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Tone vs. Playability

Tone or Playability

  • Tone all the way

    Votes: 27 8.8%

  • Playability for the win

    Votes: 67 21.8%

  • Both are equally important

    Votes: 211 68.7%

  • Other

    Votes: 2 0.7%
  • Total voters
    307
#21
both are important imo

now that i have my fender basses i am actually shocked that i was able to play all of that post mathrock/new hardore stuff on my old grabber in college, it was a great sounding bass, but it was hard to play compared to my p and jazz
 
#23
In the perfect world, I would want both. But I prefer a playable bass most. I don't record anymore, so I can get a good live tone easily. I am not obsesed with the perfect tone, as long as it makes the butts shake on the dance floor I am happy (and doesn't suck...LOL).
 
#24
+1
BigOldHarry said:
I voted playability. Why?

I have found that its much easier to make a bass sound good with new pickups/preamp/etc than play well. I also think that "Tone" is an overwrought, over-rated subject... but how a bass plays REALLY makes a difference, from beginners to veteran players. Picking up a bass that just screams to be played is nothing but a joy, even if it doesn't sound that great; Conversely, a bass that sounds dandy but feels bad isn't going to get played, period (not by me, anyway!). That's what kept me out of the Rick market - by the time I had the spare $$, all I could find was 4003's and I find that they play like baseball bats...
Click to expand...
 
#26
BigOldHarry said:
I voted playability. Why?

I have found that its much easier to make a bass sound good with new pickups/preamp/etc than play well. I also think that "Tone" is an overwrought, over-rated subject... but how a bass plays REALLY makes a difference, from beginners to veteran players. Picking up a bass that just screams to be played is nothing but a joy, even if it doesn't sound that great; Conversely, a bass that sounds dandy but feels bad isn't going to get played, period (not by me, anyway!). That's what kept me out of the Rick market - by the time I had the spare $$, all I could find was 4003's and I find that they play like baseball bats...
Click to expand...

I'm going to have to agree with Harry...I love Ricks....their looks, and I even like their tone...but dammit, I think they're so uncomfortable...

Tone is a little overrated, especially when you're dealing with our frequency range...I've picked up cheap Squiers that didn't sound that different from my American Jazz basses, but I can tell the build quality was much better on the American model.
 
#27
There's no reason you can't have both.

If I was in your shoes I would search for a bass that gives me both and sell one or both of your current basses as needed to get a bass that works on all fronts for you.
 
#28
Both, of course. But as others have stated, it's easier to fix a tone issue than a playability one.

FWIW, I have the older version of the MIM Pbass PJ Deluxe, but in passive. Great tone, one of my favorite basses, even among its more expensive bretheren...they can be found fairly inexpensive used:
Fender Precision Bass Special | eBay
 
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#29
Tone... lol hahahahah

I play a lot of 90s hardcore alt (think more rancid and nirvana rather than blink182 or greenday), and so while I prefer some basses, like pbasses or tbirds, any bass can get the job done. But I'm picky about playability. It must have a fat neck with a high gloss finish and stupid low action.
 
#31
Both are important - but if a bass has ergonomics that really don't work for you, then it's really hard to change that without fundamentally changing the character of the instrument.
Whereas so much of an electric instrument's tone comes from pickups and electronics (and string choice) that it is generally simpler to change a bass that "fits" you well to get a sound that fits you as well.
 
#35
As long as u have a bridge pickup, the only thing that matters is playability... I used to own basses with different neck profiles (even from same luthier) and after a while i just couldn't go from one to the other without badly feeling the change (especially on stage where u don't have time for anything but play to ur best)...
Then i found one neck profile that felt perfect (even compared to my previous basses), so i sold all that i had and had a luthier build myself it's fretless twin... And now i can easily swap from one to another and i bet my hands and wrists really are thankful ^^

Playability...

ps : to make it clearer, if u play ur instrument 2 hours a week, it doesn't matter IMO, if u play bass 3 or 4 hours a day, than u NEED to feel comfortable
 
#36
BigOldHarry said:
I voted playability. Why?

I have found that its much easier to make a bass sound good with new pickups/preamp/etc than play well. I also think that "Tone" is an overwrought, over-rated subject... but how a bass plays REALLY makes a difference, from beginners to veteran players. Picking up a bass that just screams to be played is nothing but a joy, even if it doesn't sound that great; Conversely, a bass that sounds dandy but feels bad isn't going to get played, period (not by me, anyway!). That's what kept me out of the Rick market - by the time I had the spare $$, all I could find was 4003's and I find that they play like baseball bats...
Click to expand...

+1000 (extra smiles for the Ric point ;) )

If I need to put up a fight with the bass to use the TONE, I'd rather not play/own the bass. Playability is No1 for me. If the playability part is ok to perfect, then I go into the TONE issue. Both are equally important, but the audience will hardly hear the nuances we crave for (or even, have achieved), but the audience will realize our fight with the bass, resulting to sloppy/wrong/bad performance from our side. Personally, I see no reason to be frustrated over playing a specific bass (due to bad playability or wrong ergonomics)
 
#37
I think tone is very overrated (as long as it sits in the mix properly, but that can be accomplished by a decent amount of EQ'ing in most cases). Most people who listen to the music I play won't know the difference anyway, but my hands definitely will.

That being said, I play a Stingray 5 and a Spector Euro 4, so tone really ain't an issue for me. Between them, that pair can do pretty much whatever I want them to.
 

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