I voted carrots cuz carrots come in different tones as well
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Weight vs. Tone
- Thread starter LBS-bass
- Start date
We don't live in a black and white world, but the internet far too often devolves us deep into black and white thinking. I've about given up on the idea that a person can hold two simultaneous thoughts in mind while communicating online. The question is about priorities. It's about what is most important to you, if anything, at the moment. There's a reason I wanted to ask that particular question and not some other question. It's fine to say they are of equal importance but it's not a false dichotomy when, clearly, many people do have their own priorities. It's perfectly fine to say I choose this over that. What I'm certainly not saying is that you can only have one or the other. That would be a false dichotomy.
As you can see from the poll, quite a lot of people still prioritize tone over weight. From just reading posts here, one would think it might be the other way around. But apparently, either it isn't, or the weight people aren't responding for whatever reason.
I personally wanted to know more about this because I'm getting older and I can see a day coming when my own priorities might shift.
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I wouldn't trade my Danelectro DC bass for the best sounding heavy bass of this world. Never.
There a lot of light bass that sound wonderful. Usually, pricey, and for most of us, getting our hands on lots of basses to try just isnt going to happen. Could it be you are drawn to similar basses over spacing and familiar to you radius, and those happen to be heavier? Chambered bodies and KSM bridges help tone and help a bass shed a little weight. So it must not be an either or choice, but a look for through more choices exercise. You can have both. It may be painful to try to afford. If your hands like it, and its easier on the shoulder, and sounds great its going to cost too much!
It could be. I've been drawn to certain tonal qualities and also to a certain quality level in general. I've also owned basses that were considerably heavier than the ones I have now, so maybe there's a "well it doesn't seem that heavy in comparison" thing going on. Just so happens that, so far, the basses I've fallen for haven't been that light.
If it doesn't have good tone, it doesn't matter what it weighs. If it weighs too much, it doesn't matter what it sounds like. But there are other considerations, such as fit and finish, tactile feedback, neck shape, etc
Seeing as how the two variables are completely unrelated, I choose weight. It’s easy to change tone - use a different amp, buy different pickups, get an onboard preamp, use different pedals, move around those crazy EQ and gain knobs...all of those are infinitely easier to do and use than, say, routing out holes in your bass, or swapping for a new body or neck, or even changing tuners or a bridge.
It’s kind of like saying “which do you prioritize - tone, or colour?”
It’s kind of like saying “which do you prioritize - tone, or colour?”
The little green guy is a Birdsong cBass. 31” scale. Weighs about 7 lbs. and sounds like a Precision. No tradeoffs involved.
If you pick up a bass in the store and never plug it in because it weighs too much, you've basically prioritized weight over whatever potential tone might be there. And if you pick that bass up and plug it in anyway because you still want to know what it sounds like, you've sort of done the opposite. Although yes, there are a multitude of other factors involved and strategies to use to get your preferred tone.
Dichotomy rejected. The nature of the so-called "tone" of a bass is all but immaterial, since it is mostly determined downstream. There are plenty of conjectural rabbit holes that interest me, but bass tone isn't among them.
Lot of people just don't care about weight at all, and I'd imagine that most of these people vote that they care about tone. But really, fewer people probably care about tone about as much as they care about body shape, aesthetic, and color.
If people generally cared about weight, then what about things that reduce weight and balance for free (like lightweight tuners) without affecting tone? People don't bother with those changes, either.
I’m 66, almost 67. I’ve been playing boat anchors for almost 55 years. I assure you playing a bass will not cause shoulder back issues unless you are a marshmallow, or you have an accident, or some other unrelated medical problems. Yes, it can exasperate other medical issues, but the cause? Rediculous!
Give me tone, or give me death!
I don't think weight is an absolute. I think resonance is an absolute. If a bass is resonant it will sound good and if you don't like the sound you can change the pickups. I really think a lot of an instruments tone comes from the neck more so than the body but I think matching the neck and the body results in a great instrument.
I prioritize completely different at a store. These are items a guitar store are selling. They sell better set up. Count on that they have been. I m looking for string height at the 18th fret. You cant count on one taking anymore setup adjustments without buzzing than it has at a store. You might get lucky dont count it. Then I m looking at fret wear. Then I prefer if doesnt have any blood,sauce or meat scraps stuck to it. I wonder what in the world new bass shopping is like.
I’m quoting Tom Bowlus @tombowlus on this...I’ve read him state, “if it sounds good, it is good.” I can’t find another statement that doesn’t fit perfectly to Tone VS Weight.
You can have both, either of the two, or even none at all. Who wants a boat anchor of a bass that sounds like crap?
I sure don’t...but their might be a person out there that can make that boat anchor sing!
Instruments and all the experience that comes with them...it’s all in your head and everyone else’s. Trust your ears! And enjoy your bass experience!
You can have both, either of the two, or even none at all. Who wants a boat anchor of a bass that sounds like crap?
I sure don’t...but their might be a person out there that can make that boat anchor sing!
Instruments and all the experience that comes with them...it’s all in your head and everyone else’s. Trust your ears! And enjoy your bass experience!
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
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- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
Tone is vastly more important to me, and my 40 year keeper weighed ~10.5 pounds I think. But happily, I have a luthier friend (Marco Cortes, who I have a business relationship with) who managed to build me an 8 pound bass that I like the tone of more than any of the heavier instruments I've owned over the years. When he told me it would be pretty light I was like "cool", but I never once mentioned weight when we were working up the build specs.
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Weight, or lack thereof. Ergonomics in general, under which I would file weight, absolutely matters to me more than anything else, for a variety of increasingly age- and health-related reasons. Also: I'm nowhere near as picky about tone as most of the folks here. Mind you, I don't want a bass that sounds like crap, but once you pass that fairly low bar, I'm good.
