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Which is 'more' important
- Thread starter progmanjum
- Start date
...I agree that a bad amp will make a good bass sound like poop, HOWEVER:
Quite often, I don't actually use an amp (or at least MY amps).
In fact, I haven't used my amps for anything aside from bedroom practice in the last year. When my band practices in my basement, I go through the PA down there. When we practice out, I use the rehearsal room's amp. When we play shows, I use a backline when available or DI through the mains when not. When I record, I go direct through my JDI and my board.
So... I'd say that in the order of upgrading, the bass is more important, simply 'cause I'm always playing it, but I'm not always playing my amps.
Depending on your situation and style though, this might not work for you. I'm also able to do this because I'm one of those guys who figure nobody cares about my tone except me. YMMV, obviously.
P.S. - In case you're wondering, I use a Traynor YBA-200A + Yamaha 210, and have a Mesa Walkabout Scout as backup.
Quite often, I don't actually use an amp (or at least MY amps).
In fact, I haven't used my amps for anything aside from bedroom practice in the last year. When my band practices in my basement, I go through the PA down there. When we practice out, I use the rehearsal room's amp. When we play shows, I use a backline when available or DI through the mains when not. When I record, I go direct through my JDI and my board.
So... I'd say that in the order of upgrading, the bass is more important, simply 'cause I'm always playing it, but I'm not always playing my amps.
Depending on your situation and style though, this might not work for you. I'm also able to do this because I'm one of those guys who figure nobody cares about my tone except me. YMMV, obviously.
P.S. - In case you're wondering, I use a Traynor YBA-200A + Yamaha 210, and have a Mesa Walkabout Scout as backup.
For many of us "of a certain age" a good bass was out of the question. You bought what you could. Instructors? Forget about it! There weren't any. We had to learn as we went along. A good amp? Few and far between and what there were were not that good. Effects? the only one there was was distortion. Every amp there was gave you that and you couldn't turn it off - ever.
Now in this far different world the most important thing is learning to read no matter what your instrument is. How are you going to write your opus if you don't know how to put it down?
Todays cheapest piece of crap bass is head and shoulders above what we had to put up with back then. They are at least playable and sound reasonable.
Pretty much the same applies to our amplifiers. If you don't try to get too much out of them they'll suffice for what you need.
Effects are fun - as long as you know how to use them and are aware of the ramifications they can cause to the rest of your signal chain.
It is also important that you have "ears" and know to listen to what the rest of your ensemble is doing and not go off on an ego trip to show just how good your chops are. Playing fast is great - if it fits. Trying to "swing" a tune that already swings like a pendulum is never going to improve that tune, just subtract from it.
Other than that, What Jimmy says!
Paul
Now in this far different world the most important thing is learning to read no matter what your instrument is. How are you going to write your opus if you don't know how to put it down?
Todays cheapest piece of crap bass is head and shoulders above what we had to put up with back then. They are at least playable and sound reasonable.
Pretty much the same applies to our amplifiers. If you don't try to get too much out of them they'll suffice for what you need.
Effects are fun - as long as you know how to use them and are aware of the ramifications they can cause to the rest of your signal chain.
It is also important that you have "ears" and know to listen to what the rest of your ensemble is doing and not go off on an ego trip to show just how good your chops are. Playing fast is great - if it fits. Trying to "swing" a tune that already swings like a pendulum is never going to improve that tune, just subtract from it.
Other than that, What Jimmy says!
Paul
sundogue, no need to insult anyone's intelligence over what they feel is more important. of course you have to have a bass...as you say, duh! but unless you want to be the only one hearing it, you also need a means of amplification, so duh to you right back! and nanny nanny neener neener!
but you can buy a $200 bass that may not be the best bass in the world but it's perfectly usable and will sound great through a good cab. buy a $200 amp and see how far that gets you. what do you get for $200? unusable crap. not even debatable.
Apologies to anyone that felt insulted.
The question was..."Which is more important."
The quality of the choices had nothing to do with it. One needs a bass and sure it needs to be amplified for others to hear it, but one doesn't even need a personal amp. Many studio musicians that go direct to the board don't even use an amp. Kind of makes a personal amplifier not only unimportant, but irrelevant.
But I get it. No one should play through a crappy amp no matter how important having a bass is.
Interesting that more bass players change their rigs more often than they do their bass. Just sayin'.
A good student...
You can have the best bass.. the best amp.. and the best effects.. but what you wind up with will be directly related to what you put in.
If you are a lazy student or one who doesn't have a lot of time to devote to being a student of the instrument .. you will develop slowly.. if you are a zealous student and have the time and will to devote to the instrument you will develop faster..
That's it. That's all there is. Guys like Wooten, Miller, Jaco, and the countless other killer bass players out there that you hear on CDs and YouTube spent hours of days and weeks of years working on their chops.
Without that the best bass and the best equipment means Jack. At times I have had guys take my bass and do jaw dropping things with it.. and even tough my chops have improved greatly since I started playing again (back then truth be told above the 7th fret was like the frontier for me then.. even "back in the day") I have come to fully reralize and understand that you will get out what you put in.
The beauty of today is that with modern technology we have access to resources that when I started in 77 just did not exist without actually going to the person. Think about it... we didn't even have videos back then. Without an instructor of some kind or a creative imagination and/or time on your hands.. you were limited to what was in your head. That's why guys like Jaco & Graham are so revered today... we have them... they had ... themselves..
but uhhh.. given the choices of the OP I'd say a good bass.. My first real bass was a 77 Fender jazz.. and I immediately saw the difference between that and my first bass.. which had a dead spot .. on the entire neck.. That was all brought home to me again relatively recently when I got my Schecter. I was playing a Ibanez SR 505 which was my first 5 string.. it is an OK bass.. but I can do things with he Schecter that I just could not do with the Ibanez..
I think it changes with your definition of 'bad.'
If I have to choose one 'bad' item, and the bad items are my brother in law's 30 year old, 4 pound chipboard no-name shortscale bass or a 15 watt 6" practice amp, I'm playin' chipboard.
If the 'bad' amp is almost anything 100W with a twelve or fifteen, hell, I can make that work, even if I need to roll off everything but bass, turn it down, and tape it to my head. Give me a good bass.
If I have to choose one 'bad' item, and the bad items are my brother in law's 30 year old, 4 pound chipboard no-name shortscale bass or a 15 watt 6" practice amp, I'm playin' chipboard.
If the 'bad' amp is almost anything 100W with a twelve or fifteen, hell, I can make that work, even if I need to roll off everything but bass, turn it down, and tape it to my head. Give me a good bass.
bass players as a whole are fascinated more by new stuff. for the longest time i escaped that lure, then i had a few years of fluctuation. but i rarely flipped gear as soon as i got it. i mostly held onto stuff for a few years. only until i got on here did i start flipping gear. you horrible, horrible people.Apologies to anyone that felt insulted.
The question was..."Which is more important."
The quality of the choices had nothing to do with it. One needs a bass and sure it needs to be amplified for others to hear it, but one doesn't even need a personal amp. Many studio musicians that go direct to the board don't even use an amp. Kind of makes a personal amplifier not only unimportant, but irrelevant.
But I get it. No one should play through a crappy amp no matter how important having a bass is.
Interesting that more bass players change their rigs more often than they do their bass. Just sayin'.
do i really need to add a smiley?
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