Leaderboard

It’s become blatantly obvious all gear sounds the same. I am talking literally everything, basses, amps, cabs, PA’s, pedals within their respective category, strings. The only thing that makes a difference is the tonewood and compression. Those that think otherwise forgot to ask Santa for the gift musicality for Christmas consistently for their entire life. Also people who mainly play with a pick are superior in every way. This way tone can only be in the Finger - not plural. While I am here, chordal type players don’t count, they can do one to the guitarchat sister site. I am not wrong, I have read every post of every single thread on this site and this is the logical conclusion, hence no poll - discuss if you wish, but....... oh and a happy new year

All budgies sounds the same too. I’ve got a green one and a blue one. I can’t tell the difference, it’s stupid to say you can. I did a blindfold test but they kept flying into the walls. I’m sick of it.

In the light of several recent threads, I felt I should, in the interest of science/justice, to clear up an argument older than an old thing “Tone is in the fingers” I played the same riff, for the same length, through the same amp, with the same setting, with each individual finger in turn. I then put the fingers down, and repeated the same exercise, this time using my own fingers. The results were (as I’d expected) quite predictable. All my fingers sounded the same to me. I now feel somewhat foolish, having collected 4 fingers and a thumb, twice over!!! Turns out I only needed one. So I’m keeping the middle one and selling the rest, to buy more Chilean merlot. Happy nude year!

Reminds me of when I was in a trio called the Symbolics. I was Sym The other 2 were .., well.....rubbish.

This forum is weird. It goes from people arguing over the differences in tone that you get from maple vs rosewood fretboards or different body woods, to all Precision & Jazz basses sound the same... Make your minds up people!!

With all due respect to everyone who has posted (and no offense), the thing I have issue with is that just because someone owns a bass that looks like a Jazz Bass, this doesn't make it a Jazz Bass. Same goes Epiphone Thunderbirds, Rockingbetters etc. I've owned two Fender Jazz basses in my time (CIJ Geddy Lee and an Aerodyne), I've also played a few 60s and more copies than I can actually remember; none of them were exact replicas of each other, so where is the actual reference model? It's like all these people saying that the new Epiphone Thunderbirds are the closest thing out there to a 60s Gibson Thunderbird. Err, no. They're just saying this stuff because a) someone else has said it, b) to justify their purchase, c) it makes them feel better about paying a twentieth of the price of an original model and because d) they've never played a 60s Thunderbird. At the SE Bass Bash in 2018, Gary and I did a fairly extensive blind-test of about 20 basses and it was very clear the results just reinforced that nobody really had a clue which bass was being played - even their own - and that I still haven't been able to shake Carry On, Wayward Son from my head 18 months later. Every bass pretty much just ponks if you just plug it into an amp and play it clean and every bass will come alive if you pass it through a usable pre-stage. After 40 years of playing, I'll let you into a secret. The real tone comes from your hands, technique, string choice, pickups and whatever you're plugging into. Forget about 'tone' woods, fingerboard material, neck radius, how wide the neck is at whatever fret and so on. It's a nonsense. Just remember that your desired tone is not someone else's; find out how to achieve your tone and learn to replicate it on whatever bass you're playing. If you can play, you'll make a bass sound decent to your ears, irrespective of what it is.

I got fired from a band because the drummer and other band members wanted to talk about Rush constantly instead of rehearsing. flipping hate rush.

This really was an impulse buy and came about after spotting a beautiful Spector Euro LX4 on Guitar Guitar and having the perennial "do I don't I?" argument. The 24 frets and tiny body of the Spector led me down the route of looking and my more favoured Fenders and I spotted a 2019 Original 60's P Bass in sunburst and after a few heartbeats the order was placed. It arrived yesterday and despite a bit of alarm caused by the factory "set up" it is now wearing a set of TI Flats and sounds and plays beautifully. If people have seen these yet, they really are of Custom Shop quality and fit and finish is exemplary. My old P Bass has been given a new set of Ernie Ball Nickel roundwounds and sounds amazing (the best P Bass I've ever played with rounds) and now, basically, I've got a P Bass with flats, one with rounds and a Tony Franklin Fretless. In all the years I've been playing and recording, most producers want either a P Bass with rounds or flats, so at least I'm ready to oblige without too much faff now! Attached are some pics together with a gratuitous family photo.

Hello! I'm Dr Fu Manchu the evil criminal genius and occasional player of the bass-guitar. Many people have asked me: "Dr Fu Manchu, how do you play bass given that you affect one exceptionally long fingernail, itself encased in a precious metal sleeve inlaid with the richest jewels of all Cathay?' The answer is very simple. I keep the other three fingernails short and work on my stretching exercises. After years of dedicated practice I can now cover seven frets between my index and ring fingers, a feat at one time matched only by my old enemy and nemesis Commissioner Sir Denis Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard, his accomplishment being now moot since I pitched Sir Denis from the gondola of my command Airship to a screaming death impaled upon the pointy bit at the top of St Paul's Cathedral. If you want to know how to grow an unfeasibly long fingernail and still play bass just go to my online shop and buy my book 'Increase Your Stretch in 28 Days Or Your Money Back' by Dr Fu Manchu (includes DVD and nail buffer) only £19.99 including shipping. Crazy Deal! Buy before midnight 31/12/2019 and I'll throw in a vial of forensically untraceable scorpion venom!

P basses all sound the same, therefore... J basses all sound the same, therefore... PJ basses all sound the same, therefore... PJ & Duncan sound the the same.

Just gently reminding you of the raison d'être of most online forums, in fact one might argue, the whole Internet. Endless, endless debates between people who can’t make their minds up 😁

Isn’t the whole point of Jazz basses that they sound like Jazz basses? If you wanted something that didn’t sound like a Jazz then you wouldn’t make a Jazz.

Period.

As long as you follow a great circle route. you'll always be getting closer to somebody else's Jazz. Keep on going and eventually you'll be getting closer to your own Jazzes again. Here's how:

All threads read the same to me.

Which wood and compressor is best for metal? Had to be done

That's why I have so much stuff.. so I can sound MORE! Some of the stuff is in very nice colours..

These threads are gradually boiling down until the Basses - they all sound the same thread.

The best combination of amp cab and bass I ever owned. The bass was the cheapest part of the set up to buy but it's off the shelf sound is so good that it was worth the expense of the amp and cab in order to let that sound be heard clearly.

If I was in a band I'd sack myself for making too many mistakes.

You’re better off away from people who:- 1- Can’t tell you face to face 2- Can’t tell you themselves by phone 3-Get someone else to make the call 4- Make childish threats if they don’t get their own way. Find some adults to play with, is the only advice I can offer. I got sacked from a band for showing a general lack of commitm

Well, got the Tea chest. Now to start the complex job of attaching a broom handle to it with some string. I’ll start a “build” thread and answer the many questions I anticipate being asked, such as -Why? Because I can/can’t (let’s see). -Scale length? Off the. -Any good for met.. shut up! Thanks

Surely to a degree all basses of a certain type/style sound the same, ie a jazz sounds like a jazz, a P like a P, a MM like a MM, you get the drift. They should all have that certain characteristic the gives them their trademark sound. Then all the usual things that change the tone will come into play, strings, construction of pickup, tone controls, wood type, (yeah right 😁), etc. You could take ten different Jazz basses, or P's or whatever, and make them all sound extremely alike with strings, pickups EQ, etc, or you could take one Jazz bass and give it ten different sounds with strings, pickups, blah, blah, blah. Take a Rickenbacker 4001/4003, they're all clanky and aggressive aren't they? Roll the tone off, fit flats, play with your thumb and hang on, it's gone all thumpy. Not at all like that aggressive Bruce Foxton tone on a lot of The Jam recordings. What's that? A Precision? But they're those thumpy things on all the Motown and Stax recordings. All basses sound as alike, or as different, as you want them to.

I've been wanting to go short scale for a while but up until now, every time I've gone out to look at getting one, I've come home with another long scale. I've dabbled in the past, with a couple of cheap violin basses and a couple of Mustangs , one US, one Jap. Anyway, I did all my research and lusted after all sorts of obscure makes and models but all these basses were very long distances away and I do like to try an instrument before I buy, where possible. So I decided to try out one more Mustang. An American Perfomer series from Fender, in a lovely aubergine. This one had an added Jazz Bass pickup, by the bridge. The only other shorties in the shop, were an Italia Torino bass in blue, which looked nice but wasn't much fun too play and had rather dire pickups in my view and a Hofner Ignition Violin bass. The cheapest in Hofner's range, it was actually not that bad, although it was crying out for some flatwound strings. But the baby bass that I went to see was all I hoped for. Quite a looker, although I think Fender could reduce the size of the headstock a tad. Very playable, with a nice neck and good overall balance and feel. And those PJ pickups really, work together well, with a lot of super useable tones. It didn't sound like a compromise to my ears, it just sounded like a really cool Fender bass, that really benefits from the added Jazz pickup. And the finishing is really of a good standard. The metallic augergine paint job is super handsome. My only 2, minor gripes are the sad little gig bag you get with it. Fortunately the shop threw in a very nice MarkBass gigbag, which was a vast improvement. And for some reason, Fender put a protective plastic sheet over the bridge plate, held down by the bridge saddle mechanisms. That's just bloody annoying, as it's a hassle to remove and it buzzes against the strings until you do. Had a couple of good sessions at home with it now and I'm loving how easy and comfy it is to play and the strong tones it produces.

I'm saving up for a set of vintage reissue reliced finguls. In Olympic white.

Ask Doctor Mondeaux for the fingers, he'll trade them for some jamas.

A nice surprise. Tin Pan Alley Shop happy for you to touch and play kit. Friendly and honest. Well done gents. (nice 66 Jazz...£6.5k just saying)

All I know is that the further I got from my J basses, the more I needed a P.

This is always a touchy subject on here. For me personally Classic Rock was when Rock was at it height in 70's / 80's. When i think of Classic Rock i think Deep Purple, Rainbow, Alice Cooper, Sabbath, Whitesnake and similar bands. I think it depends on your age group tho Dave

It’s still very hard to make that mud happen, I practice hours on end to achieve it only for some god forsaken piece of equipment to have the temerity to make me sound articulate. Look no further than Patrick Hunter - he is the master of making all pedals and basses sound exactly the same - pure genius

Sack the others for making too few and making you look bad

As T. C. Lethbridge writes in his 1963 publication Ghost and Divining Rod... “To walk the paths and old tracks of England on an autumn morning is to walk with men from time immemorial on routes between sites whose function and import is now lost in the whetstone mists that surround our ancestral past, and yet in returning home, warming ones bones by the fire and knocking out a scale or two on a Jazz bass, one feels somehow reconnected with this past, these people, this England of ours. The very notes conjure quiet streams trickling through meadows leading towards the quiet mysterious stones that somehow seem to watch and know, perhaps, just perhaps, our ancestors await us there?”

Sorry - not meaning to be harsh - no malice intended on my behalf fella - most of my comments sound very similar tho, but I even bore myself

Reginald Canty If Detroit sent me this on FB. Enjoy! The other guy is Ralphe Armstrong....

I respectfully disagree, Jazz basses sound crap when I play them because their sound just doesn't work for me on stage but seem to sound fine when you are in the audience, so, in theory, the further you get from a Jazz bass the better it sounds?

It sounds like a real shitty thing to do to you, but you should rise above it. But before you do you should get another band together, ring around and cancel all the previous bands gigs, then step in at the last minute with your new band and watch the stunned look on their stupid little faces when they arrive to find your new band set up in their place. Ha! Then rise above it 😁

It’s hard, but it’s done and nothing can change that. If that’s how little they value you, well, you’re better off finding out as soon as possible and having these people out of your life. Let the negative rage go and move on. Believe in yourself. Use that energy to get something else going. F**k ‘em.

All fingers are equal, but some fingers are more equal than others.

It's certainly been a topic of discussion between Mrs S and myself on more than one occasion

I think it's a rolling thing. Everything changes over time. When I were a lad in the 1950s, a classic car was something pre-war. The classic cars I eventually owned (Saab 96s and 99s) hadn't even been introduced or even designed back then. However, when I had them in the 1990s/early 2000s, they were considered classic cars. The music's no different.

God help us...Gumtree? https://www.gumtree.com/search?search_category=all&q=musical instruments

I'd rather have the sand TBH.....Mince pies...yuch!! There's a good reason they're only eaten at Xmas!!

You are NOT helping my GAS for one of these ....

We blind tested Rickenbacker's, Fenders, Gibsons, my 40 year old Aria, home builds; everyone taking part had access to the basses beforehand and had a list of the basses during the test. I think the highest score was 3/20 and about 30 people took part. The main thing demonstrated here was that some of the people taking part couldn't even recognise their own babies in a blind shoot out.

Prick fingers?

To be fair: no. I did think about that but then I listened to a few live recordings and can guarantee that’s not the case.

Obviously, I don’t know your missus but that does sound like a bit of a win. I just hope Mrs Al gets on with the Jazz.

Photoshopped by Fender. He's playing a 1967 Hohner 'Reggae Special'. 😑