Has your taste changed over time?

[Mylkinut]

I was thinking about this earlier today whilst looking at my collection. Allow me to tell you a story.

When I first started bass playing, almost as soon as I could actually differentiate the sound of different basses without hearing them back-to-back, all I wanted was that impossibly fat classic Stingray sound. It was on all of my favourite songs, I figured it would best suit the sound of my first band and it just seemed like the bee's nuts. Within a few years I'd bought a Stingray and really didn't think my sound could get any better. It was super ballsy and aggressive - what more could you want?

A few years down the line I had the opportunity to pick up a '77 Precision for a mindbendingly small amount of money. I'd never really considered a Precision before, and if I'm honest I really bought it more as an investment. However, during that time the sound I wanted to achieve mellowed considerably, apparently for no reason. I was still listening to the same music, and I was still in the same band playing the same material. As such, the Precision saw more and more use until it became my main bass. 'My' sound moved from about as aggressive as you can get to something very smooth and mellow without anything forcing it to change.

Then it happened again. I started to want more edge to my sound, and so the presence knob on my amp crept up and up in an effort to stand out a bit more. I was still using the Precision, but I couldn't find that Ricky 'clang' I was after. I got lucky again and managed to get a great deal on an old Rick - I've now got that real metal-and-wood clanking sound and I love it. I'm currently very happy with how I sound, I switch between the P and the Rick almost daily and genuinely appreciate them both. I don't even pick up the Ray anymore, not because it's not a great bass, but because it doesn't let me sound how I want to sound.

It's odd to think that 'my' sound changed so much when [i]what[/i] I play hasn't. It's been a fundamental shift in what noises I want to make, no matter what song I'm playing - if someone had asked me to play a Jamerson line then and now I would have played it exactly the same way both times, but they'd sound completely different.

Have any of you gents experienced big changes in what you think sounds good? Or do you still want the same sound as you did when you first picked up a bass? Or do you do the sensible thing and switch basses depending on what you're playing?

Edited July 12, 2011 by Mylkinut

[Blademan_98]

Put simply, yes!

I started on a fretted bass.

I was in PMT one day looking for an amp.

I tried a cheap fretless for a laugh.

It's all I play now

[icastle]

[quote name='Mylkinut' post='1301743' date='Jul 12 2011, 11:29 PM']Have any of you gents experienced big changes in what you think sounds good? Or do you still want the same sound as you did when you first picked up a bass? Or do you do the sensible thing and switch basses depending on what you're playing?[/quote]

Despite common opinion, I'm inherantly sensible...

I switch instruments to get the best out of what I'm playing at the time.

[Blademan_98]

[quote name='icastle' post='1301750' date='Jul 12 2011, 11:36 PM']Despite common opinion, I'm inherantly sensible... [/quote]

really?

[Dom in Dorset]

I went from years of playing whatever I could afford and not really enjoying the sound i was getting to "hang on let's go and try some basses"
Last year I discovered the Precision pickup. I was building my own bass and wanted best bangs per buck , my original intention was to get two soap bar pickups T bird style. after trying a few cheap basses in a music shop came away thinking that the tone I alkways craved was in the P bass pickup. Not looked back since and enjoying my playing more and more.

[icastle]

[quote name='Blademan_98' post='1301754' date='Jul 12 2011, 11:38 PM'] really?

[/quote]

I might have meant incoherantly...

[ToneDeluxe]

if you ever get the chance... play a Sukop... can do anything...

[Bassman Sam]

I have found that the tone I want has changed form a Rick sound to a P bass over the years and I am thinking of going to flats for the first time ever. I going from the clanky sound to old school thump, might be old age tho'.

[ToneDeluxe]

would i be wrong in saying a Ric sound is a very bright Gibson type of tone..unlike the warm punch of a P bass..?

[Kiwi]

Not really. I'm still using the sound of my old Jaydee as the reference for other basses, only its a bit warmer and fuller these days.

[dan2112]

For me it has, finally realized that passive four strings Fenders are for me after going through numerous basses...I've narrowed i down to my 3 now, the 5 string active status, the jazz and precision. Tonal perfection and one satisfied bass player (at last). I found it really fun buying and selling different basses....I guess it's the only way to find the right bass.

Dan

[xgsjx]

[quote name='ToneDeluxe' post='1301803' date='Jul 13 2011, 12:59 AM']if you ever get the chance... play a Sukop... can do anything...[/quote]
I had a wee look at their website. No wonder you said "If you EVER get the chance", the only way I'd get to try one is to either track down an owner such as yourself or buy one! None of the dealers on their website have any.

On that note, Bass Northwest. For them to say they're the largest "Bass only" store in the world, they certainly have the crapest website in the world!

[quote name='dan2112' post='1301831' date='Jul 13 2011, 02:36 AM']For me it has, finally realized that passive four strings Fenders are for me after going through numerous basses...I've narrowed i down to my 5 string active status.[/quote]

[Vibrating G String]

My tastes change daily. I have Ray tones and P & J sounds and others and I just grab what I'm in the mood for that day. I could never be satisfied sounding the same everytime I played.

[Ross]

"Spiky death metal basses from hellll bllllleurgh vomit blood and muddy crap downtuned sound!!!!"

To not being able to stand any of that nonsense, a nice clean cut bass, a fender or a ric. I prefer flats for most things now, occasionally using rounds.
I'm more open to effects too.

[neepheid]

I don't know if changed is the right word - more like came home. My first bass was an Epiphone EB-3, and I flirted with lots of other kinds (P, J, so many others) but I had an Epiphone EB-0 for a while then I got an Epiphone Les Paul Standard bass and realised that I would always like the Gibson side of life. Collection began with a G-3, since augmented with a Victory Artist and an IV. Broadened my scope to be "under-appreciated American basses of the 70's and 80's" with a Guild B402-A. Remaining things on the hit list would be a Gibson RD Artist and possibly a G&L El Toro.

I do have a couple of "sensible" basses - like the G&L Tribute L-2000. Sometimes (like when playing a venue for the first time) I want something I know just works - one less thing to worry about!

As for choosing what to play, I try to be fair and equitable between all my basses, they go on rotation. It doesn't matter a damn to me which bass I use in the practice room as long as I can be heard, and to be honest I feel kinda the same when playing live. The only time I would actually have a proper think about it would be when it comes to recording, but I haven't done a lot of that - still learning

[dan2112]

[quote name='dan2112' post='1301831' date='Jul 13 2011, 02:36 AM']For me it has, finally realized that passive four strings Fenders are for me after going through numerous basses...I've narrowed i down to my 3 now, the 5 string active status.[/quote]
[quote name='xgsjx' post='1301926' date='Jul 13 2011, 09:01 AM'][/quote]

Just realized how daft my statement sounds Kinda meant it as far as four strings....I prefer passive Fender types!! 5 string....anything's game

Dan

[Evil Undead]

My taste has changed. I used to dislike precisions, now I play one as my main bass.

[Bilbo]

I got my Wal in 1986 and its still my only bass so, in a word, no. My taste in music has changed several times but the bass changes with me. Odd that

[Lozz196]

[quote name='dan2112' post='1301831' date='Jul 13 2011, 02:36 AM']For me it has, finally realized that passive four strings Fenders are for me after going through numerous basses...
I found it really fun buying and selling different basses....I guess it's the only way to find the right bass.
Dan[/quote]
Same for me, the humble Fender Precision gets my vote.

[Johngh]

I've always gone back to active basses. I have tried the fender Jazz route many times and I just don't like precisions.

Once sold a nice collection of Actives to go 100% passive as I thought it would be better, but now all the passives have gone and I'm back to actives. And that's where I'll stay.

Just like the tonal variation an active gives me. Mainly have Status basses now, can't really beat them IMHO.

[BottomE]

Yes, but I still don't have a fav - in truth i love most basses.

[dc2009]

I've always hated rics, never liked the tone or looks. Thought they looked ugly as sin, and that they sounded like someone hitting a rusty drainpipe with a lead bar. I'm now finding myself increasingly drawn towards the shape and sound too after loving some bass I didn't realise was played on rics, in an alarming, coming on of a GAS overload kind of way....can someone please help me snap out of it?

[Muzz]

Started off with a couple of Precision copies, then first 'proper' bass chasing Geddy's sound, so 4001 (and a Precision), then on through the 80s with lots of actives, Yamahas, Aria, BC Rich, Washburn 8-strings, then settled down a bit in the 90s, then more recently round the luthier stuff, Overwater, Goodfellow, and then a Ray, then a Jazz, then back right where I started with a P. Then an P/J, and that's it. No actives, no soapbars, I'm good where I am. That said, I'm using a few different P/Js, a Fortress with Wizard P/Js, and then there's the long grass stuff like the fretless and the acoustic, which I don't sweat as much, but the core sound is passive and traditional P/J.

So yeah, my taste has changed, but not. Err...

But it's taken thirty years and Gawd knows how much money to find that out...

[matski]

Well, judging by the fact that the 2 basses I currently have out on stands (as opposed to in cases and stashed away) are the P bass I bought in 1984 and the StingRay I bought in 1986, I'v have to say "no".

[Muzz]

[quote name='dc2009' post='1302293' date='Jul 13 2011, 01:21 PM']I've always hated rics, never liked the tone or looks. Thought they looked ugly as sin, and that they sounded like someone hitting a rusty drainpipe with a lead bar. I'm now finding myself increasingly drawn towards the shape and sound too after loving some bass I didn't realise was played on rics, in an alarming, coming on of a GAS overload kind of way....can someone please help me snap out of it?[/quote]

Just try and live with one for a few weeks. That'll do it.