Please pardon the long post, but this is really interesting to me...
I think I need to spend a little more time with my various MTD's and see exactly where I hear the compression. I've been playing my Skjold's so much that I realized I haven't played my MTD's all that much.
In general with Wenge, I hear tight lows and crisp but not harsh highs.
Again, at least I never said wenge was harsh on the high end. What I meant was the sizzle was in the wrong spot for me... I believe it's actually higher than maple or even ebony, which for me, would be bad, but for someone who slapped more, would be good, as I've also mentioned.
Thing is, reading your post about your fave woods (also why I asked) your comments make a lot more sense. I do VERY little slapping, so to have an emphasis in the highs at a little lower frequency, would probably sound a little harsh to a slapper compared to wenge, but works GREAT for fingerstyle, 'cause IMHO with fingerstyle it's more usable AND is smoothed out by the fingerstyle itself.
I must admit, that when I slap on a maple or even ebony board, I soften the highs a bit, BUT, when I do, it's VERY sweet.
That said, I'm still a bit stumped on your feelings with the ash/walnut ash/maple bass, because as a few of us have said, that one is much warmer and fuller, and also smoother on the high end. Still not like wenge tho, which is clearly by far your fave for your style, but I'd think even you wouldn't find it harsh. Then again, it's all in the fingers/style, and I haven't heard you play... I'm sure that would answer it.
I guess if I were to put a choke anywhere, I would say the choke is more in the low-mids at least compared with other wood combos. I do find myself adding a touch of low mids when I play my Wenge neck MTD's.
You're the first, and I think only, wenge player to say wenge is choked in the low mids. Even I feel it's the opposite. This comes as quite a surprise.
Then again, maybe it's not so much "compression" as much as it's simply that, even with wenge, you still need more? In other words, compression is relative. If you're saying other wood combos have more, and wenge seems to compress relative to that combo (also hence my question) that's one thing, but I don't think I'm hearing that from you now. It just seems like even with the strong low mids in the wenge, you still need more for your prefs. I can understand that.
I guess when I say compressed "in general" with Wenge, I mainly say that comparing it to a Maple neck.
Yeah, but again, if you're saying "general" to say across the freq spectrum, that's counter my experiences and pretty much all I've read. That said, personal playing style could easily explain stuff like this with folks tho, and I understand that.
My favorite wood combo...that's a tough one, but I suppose I really like Myrtle top/Tulipwood/Wenge/Wenge the best and right along that combo I like Maple top/Ash/Wenge Wenge. Tulipwwod and Ash in general have really worked well with my on most MTD's.
For a smoother sound, I dig both Ash/Maple/RW and Tulipwood/Maple/RW quite a bit as well. I've also liked what I've heard with a few Mahogany MTD's, one with a Wenge/Wenge neck was cool, and the other I want to say had a Maple/Ebony neck that was cool.
This is very interesting. You definitely seem to prefer the woods that have built-in "absorption" (just to avoid the "c word" here
) at least in the (IMHO) upper mids, maybe low highs (1K-2K). If your style is as percussive as you make it sound, especially when slapping, I can see how you'd really need that to even/smooth things out. Since I don't slap much, and spend more time closer to the bridge, all that suppression really hurts the cut/bite I like.
For the most part, I like every MTD I've come in contact with except for the above mentioned Walnut top/Northern Ash/Maple/Maple combo. It was terribly harsh and brittle. No matter what I did with my amp or the basses eq, I just couldn't dial in a tone that was usable for me. I have a pretty unique and percussive slap quality, but still it was overly harsh.
IMHO, this explains a lot.
I talked with Joel at TGS, and he did mention that the wood combo would tend to be on the bright side, and he swore that it had to do with the Northern Ash as compared to the Swamp Ash. He offered to take it in on trade for me, but I opted going another route.
This is true. Even Mike will tell you the really light ash most folks call swamp ash has a notch in the upper mids. Not really a compression, but a more specific notch. I didn't ask what general center freq. Thing is, I have a few basses made with that swamp ash (and you might too, noting your Skjolds), and I hear it, but somehow, it still works great for me where I just can't get along with wenge, which I do think has a broader dip.
The only other MTD that I wasn't wild about was a Tiger Myrtle top/Alder/Maple RW that was pretty much dull as it gets for a MTD. I'm not wild about Alder though in general.
This makes perfect sense. I actually like alder bodies, almost as much as ash, but yeah, they have their own mid profile, and I can see that not working for you based on what you've said here.
I still have yet to really try an Ash/Ash/Maple MTD. I've played one once, can't remember where (may have been NAAM), but I just remember that it was hard to say whether I liked the tone or not because of the area I was in. I really need to find anothe rone of these and sit down to give it a good play...by the sounds of it, I really think it's something that I'd like a lot!
If you're saying ash body, ash neck, maple board, I predict it'd also sound "harsh" for you. Sounds to me like you've already found the wood combos that best compliment your style, and IMHO, a/a/m would not do it for you. Does for me, tho.
