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What Features Do You Tend To Avoid When Choosing A Bass?
- Thread starter plangentmusic
- Start date
I think basses with only one pup in the bridge position wouldn't be for me. I like the neck position more. Wouldn't mind both on the same instrument at all though.
Poor balance aka neck dive is also pretty much a deal breaker, though you can rectify that to some extent (wide, padded leather straps and the likes).
Pink color is also a turn-off for me lol.
Poor balance aka neck dive is also pretty much a deal breaker, though you can rectify that to some extent (wide, padded leather straps and the likes).
Pink color is also a turn-off for me lol.
One of the only things I really don't like on my instruments is a VV setup. I like a blend pot.
Everything else is negotiable and depends on the individual instrument.
Everything else is negotiable and depends on the individual instrument.
Honestly? I try to keep my mind real open, anymore. There's all the features & technical criteria and there's the way an axe will sing onstage and they're two completely different things IME.
My Dingwall contains an extensive list of features I would have avoided. (Exotic fingerboard, neodymium pickups, small frets, roundwound strings, fancy truss rod system, etc...) Then I tried one and it kicked butt. So I bought one and it kicks major butt.
Some makes turn me off visually, so they'd have to really slay sonically to overcome that. (Especially for $4K!
)
My Dingwall contains an extensive list of features I would have avoided. (Exotic fingerboard, neodymium pickups, small frets, roundwound strings, fancy truss rod system, etc...) Then I tried one and it kicked butt. So I bought one and it kicks major butt.
Some makes turn me off visually, so they'd have to really slay sonically to overcome that. (Especially for $4K!
)
Too many buttons, switches and gizmos...active basses (unless they have a passive mode) I like a plain and simple passive bass. Give me two single coil pups a master tone control and a volume for each...though tone for each pup would not be a deterrent (read that stack knobs etc..)
K.I.S.S. has worked for me for ever.....
Although my T 40 had more switches and knobs than I would normally have liked, I'd get another in a heartbeat!
K.I.S.S. has worked for me for ever.....
Although my T 40 had more switches and knobs than I would normally have liked, I'd get another in a heartbeat!
The features I most tend to avoid when choosing a bass are things like Integrated Razor Blades and Burled Dog Poo Fingerboards...anything else I'll at least try out once.
- Oct 11, 2010
- 12
- 0
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist D'Addario Strings & Virtuoso Polish
Generally, I avoid super cheap looking basses. I am pretty openminded, though. I try almost all the basses I come across
- Dec 20, 2004
- 4,267
- 2,481
- Disclosures
- Player-Builder-Founder: Honey Badger Pickups & Regenerate Guitar Works
things I personally don't like (in no particular order) -
* most anything pointy
* basses that stop working if the battery should die (but really, how often does this happen?)
* basses with non-standard pickup sizes (I like to have the ability to change pickups if I choose, though I seldom do)
* neck dimensions that are extreme in any direction (too fat/thin/wide/narrow/etc ...)
* neck dive
* transparent yellow or magenta finishes
* brass nuts
* cheap hardware
* the needless usage of 35"+ scale necks on 5+ strings
* fanned frets
* Wenge neck shafts
all the best,
R
* most anything pointy
* basses that stop working if the battery should die (but really, how often does this happen?)
* basses with non-standard pickup sizes (I like to have the ability to change pickups if I choose, though I seldom do)
* neck dimensions that are extreme in any direction (too fat/thin/wide/narrow/etc ...)
* neck dive
* transparent yellow or magenta finishes
* brass nuts
* cheap hardware
* the needless usage of 35"+ scale necks on 5+ strings
* fanned frets
* Wenge neck shafts
all the best,
R
Relic'ing, high action, activity, set neck, looking "metal", generally avoid weird body shapes. It's pretty hard to put a finger on what I do and don't like, other than only playing passive basses. I just go for what I like.
I only have 2 dealbreakers.
#1: Neck dive. I don't mind a heavy bass that is well balanced but I can't tolerate a bass that must be supported by my left hand while I play.
#2: 2 volume knobs. My biggest dislike on any bass. I need to have quick easy control over my volume. All my basses have 1 volume knob with a pickup blend knob.
#1: Neck dive. I don't mind a heavy bass that is well balanced but I can't tolerate a bass that must be supported by my left hand while I play.
#2: 2 volume knobs. My biggest dislike on any bass. I need to have quick easy control over my volume. All my basses have 1 volume knob with a pickup blend knob.
I won't even consider a bass with (in no particular order):
Paint - if the wood is good enough to be made into a fine instrument, it should be good enough to see.
Stringtrees - a cluttered, drag-inducing design shortcut. A well-designed headstock is compact, tilted-back to provide a good string breaking-angle over the nut, and reinforced with a volute.
A cheap plastic facade (so-called pickguard) - another unsightly design shortcut.
A bulky slab body - Yet another unsightly design shortcut. Decent ergos and aesthetics matter, and that means deep flowing contours and deeply rounded edges.
Less than five strings or twenty-four frets/fretless stops.
A bulky heel and/or shallow cutaways - what good is a two-octave (minimum) board if you can't reach the highest notes in good position?
A short upper horn/poor balance - a bass with neck-dive is broken.
Four or more tuners in-line (and cartoonish elephant-ear tuners in general) - awkward and looks awful.
Weighs over nine pounds.
Poor truss rod access.
I dislike wide string spacing, too, but I can live with it if the rest of the instrument is up to snuff.
Paint - if the wood is good enough to be made into a fine instrument, it should be good enough to see.
Stringtrees - a cluttered, drag-inducing design shortcut. A well-designed headstock is compact, tilted-back to provide a good string breaking-angle over the nut, and reinforced with a volute.
A cheap plastic facade (so-called pickguard) - another unsightly design shortcut.
A bulky slab body - Yet another unsightly design shortcut. Decent ergos and aesthetics matter, and that means deep flowing contours and deeply rounded edges.
Less than five strings or twenty-four frets/fretless stops.
A bulky heel and/or shallow cutaways - what good is a two-octave (minimum) board if you can't reach the highest notes in good position?
A short upper horn/poor balance - a bass with neck-dive is broken.
Four or more tuners in-line (and cartoonish elephant-ear tuners in general) - awkward and looks awful.
Weighs over nine pounds.
Poor truss rod access.
I dislike wide string spacing, too, but I can live with it if the rest of the instrument is up to snuff.
The main things I avoid:
- poor balance. Neck dive is a deal breaker
- frets or fretlines (only use blank FL fingerboards). Generally because I can't make a fretted bass sound good; I just don't have the strength to whack the thing hard enough, or do whatever it is you need to do to get a decent sound out of the things. Fretlines are also a deal breaker - I can intonate better without them and they pop up out of the slots over time making a real mess.
- exotic tone woods. They don't affect the sound (on a solid body anyway) and greatly increase the cost of the bass. Also increases the allure of the bass to thieves. A maple neck and Alder body with clear gloss and I'm set.
- active electronics that can't be disabled. I virtually never use active EQ in a bass; if it has it and can be switched off, it usually never has batteries in it.
I now exclusively play Carvin (a 6 string bunny) and it lacks all of these features as well as the loads of others out there that I didn't mention that I also avoid
LS
- poor balance. Neck dive is a deal breaker
- frets or fretlines (only use blank FL fingerboards). Generally because I can't make a fretted bass sound good; I just don't have the strength to whack the thing hard enough, or do whatever it is you need to do to get a decent sound out of the things. Fretlines are also a deal breaker - I can intonate better without them and they pop up out of the slots over time making a real mess.
- exotic tone woods. They don't affect the sound (on a solid body anyway) and greatly increase the cost of the bass. Also increases the allure of the bass to thieves. A maple neck and Alder body with clear gloss and I'm set.
- active electronics that can't be disabled. I virtually never use active EQ in a bass; if it has it and can be switched off, it usually never has batteries in it.
I now exclusively play Carvin (a 6 string bunny) and it lacks all of these features as well as the loads of others out there that I didn't mention that I also avoid
LS
You're mistaken. The wood has almost as much of an audible affect on the instrument's tone as the pickups and electronics. The right wood choices can, and often do, make or break the tone of the bass.
But it is about his personal choice, so if he doesn't feel that exotic woods make a difference, then they don't ..... for him.
I have a fairly specific set of preferences myself, but if there is one thing that I don't see the point in, for myself ...
Push/Pull --> Active/Passive. It's lost on me. I buy a bass b/c I like the sound I get out of it, not to disengage the electronics installed on it.
But that's just me!
Push/Pull --> Active/Passive. It's lost on me. I buy a bass b/c I like the sound I get out of it, not to disengage the electronics installed on it.
But that's just me!
