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What makes a bass a "one trick pony"?

#82
I think a P-bass is a one-trick pony - it's just a very widely used trick and a general enough tone that it works in a variety of instances.

I like my basses to be perfect (to my ears) for one thing. There are only a handful of times I've thought that a Stingray with steels and a pick would sound good in my music. The same thing goes for a fretless P-bass with flats.
 
#86
Dbassmon said:
Q. What makes a bass a "one trick pony"?
A. The player

Even with one pickup and no tone or volume controls, a bass can get a huge variety of tone and nuance, all of which are in the touch and creativity of the player.
Click to expand...

amroach said:
I couldn't disagree more, My DB teacher has a 5 string fretless electric bass with one pickup and a volume control and nothing else. Its very much a one trick pony bass and thats exactly why he has that bass, because he wanted that trick.
Click to expand...

:ninja:
 
#87
tbassist4 said:
Hey everyone,
I see this term tossed around all the time, usually in regard to '51/'54 P-basses or any other bass with a single pickup. However, standard P-basses are not called one trick ponies, nor would I ever consider them to be. I know that looks like two pickups, but it's just one fixed humbucker. So what gives?

My main is a J-bass, but I have a P-bass that I just threw a quarter pounder into. I'm used to being able to dial in a range of sounds with my J-bass, but I found I had to put just as much work into dialing different sounds into a P-bass, and I could get nearly just as many sounds out of it. Likewise, I've been able to come up with a range of sounds from a '51/'54 P-bass.

My opinion is that if you know how to use your amp's handy EQ settings and the tone knob (Damn! I knew they put those there for a reason! ;)), then I don't think any bass can be considered a one trick pony. Any thoughts? Feel free to disagree!
Click to expand...

What makes a bass a "one trick pony"?
The bassist, using it being one.
No more no less, as far as I'm concerned.
 
#89
Just to expand on this a bit... By A lot of the logic here...
All acoustic guitars are one trick ponies.
All Uprights are one trick ponies
All drums sets (acoustic) are one trick ponies
Saxes and other wind instruments...

But I think the bigger question is, why is this a bad thing??

If you are in a place playing a set of music, would you really want to have the drums sound different on every song?

In a recording session. Do you really want to have the tone of all the instruments be different on every song??
 
#90
mp40smg said:
Just to expand on this a bit... By A lot of the logic here...
All acoustic guitars are one trick ponies.
All Uprights are one trick ponies
All drums sets (acoustic) are one trick ponies
Saxes and other wind instruments...

But I think the bigger question is, why is this a bad thing??

If you are in a place playing a set of music, would you really want to have the drums sound different on every song?

In a recording session. Do you really want to have the tone of all the instruments be different on every song??
Click to expand...

Yep, those pretty much are all one trick ponies, and no that's not a bad thing at all! I have some gear that is not very versatile at all but what it does, it does well, and that makes it worth having.
 
#92
JTE said:
A bass is a "one trick pony" only in the hands (or far more often, the EYES) of the person making the assertion...
Click to expand...

To add one more example (not bass though) Jim Root uses a Telecaster in the band Slipknot. You'd never expect to see a tele in a metal band like that, but there he is, making it sound metal as hell. I've seen all kinds of basses at metal gigs, some I was surprised at!
 

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