"Core Tone" isn't very important in your bass.

[xilddx]

I think it's a complete fallacy that the core tone of your bass is very important. I think in most cases people are deluding themselves.

Of all the things - reliability, playability, comfort and looks - tone is by far the easiest to change to your liking. If that is not the case, why do we spend so much on eq and effects?

I think this "TONE" nonsense is a legacy of the days when bassists had very little equipment to choose from. Why would you still limit yourself to a Fender Precision because you think it has "thump", when you could have a bass with loads more mid-gig tonal options at the flick of a switch, be more comfortable, more playable and more reliable? You can easily eq that thump in to whatever bass you are playing.

Of course, you may only want one tone, but then you may only ever have one hairstyle or only eat Hawaiian pizza.

I am a complete convert from the idea of needing valve amp and a Fender, Stingray, blah blah. The future is digital. Get the bass you REALLY want.

Edited February 4, 2010 by silddx

[thumperbob 2002]

I am a complete convert from the idea of needing valve amp and a Fender, Stingray, blah blah. The future is digital. Get the bass you REALLY want.
[/quote]

+1 though I have recently sold my valve amp and moved from a Warwick thumb to a Fender Jazz so sort of half agree. Still cant beat that Fender meat and potatos.

Bob

[Low End Bee]

I'm sort of with you.

The ergonomics of the Precision I really get along with. It feels like a comfy pair of slippers. Plus I like the look.
If the unamplified sound is good it is far easier to get an amplified sound I'm happier with. I do just like one core sound that I change once or twice with a pedal to suit the song. I actually would like to have a sound that is identifiable with me. Obviously if you're not playing bonehead music like me and need to cover a lot of bases knobs and switches are useful.

I think there is an extraordinary amount of tosh spoken about 'tone'. After all it goes through magnets, cables, circuits and vibrating paper. That's why I prefer to call it sound instead of high falluting tone.

Then again if you're just being naughty Silddx I have bitten....

[cheddatom]

I manage to make two very different basses sound similar through the same effects rig, which makes neither sound much like a bass. So yeh, if I were looking for a new bass, tone would not be the first priority.

[MythSte]

Hmm, (un) fortunately, i sound like me through most every bass i play. I hate to sound like the cliché guy, but there really is a lot to be said for what's in yer digits.

[xilddx]

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='735034' date='Feb 4 2010, 01:48 PM']I'm sort of with you.

The ergonomics of the Precision I really get along with. It feels like a comfy pair of slippers. Plus I like the look.
If the unamplified sound is good it is far easier to get an amplified sound I'm happier with. I do just like one core sound that I change once or twice with a pedal to suit the song. I actually would like to have a sound that is identifiable with me. Obviously if you're not playing bonehead music like me and need to cover a lot of bases knobs and switches are useful.

I think there is an extraordinary amount of tosh spoken about 'tone'. After all it goes through magnets, cables, circuits and vibrating paper. That's why I prefer to call it sound instead of high falluting tone.

Then again if you're just being naughty Silddx I have bitten....[/quote]
Not being naughty I have a bunch of basses and guitars going through a POD X3 and nothing else. All I need are some active studio monitors for onstage sound reinforcement or monitoring, but normally I go DI from the POD. I can make almost any bass sound like almost any other bass. Plus there is almost nothing I can't connect to it or connect it to.

So, instead of gigging a bass, a guitar, a bass pedal board, a guitar pedalboard, a bass amp and a guitar amp - I take a bass/guitar doubleneck and my POD. I can sound like any rig I want, and to change between guitar and bass all I have to do is press a switch. The possibilities are amazing!

Also, of all the bassists you've heard of, how many could you say have a signature tone? Squire, Geddy, Jamerson? It's the way they play, the notes they choose, the music they play which are the true identifiers, not the tone.

[dangerboy]

This is probably true in a lot of cases.

But you'd never get my tone out of a POD.

[Rayman]

[i]For me personally[/i] I think the tone is vital. Everything else has to come second. I've had dozens of basses I loved in terms of how they look and play, but they didn't [i]sound[/i] right to me. I mean I won't buy a bass if I don't like how it plays, looks etc, that's paramount too, after all, the look of the thing is what attracts you to it in the first place, but if the [i]tone[/i] is right, if it sounds great to you with eyes shut, then that to me is the most important thing with any musical instrument, how it sounds, I mean we are talking about music after all.

[51m0n]

Yup I'd go along with that to a certain extent.

Although for the money I payed my Roscoe had to have great tone out of the box!

I personally think any bass over £500 has no excuse sounding anything other than very very good.

[Mog]

Digital is the devil!!! Why cant processers handle bass freq? Eg. When you are using a digi Od or Synth and the signal dies even though the clean signal still strong(ie. it would be audible with the fx bypassed). Its the same with this tube emulation gimmick! If you cant hear the difference then fine. I can though. Line six cannot make a few chips sound like an Ampeg etc IMO.

[mcgraham]

I agree to a certain extent. I like my bass to have a great plug'n'play tone, that is easily tweakable to achieve variations on that tone. To that extent, I feel the tone of my bass is important.

As I've stated in other threads, I think a lot of bassists/guitarists overexaggerate the impact that wood and 'acoustic' properties of an electric instrument actually have in an instrument's amplified tone.

[farmer61]

I agree, I'm not sure any of my basses sound that different when playing at volume 11 through my rig.

I think comfort and confidence in your bass is far more important.....now why have I just bought a T-Bird???

[cheddatom]

Clearly, the pedals are the most important thing.

[2pods]

Given a well made, comfy, easy to play bass, I'd go for a Roland VG99 and GK PU, and (according to Roland, but I think Ped or CK has one so he'll know) get any sound of any bass and any amp.

I must say my guitar version (VG99) works just like it's described, so I'd love to have the loot for the bass version.
Plenty of "signature" tones to pick from

Edited February 4, 2010 by 2pods

[Mykesbass]

The other factor that you have no control over where tone is concerned (if playing live of course) is the room (and the mercy of a sound engineer if you're gigging at that level)!

[Low End Bee]

[quote name='silddx' post='735046' date='Feb 4 2010, 02:01 PM']Also, of all the bassists you've heard of, how many could you say have a signature tone? Squire, Geddy, Jamerson? It's the way they play, the notes they choose, the music they play which are the true identifiers, not the tone.[/quote]

I'm up with those cats. Plus I have my own sound. It's a winning combo.

[tombboy]

'Modelling' amps are great in the studio but IMO they just don't cut it live.

[urb]

I sort of agree too - I think the one example of someone I know who had a very nice custom GB built for them but now pretty much always plays a stock Yamaha is Laurence Cottle - the GB was obviously much nicer looking and undoubtedly had a galaxy of sounds compared to the Yamaha but the real tone of Laurie's playing was all... in his fingers.

So while yes, your ideal tone can be achieved though all manner of eqs and amp tweaks, the real sound of you is always going to come from you and your digits - Having said that since I got my Sei basses the tone is just 'there' without needing to do much to the amp - perhaps another way of looking at this is just how much do you need to adjust or add FX/EQ to your bass to make it sound any good!? I just use a good bass and a good amp - let my finers do the rest

M

[xilddx]

[quote name='tombboy' post='735089' date='Feb 4 2010, 02:43 PM']'Modelling' amps are great in the studio but IMO they just don't cut it live.[/quote]
Why don't they cut it live? What do you mean by that?

The FOH speakers, desk and engineer are your interface to the public, not your amp and cab, or modelling application. So what's the difference?

[bigjohn]

Take a look at high end hi-fi.

Digital nor transistors have yet not caught up with wires, magnets and valves at sounding good.

Yes, lighter, yes, more convenient... sound as good? no.

That's just the way it is.


So why wouldn't you want to put the best sounding bass into the best sounding rig?

Where does digital come into it?

Edited February 4, 2010 by bigjohn

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Mykesbass' post='735081' date='Feb 4 2010, 02:35 PM']The other factor that you have no control over where tone is concerned (if playing live of course) is the room (and the mercy of a sound engineer if you're gigging at that level)![/quote]

I think any bassist who gigs regularly with unknown-quantity sound men soon learns to be less precious about "their tone". If you're lucky you won't be reduced to a boomy sub-bass sludge that ruins the sound of the rest of the band. Anything more than that is a bonus.

Imagine saying to the sound guy in some pub somewhere that you can't hear the inherent brightness and bite of your bespoke bass's AAAAA maple top in his mix.

[xilddx]

[quote name='bigjohn' post='735093' date='Feb 4 2010, 02:47 PM']Take a look at high end hi-fi.

Digital nor transistors have yet not caught up with wires magnets and valves at sounding good.

That's just the way it is.[/quote]

But if they are reproducing a Pixie Lott CD and the associated appalling mastering, or Vapour Trails by RUSH for that matter, I'm going to be really pissed off I spent £4,375 for my HiFi.

Edited February 4, 2010 by silddx

[Sibob]

It would seem a shame to me that I couldn't get 'my sound' or certainly a sound that I was happy with unless I was sat in front of a digital amp, EQ pointing in all directions and a load of pedals at my feet. I would much prefer to have a bass that gave me a tone that pleased me whilst plugged into any amp, EQ flat and no effects.
Then any extra sounds and tools I needed could be added appropriately. But needing many pedals, masses of EQ etc just to sound like a particular bass seems like there's a lot more to go wrong in your rig than there is in mine .

In fact, whenever I'm trying a new bass through my rig, I rarely touch EQ (I rarely touch it anyway), if the bass doesn't sound good with pretty much flat EQ, I probably won't be interested.

I do agree however, that if you're going through a PA, all you can hope for is a pleasing tone onstage, everything else is at the mercy of the FOH engineer.

Si

[xilddx]

[quote name='Sibob' post='735100' date='Feb 4 2010, 02:51 PM']It would seem a shame to me that I couldn't get 'my sound' or certainly a sound that I was happy with unless I was sat in front of a digital amp, EQ pointing in all directions and a load of pedals at my feet. I would much prefer to have a bass that gave me a tone that pleased me whilst plugged into any amp, EQ flat and no effects.
Then any extra sounds and tools I needed could be added appropriately. But needing many pedals, masses of EQ etc just to sound like a particular bass seems like there's a lot more to go wrong in your rig than there is in mine

Si[/quote]

Is "your sound" appropriate in all situations you need it to be?

Would I be able to recognise your sound?

[redstriper]

Here's what I look for in a bass, in order of preference -

1: playablity
2: comfort
3: tone
4: looks

Number one is the most important by a long way, but the others are also nice if you can have them.