Dan Dare

I'm a J bass man and also a nerd, so there's defo some truth in what you say. However, I think an essential aspect of nerdiness is obsession with technology, so the J bass falls a bit short on that score, being firmly in the classic camp and not exactly cutting edge or SOTA. I'd suggest that truly nerdy instruments need to have complex active electronics, fanned frets, more than 4 strings and be made of things you have difficulty pronouncing.

Playing outdoors removes the major problems of reflected sound and aggravating resonant frequencies of rooms. You can find you actually need more low end, occasionally a lot more. In reality, playing outdoors without PA support is usually difficult if you want to play at any volume. Indoors, it's a case of suck it and see. It will depend on a lot of things - size/shape of the venue, other instruments (you mention in your subsequent post the issue with keyboard left hand clashing with the bass), density of arrangements (more instruments can mean more likelihood of clutter and clashes), how close you are to each other, etc, etc. Your friend's advice is good. Thank you for agreeing with what I've been saying about the importance of integrating with each other sonically. It makes a massive difference.

How so? I can only speak for myself, but I certainly don't choose music that "suits the tone I like". At the risk of being branded a troll again, that seems bizarre. I choose music I like and adjust the sound I produce, the style I play in, etc to suit it. I can't be the only one. Not so. It's simple to use a wireless or even a long lead during sound-check to go for a walk and check the sound from a variety of locations in a venue. I do it all the time. You don't need to guess or be experienced in "how your bass sound reproduces in different rooms" when you can hear it for yourself. Problems will usually be obvious - too much/not enough low/mids/highs, more/less volume required and so on. Most amp heads have plenty enough variation in eq settings to get a decent result. I'm struggling to understand why so many find it a problem to ensure they blend well with the other musicians and the room. It seems so basic.

If only life was that simple. It isn't so much bad sounding rooms per se. It's more to do with how the instrumental mix and the sound each band member makes combines and reacts with a particular space. Sure, a space with lots of hard surfaces - tiling, large expanses of glass and similar - is going to be a problem, but many rooms have not been designed or built with music reproduction (especially loud music) as a consideration. The worst sounding space I ever played in was an art deco style ballroom that was shaped like a Nissen hut internally. The walls/ceiling were hard plaster and it was a complete nightmare sonically. Leaving aside such obvious horror scenarios, pretty well every room has resonant frequencies. They will depend on dimensions, volume (as in capacity, not loudness), etc Excite those and there's often trouble. It has little to do with how good or well designed your cabs and gear are. Several of us recount instances above when quality gear has not sounded great. Quality gear that has a wide frequency response may even make things worse because it gives you more of everything. The fundamental disagreement in this thread seems to be between those of us who favour tailoring individual sound/tone to blend well and suit the overall in-room sound - even to the extent that they may not particularly like the sound of their instrument/rig very much - and those who are concerned primarily with enjoying their personal sound (and who presumably expect others, including the audience, to adjust to suit them). Assuming the band isn't playing entirely through a PA, with an engineer to take care of FoH, the first camp is the one to be in. Imho, obviously.

Is there a modern bass head or combo with integrated reverb? I hope not.

This. The Veyron 1001 head is frequently praised on here as good value. Given that the combo has a turbosound driver to go with it, it won't be cr@p. £250 for something you can gig with is not to be sneezed at. 1000w is probably pushing things a bit, but if it's "only" 500, that should still be ample. I wouldn't worry about "dispersion and top end", either. A 15 will produce as much top end as a 12, 10 or anything else (bar an actual tweeter). You may need to be inline with the voice coil dust cap to hear it, but that's a minor worry. Unless you slap all the time, it won't be an issue.

I'm not sure it will peak any time soon. Musical instruments, like art, classic cars and other desirable items that are in limited supply (I'm referring to vintage/rare here, obvs) are being seized on by investors looking to put their money into things of intrinsic value that won't suddenly become worthless when the stock market tanks or a war breaks out somewhere. It's been the case for a very long time with classical instruments such as violins. Every time a Strad is sold for telephone numbers, the buyer is always a corporation, hedge fund or similar. Said corporation/hedge fund then lends the instrument to a prominent player in return for publicity in concert programmes and so on. Now investors are discovering that electric instruments can be worth money and appreciate, they are piling in. Try finding a '59 Les Paul burst that is owned by a regular player. There are relatively few. Yes, I know the Steve Lukathers of the world own one, but when they pack it in or pass away, it's very likely the instrument won't be bought by another player. It'll be bought purely as an investment.

It's always been the case that people tend to over-estimate the value of what they own, be it musical instruments, cars or whatever. The rough rule that the value of a decent used item (excluding genuinely vintage/rare) is around half new retail price holds true much of the time..

I still care about those things after 50 years. I never play a gig where I make zero mistakes. They may be minor, but I still make them. Anyone who claims they do is deluded or telling porkies. None of us is perfect. We can always do better. I pointed out that if you have someone taking care of FoH, you have the luxury of being able to tailor your onstage sound to suit your own desires. If not, then getting it right for the room has to be primary consideration. Nobody comes to gigs to hear how great the bass player's tone is (with the possible exception of other bass players, who will probably spend the evening picking holes and moaning about how it could be better).

Better than 0 out of 3, yes.

The most important thing you can get right for you and for the band is to play the right notes at the right time and in the right order. As far as tone is concerned, making your sound fit the overall mix should be objective numero uno, unless you are playing through the PA and can rely on the FoH engineer to take care of that. If you're running solely off backline, the choice should always be good in the room, less good on stage if there is a clash between them. Unless you're in the me, me, me, rather than the us, us, us camp. It doesn't matter how good your signal chain is if venue acoustics are difficult.

Yep. Someone I know once asked me to help with sound for his band. The bass player had a custom coffee table instrument, BF cabs and a pricey amp (can't remember which). The guitar player had a Boogie head and two matching 2x12 cabs. The bass, whilst smooth, deep and expensive sounding up close, was all boom and wool out front. The guitar was similarly boomy and undefined and LOUD. I suggested to them that they cut the low end severely and asked the guitar player to disconnect one of his cabs. Both shook their heads. I tried explaining that up close and out front are not the same thing, that room acoustics and the way sounds blend can do odd things, etc, etc. No dice. So I left. They later called me, bleating about the fact that I hadn't stuck around (it was a favour - I wasn't getting paid). You can lead a horse to water.

This. The sound that works in context is the right one. If you're a soloist, knock yourself out with YOUR tone. If you play in a band, you need to find what best suits the instrumentation, songs, style, etc. Sometimes, a sound that isn't particularly pleasant to listen to in isolation can be the best one in context. "Us, us, us". rather than "Me, me, me".

Is there money or benefit to you in it? Is there a future in being in this band? If so and you have nothing better to do, I'd mime to the backing track for the show. You say you've "joined the band". Was it recently? If it wasn't long ago and they have bass parts on the backing track, are they just concerned that they will be right for the show? It's not unreasonable of them if you are still learning your parts.

I bet they can't read a sundial either. Wasn't like this in my day, etc.