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Which is a better Bass Sound??

Bass Sound A or Bass Sound B, Which is Better?

  • Bass Sound A

    Votes: 7 8.5%

  • Bass Sound B

    Votes: 75 91.5%
  • Total voters
    82
#22
a would be good for reggae. b would be good for most everything else. fokof is right...almost all that brightness would get eaten away in a mix, and the result would probably be about right. of course, this all depends on the context, but even though i like a nice heavy bottom, it's got to have some tonal body to it imho.
 
#24
On a related note, I saw Delbert McClinton and John Hiatt in Richmond VA last night. Delbert's mix was great. Then, halfway through the setup for Hiatt, it was like the sound guy remembered to switch on the subs. Suddenly all deep bottom in the filler music they were playing. It stayed that way--Hiatt's bass player was great but was playing in mud. Literally nothing but the thump--he switched from a stingray to something Rick-like and they sounded the same. I'm betting it didn't sound that way out of the SVT on stage. Sound man should have been strung up by his ears or some other underutilized organs.
 
#27
I prefer bass B
but thats because i like punchy bass that can cut through
A sounds like a fart to be honest like the amp thats been used is one bought second hand from a schools practice room that is ten years old.
overall i think B is the better bass tone but A would probably sit in the mix better.
It depends what type of music your band is playing :)
A for bluesy and jazz stuff while B for funk and rock stuff
thats IMO of course
 
#28
JimmyM said:
a would be good for reggae. b would be good for most everything else. fokof is right...almost all that brightness would get eaten away in a mix, and the result would probably be about right. of course, this all depends on the context, but even though i like a nice heavy bottom, it's got to have some tonal body to it imho.
Click to expand...

This ^^^ is exactly what I was going to say. So if I were auditioning a reggae bassist I would probably love A (and I do love that all-bottom reggae tone in an appropriate setting). But B would be better (not great) for most other stuff. You'd need to figure out a way to get more punch in the sound of sample B (juice up the low-mid frequencies maybe).
 
#31
JimmyM said:
...even though i like a nice heavy bottom, it's got to have some tonal body to it imho.
Click to expand...

This is it for tone. I play bass, not kick drum. It's got to have a definite NOTE and enough overtones to distinguish the bass from a drum, and from the keys, etc.

I like B better, but there's so many differences that it's really hard to say either one is in any way "better". Now if it had been the same line played with both set ups, it would be a better comparison. And not only hearing the bass soloed, but hearing it in context with the rest of the band is critical. Most lousy sounding bassists sound crappy because they set up to sound great by themselves. The only tone that matters is the tone in context with the whole band.

John
 
#34
CapnSev said:
I especially like that the OP has one post (starting this thread), and hasn't bothered to elaborate on anything.
Click to expand...

From the voting , I say the guy had his question answered.
What a better place than here to know what bass players think of bass track ?
Probably not a bass player.....


Or another scenario;
The OP is a gtr player saying to his bass player buddy for 10 years now that his sound su**s. So he just found a way to prove his point.:)
Even though it doesn't mean much.
(and the list of scenario goes on....)
 
#35
fokof said:
From the voting , I say the guy had his question answered.
What a better place than here to know what bass players think of bass track ?
Probably not a bass player.....


Or another scenario;
A gtr player saying to his bass player buddy for 10 years now that his sound su**s. So he just found a good way to prove him.....:)
(and the list of scenario goes on....)
Click to expand...

Those were my thoughts too, I just wish that the OP would come back and let us know what the deal is.
 
#38
A was extremely muddy and sounded like it had a LPF.
B is decent, but I would definitely use a bit less compression.I don't agree with the guys here saying it lacks bottom, it clearly doesn't after what I can hear. It depends on how loud you would want the bass in the mix though, if it's just supposed to be in the background maybe a little bass boost would come in handy, but otherwise, absolutely not.
 

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