Of course. If I don't like the sound I'm getting, what's the point? What I play, what I play through how I play and how I eq is all part of what I want to sound like. If I'm not happy, my playing suffers.
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Tone. Really that important?
- Thread starter Vynns
- Start date
Notice how all the people saying that tone is not important have cheap-ass bass gear and are trying to justify their non-purchases. ;^)
It cuts both ways, my friend. There is no one and only way.
I think tone is more important to the musician than to anyone else. Like, a person who knows nothing about musical instruments but likes music won't say, "Wow, that bass tone is amazing." Or in my experience anyways. Only people who have been exposed to it enough notice it. Personally, tone is the most important thing to me, and I have chosen tone over comfort in my most recent purchase. It's just as much of a signature as what techniques you use, imo. Look at Paul D'amour, Justin chancellor, and Chris Squire, who are famous as much for their tone as for their technique. But tone just depends on the person. For some people, comfort and playability of a bass > tone, and for other, the appearance > everything. Let it all come down to what you want, because that's what's most important. 
Just don't think that money = good tone, and lack of money = bad tone. I love the tone of my bass, and find it better than the tone I've gotten from some $1,000+ basses, but my bass cost me just over $400.
Just don't think that money = good tone, and lack of money = bad tone. I love the tone of my bass, and find it better than the tone I've gotten from some $1,000+ basses, but my bass cost me just over $400.
Funny how you think Status and Bergantino are cheap...and I own them. So that's your opinion out the window.
Tone is important but not as important as good playing. Because I am a good player I don't need to buy uber expensive gear like you do to sound good. I could buy expensive gear but what's the point when I still sound like me? I love my set-up ATM and I don't need to buy any more gear to sound better - I have found a tone, I am very happy with it and stuck with it. You on the other hand are probably still searching for it.
Gear is not the question here, tone is. As you said, you have found a tone and don't need expensive gear to sound good. Good sound and a tone you're happy with does not = expensive gear as you have pointed out. I would still argue that good playing does not make up for bad tone. If you have the package, good tone and good playing complimented with a great attitude towards music and your fellow musicians, to will be set apart from the rest. In my opinion of course.
I'm not singling you out by any means so don't take offense. If tone weren't all that important, why don't we glue our EQ knobs down? Lets all glue our control knobs down and be the best players we can be? Have you seen a pro FOH console? A good channel strip and a nice rack of effects and dynamic controls are there for one purpose, to shape the tone into something desirable.
If I am playing and the tone is good, then I am excited to play. If the tone sucks then i could care less. How could you be inspired by a terrible tone, whether it be on a hundred dollar bass or a thousand dollar one etc. I started playing in a band about five years ago on bass with only a yamaha rbx 170 and a crate bx100 amp. It worked fine.
Words to live by! ^^^
when i first started, i played in a punk band. my first bass was a Squier P, i played it through a Crate BX100 (i never really appreciated just how great of an amp that was
). i didnt care how i sounded as long as i hit the notes. it wasnt until i started gravitating toward blues/funk music that i started to learn "Tone". Now, it's ALL about tone with me. if my tone isnt good, i'm gonna GET it right before we finish soundcheck. Experience bro, experience.a lot of tone is in the fingers. My bass rig cost in total including my bass about 1800 bucks (I have a 1200 bass I payed 900 for) and a ton of used stuff over the course of the past 8 years or so, and I think I sound monstrous. I have more cabinets and heads than I can use and a pretty decent effects collection. You just need to be smart.
And for me personally, finally getting the sound you want makes writing music 1000000 times easier. Say you really liked speed metal. Wouldn't it be a lot easier to write music on a jackson than like a crappy acoustic?
also, from my experience, tone is also very strongly related to playing style, a LOT of it comes from your fingers. i've had other bass players play my rig with the same kind of bass and sound completelyyyy different.
And for me personally, finally getting the sound you want makes writing music 1000000 times easier. Say you really liked speed metal. Wouldn't it be a lot easier to write music on a jackson than like a crappy acoustic?
also, from my experience, tone is also very strongly related to playing style, a LOT of it comes from your fingers. i've had other bass players play my rig with the same kind of bass and sound completelyyyy different.
- Aug 21, 2003
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I remember reading years ago an interview with Will Lee how He lost gigs in his early years about him losing gigs for bad tone if you can imagine that.
I think this is when He first got to NY.
I think this is when He first got to NY.
I find it amusing who can distinguish between 'Tone is important' and where to keep 'the importance of tone' relative to the 'importance of good playing, feel, and sonse of groove'.
They aren't mutually exclusive, acting like they are is flawed logic.
Oh yeah, a lot of tone is in the fingers, ALL of your tone is not in your fingers, distinguishing between that is also amusing.
They aren't mutually exclusive, acting like they are is flawed logic.
Oh yeah, a lot of tone is in the fingers, ALL of your tone is not in your fingers, distinguishing between that is also amusing.
Really? Interesting. Somehow I can't really imagine that. I wonder what he was using or if his technique wasn't nearly as refined back then.
I'm pleased there's some variety of opinion on this - it's the sort of idea I've seen (unfairly) get ridiculed as trolling in the past.
I quite like my tone. But the moment someone else starts playing along, all subtlety and character in it gets lost - and that's what I hear whenever I see a band live too. It all ends up as a big load of bassy bassiness and ultimately the finer points of its tone are meaningless. Especially when a soundman has taken his pound of EQ flesh etc.
In fact in order to get any sort of clarity in the live situation, it seems you've got to take as much bass out of the bass as you can, or so it seemed when I saw Michael Manring live. Anything that might have produced some "boom" had been subtracted.
I quite like my tone. But the moment someone else starts playing along, all subtlety and character in it gets lost - and that's what I hear whenever I see a band live too. It all ends up as a big load of bassy bassiness and ultimately the finer points of its tone are meaningless. Especially when a soundman has taken his pound of EQ flesh etc.
In fact in order to get any sort of clarity in the live situation, it seems you've got to take as much bass out of the bass as you can, or so it seemed when I saw Michael Manring live. Anything that might have produced some "boom" had been subtracted.
- Aug 21, 2003
- 11,587
- 18,598
- Disclosures
- A-Designs Mike Lull GK Tsunami Cables GHS Strings RMI Basswitch Nordstrand Pickups Darkglass
I knew I should have added to my original post
I believe this was from "Musician Magazine" from nearly 20 years ago (don't quote me on that but I remember it because it stuck me funny as well).
If my memory serves me well He was talking about a badly modified P-Bass that He used on a audition and they told him that flat out afterwards why He did not get it. I believe he said that motivated him to use better gear in the future. I again this is a long time ago...I just never forgot reading that.
I knew I should have added to my original post
I believe this was from "Musician Magazine" from nearly 20 years ago (don't quote me on that but I remember it because it stuck me funny as well).
If my memory serves me well He was talking about a badly modified P-Bass that He used on a audition and they told him that flat out afterwards why He did not get it. I believe he said that motivated him to use better gear in the future. I again this is a long time ago...I just never forgot reading that.
Was the reasoning more for looks or really bad tone? I guess it's possible to screw up the tone of a P bass, but I suppose anything is possible.
I agree with this and that is what I was taking from the OP (I could be wrong) I thought he was saying that once you get into the mix with others playing along in a live situation, alot of finer points and subtleties get buried, so does it pay to have a really expensive bass when you can sound good with something cheaper live?
We all know that the tone you love at home playing by yourself isnt necessarily the best tone for a live situation, and IMO, whenever I scooped the sound or had too much bass, I dropped right out.
I have a Geddy as my main bass and I am finding that it can really be enough for me in almost any live situation. It cuts or can thump if I adjust the settings, and I dont need to go out and buy a $3K+ bass (although someday I will have a Wal!
)
+++ 1
Aren't there enough wankers out there already? :scowl:
Look up what Michael Rhodes has to say about it, then get back to practicing.
Bill
- Aug 21, 2003
- 11,587
- 18,598
- Disclosures
- A-Designs Mike Lull GK Tsunami Cables GHS Strings RMI Basswitch Nordstrand Pickups Darkglass
Again from Memory...
I thought it was because He added a neck pickup "ala Billy S style" well before He was known. (Not for the looks that I know of or I could tell from reading the article).
PS I belive it was an article on several bass players and He just happened to be one of them.
Tone is incredibly important to me, and way more important to the audience than a lot of us realize, IMO.
Though most couldn't say why, a band where everyone is getting great tone (and by that I mean each one is getting a tone that works best for the music and the mix) will have a bigger impact and be more moving for most listeners. It could be a nasty dirty cheap grungy tone or the cleanest subtlest most hi-fi one, but it has to be good for what it is trying to achieve, which to my mind is to convey emotion.
Besides, why not play for the most educated or discriminating ear in the audience?
There are a lot of afterski bands that come through here that have bassists with a lot more experience and chops than me, but who have an extremely indifferent attitude to tone, and to the sound their whole band is putting out (like-minded musicians tend to find each other). Most are really good at keeping the audience happy with their energy, sing-alongs, humour, etc, but they are ultimately quite unsatisfying to me and to most of my friends here. When a 'real' band comes through, one who has obviously put a lot of effort into sounding great in whatever style they play, the reaction is amazing, and they pull more people, make them happier, get asked back more, and get more ass.
Now tell me what's wrong with that?
One more thing; no engineer or sound man can 'fix' a crappy tone, though they can destroy a good one. Why not give them at least a fighting chance to make your band sound good?
Sorry, one more one more thing; I despise mediocrity, the 'good enough' school of thought. Why not live a Kung Fu life and try to do everything as well as possible, every single time? It's so much more rewarding, to oneself and to those around you.
Though most couldn't say why, a band where everyone is getting great tone (and by that I mean each one is getting a tone that works best for the music and the mix) will have a bigger impact and be more moving for most listeners. It could be a nasty dirty cheap grungy tone or the cleanest subtlest most hi-fi one, but it has to be good for what it is trying to achieve, which to my mind is to convey emotion.
Besides, why not play for the most educated or discriminating ear in the audience?
There are a lot of afterski bands that come through here that have bassists with a lot more experience and chops than me, but who have an extremely indifferent attitude to tone, and to the sound their whole band is putting out (like-minded musicians tend to find each other). Most are really good at keeping the audience happy with their energy, sing-alongs, humour, etc, but they are ultimately quite unsatisfying to me and to most of my friends here. When a 'real' band comes through, one who has obviously put a lot of effort into sounding great in whatever style they play, the reaction is amazing, and they pull more people, make them happier, get asked back more, and get more ass.
Now tell me what's wrong with that?
One more thing; no engineer or sound man can 'fix' a crappy tone, though they can destroy a good one. Why not give them at least a fighting chance to make your band sound good?
Sorry, one more one more thing; I despise mediocrity, the 'good enough' school of thought. Why not live a Kung Fu life and try to do everything as well as possible, every single time? It's so much more rewarding, to oneself and to those around you.
