It's not about being smarter than them, it's about preference, to each his own and all that jazz.
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What's great about the 'Badass' bridge?
- Thread starter aasti3000
- Start date
I have experimented a lot with bridges and lets say that a badass bridge is better in some ways and not better in some other ways.
1. Better: sustain, more lows, brighter, snappier sound.
2. Not better: On a Fender you lose some of the vintage, woody organic warmth. The sound can get too bright. Lose some of the low mid attack.
If you use roundwound strings and like a percussive/slappy funky sound a la Marcus, you want a badass.
If you play rock with a pick, want an old school Fender sound, play Reggae, R'n'B, Blues, use flatwound strings, you don't want a badass and should keep the cheap bent metal bridge.
1. Better: sustain, more lows, brighter, snappier sound.
2. Not better: On a Fender you lose some of the vintage, woody organic warmth. The sound can get too bright. Lose some of the low mid attack.
If you use roundwound strings and like a percussive/slappy funky sound a la Marcus, you want a badass.
If you play rock with a pick, want an old school Fender sound, play Reggae, R'n'B, Blues, use flatwound strings, you don't want a badass and should keep the cheap bent metal bridge.
It's called a company milking a proven design that sells well, in a marketplace which places a premium on "vintage sound." It was a fantastic design for the 1950s, but hardly perfect. Leo designed a versatile instrument back then, but he didn't foresee all types of playing styles like slap.
And Leo Fender himself redesigned that bridge at least twice, once at Music Man (small changes), and again at G&L (larger changes). He obviously continued to see improvement potential.
One thing I do notice is that the body of the bass resonates more with the stock Fender bridge than the BAII. I figured the opposite would be true....
As far as I can see, the one thing about that badass bridge is their marketing.
Maybe they gave loads of them away to name players in the beginning, which may have lead to them being seen 'where it matters'.
I personally don't like them all too much. Too heavy for me.
Maybe they gave loads of them away to name players in the beginning, which may have lead to them being seen 'where it matters'.
I personally don't like them all too much. Too heavy for me.
I traded for a 78' P bass a few years ago. It sounded good but had a brass nut and ugly BA bridge on it. The owner had the original bridge and I added a bone nut. Let's just say after I put it back to original with the new nut and old bridge this bass came alive with old school funk,sustain and bottom...the deal was then done. I sold off that BA for a few bucks
These would be my points as well. That being said, you might not want more sustain or increased adjustment flexibility. Different strokes.
Bingo.
Vintage bridges, especially in the 70s when they moved the bridge back a bit (era of the extended G string saddle screw,) were prone to side to side shifting of saddles.
The best bridge design to me, is the refined Fender bridge with the saddle tracks in the baseplate.
I have a bass with the newest post 2008 Fender bridge (I forget they call it.."hi-mass" maybe?) but I haven't played it extensively. It looks like a solid design.
I traded for a 78' P bass a few years ago. It sounded good but had a brass nut and ugly BA bridge on it. The owner had the original bridge and I added a bone nut. Let's just say after I put it back to original with the new nut and old bridge this bass came alive with old school funk,sustain and bottom...the deal was then done. I sold off that BA for a few bucks
Yup!
Sounds familiar( although I personally have not experienced this exact procedure on one of my own basses)
.
Some like them, some don't see or hear the point. I've never found anything I don't like about the Fender style bridge, and I encourage others not to spend money on another bridge unless there's a problem they're trying to solve.
It's an open question to me whether the BA really changes the sound in any audible or desirable way. Human beings have a well developed ability to perceive what they are pre-disposed to perceive when it comes to things like the sound resulting changing bridges. Some say it makes a difference they can hear, others don't.
I did get one Gibson bass with a BA bridge on it - which I immediately removed and sold on Ebay, then re-installed the original bridge. The bass sounds just like it was meant to sound.
Interesting, albeit well worn, thread. Let me pose a more general question: Does the design of the bridge have any affect on the sound of the instrument? And here's a more specific question: Is there any difference in sound between a Fender MIM bridge and a Fender MIA bridge? Same design, different places of manufacture.
Get a beater Fernandes and try.
On guitar it's pretty easy to hear different bridges and things like light tailpieces on Les Pauls. Mass matters, somebody has to move it. Personally I avoid heavy hardware like the plague, except for tremolo sustain blocks.
Adding more ignorant people to my killfile.
On guitar it's pretty easy to hear different bridges and things like light tailpieces on Les Pauls. Mass matters, somebody has to move it. Personally I avoid heavy hardware like the plague, except for tremolo sustain blocks.
Adding more ignorant people to my killfile.
IME the BAII works best on a Jazz bass. As far as I'm concerned I don't think you can get the crispness out of a stock Fender bridge like you can with a BA, especially if you play like Marcus Miller - YMMV. As for replacement bridges I'd try a Babicz if you're really inclined to experiment. Here again, I've only had one on a Jazz bass.
Regarding the tone and focus of the B-string anything short of 35" is just deary IMO. That said, I did put a 2TEK on a Jazz V that I had and it was really astonishing how effective it was. A lot of people aren't willing to go that far in their pursuit of tone but its been over 15 years and I still wish that I'd kept that bass.
Regarding the tone and focus of the B-string anything short of 35" is just deary IMO. That said, I did put a 2TEK on a Jazz V that I had and it was really astonishing how effective it was. A lot of people aren't willing to go that far in their pursuit of tone but its been over 15 years and I still wish that I'd kept that bass.
According to physics... There should be a sound difference. The more mass; the more energy required to move it. Because of this, a heavy piece of hardware will lead to less "bottom" and it will seem like there's an extension of the "top."
Nice theory.
Unfortunately the bridge is not moving, only the strings are.
At least on my bass.
It's just a part sold to people that think they need it.
It is a bit more adjustable though.
Never needed that feature myself.
