Boodang

Ah, but are these tedious threads about 'I like my cheap bass, so blah blah blah', more, or less, tedious than comments about how tedious they are?!

I agree about not being able to hear a difference at a certain price point but interestingly it was more about playability for me. I was in a shop and played a Pedulla buzz, wasn't expecting much but for some reason it really gelled for me.... but the price! I had reached a point where I could afford the bass but was unwilling to do so. Now Pedulla have ceased making basses I'm regretting that decision!

You would be surprised! I've always made an effort with gear so as not to let myself or the band/session down, but occasionally you see someone turn up with a total train wreck in gear terms like it doesn't matter and somehow their talent will overcome this... not a bad idea for a 'train wreck' stories thread elsewhere.

Although not as mathematically neat, the logic is probably reversed and the £250 bass is a 100x better than the £25, and the £2500 is only 1.4x!

Possible the only parameters are how much are you willing and able to spend!

I absolutely agree but at the end of the day you're going to go out and buy a bass and there's a lot of choice and a lot of ways to spend your hard earned cash. And no matter how well you play you still want the best sound (subjective I know!) and the best playability. If you turned up to the studio for a session with a bass you loved to play but the sound sucked (I know, subjective!), the strings buzzed and the pickups were noisy... well it's not going to be very popular! But these days thankfully quality basses seem to be a lot cheaper.

Definitely the quality of finish is going to be related to cost (at least you hope so!) and usually that makes for a bass that plays better as well. But as for neck material not being relevant... well there's a lot of luthiers out there that think a big contribution to the overall sound is the neck, both in terms of construction and materials used. Given the dead spot on the 7th fret G string area of my maple jazz neck and the lack of one on my wenge/ebony 9 piece laminate Sei neck, I'm beginning to think they are not wrong!

Absolutely... if a Squier jazz is, for example, your ideal bass to play then you are going to save a lot of money. But as for quality, not value, well, there's only so much that can be achieved at the Squier level of production, even with cnc machining. The level of detail on the Sei is so much better and that makes it play and sound better. One example is the neck, and this might be the woods used as much as the construction, but the Squier has that dead spot in the 7th fret area of the G string, the Sei has no dead spots and the clarity and focus of the notes is superior. It's not that the Squier is bad, in fact it's a great jazz bass, but the Sei is definitely superior in sound and playability but it's the law of diminishing returns and it's a lot more money for a slightly better sound... but it is better.

Well, I've got a Squier Jazz, not expensive, plays very well especially since a pro setup and new pickups. I've also got a not cheap Sei custom. No amount of tinkering with the Squier is going to get it close to the Sei which has a custom asymmetric neck and fingerboard profile. Apart from the exquisite finish on the Sei which the Squier could never match at it's price point, the custom element of the neck profile and body make it fit like a glove and that's something a generic bass like the Squier is not going to achieve.

I was going to do a review on this but in reality there's not a lot to say except that it's a quality cable. Got it from Design-a-cable, it's the silver coated ofc low capacity series. Can't say I noticed any difference to my normal, non sliver coated, cables with live playing but then I'm going through a pedal board. And it's not really a stage cable, too thick and inflexible for that. Will be interesting to use in the studio though.

Good old HH! I inherited a 8 x 10 HH cab from a previous bass player when I joined a band. Thought it strange I got it for free but then after a few gigs I realised what a pain it was to move. I used to slide it into my hatch back car, after a while it deformed the back so much the door wouldn't shut. I gave it away to a bass player at a gig just so i didn't have to take it home at the end of the night. Knowing HH reputation for being indestructible it's probably still doing the rounds and ruining people's cars today.

Jedson tele bass.. probably the worse bass in the world, bar none... I should know, I have 2 of them! A 24 inch scale is not a bass, it's just a guitar with thick strings!

Westone Thunder 1a fretless. My best mate at school was a great guitarist, so I thought rather than compete with him I'd play bass instead. At the time, thinking it was a step down from guitar (I was young!) I thought, how can I make playing bass sexier?! Walked into my local shop and there was an unlined Westone fretless and I thought, that'll do the job. That was early 80s, didn't own a fretted bass until a few years ago, and definitely don't think it's a step down from guitar now. Sold the original bass but a few years ago a friend bought the exact model I first had. When he found out it was the same, he gave it to me. Plays really well, love the neck which has a flattened U shape to it. Weighs a ton tho! Like the neck so much I might transplant it onto a lighter body.

When the pedal has 'bass' in it's name it means it's the superior version.... or it could be you've walked into the wrong shop and it's fishing supplies.

Yeah, maybe I should lighten up! Slap bass noodling in music shops is a bit of a cliche. Still, not the choicest use of words.

PS. I thought this was quite a dismissive and derogatory posting. 'Circus exhibits' and 'w#*kery'.... really?!

I've done a thread on these strings with some clips as well. They sound good when they get there but yes, took about a week of playing before they would settle down. If I broke one on a gig I'd have to swap basses. I like them enough tho to put up with that. Not a million miles away from the Obligato strings on my DB which have the same issues.

Marcus Miller, Mark King, and anyone else who slaps will be glad to know they're a circus exhibit!

You've got to have a solid foundation tone to start with but without going wild there are definitely a few fx which can favour the bass (I'm not including pre amp eq and compression in this category as that's part of your basic tone sculpture). So, not forgetting the ubiquitous envelope filter for your quackingly good funk moments, a subtly blended octaver can work wonders, and I like the Gwizdala trick of using a short delay rather than reverb on the occasion when taste and space permit. And for when an envelope is too much, a phaser is quite funky. That's my basic staple but I'm sure others have much more!

Latest string discovery for my Squier jazz... Galli Synthesis flats. Synthetic core strings. Admittedly these are on a fretless but they feel great, really buttery, and they fit my style of playing, jazz/groove, no slap, plenty of punch without being too dull. They do rounds in the Synthesis as well. Will try them next on the fretted.

Buy an Aguilar TLC compressor, Fuzzistor, chorusaurus, plus a filter twin or grape phaser.... job done. No need for a multi-fx.

Speak for yourself! Not a fan of multi fx effects. Gave up on the Source Audio 'one' series as it involved programming and not knob tweaking, let alone a helix unit!

Yeah, their blurb is still a bit ambiguous. Does that mean it's simulating just the Akai pre-amp or the whole reel unit including the affect of the tape heads as well? I'm guessing by the diode selection switches it's just the pre-amp. A bit academic as the proof is in the pudding. But if it's the pre-amp the effect will be more distortion related, whereas with tape heads, up to a point, it will be more compression.

My biggest pet peeve with pedals... putting the 9v power next to a jack socket. What a pain.

Two issues with just using a multi-effects.... despite what is said about the dsp programming it's not going to sound exactly the same, especially when it comes to analogue pedals, and consequently your not going to get that unique sound that comes with using different pedal makes. Plus, knob tweaking of pedals if more fun than digital programming.