BASS POLL -Your opinion greatly appreciated!

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1176440' date='Mar 25 2011, 07:47 PM']How many forums do you get to say that on? [/quote]

Love it!!

[TMB]

[quote name='tom1946' post='1176353' date='Mar 25 2011, 07:52 PM']I used to sell Richwood Guitars & Basses and the one you are holding was a great bass even in standard form, they came in red with gold fittings too.

Great playing [/quote]

Doe you know anyone who plays them?

[Thunderthumbs]

Before I'd even found out what it was I'd have gone for Bass 1.

It's got a nice tone, and sounds slightly "old school" in that it's warmer and has more depth.

I think the one thing it does prove is that your username is incorrect

[Vibrating G String]

[quote name='All thumbs' post='1176256' date='Mar 25 2011, 11:04 AM']There doesn't seem to be a clear 'winner' and most agree that both sound comparable.[/quote]
I think they sounded rather different. I liked 1 for fingers and bridge and 2 for slap but found both useable for all styles.

I'm happy to see #1 was a super cheapy with non hand selected non tone woods with a short scale for lesser tone

I like the cheap stuff, it takes a musician to make them sound good

[ThomBassmonkey]

I'd go with 1 too.

Whatever people have you believe about tonewoods etc, they're only a minor part of your sound (and that's all opinions anyway, I expect if you made two identical basses, one out of plywood and MDF and the other from the finest tonewoods, then stuck in the same pickups and preamp, some people would prefer the ply/MDF sound). Electrics are the biggest part, a decent set of electrics on a cheapy bass can sound fantastic. As I've said before too, cheap basses suffer from bad quality control. You pay your £150 and you could get a dog of a bass or you could get a stunning instrument that could hold it's own against basses worth many times that.

If you buy a bass for £1500, you should be getting a well made bass with good electrics. That doesn't mean that a corker of a £150 bass with upgraded electronics won't sound as nice.

[lee650]

i must admit BASS#1 for me and i played a streamer lx for along time, #2 had a lot more bite, but i preferred 1 just goes to show it's all in the hands

[witterth]

bass no 1 gets my vote too
I bought a guitar(6 stringer) of the same make and its a good one as well. just goes to show.
this has been a very intresting post to my mind.
roscoe/shuker/sei/wal/warwick/musicman .....£130 (Jap/korean/chinese?) quid, hands down winner (as long as the strings are new)
off to open an Ebay account to sell, stuff and and then buy me own cheap "jazzzcopyfied" thang
and be squids in!!

[All thumbs]

Have to admit I've really enjoyed this thread - it's really helped me have confidence ia bass I LOVE to play but was sort of worried what others might think. Stupid really, but I think most of us have that fear of playing cheapy stuff.

For me this was also majorly about the short scale thing. My Richwood is a short (30") scale and there's always this idea that short scales are muddy sounding. Clearly people aren't hearing this in the Richwood to any degree.

I think the main reason for the short scale downer is that most off the peg shorties lean towards a very thuddy sound by nature of pickup positioning etc. e.g. Gibson/Epiphone/Hofner.

BTW the Dean Evo XM looks like it'd be a killer short scale with a preamp dropped in. I reckon passive it'd be pretty dark souning with those humbuckers.

Edited March 26, 2011 by All thumbs

[Roland Rock]

[quote name='All thumbs' post='1176904' date='Mar 26 2011, 08:42 AM']Have to admit I've really enjoyed this thread - it's really helped me have confidence ia bass I LOVE to play but was sort of worried what others might think. Stupid really, but I think most of us have that fear of playing cheapy stuff.

For me this was also majorly about the short scale thing. My Richwood is a short (30") scale and there's always this idea that short scales are muddy sounding. Clearly people aren't hearing this in the Richwood to any degree.

I think the main reason for the short scale downer is that most off the peg shorties lean towards a very thuddy sound by nature of pickup positioning etc. e.g. Gibson/Epiphone/Hofner.

BTW the Dean Evo XM looks like it'd be a killer short scale with a preamp dropped in. I reckon passive it'd be pretty dark souning with those humbuckers.[/quote]


A really thought-provoking thread, thanks. I think that there's something cool about playing a cheap non-brand bass (as long as it sounds good), as it says that you don't need to spends loads of money to sound great

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='All thumbs' post='1176904' date='Mar 26 2011, 08:42 AM']Have to admit I've really enjoyed this thread - it's really helped me have confidence ia bass I LOVE to play but was sort of worried what others might think. Stupid really, but I think most of us have that fear of playing cheapy stuff.

For me this was also majorly about the short scale thing. My Richwood is a short (30") scale and there's always this idea that short scales are muddy sounding. Clearly people aren't hearing this in the Richwood to any degree.

I think the main reason for the short scale downer is that most off the peg shorties lean towards a very thuddy sound by nature of pickup positioning etc. e.g. Gibson/Epiphone/Hofner.

BTW the Dean Evo XM looks like it'd be a killer short scale with a preamp dropped in. I reckon passive it'd be pretty dark souning with those humbuckers.[/quote]

I regularly play half a set on one of my Rays then switch to my Squier Jazz for the next half, As long as they sound good,play well and stay in one piece its all good

[mcnach]

[quote name='All thumbs' post='1176904' date='Mar 26 2011, 08:42 AM']Have to admit I've really enjoyed this thread - it's really helped me have confidence ia bass I LOVE to play but was sort of worried what others might think. Stupid really, but I think most of us have that fear of playing cheapy stuff.[/quote]


If I could play the way you do, I would have no fear of what anybody would think of the name on my headstock!!!

In fact, I'd oprobably still play my beloved Stingray, but scratch the name off the headstock and put a "Sue Ryder" logo instead

[xilddx]

[quote name='All thumbs' post='1175957' date='Mar 25 2011, 02:29 PM']PLEASE vote for either BASS 1 or BASS 2...

BASS 1 Fingerstyle both pickups - [url="http://www.boogieexpress.co.uk/Bass%201%20fingerstyle%20both%20pickups.mp3"]http://www.boogieexpress.co.uk/Bass%201%20...h%20pickups.mp3[/url]

BASS 2 Fingerstyle both pickups - [url="http://www.boogieexpress.co.uk/Bass%202%20fingerstyle%20both%20pickups.mp3"]http://www.boogieexpress.co.uk/Bass%202%20...h%20pickups.mp3[/url]

BASS 1 Fingerstyle Brid...ge Pickup - [url="http://www.boogieexpress.co.uk/Bass%201%20fingerstyle%20bridge%20pickup.mp3"]http://www.boogieexpress.co.uk/Bass%201%20...ge%20pickup.mp3[/url]

BASS 2 Fingerstyle Bridge Pickup - [url="http://www.boogieexpress.co.uk/Bass%202%20fingerstyle%20bridge%20pickup.mp3"]http://www.boogieexpress.co.uk/Bass%202%20...ge%20pickup.mp3[/url]

BASS 1 Slap - [url="http://www.boogieexpress.co.uk/Bass%201%20Slap.mp3"]http://www.boogieexpress.co.uk/Bass%201%20Slap.mp3[/url]

BASS 2 Slap - [url="http://www.boogieexpress.co.uk/Bass%202%20Slap.mp3"]http://www.boogieexpress.co.uk/Bass%202%20Slap.mp3[/url][/quote]
Bass 2 on all for me. Bass 1 isn't bad by any means, but Bass 2 sounds richer and more refined to my ears, nicer bass response and nicer mids. I would choose bass 2 it was me.

There's not that much to choose between them, and a lot of those sounds are coming from your hands. Nice playing too BTW

Crikey, just found out what they are! Goes to show you doesn't it. Mind you, a bass is not just about the sound, there are so many other things to consider.

Edited March 26, 2011 by silddx

[TRBboy]

Awesome playing man!

FWIW I preferred Bass 2 for both Pups and slap, but Bass 1 for bridge pup. Bass 2 sounded a bit thin on the bridge pup for me.

[Schnozzalee]

Bass 1 (the Richwood) sounds incredible to me, the warwick trumps it on slap tone but it would being 34" scale as you need the tension. I'm a fingerstyle player and I love that a lot!

[Conan]

Bass 2 nails it on slap for me - but only because it sounds more like Norwood!! Bass 1 also sounds great on slap, but a bit more like an anonymous US session player somehow?

Bass 1 way ahead on both pickups and the bridge alone.

I played the 5 string version of your Richwood a few weeks ago. It is owned by a 16 year old student who loves his bass to bits. he has reason to! A very nice bass (if slightly neck-heavy in 5 string format).

And again - lovely playing man!

[Vibrating G String]

[quote name='All thumbs' post='1176904' date='Mar 26 2011, 01:42 AM']Stupid really, but I think most of us have that fear of playing cheapy stuff.[/quote]
I used to think that way, mildly embarrassed to play my Tokai copy (of course 25 years later they're now cool). But now as my playing and confidence has improved I actually enjoy playing cheapies. It also lets me focus more on music and less on fashion.

[Kev]

Liked both equally with both pups, but much preferred bass 2 with solo bridge and slap tone (maybe some sort of Warwick?)

Do we find out what they are?

Edit: Haha, what you get for skimming a thread! Surprised that the first bass was a budget chinese thing (although LOVE that someone compared it to their Sadowsky, confirming my beliefs regarding jazz copies ) but to my ears the differences in quality between the 2 in the second and third set of clips were quite apparent, i had a hunch it was a Warwick

Edited March 29, 2011 by Kev

[Rumble]

What is it folks say about tone being in the fingers?! I'm pretty sure there's no way I could make a cheap chinese copy sound that good, but it won my vote for fingerstyle and bridge PUP. Warwick nailed the slap though.

Excellent blind test!

[All thumbs]

It's been quite a liberating thread really lol!

I guess as long as this thread remains online it's a pretty cool place to point those who doubt or question the viability of both short scale and/or cheap basses.

[witterth]

[quote name='Kev' post='1180330' date='Mar 29 2011, 12:58 AM']Liked both equally with both pups, but much preferred bass 2 with solo bridge and slap tone (maybe some sort of Warwick?)

Do we find out what they are?

Edit: Haha, what you get for skimming a thread! Surprised that the first bass was a budget chinese thing (although LOVE that someone compared it to their Sadowsky, confirming my beliefs regarding jazz copies ) but to my ears the differences in quality between the 2 in the second and third set of clips were quite apparent, i had a hunch it was a Warwick [/quote]
Yep skim reading, leads to misunderstanding dosent it Kev? ok, noone compared it to "their" Sadowsky, the point was made about listening rather than Knee jerking about very expensive guitars being best ( well thats what I thought any way)
it woul appear your right though, jurys out onthis one

Edited March 29, 2011 by witterth

[Kev]

I was referring to this

[quote name='CHRISDABASS' post='1176062' date='Mar 25 2011, 04:49 PM']

to my ears bass 1 sounds very much like a jazz bass / super jazz

the fingerstyle clip reminds me of [b]my[/b] sadowsky!

[/quote]

Edited March 31, 2011 by Kev

[BB3000S]

Bass 2 all the way for me. To my ears, bass 1 was good, but bass 2 was great!
Were the strings possibly a bit duller on Bass 1?
Awesome playing!!

[Ghost_Bass]

IMO, Bass 1 has the best tone in all categories, it's sweeter and more balanced but Bass 2 would work better in a band context. that extra bite in the high-mid range would make it stand out in the mix.
They are two very distinct tones (i heard the recs through my GB rig), not that close in my impression. When i found out what they were my jaw hit the ground!

Very nice playing

[PlungerModerno]

Bass 2 sounds a bit "thicker" to me - but they both sound great, with a little EQ I could probably get either two pickup bass to cover a wide range of tones.

Both nice, IMO the richwood has a very nice Jazz Bass sound - in a good way. Suprising for a budget shortscale, at least to me.
I have plans to try making a medium scale neck for a Jazz of mine - I may make the 32" 30" at this rate!

[timhiggins]

Bass 1 for me sounds like a good jazz to me,reminds me of my v.m.j. with J retro installed [and i thought that was a bargain]
and your playings superb as ever !