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I LIKE HEAVY BASSES


roonjuice

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5 minutes ago, Kev said:

Tone.

Every lightweight bass sounds like a lightweight bass.  There is something special in the lows/low mids with a heavy body with a good dense bit of wood.

You haven't heard any of mine, then.

One of my bands is currently doing 2 x 1hr+ sets. I'd be permanently bent double if I'd used heavyweights.

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1 hour ago, Kev said:

Tone.

Every lightweight bass sounds like a lightweight bass.  There is something special in the lows/low mids with a heavy body with a good dense bit of wood.

I have an 11lb ash body p bass with flats which sounds lightweight, lack of lows/low mids compared to my 7lb basswood body with half rounds, which has tonnes of low-end and growl.

My experience is that some basses and strings go together, and some just don't work, weight doesn't seem to be a factor, imho.

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3 hours ago, Kev said:

Tone.

Every lightweight bass sounds like a lightweight bass.  There is something special in the lows/low mids with a heavy body with a good dense bit of wood.

I think that is nonsense, to be honest.  I've had more than my fair share crap heavy basses and currently own some superb lightweight ones. 

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I personally prefer basses that have a bit of weight to them purely for how they feel on the strap.

However as far as tone/sounds go, my 8.5lb Stingray Special sounds just as immense as my 12lb Aria SB-R150.

Not sure I'd fancy 16lbs much though. 😮

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Anything less than 8lbs and I feel like I’m playing some form of fragile toy. I suppose I’m lucky really, current band never likely to do more than an hours set, and even then thats not a regular occurrence, so 9lb basses not that much of a problem. Don’t miss the weight of my 10.5lb 70s Precisions though. 

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3 hours ago, Paul S said:

I think that is nonsense, to be honest.  I've had more than my fair share crap heavy basses and currently own some superb lightweight ones. 

I didn’t mention crap.  I said that lightweight basses sound lightweight. The resonance is different, naturally, and the deader deeper tone of a heavy bass can’t be quite replicated, in my opinion.

But no, not crap, wasn’t even implied (my main gigging bass I would class as lightweight)

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7 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

You haven't heard any of mine, then.

One of my bands is currently doing 2 x 1hr+ sets. I'd be permanently bent double if I'd used heavyweights.

I haven’t, what is it about your basses that makes them sound “heavy”?  I’d be interested if our definitions are the same.

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Just now, Kev said:

Huh?

OK.

I've been playing bass for 30 years. Heavy ones, light ones. Some have sounded authoritative, rich and ballsy. Some sounded like lettuce leaves being thrown at a bean bag. 

There's been absolutely no correlation with regards to weight.

The ones I have now are on the lighter side, and they sound like the former.

That's my take on it.

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1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Anything less than 8lbs and I feel like I’m playing some form of fragile toy. I suppose I’m lucky really, current band never likely to do more than an hours set, and even then that's not a regular occurrence, so 9lb basses not that much of a problem. Don’t miss the weight of my 10.5lb 70s Precisions though. 

Why do I find myself invariably agreeing with everything you say Mr 196? Must be our age... 😉

We similarly never do more than an hour long single set, although we often do 2 x 1 hours during the course of a gig.

Weirdly I actually notice the weight more at home when practising than during a gig. Guess I can put that down to the adrenaline kick + fun of playing live.

I do enjoy the lightness of my Ibbys which are a delight to play over a long set. But equally would love not to be denied the opportunity to play some wonderful heavier basses. Currently trying to square the circle by exploring double shoulder straps to lighten the load on the put-upon ol' left shoulder.

Edited by Al Krow
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2 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

OK.

I've been playing bass for 30 years. Heavy ones, light ones. Some have sounded authoritative, rich and ballsy. Some sounded like lettuce leaves being thrown at a bean bag. 

There's been absolutely no correlation with regards to weight.

The ones I have now are on the lighter side, and they sound like the former.

That's my take on it.

Okay, fair enough!

Given your own sweeping generalisations on Class D amplification, I’m sure you can forgive a little stereotyping elsewhere :) 

It’s just my experience, I’m yet to find a lightweight (sub 8lb) bass that has the depth in tone that a 10lb + bass tends to have.  I am sure there are exceptions, clearly from this thread alone, but there you go.  Sounds like you have 20 years on me 😂

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Just now, Kev said:

Okay, fair enough!

Given your own sweeping generalisations on Class D amplification, I’m sure you can forgive a little stereotyping elsewhere :) 

It’s just my experience, I’m yet to find a lightweight (sub 8lb) bass that has the depth in tone that a 10lb + bass tends to have.  I am sure there are exceptions, clearly from this thread alone, but there you go.  Sounds like you have 20 years on me 😂

Yeah. The difference being I've played heavy basses which sound great, but I've yet to play a Class D that does (IMO etc.)

😄

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