What is important for you in a bass?

[LowNloud1]

Reading posts about basses that are posted. People have diverse reactions to the characteristics of a bass. I was curious so I'm asking you what is important to you? Top 3.

 

[hypercarrots]

Straight neck
Reliable electronics
Not over 11 pounds

 

[Andy Marshman]

Always #1 is tone. If I don't get 'my' sound, game over.
At my advancing age, weight is a serious factor and size plays into the weight as well. Short scale basses fit that need for me and they're fun to play (and I get 'my' tone)

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Light weight
Neck feel
Tone/ sound
Great looks
Cost

 

[40Hz]

I'm probably the wrong person to ask since I'm driven almost entirely by tone.

My criteria in order of importance are:

1. tone
2. feel
3. build quality

Anything else falls under the heading of "not essential but still (maybe) nice to have."

 

[Kaa]

The tone I go for is "bass", so that's pretty easy to achieve. Weight, the feel of the neck, and the cost are the big 3 for me.

 

[dalkowski]

Comfort, light weight, and thump.

 

[Jebberz]

The feel (I can always upgrade the electronics if the sound is not to my tastes)
The weight (for long gigs)
The Look (as I mostly only play live, I prefer a decent looking bass)

 

[marchone]

Limited to three choices I selected Feel, Tone, and Weight.

Feel to me begins with a 1 1/2" nut. I played P-basses for decades but prefer a Jazz neck.

Tone is subjective but Old School vs Modern sums it up.

Weight is something I never grappled with but my three current basses are all within an ounce or two of 9 1/2lbs. Any other basses I would consider will be lighter.

 

[JRA]

feel
1. has to have a great feeling, "killer" neck.
2. has to feel good to 'wear it' (lightweight and balanced).
3. has to make me feel good to look at it and/or to think about playing it.

 

[Relayer71]

Weight: Which to me also falls under "Feel". I cannot do 10 lb. basses; 9 lbs. and under, please.
Size: Which to me also falls under "Look" - I prefer smaller bodies and sleeker looks with no hard edges.
Feel: Has to be comfortable to hold and play; have a neck that isn't too thin nor too fat.

Those are the top 3 for me. Obviously, Tone is super important as well, but I don't care if it sounds amazing if it doesn't tick off those other boxes. Whereas, if it does feel fantastic to play, looks good, and is lightweight, pickups and electronics can always be swapped.

 

[Bass V]

tone
feel
looks
honorable mention; cost

 

[longfinger]

My #1 is Reliability.

I'm surprised it's not even on your list.

All the other attributes are useless to me, if the output jack or other component fails me on the gig.

A humble regular bass that is fully reliable is more desirable to me than a fancy boutique bass prone to failure.

 

[rtslinger]

Feel, Tone follow by look

 

[Benj-jammin]

1) Perfect intonation from top to bottom
2) Neck feel
3) Body ergonomics/comfort

 

[groovaholic]

1) Feel - this is the hardest thing to change, so it's gotta be right from the start
2) Tone - the bass has to have good resonance and liveliness. I'm happy to change pickups and electronics to work with a good one, but no amount of EQ will turn a dead bass into a killer
3) No neck dive. Some of this can be remedied with swapping out the tuners for UltraLites or Res-O-Lites, but if there are steel bars in the neck and a very lightweight body, it's never going to balance correctly.

 

[Stranger Danger]

I find that I am not as concerned about the weight as much as the balance. If its 8 pounds but neck divey its a non starter for me. But if its 9.5 and well balanced, I am a pretty happy boy

 

[buldog5151bass]

To me, a bass is a tool. A pretty one (hopefully), but a tool.

Number 1 is playability (feel). If it isn't comfortable to play, who cares about anything else?

Number 2 is tone. I only have quality instruments, so that's never been an issue. Get me a clean useable tone, and I'll find a way to make it work.

Number 3 is probably weight. I've owned my favorite bass 36 years and I love it, but at 11+ pounds, it sucks at the end of a long gig. When I was younger and had a better back, it wasn't an issue.

 

[Ricky Rioli]

Glad to have "single pickup" as an option to click, because it's true for me - I've completely gone off the sound of two pickups together, and have been looking solely at single pickup basses.

Choosing weight felt very boring, but unfortunately is also very true for me

 

[luciens]

None of the above.

Mine are generally:
1) Doesn't break my arms when I play it (for more than 10 minutes).
2) Nothing breaks or falls off of it.
3) I can hear the notes.

Honorable mention:
4) Stays in tune.

If I were gigging:
5) No neck dive.
6) Fretted (probably).

1) is by far the most important determinate, and it actually narrows my bass choices very considerably. 2) tends to make them more expensive.

Pretty much, after those are settled, I almost don't really care too much about the rest of it. If I have to flip a coin between two identical ones and I like the appearance of one over the other, I don't flip the coin. I go ahead and get the pretty one.

3) is more or less not an issue nowadays. They all sound good; some better than others, but all of em have good useable tone these days.

L