Hellzero

Funny, but now we have clever comments, with of course the usual "the OP is a donkey" comment. Looks like, at last, what I'm saying is read the correct way and not not immediately biased because there are the two mystical words tone and wood in the same sentence. For those interested, I have a solid scientific background including physics, biology and chemistry and I've been analysing thousands of medical studies because of my job. And worth reading this, until the end, about the other Toyota : https://phys.org/news/2017-02-concert-halls-japanese.html Also, for those who can't stand it, the summarised comparison of the 4 basses is, as mentioned at the beginning of the video, at 16'55''. You can even stop before the last sequence where the slap avalanche starts. 😉

Great ! Now I have two answers after reading all the comments. I'll be a bit harsh, but this is the plain truth. 1. Almost all posters can't read : I wrote that the tone comes from the wood, not the species of wood, as the only fixed and identical parameters are everything but the wood. And I never spoke of tonewood. 2. Almost all posters have hearing damages or problems as there's a huge difference between the 4 basses involved even if the player is Machine Gun Joe he is consistent enough to hear that it's obvious that all basses sound different, even in slap (and I do hate slap as I wrote too). And it comes from the wood, which, here, is the only variable. I feel a bit sorry as I was expecting more from this than the usual comments. I also never wrote that I could predict the tone from the wood as there are, as many said, too many variables in the wood itself, but it derailed immediately in that direction. That's why you have to try a bass or any instrument to know if it suits your tastes, whatever electronics it has or whatever wood is used even if the wood matters a lot as proven in the video ! Take care BC'ers.

It's certainly what @Killed_by_Death would answer too as he's just saying the same. Read back carefully what you've written. 😉

That said I do hate slap.

Funny, because you are just simply saying that the tone comes from the wood itself. Next.

These four basses have exact same preamps (passive only for this test), pickups and strings and were set up to the exact same precise adjustments... Same amp (Glockenklang), same settings, same cable, same place, same player, same noodling, same ... everything. A real test, for once. The only differences are the woods used. Use headphones or good speakers. See also here, page 15, for an article by the great Roger Sadowsky confirming that an electric instrument is before all an acoustic instrument and that if it doesn't sound unplugged, it won't sound better amplified whatever mods or tweaks you'll make :

Are you kidding @BigRedX, all Kramer basses with aluminium neck that I owned, except The Duke, had serious neck diving problems. And I owned or played a lot ! The last three (450 B fretless with new lightweight tuners to better balance it, DMZ 6000 B and The Duke Deluxe) were sold last year through this very parish. They are also on the very heavy side for 4 strings basses, ranging from 4.5 to more than 5 kilos for some of them...

And you could seriously hurt yourself with it. Or even kill someone... 🤦‍♂️

I know the story, don't worry, but I really lost interest in the band when it first stopped in 1980, so a long time ago...

I thought Brand X was a pure British band. What's this total mess ?

This is a Tides bass made nearby in Luxembourg : https://tttides-guitars.com/

That's an electrical power source and technically a battery, but I wouldn't pick up an instrument with a super capacitor in it. Lithium batteries tend to explode, super capacitors do burn (overheating at very very high temperature in fact) very quickly if charging voltage exceeds the maximum voltage of the super capacitor... Unmastered technology is always an issue.

On Warwick's the bridge is earthed. That said, @chyc the sound you're after can only be achieved using piezo pickup(s). You could get an approximation of it with piezo saddles in the bridge and a dedicated piezo preamp in your own Warwick, but the cost will become prohibitive. Why not buy a second hand Ibanez SRH500F or an amazing Ibanez AFR (the new generation is only fretted, but you could have it defretted or use a plectrum to get that Steve Swallow tone on a fretted piezo equipped bass). Concerning Marco's tone and solo ability, it's easy : listen to a lot of bebop soli as well as bebop walking bass lines and ... practice a LOT ! 😉 Monk Montgomery and Ray Brown II V I progressions are very good starting points (and ending points too). 🤦🏻‍♂️😂

Urm, urm, since when an active system doesn't require some electrical power ? These are the usual acoustic guitar suspects...

Do you have a sound sample of what you call acoustic-like sounds, because it can be anything from a harsh ear bleeding tone to an organic double bass tone ? And what bass would like to fit it ?

And as I wrote earlier, palm muting on the right end, no foam. If you like this kind of easy listening music (but not easy written), you'll love André Brasseur music. We saw him a few years ago with his new youngsters band, and it was just amazing. I think you all know the tunes he's playing... Check this 2017 concert :

Yep.

Of course, the neck pickup is almost mandatory to get the early days "knack bass" tone.

@Jus Lukin : remember that Ladi GEISLER was a jazz guitar player alongside with a violin player, so mixing the jazz plectrum attack on flat wounds with the violin pizzicato technique (with the fretting hand) helped him get this "knack bass" tone. So you have to mute with your fretting hand too and have loads of treble on the amp to hear the attack, but only the attack, so boosting the bass is not the idea here. The sound comes from the muting and the attack with close to no sustain and flat wounds. On early recordings, the Gibson EB short scale typical "humpf" associated with the flat wounds is really identifiable. Later recordings with the Precision were closer to James Jamerson tone.

Check this video with loads of stills :

Ok, after some research, I discovered that the bass player was Ladi GEISLER, a guitar player using a technique of his own to get the "knack bass" sound. Check this excerpt from his Wikipedia page : "From composer and big band leader James Last, he bought a late 50s Gibson EB bass guitar, with which he developed his legendary "Knack bass" sound that would become an integral feature in the Easy Listening orchestra of Bert Kaempfert. Later, he used a Fender Jazz Bass model. Most recently, he used a Fender Precision Bass when he was invited to live or recording sessions. Geisler's knack bass sound was a treble staccato bass guitar sound in which the bass string was plucked with a pick and immediately suppressed to cancel out any sustain." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladi_Geisler

To me, it sounds like a short scale hollow body bass with a neck single coil pickup played with a plectrum on flat wounds muted with foam or more likely palm muting : think Eko basses and the likes. Francis Darizcuren had a similar sound way back in his early days with some similar gear...