Looking for a new Bass...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Odi
  • Start date Start date
Odi

Odi

Lost in Lucidity
There's a specific sound that I want...
I hear it all the time. I can only describe it as a "springy" mid-range presence that I just can't get out of my cheap Squire.
I want to compare active vs passive, single coil vs humbucker, long vs short, all of it!
What I would truly love is some flat, un-effected, straight to the board sound samples... Open to 12th fret sustained notes on each string, then perhaps a little jam.

Can ya'll help with that? 8-)
 
You might try over at TalkBass with some lists of tracks that have the sound you are seeking. Not that there aren’t bass players here, but you’ll get a lot more over there.

Now if you’re asking about recording plugins and mixing techniques, you’ll probably get some answers here, but, again, references that we can listen to are helpful. Words alone are difficult.

P.S. in my limited bass experience, a lot of the sound of the bass is the amp and technique. Very few recordings are direct (only), unless you’re talking about upright, which is a different thing, at least for me!
 
Com'on man... lol
A home recording site where folk don't want to show off their basses?
I don't buy it!

Besides, if every sample sounds the same "plugged straight into the board"... then why pay more than $50 bucks for a bass guitar?
 
Odi said:
I want to compare active vs passive, single coil vs humbucker, long vs short, all of it!
Click to expand...
@keith.rogers said there's more to the sound than the guitar.
I, personally, am not inclined to give anyone "samples".
I might suggest you go to a music store near you, where you can audition guitars with the specs you want.
 
Hard to go wrong with a Fender Jazz. Not sure what you mean by 'springy'. Sound is so subjective, but this could be a technique thing to.

I have an active bass, a Schecter 4 string. I've used it lots and it's a good bass. I always tend to fall back to the Jazz though.

As far as your testing methodology, it doesn't really work well comparing a bunch of direct recordings. It will tell you something, but not the big picture, which is simply what you need the bass to do for your song, that song.

You need to try out a bunch of bass guitars as other have pointed out already.

At the end of the day, there is not a 'drastic' difference between bass guitars (provided it's not a POS), and most of the sound falls on the player, as always.

EL
 
I've already done this with all my guitars over the years, gentlemen...
How an instrument sounds amplified, and even how you play it, depends greatly upon the character of the instrument itself.

But, you're right... it was a bad idea...
 
Last edited:
One of the great mysteries in life for me is how certain bass players get their sound. I've had a few different basses and, although they all sounded different, they were also very similar. My guess is that the sounds I hear are the result of signal processing and amp choices. That said, I would definitely listen to a comparison of different basses.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Odi
Odi, I don't know if you have an interface and a computer recording rig?
If you do you might look at some VSTis and other effects. My son triggers MIDI data with Reaper and thus can play almost any instrument. So for free you could search around for the sound you want.

But as someone said, not just the guitar. A reflex 15" speaker is never going to sound like 6(?) tens in a closed back "fridge"!

Dave.
 
Odi said:
There's a specific sound that I want...
I hear it all the time. I can only describe it as a "springy" mid-range presence that I just can't get out of my cheap Squire.
I want to compare active vs passive, single coil vs humbucker, long vs short, all of it!
What I would truly love is some flat, un-effected, straight to the board sound samples... Open to 12th fret sustained notes on each string, then perhaps a little jam.

Can ya'll help with that? 8-)
Click to expand...
What kind of Squier bass?

I really like the concept of a PJ bass -- blend the P with the J, if you're looking for more mid-range, roll towards the J pickup!
 
Odi said:
There's a specific sound that I want...
I hear it all the time. I can only describe it as a "springy" mid-range presence that I just can't get out of my cheap Squire.
I want to compare active vs passive, single coil vs humbucker, long vs short, all of it!
What I would truly love is some flat, un-effected, straight to the board sound samples... Open to 12th fret sustained notes on each string, then perhaps a little jam.

Can ya'll help with that? 8-)
Click to expand...
What model Squire Bass do you have?
 
Odi said:
There's a specific sound that I want...
I hear it all the time. I can only describe it as a "springy" mid-range presence that I just can't get out of my cheap Squire.
I want to compare active vs passive, single coil vs humbucker, long vs short, all of it!
What I would truly love is some flat, un-effected, straight to the board sound samples... Open to 12th fret sustained notes on each string, then perhaps a little jam.

Can ya'll help with that? 8-)
Click to expand...
Flatwounds
 
markmann said:
One of the great mysteries in life for me is how certain bass players get their sound
Click to expand...
I used to definitely have a sound. It wasn't necessarily 'the' sound that I wanted or had been searching for, but for many years, I recorded my bass guitar the same way, more or less and most of the time the sound was pretty much the same.
But I never particularly liked the sound. I didn't dislike it, but I found that over the years I wanted a different sound. Actually, I wanted quite a few different sounds. So from around 2009, that is the direction I went in. Lots of different bass sounds, from the deep and woolly to the clicky, electric and rocky. And a whole lot in between. Picks. Fingers. Thimbles. Different amp settings. Guitar amp. Amp sim. Sometimes DI, sometimes mic, sometimes DI, mic and line out. And just 2 basses, a Wesley 5-string that is more average than 24 and a crummy acoustic bass guitar with an in-built pickup that can do a great approximation of a unique sounding fretless. Both basses have flatwound strings for super slideability. I have so many different bass sounds, it's my style that remains consistent.
Odi said:
This bass simply doesn't have the character/tone that I want.
Click to expand...
This, however, is the key to the entire matter. Only you really know what you're looking for. People might be able to get you closer to what you want if you gave some examples of songs that have the bass sound you're after.
But I discovered something interesting a while ago. Hearing a bass guitar in isolation produces a very different sound to that same bass in the mix of the song.
 
Night and day to my ears...

Just received a new bass via Musicians Friend.
Here's a straight to the board comparison between my old Fender Squire Jaguar and my new Ibanez SR250...

The Ibanez even feels better 8-)
 

Attachments

Which ever was the first one, sounded better to my ears.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Odi
The first one sounds like a nice studio DI. The second has more personality - like Mel Schacher's Grand Funk Live bass (IIRC, that was a Jazz). As a bass player, I'm drawn to the second.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Odi
What really sealed it for me is when I ran the Ibanez through my usual Fender effects...
That was really weird!
But, it showed how hard I was trying to make the Fender sound like something it's not lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top