What makes a bass great?

[JoeWPgh]

Comfortable neck
Low action
Tactile responsiveness
Pickups
Weight
Balance
Fit and finish
Quality hardware

 

[nilorius]

If you start looking the bass from the price or budged you will never find the one. Start to hear it in more different ways, record, live, try out if possible and when you have a decision made - arrange the money. Want it - pay for it, don't - pay for Squier.

 

[dmt]

For me:

- Looks (I probably wouldn’t even pick it up if I didn’t like the looks)
- Heritage (I’m still working on getting the instruments I wanted when I was growing up but couldn’t afford)
- Neck feel (carve, finish), plus the fretboard side (frets, fretboard material, radius)
- Tone (pickups, electronics, wood)
- Weight and other Ergonomics (balance, plus lots of other playability factors)

Reliability (it’s pretty hard to enjoy a lemon) and Setup (not really part of the bass, but critically important to enjoying it).

Specs. - Part of the "heritage" thing I mentioned above is because I wanted to have the "real deal" instruments and establish a baseline as to what I like (when starting out, one has little idea what one’s preferences are aside from looks). Nowadays, I’d be much more open to a custom instrument made to my personal specs as I finally know what the heck I like specs-wise.

Price and Value. - An expensive instrument has to really "wow me" for me to feel good about it, and even then, there’s a "precious" factor (Gollum) where I worry about it getting damaged or stolen, etc. and/or might feel some uncomfortableness about the wisdom of that use of limited funds. An instrument for a price I’m more comfortable with, on the other hand, has a lower bar and is just less weight on my mind. Over time though, I do get more comfortable with my more expensive instruments. I guess I have some sort of internal value-per-year calculator running in my brain. After i’ve owned it 15 years or whatever, I don’t really care so much about the initial purchase price anymore when judging an instrument.

But there’s definitely something freeing for me in an instrument that wasn’t so inexpensive that I consider it "just some cheap piece of crap", yet wasn’t so expensive to buy that it weighs on my mind like "My Precious!"

 

[cnltb]

What makes a bass great?
I have no idea.
It also is not a question that keeps me awake at night.

 

[Tom Bomb]

Love and understanding. That's what makes a great bass. That's what makes a bass great.

 

[pcake]

what makes a bass great overall or what makes a bass great to an individual (say, for example, me)? there can be a huge difference between the two.

 

[*Tempest*]

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 .

I mostly am in the studio. So for me a great bass has even sounding notes up the fretboard and perfect intonation. But IMHO bass players are pretty lucky. We don't have to spend a ton of money to find a great bass. We just have to go searching for a 'good one'.

I played a Squire Jazz bass for the better part of a decade because when I brought it to a music store and compared it to other fender basses. They didn't sound as good or the difference was negligible. I've heard $5000 basses that sound and feel like toys.

I'm sure everyone has their own point of view.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

Even though i am fortunate enough to have some higher-quality electric guitars, the one I always crave to play is this a little mim Duo-sonic purchased used for $350.

 

[JaseyT]

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 .

What prevents you from installing a D-tuner on the Ric?

 

[Double E]

What makes a bass great? The player.

A player can make a bass sound great, a famous player can make a bass historically significant. A great bass is great regardless of who plays it.

 

[Double E]

What prevents you from installing a D-tuner on the Ric?

The proximity of the G string tuner on their 2x2 design does not allow clearance for the mechanism to rotate. However, this was addressed by Hipshot with a specific design. Ric users tend to not use these often it seems because the Ric specific Xtender Keys are apparently available by special order only.

 

[Joedog]

I call it PFM (pure freaking magic). When you bond with a bass, "why" is hard to put into words sometimes. It's sort of like a significant other. You start with a vision of your perfect mate, then wham, someone that is very different knocks your socks off. The older I get, the less I seem to know, and I'm OK w/that!

 

[MyMusic]

For me it is how it sounds, how it feels (how it hangs on the strap) and how it plays(neck comfort and ease of playability.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Is this a trick question?

Yes.

What prevents you from installing a D-tuner on the Ric?

I was really trying to just get a straight answer on how I could put a D-tuner on my Ricenbacker..

In response to @JaseyT , it is my understanding that it can't be done without at least creating new holes in the headstock. I have an irrational fear of doing that. I know someone also alluded to there being a direct replacement in this thread, but I'm not too sure about that.

Can anyone give me clear guidance on putting a D-tuner on a Ric? If I get that, I'll do it. I may even face my irrational fear.

Also, @JimmyM ... for real, I just wanted to open up the discussion. Bottom line IMO, and I think the point of this is that for me I've come to the conclusion that there really aren't any great basses, by definition. There might be a very small handful that suck, but IMO 95% of the basses out there are great basses.

 

[mapleglo]

Can anyone give me clear guidance on putting a D-tuner on a Ric? If I get that, I'll do it. I may even face my irrational fear.

What year and model is your Ric?
.

 

[Joe Nerve]

What year and model is your Ric?
.

2016 4003.

 

[JimmyM]

Also, @JimmyM ... for real, I just wanted to open up the discussion. Bottom line IMO, and I think the point of this is that for me I've come to the conclusion that there really aren't any great basses, by definition. There might be a very small handful that suck, but IMO 95% of the basses out there are great basses.

I can buy into that philosophy. Plus, what sucks to you may not suck to me and vice versa.

 

[twinjet]

2016 4003.

So, which is it? Year 2016 or 4003?

 

[mapleglo]

2016 4003.

You'll have to send an email to Hipshot. According to a few other posts on TB, they'll make up a drop D tuner that will fit. Apparently, they no longer offer the BT-5, which was the Ric unit. I actually have one that I'm not using, which fits my 2013 4003, but I'm not sure it will fit a 2016 model. I'll ask in the Ric Club thread to see if anyone knows.

 

[Benko]

I came to a point that any bass in the tiny collection (6) that I own could be my ONE.

Once the basic selection of sound good, feel good (neck, confort on strap) and look good (for MY taste) is done, I can pick up any of the bass and I will sound like...me (ie, not great enough )

My bass collection is almost like my wrist watches one, all good stuff that I choose depending of the mood of the day or the suits I'm going to wear.