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Boring basses


Thunderbird

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5 hours ago, sykilz said:

Boring bass is a hard term to quantify, in as far as has been said, it's surely the player that is boring, but I guess maybe the image that the bass lends to the player can be boring...? 
I can never find the Fenders boring as my favourite two bassists are Steve Harris and Geddy Lee, and I grew up musically in the mid eighties so I love the futuristic and pointy basses and sleek new designs. The only design/image combo that I personally would consider boring are those huge semi acoustic things with "f" holes on them. I find them ok visually but can't imagine anything musically exciting happening on them. 

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Both Phil Lesh and Jack Cassidy played big semi-acoustic basses with f holes early in their careers and I think it's safe to say they played some of the most exciting basslines you could have heard back then.

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17 hours ago, Thunderbird said:

At the risk of being stoned to death I have decided that in my opinion I find Precision and Jazz basses really boring I'm not saying that I think they are rubbish just boring who agrees and what basses do you guys think are boring 

 

🤣

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I've had a bit more of a think about this, yes I know it's not usually advisable but it happens sometimes when I'm not paying attention, anyway I've come to the conclusion that there's not any basses I find boring, it's the music I perceive someone will use it for boring. I know it's  judgemental but hey, whadya gonna do? 

In real life as long as it sounds good I wouldn't care what bass someone uses but with the privilege of being able to sit here and just look at different basses with no context, I subconsciously link them to certain styles of music, which is wrong, but again, whadya gonna do? 🙂

For instance, being in a Mod band image is everything, and there are certain basses which suit the image. We organised a multi band charity jobby back in March and a ska band called Ratrace played, and rather excellent they were too, but the bass player was using a Steinberger or Hohner cricket bat type bass, which I wouldn't have visualised a ska band using, but it was one of the best sounding basses I've ever heard, it sat perfectly in what they were doing. 

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7 minutes ago, Japhet said:

Yes, I agree, Precisions are boring, but then so are buses, jeans and potatoes.

You've certainly got it right about the dreary jean. Why wear them when you could get yourself a nice pair of cavalry twills? As for Ps I always tend to gloss over them whenever I'm in Bass Direct or wherever. They're a bit like the workmanlike back four in a football team rather than the centre halves or strikers.

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Aesthetically I find basses a bit like motorbikes in the sense that some bikes look great just on the stand and others need the rider sat on them for the shape to properly come to life. I really enjoy a good P bass, but I find it much less boring to look at one in a picture where somebody's playing it than I do when I'm looking at a picture of one sat waiting to be played. It could even be the epitome of 'not for me' like a fretless in sunburst with a tort guard and gold hardware, and I'd still be more interested if somebody was playing it.

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I couldn't really get a handle on the idea of a bass being boring. Then it came to me. When I received an offer for my Yamaha BB , I took it. Without hesitation. Why? The instrument looks really cool, feels lovely, sounds fantastic (only bridge pick up I ever really liked) and yet, and yet.... what?

Could it be it just didn't excite me? That maybe I found it a little, dare I say it, boring? If it's the one in the rack that never gets picked, if there is nothing actually wrong with it, but it gets left at home all the time, then I wonder if that's all that's left. It's really odd.

 

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44 minutes ago, Ed_S said:

Aesthetically I find basses a bit like motorbikes in the sense that some bikes look great just on the stand and others need the rider sat on them for the shape to properly come to life. 

This is very true.  I once had a mate who traded in his GSXR600 which was, well, a bit ugly and dull, but very quick when he rode it, for a Yam R1 which looked great but was too exciting and he rode it like he had stabilizers on it.  My own ZX6 probably wouldn't have won any beauty contests but the sound of the induction noise when it was being ridden in anger was certainly exciting.  On a track, obviously.  Same for basses.  I can use all of  precision, whereas with those exotic active things most of the sounds are, for me, unusable.

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I find Yahayas boring. What were Nathan and John playing?

I don't like Mondays. Sorry, Bob G. was faster.

P & J and especially PJ basses do not make me feel so good. A Pedulla Pentabuzz sounds incredible!

Approximately 76 band eqs, no... Vigier has a functional semiparametric.

Relics, sorry, definitely NO. I... have played a really nice Limelight.

Light colored fingerboards and tops, cheapo looking and feeling parts (BBOT, anyone?). And then I saw this red F bass with a maple fretboard.

Simple and easy, as always. This is a bit like concepts: I do know what it does not look like. Hey, wait!

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6 hours ago, Maude said:

 the bass player was using a Steinberger or Hohner cricket bat type bass, which I wouldn't have visualised a ska band using, but it was one of the best sounding basses I've ever heard, it sat perfectly in what they were doing. 

I saw the Skatalites a few years back, and the bassist played one of those. I was surprised!

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Some great replies here 

I'm not keen on coffee table basses either but appreciate the skills used to make them 

Just thought of another I like some metal style basses and they are normally black I don't mind black basses but it's boring when lots of basses you fancy are always black lol

And don't get me started on burst and tort lol

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18 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Nah - Ibanez SR Premiums with their immensely playable necks, balanced and comfortable weight and very decent 3 band EQ with selectable mid centre points and meaty growl delivered from their big Nord singles are wonderful basses!

I get a lot of unsolicited compliments about how great my Ibby looks and sounds from punters and musicians alike. 

ABM! 

I didn't say they weren't wonderful basses or badly made, just that they don't have a unique voice. If I was listening to an recording of one, I couldn't tell you "that's an Ibanez SR!" but I'd hazard a bet I could spot a Wal at a hundred yards.

Edited by 40hz
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Ah ok fair enough.

Sounding "unique" matters very little to me - but then I play in covers bands! 

Sounding and playing great, on the other hand, ticks a lot of boxes. My SR Premiums have never failed to deliver on that score.

And probably why the P-Bass is so ubiquitous amongst pro players - I don't think any of them give a fig whether their basses are "boring": they let their fingers do the talking.

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1 hour ago, Thunderbird said:

Some great replies here 

I'm not keen on coffee table basses either but appreciate the skills used to make them 

Just thought of another I like some metal style basses and they are normally black I don't mind black basses but it's boring when lots of basses you fancy are always black lol

And don't get me started on burst and tort lol

what do people mean by 'coffee table' basses? do they mean custom £3k+  instruments by Ken Smith, Pedulla, Wal etc?

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On 19/06/2020 at 05:47, Maude said:

@Ricky 4000 Not wishing to derail this thread but I had an Amazon when I was younger and that picture isn't far off what it looked like

Do you realise just how f***ing cool you are!? 🤩

On 19/06/2020 at 09:07, chris_b said:

I own 2 precisions and a fecking Volvo, my 5th in 36 years! I also have several fleeces which probably count as the 21st century equivalent of cardigans. . . . . . .  no hope for me then!

Could be worse, at least you don't have Labradors. Labs (apparently), are the strongest type of dog for making dog smell in a car. Lab smell is impossible to remove from a car, and devalues the car by 20%.

On 18/06/2020 at 22:10, Thunderbird said:

At the risk of being stoned to death I have decided that in my opinion I find Precision and Jazz basses really boring I'm not saying that I think they are rubbish just boring who agrees and what basses do you guys think are boring 

No. I think they're design classics, and I think that's fairly obvious.

Do you mean they look boring or sound boring? Or something else?

Have you become bored with Ps and Js?

Who gets bored? Highly intelligent people are sometimes prone to boredom, and children get bored in cars or whatever.

Is a tennis racket boring? Probably is if you don't like tennis or want to play tennis?

:scratch_one-s_head:

 

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10 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

Do you realise just how f***ing cool you are!? 🤩

Could be worse, at least you don't have Labradors. Labs (apparently), are the strongest type of dog for making dog smell in a car. Lab smell is impossible to remove from a car, and devalues the car by 20%.

No. I think they're design classics, and I think that's fairly obvious.

Do you mean they look boring or sound boring? Or something else?

Have you become bored with Ps and Js?

Who gets bored? Highly intelligent people are sometimes prone to boredom, and children get bored in cars or whatever.

Is a tennis racket boring? Probably is if you don't like tennis or want to play tennis?

:scratch_one-s_head:

 

Oh dear the stoning has begun lol😂

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20 hours ago, ead said:

P bass; Motown; can't be that boring surely?

errm, I'll stick my neck out and admit I can't abide the 60s sound of Motown though the P bass playing is its one saving grace. Diana Ross in particular has a voice that grates on me like fingernails down a blackboard (if anyone here under 30 whatever doesn't know what one of those is?)

Edited by Barking Spiders
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