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What pro's use on the road vs in studio

5string5fingers

5string5fingers

Mar 18, 2008
5,133
331
Tifton,Georgia
#1
So the current band I have been in for the past 7-8 months is starting to get serious, booking gigs, talking about studio time,etc I'm looking to get a professional quality tool after the first of the year. I have few basses in mind but I decided to go back and look at what my favorite professional players use, and what the bassists of the bands we cover, and style of music we play. Two brands consistently show up, warwick and spector.

I have read a lot of guys have a set of studio instruments and then they have their working instruments and they're not always the same thing. Anybody know what the chances are of what you hear in the record is the same bass you see them playing on stage with?
 
#3
bass12 said:
What your favourite players use on stage is not necessarily any indication of what they use in the studio. A lot of it simply depends on what the producer wants.
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Bingo. Of course, some guys you can look up. You can find out what they recorded with.

Honestly, once you pick a producer, I would ask him if he gets all emotional about it one way or the other. If you guys are recording it yourselves, just have a well-set-up instrument and let it eat.
 
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#5
AltGrendel said:
What they said. There are tons of threads where someone has what they think is a Class A bass and when they get to the studio, the producer just hands them a P with flats because that's what they're use to working with and hearing.
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Doubtful with a hardrock/heavy metal band, but possible.

I'm having a hard time putting my question into words. A lot of times people on here say to look at what your favorite players use when looking for a Bass to fit their genre of music. I guess what I'm getting at is whether that works if most professionals are using a different Bass to record with than what you see them using on stage and especially in a music video. I know you can find some bands what they use but in lesser known bands (Default comes to mind for me) it can be harder to find what they use to record with.
 
#7
Its a complicated question, because image and endorsements rule the live choices a lot of times, while pressure to get ti right the first time may take over in the studio, so the actual player may have little actual choice. That being said, Spector is a well regarded brand, and one of my favorite bassists (E Jackson ,Queensryche) used them for years live and studio. Warwick is also well know, and in the higher end are very identifiable basses in a mix. the P bass with flats thing is for more commercial music, if its metal, and you are paying, use what you want.

But keep a passive Jazz with fresh SS rounds handy, just in case :)
 
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#8
5string5fingers said:
Doubtful with a hardrock/heavy metal band, but possible.

I'm having a hard time putting my question into words. A lot of times people on here say to look at what your favorite players use when looking for a Bass to fit their genre of music. I guess what I'm getting at is whether that works if most professionals are using a different Bass to record with than what you see them using on stage and especially in a music video. I know you can find some bands what they use but in lesser known bands (Default comes to mind for me) it can be harder to find what they use to record with.
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I would say try to figure out what they played in the studio. That's probably even more important than knowing what they play live. You might end up wanting to use the same bass for your studio work in order to get the same sound or complement a similar mix.
 
#9
And that was another thing I thought of was endorsements.

I guess really for that genre its hard to go wrong with either one. Was just something I was thinking about since for example with Jason Newsted he has played sadowskys pretty much exclusively since the early-mid 90s but I know I've seen him in the studio with Spector's and alembics,
 
#10
The secret truth nobody wants you to know is: it doesn't really matter. You could play the gig with a $200 SX or Squier, and if you are a great player, the music will always sound great no matter what you are playing.

So really it becomes a choice about image and visual stage presence. When you imagine a photograph of yourself in Bass Player magazine, what bass are you holding?
 
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#11
Yeah the bass I toured with was more about looks and playability.That being said, I did not just say "screw it, ill use a squier", even though that is a valid option if you have a good tech who can do some work on it to make it road durable. I used basses that I had logged a lot of time on and knew inside and out.

The studio basses stayed home. I do not believe in risking the livelihood of a magic recording bass out on the road, but many players do that. It just matters the rarity of the bass really.
 
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#12
Mushroo said:
The secret truth nobody wants you to know is: it doesn't really matter. You could play the gig with a $200 SX or Squier, and if you are a great player, the music will always sound great no matter what you are playing.

So really it becomes a choice about image and visual stage presence. When you imagine a photograph of yourself in Bass Player magazine, what bass are you holding?
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I agree with this to an extent. This is assuming the cheap Bass you're using achieves the sound you need. A hofner hollow body probably wouldn't cut it in a mastadon cover band..

That being said I could easily take my squiers, put better hardware($200)better electronics($200), pay to have a a good set up, good fretwork done($100) to achieve a road/studio worthy Bass that gets the sound I'm looking for, but at that point I have not gained much over buying a higher quality bass.
 
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#13
Mushroo said:
The secret truth nobody wants you to know is: it doesn't really matter. You could play the gig with a $200 SX or Squier, and if you are a great player, the music will always sound great no matter what you are playing.

So really it becomes a choice about image and visual stage presence. When you imagine a photograph of yourself in Bass Player magazine, what bass are you holding?
Click to expand...

Speaking as a journeyman player, as opposed to a great player, my choice of instrument absolutely does matter. It's why I went from Precisions to P/Js and finally (I hope!) to a Lakland P/J and a Lakland Jazz. That easy neck, it makes a difference. To me, anyway.
 
#15
Bunk McNulty said:
Speaking as a journeyman player, as opposed to a great player, my choice of instrument absolutely does matter. It's why I went from Precisions to P/Js and finally (I hope!) to a Lakland P/J and a Lakland Jazz. That easy neck, it makes a difference. To me, anyway.
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Right, I guess another way to rephrase my point above is, the audience doesn't care whether your neck has a thin or chunky profile, so play whichever is most comfortable to you. :)
 
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#16
5string5fingers said:
That being said I could easily take my squiers, put better hardware($200)better electronics($200), pay to have a a good set up, good fretwork done($100) to achieve a road/studio worthy Bass that gets the sound I'm looking for, but at that point I have not gained much over buying a higher quality bass.
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I agree with you, and I probably wouldn't invest $500 of mods into a $200 bass either. But that is not what I'm talking about. I've played 100% stock-factory-parts (well... I did change the strings) SX and Squier onstage and in the studio, with excellent results. These basses are CNC'd based on Fender design, so anything a Fender P bass can do, a Squier or SX P bass can also do.

I also agree with you 100% that a good setup is critical. If you're going to invest a little bit of money into an instrument, that's definitely the place to do it.
 
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#17
Mushroo said:
Right, I guess another way to rephrase my point above is, the audience doesn't care whether your neck has a thin or chunky profile, so play whichever is most comfortable to you. :)
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Yea I understand the audience doesn't care but I'm talking more about tone,having the right tool for the job, etc. I like playing my squiers, and they will always be a great value but they are both too heavy for what they are, and for me just don't quite achieve what I'm wanting. Sure they obviously do the job, but I'm looking for more.

The thread was more to just think about the differences between stage and studio basses. Like I said before I know a lot of people on here are told " go look and see what they play" when the proverbial "what's the best Bass for metal" question pops up. But no one has seemed to bring up the differences of on stage and what you hear in your favorite song.
 
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#19
5string5fingers said:
Yea I understand the audience doesn't care but I'm talking more about tone,having the right tool for the job, etc. I like playing my squiers, and they will always be a great value but they are both too heavy for what they are, and for me just don't quite achieve what I'm wanting. Sure they obviously do the job, but I'm looking for more.

The thread was more to just think about the differences between stage and studio basses. Like I said before I know a lot of people on here are told " go look and see what they play" when the proverbial "what's the best Bass for metal" question pops up. But no one has seemed to bring up the differences of on stage and what you hear in your favorite song.
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I remember reading (or hearing) Abe Laboriel talk about how many basses he has (a lot) and saying that he couldn't get rid of any of them because each producer he worked with had a favourite. In most cases it's not a matter of one bass being generally better "in the studio" than another, it's a matter of a producer's or engineer's comfort zone and of what might work best for a given track. And don't forget, it's not just about the bass when it comes to the studio - it's also about the converters, preamps, compressors and anything else the bass signal is sent through. All that stuff matters as well and can make a big difference in determining what you hear bass-wise when listening to a record. This is part of the reason I find it strange when people obsess over what bass a player used on a given track without considering all of the other equipment in the equation.
 
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#20
bass12 said:
I remember reading (or hearing) Abe Laboriel talk about how many basses he has (a lot) and saying that he couldn't get rid of any of them because each producer he worked with had a favourite. In most cases it's not a matter of one bass being generally better "in the studio" than another, it's a matter of a producer's or engineer's comfort zone and of what might work best for a given track. And don't forget, it's not just about the bass when it comes to the studio - it's also about the converters, preamps, compressors and anything else the bass signal is sent through. All that stuff matters as well and can make a big difference in determining what you hear bass-wise when listening to a record. This is part of the reason I find it strange when people obsess over what bass a player used on a given track without considering all of the other equipment in the equation.
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Interesting. So what happens when said new band goes to the studio and the Bass player doesn't have 50 instruments for the producer to choose from? Is there a fail safe?
 

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