if my bass doesn't give me the vibe I want from a particular song it affects my playing. When the tone of every note that I play seems to have come from the heavens it makes a huge difference to my enjoyment of what I'm playing. I feel like I'm working in total harmony with my instrument instead of me, or it, being at odds...and to be honest I can put up with my bass being mildly uncomfortable better than I can with it's tone found wanting (my main bass for years was a Ric 4001 so I know all about sacrificing comfort for tone)
That is the same argument I have heard many times from guitar players about why they NEED a 100 watt Marshall amp and double stack.....
Ah yes, but I didn't say that I couldn't play well without a perfect tone for every occasion; I've been gigging forty years so I've had more than my share of inadequate basses, inadequate amps, difficult stages and sometimes all three at the same time. I've had the inevitable broken strings, amps that have died, speakers that have blown and times when I couldn't hear a damn thing I was playing over king kong playing drums - virtually every permutation that crops up over all those years. I managed to deal with all of that, still do at some gigs, and still play well.
But, I much prefer it when my bass tone is exactly what I want it to be. If other people don't care that they're playing their hearts out, hitting all the right notes, grooving like a monster but their tone still makes them sound like crap, that's for them; it's not for me.
Yamaha BB1025 series. I tried numerous 5 string basses and this one was the best sounding of them all. B string wasn't floppy sounding like mud. every note was clear as day. Neck was nice and fast and nice balance too. Split precision and jazz style pickups, volume tone, 3 way switch (but i tend to just leave it in the middle for both) Passive and string through at 45 degree break angle9 which according to yamaha is a more natural tension on the strings as opposed to the 90 degree tension on fenders and such.
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
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- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
While I used to find that comment one of the most obnoxious, I've come to believe it's the most accurate.
To me, most versatile 5 string was and still is Yamaha BBG 5S - dual humbuckers, 24 frets. All in all, there was nothing I couldn't get out of that bass. It had a soul, and was an extension of my body. I have regretted selling it for a long time now... 
But, I'll find a new babe, maybe Fender P or Stingray Classic 4 or 5 (if I can afford the Stingray - here it costs almost 4000 USD). 
But, I'll find a new babe, maybe Fender P or Stingray Classic 4 or 5 (if I can afford the Stingray - here it costs almost 4000 USD).
Same here
Still...it was never as bad as "Jaco only needed 4...".
Now, that's obnoxious, isn't it? One of many reasons why poor guy was never my favourite bass player (not to say he's bad at all, but...)
It's all about tone! What are you talking about?!? When you've been playing for a while your ears become more defined and gives you the ability to come closer to "your sound". I remember in the first couple of years thinking what was the big idea with tone, but now I know how vital it can be. Are you new to the bass?
Absolutely not. Been playing for over 20 years.
I just play with my own tone. I've got my sound, and I know how to dial it in - I spend more time getting my sound in a venue rather than worrying about how a certain artist gets his sound on a record, ok?
I agree on the fbass bn5. After several months of gigging my favorite 5 string to date. Like it better than the sadowsky NYCs I've had
