What makes a bass great?

[Joe Nerve]

As the years go by and the basses pile up in my closet, I have to humbly admit that I no longer have a clue regarding this.

I think I finally get it when I see someone playing an OLD, no name POS and being completely content with it. While sounding great at the same time.

When I first started playing bass, all basses sounded the same to me, and I'm starting to feel the same way again. Admittedly, that might have a lot to do with the fact that for the past 2 years I've been using IEMs... and well, all basses are pretty much sounding the same . Or that I'm going deaf ? But I can still hear them... in my house... and in the gigs where I'm not using IEMs.

I own far too many basses and I'm reluctant to sell because I feel like I'm going through some sort of temporary insanity here. I therefore thought I'd open the topic up to conversation. And to add a little to what inspired this post...

The last bass I fell head over heels in love with was my Rickenbacker. I can't put a D-tuner on it, so I don't use it with my current band. Since then I've purchased TMB 30, A Caprice, a Jazz, a Mustang, and most recently dropped a big fat chunk of dough on a Huntington 3.

I play all these basses at my gigs, and whenever I'm not playing my Mustang, I wish I was playing my Mustang. And this is going on for a while now.

I paid $400 for that Mustang, new.

I can't lie to myself anymore and felt I needed to make that admission openly.

What's going on here?

Help me please to understand .

 

[Stevorebob]

Bass choose you.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Sometimes what actually ends up working for us and being our dream bass isn’t what we thought it would be.
On paper or screen, the most expensive with all the bells and whistles should be the best bass . In reality that isn’t the truth .

The truth is , no matter what bass you have in our hands, you are always going to sound like you.
Doesn’t matter how much it cost or where it’s made.

I use Joe Dart, Marcus Miller or Sting as an as example . They all have a particular bass that works for them and they stick to them for the most part. These guys don’t play boutique basses. They play off the rack fender basses . Sure they’ve been modded to their personal taste. But the point is they could play all the fancy boutique stuff but they don’t. Joe Dart has become one of the best in the business playing budget model basses.( Carlo Robelli, Mexican Fender Jazz, Squier CV60’s P, Pbass Jr.)

If that Fender Mustang PJ works for you, then enjoy it!! I’d suggest you get yourself a back up of the same model.
Play what you like and like what you play!!
It all comes down to what feels and sounds good to you!!

 

[equill]

Captain Obvious, reporting for duty!
On an individual level, the one that's a perfect match for you and the way you play.
On a larger scale, the model that consistently hits a sweet spot for lots of players.

Of course, I've only owned half a dozen basses in my life, and probably that many guitars, so maybe I just haven't played enough different ones to have more of a clue?

 

[Runnerman]

I think it's great you found a bass you truly love. Embrace it.

 

[mapleglo]

The last bass I fell head over heels in love with was my Rickenbacker. I can't put a D-tuner on it, so I don't use it with my current band.

?

HipShot Drop Tuner on a Ric 4003

 

[Zonked]

YOU make the bass !!

The bass does NOT make you !

If you are creative and have something to say musically, nowadays you don't NEED to spend big bucks for great bass !!

It is a good time to be a bass player.

 

[Leo Thunder]

The need to be in awe before something makes it "great". To an adult who has grown out of that phase, a music instrument cannot be much better than "good". At most it will be "very good".

 

[garp]

Perhaps a tad sacrilege to say here on TB, but IMHO, a bass is great when you don't need any external validation to admire the instrument's inherent qualities. I don't begrudge any player who has amassed a large herd of basses. However, if instruments are "piling up" and going unloved, perhaps some introspection is warranted.

Signed,
A guy who went from 30+ basses down to less than 10, and is still working on it

 

[bassdude51]

The strings.

 

[jd56hawk]

Symbiosis.

 

[Gaolee]

1. This is Talkbass. Any discussion of reduction in the pile of bass guitars is a sign of temporary insanity.
2. There's no telling what works for any of us. If the Mustang gets the sound you want to hear and feels great, it's the one.

These two are not mutually incompatible, although 2 is more important than 1. Certain things choose us. Thunderbirds chose me, so that's the bass guitar I play most. That doesn't mean I got rid of anything else. The music room storage closet isn't quite full, and the bank account isn't empty enough to create the urge to purge. Playing something different every now and then is fun. Your Mustang chose you.

 

[Bassa Nova]

I took up bass later in life, about 10 years ago when I was 36. I bought a MIM Jazz. I have made a few upgrades.

I obsessively read TB and drool over basses. I frequent guitar stores and try out basses. I think they are amazing, but then I come home and play that MiM jazz and think it is the most natural thing in the world. Why would I spend all that money on something else?

My point is that we all get obsessed with material things and the need to have something different, different feel and different sound, but you keep coming back to what is comfortable- that may be a $400 bass or $4000 bass. Find a few basses that make you feel that way and play the crap out of them. As a gigging musician you will need at least a few. “Few” to be defined by you! Enjoy!

 

[Yammybass]

I like seeing that guy or gal that can make that 1 bass sound great in all situations. I’m thinking Bobby Vega with his sharkbass. That is no budget bass. But the veterans can make a budget bass sound great. Quality is important. Are the materials really that different between the massed produced CNC’d items. Alder and basswood , I think ultimately the OP makes the bass he is using. That ibanez can sound every bit as good as his Huntington 3 or the Mustang. When I get good enough that Yamaha I have , is gonna sound some pretty sweet. I just gotta hang out in the woodshed alot more. Lol

 

[db59]

it's the PLAYA, YA'll !!!!

 

[JesterJoker010]

My favorite bass is a budget one that I upgraded the pickups on, and it costed me under 400$ including new quality pickups from new.
Plays and sounds as well as some of the basses I have that costed me over 1000$ from new, even better than some of them.

What you mainly pay for is the quality of the hardware and electronics, fancy features and finally, and perhaps most important, consistency of the overall wood and build quality from instrument to instrument within the same model, meaning that you have to get luckier when you buy a budget bass and make some upgrades to get it to play as well as a high end one.

With high end basses you will have most of great build and wood quality and just a few that plunge down to just good quality, with budget instrument you will have build and wood quality all over the place, with most being of decent build and wood quality, some of right out bad quality and just a few of good or even great build and wood quality.

If you were lucky enough to get a budget bass of great build and wood quality all you need is some upgrades of the electronics and eventual hardware too to turn it into as great an instrument as a high end one.

My under 400$ bass happened to have a real stable neck and perfect fretwork as well, and just having an overall design that fitted me perfectly, also having all the features I needed.

Sure it could have better quality hardware and electronics, but it's not exactly bad either or on the brink of falling apart in anyway, it works as it should in other words, so not really affecting playability or stability of the instrument, making just upgrading the otherwise fairly decent pickups with some really amazing sounding ones enough for me to turn it into a killer instrument.

Preferring passive basses also means that I don't have to worry about the quality of the preamp, which helps on keeping the cost of upgrades needed down as well.

 

[bassmanrocke]

I had friends who used to own a music store, and I would hang out , talk, play, and occasionally help sell a bass or two. I used to have guys come in and ask me which bass they should buy.

I always responded the same way. Which one do you like. They always wanted to know which one was the best, but I would do my best to convince them that anyone of them was good if they liked it. Bass purchases, for the most part, are a purchase of passion not neccessity. If you love the way a bass plays, feels, sounds, and looks, then that's the bass for you.

It also explains why my Vintage Mod Squier Jazz is my go to, and my 61 Stack Knob stays in it's case. Everything about that Squier just seems right to me.

 

[covermego]

My thoughts are:
1. It has to feel right and fit you good ..... where you're not fighting it.
2. Has to sound decent for the music you play and truly "sit properly in the mix".
3. You have to not care what others say regarding your instrument of choice, unless the comments lead to a profound revelation or something.......lol.

These are all obvious things that you are well aware of. I think a lot of folks ponder these issues. You just happen to ponder in written form, for all TB'ers to see ..... and I appreciate you doing so.

I'm curious why the little TMB30 short scale sits in the closet. Is it the neck width/contour? That was my issue; I like the feel of the Jaguar SS Bass better. Maybe your Mustang is similar (1-1/2" nut, pretty slim taper).

 

[4dog]

some gloves fit...some gloves really fit...and you know when they really fir..as does oj

 

[fhm555]

I spent several years going through basses looking for the one that was gonna take me to the next level. I’d try something and buy it, and it would wind up in the stack of basses waiting to be A/B’d against whatever bass was the best i’d run across to date. Then one day i picked up a US Jazz Plus and in five minutes of noodling in the music store I knew it was what i wanted, that my search was over. LSS i was in the process of moving to another state for work so i waited until i’d moved and settled in before i went and got a J Plus. After a day at home with the Plus i startd offing all my other basses and spent the next ten years with just the J Plus.
These days i’m using an MIM J bass with some Dimarzio pickups and an upgraded bridge. The J Plus has been retired and lives in my brother’s home studio so i still play it any time i’m over there. The MIM is perfect for my current needs so no complaints, but when i play my J Plus, even after all these years it still feels like anything is possible.