Tone. Really that important?

[thumpbass1]

Yes it does matter; however it's a balance of the musician having the ability to play the way they do and the tools they choose to work with. Instruments and related gear can never take on the dogma of one size fits all mentality for musicians.

As the musician I am I'm aware of various tonal possibilities and choose the right instrument,amp,etc, to fit the given situation. Luckily the genres and styles I do play in, don't demand ultra expensive and exotic gear to perform. I'm a happy Fender bass guy at heart who can be quite content with a decent P or J bass and the right size amp rig that offers a decent e.q. section to work with. Anything else is just frosting on the cake for me. Other players may require much more from their gear than I do; while others do just as much and more with humbler fare. Tone matters, but we all find our own path to what makes us happy tonewise.

 

[rice128]

I think it matters to a certain extent. If you playing jazz but totally sound like a metal guy, then it wouldn't do any good.

But in 99.99999% case, I would say it doesn't matter. Most of audience probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway. Sound guy in the back is also controlling the overall sound of the band, so as long as the band sound good as whole I say bassist's tone doesn't matter too much........

 

[JimmyM]

I think it matters to a certain extent. If you playing jazz but totally sound like a metal guy, then it wouldn't do any good.

But in 99.99999% case, I would say it doesn't matter. Most of audience probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway. Sound guy in the back is also controlling the overall sound of the band, so as long as the band sound good as whole I say bassist's tone doesn't matter too much........

Never underestimate your audience. They may not know what to do when the sound sucks but they know it sucks.

 

[Mutant Corn]

IMO gear matters to an extent, but it's not the main thing. Your fingers are your tone, and you'll add color to the tone of any bass you play on. But if you're a P bass with flats through an Ampeg kind of guy(/girl), then you're going to have a hard time getting the tone you want from a Rickenbacker and a Peavey amp.

As for the tone mattering in a show, I agree with TS about the energy of the show being the main thing, but if you're playing with, say, a Squier P bass with the tone rolled off through a Behringer it's going to be hard to convey your energy and emotion to the crowd as all they can hear from you is the resonant frequency of the house subs.

whoa...that was a long sentence

 

[JimmyM]

As for the tone mattering in a show, I agree with TS about the energy of the show being the main thing

Who says the energy of the show gets bogged down if you care about your tone? Is it not possible to have everything?

 

[Mutant Corn]

Who says the energy of the show gets bogged down if you care about your tone? Is it not possible to have everything?

...not what I meant

The way I see it, having a better tone makes you more able to express yourself and convey the emotion of the song. That's not to say, however, that a good show can't be done with bad gear/technique, or vice-versa.

 

[rice128]

Never underestimate your audience. They may not know what to do when the sound sucks but they know it sucks.

Very true JimmyM. But if the tone is not mismatching of the genre of the music and if the overall band sounds good, I doubt bassist's tone would make much difference. BUT I guess there are audience who would specifically listen for bass.

 

[joque]

Tone, technique, balance, and comfort. Matter! Name brands, product loyalties, and price tags do not.

 

[Lorenzini]

Very true JimmyM. But if the tone is not mismatching of the genre of the music and if the overall band sounds good, I doubt bassist's tone would make much difference. BUT I guess there are audience who would specifically listen for bass.

Weird.

It's like saying, "we'll make do with what we have, even though it's not what we want or should have *shrug*".

Tell me, is that professional?? IMO, tone MATTERS

 

[Bass4LifeRS]

I also tried to philosophize like you, but remember this is a bassist forum. I think you're right about what people take with them from a show/performance. We are not people, we are bassnerds, can't reason with us. Check post #2 directly after the OP. Lol....

 

[Fuzzbass]

if the tone is not mismatching of the genre of the music and if the overall band sounds good, I doubt bassist's tone would make much difference.

As long as the bassist's notes are well-defined, then tone doesn't make much difference. Frankly I like to hear bass tone that's out of the box: f'r instance I was cable surfing one day and found a country band playing live. The bass player had bright aggressive gritty tone. I thought that was really cool. The song would not have sounded any better or worse if the bassist had the standard country tone.

Really, how well you play is a bazillion times more important than your tone. Yes, skill affects tone, but whatever: if you play with the right feel and don't use a ridiculously overtweaked tone, it's perfectly okay to use a Hofner with flats for metal, or an Alembic/Fodera/Sadowsky with steel rounds for traditional blues or Motown. Well, the bandleader might not like it but the audience probably won't care.

 

[Coeball]

Tone, technique, balance, and comfort. Matter! Name brands, product loyalties, and price tags do not.

I totally agree. Now I will use an example to try and justify myself. On muses latest album their bassist swithc to Jazz and ricks from mainly pedullas. For the kind of music they play I think many people may not like the album partly, (even if they don't realise it) because the bass did not sound good. It sounds even worse when they play old songs.

 

[appler]

If it's a loud gig then chances are it will sound like a messy blob of sounds. It isn't that often to get a competent sound guy or play in good acoustically place. Therefore pursuing best possible tone may be kind of excessive thing.

Some people come to gigs just to vent off. May not care much about things like a precise bass tone at all.
(not talking a good tone is bad thing at all of course)



You are right but then explain popularity of fast foods, eh? It takes someone who cares to distinguish such things. For majority it sufficient to be loud and barely recognizable even.



I like to have a good tone because I'm feeling much more confident then. But what is going to be heard by audience is an another matter. Why use best possible (and expensive gear with all risks involved) when it will get messed up anyway by uncontrollable factors?

Fast food is a good analogy. Suppose you're a chef at a five-star restaurant. You know good food and you don't bother with that mass-produced garbage. Your buddies, however, are regulars at McDonald's. Say you're treating them to dinner: are you going to pick up a bunch of Big Macs or are you going to give them a fine, carefully-prepared meal? Sure, it's easier to give them the generic stuff and they might be just as happy with Mickey D's, but you know that they could be eating quality food and your passion for your craft drives you to help them appreciate fine dining, even if they don't know or care which spices you used or how you marinated the meat, etc.

Similarly, you can give an audience whatever comes out of the speakers and they might not care, or you can put in a little bit of effort improving your technique and knowledge of your equipment and give them something better. You, as an artist, owe it to yourself, your band, and your audience to sound as beautiful as you possibly can. The less musicians and audiences care about tone, the more drum machines and Auto-tuners you'll hear...

 

[JimmyM]

Very true JimmyM. But if the tone is not mismatching of the genre of the music and if the overall band sounds good...

...a lot of that has to do with how the bass sounds.

Don't worry, I took your old ratty answer and replaced it with the correct one

 

[Norwegian Bass]

Tone. Really that important?

I'm gonna go with: YES!

When I'm playing and I have a tone I like, it's downright inspiring to me.
It makes me happy and, i believe, makes me play better.
And maybe, somehow, that will translate to the listener.

 

[Vic Winters]

Fast food is a good analogy. Suppose you're a chef at a five-star restaurant. You know good food and you don't bother with that mass-produced garbage. Your buddies, however, are regulars at McDonald's. Say you're treating them to dinner: are you going to pick up a bunch of Big Macs or are you going to give them a fine, carefully-prepared meal? Sure, it's easier to give them the generic stuff and they might be just as happy with Mickey D's, but you know that they could be eating quality food and your passion for your craft drives you to help them appreciate fine dining, even if they don't know or care which
spices you used or how you marinated the meat, etc.

That's not a good analogy, that's a taste preference. If someone prefers old school P-bass directly into an SVT and a fridge over a Fodera through a half dozen processors and a Markbass rig, that doesn't make them less "cultured". It simply means they have a different taste in tone. A better analogy would be: Good tone = chocolate, while bad tone = chocolate laxatives. It doesn't matter how sweet your playing is, if you have bad tone it makes me hunch over, grab my stomach and head for the nearest exit.

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

I think tone and timbre* are one of the most important things in music. There's times where tone is more important than note choice.


*What an instrument's characteristic sound is, like how you tell a cello from a piano. Even if theyu play the samen ote

 

[CBRStingray]

That's not a good analogy, that's a taste preference. If someone prefers old school P-bass directly into an SVT and a fridge over a Fodera through a half dozen processors and a Markbass rig, that doesn't make them less "cultured". It simply means they have a different taste in tone. A better analogy would be: Good tone = chocolate, while bad tone = chocolate laxatives. It doesn't matter how sweet your playing is, if you have bad tone it makes me hunch over, grab my stomach and head for the nearest exit.

Nah, I liked the fast food analogy better. I think it makes perfect sense.

 

[appler]

That's not a good analogy, that's a taste preference. If someone prefers old school P-bass directly into an SVT and a fridge over a Fodera through a half dozen processors and a Markbass rig, that doesn't make them less "cultured". It simply means they have a different taste in tone. A better analogy would be: Good tone = chocolate, while bad tone = chocolate laxatives. It doesn't matter how sweet your playing is, if you have bad tone it makes me hunch over, grab my stomach and head for the nearest exit.

Cheers in regards to the chocolate laxatives but I think my analogy makes sense. I suppose it's a bit confusing, though. It's less about subjective taste and more about quality and attention to detail. I didn't mean to say that burgers are bad but that a real chef will make a burger a darn sight better than a fry cook at McDonald's using better materials and actually care about the final product.

In the same way, I believe a musician should examine every aspect of his or her tone and spend a little time discovering what sounds best, while an amateur might just plug in any old bass into any old amp and crank it. However, it doesn't take a bunch of knob-tweaking and buttons-pushing and expensive electronics to sound good. I'll take a Fender with flats over an Alembic hyperactive space-bass any day, myself.