Blind Tasting

[stewblack]

How well did you do? I got 25%. or in other words one right.

 

[jimbobothy]

... I was just going on the tone I preferred and it was No. 2 overall. I suppose I’ll be going for a Sire if I ever want a jazz again then 👍🏼

Edited January 11, 2020 by jimbobothy
Adding a word

[stewblack]

I just did her PJ test as well. Interestingly my results were very similar. I guessed the Sandberg but thought the  Harley was the Fender.

[Doctor J]

1 correct, but pure guesswork overall. I went with the idea that the HB would sound the thinnest. What I thought would be the Fender turned out to be the HB. I'm calling shenanigans however as they, of course, should have sounded identical because the same fingers and tonewoods were used. By forum law, it should not be possible for them to sound different.

[stewblack]

1 minute ago, Doctor J said:

1 correct, but pure guesswork overall. I went with the idea that the HB would sound the thinnest. What I thought would be the Fender turned out to be the HB. I'm calling shenanigans however as they, of course, should have sounded identical because the same fingers and tonewoods were used. By forum law, it should not be possible for them to sound different.

Same. I too thought, as much as i love HB gear their bass, in a blind test would either be thin, or weak, or muffled. Wrong.

[hooky_lowdown]

 

41 minutes ago, stewblack said:

I too thought, as much as i love HB gear their bass, in a blind test would either be thin, or weak, or muffled. Wrong.

Probably because the HB's use alnico pickups these days (except the very cheapest models), explains why they don't sound thin.

Pickups by brands like Wilkinson, Roswell or Toneriders shouldn't be sniffed at because they are a fraction of the cost of Fenders etc.

[NancyJohnson]

I wasn't really playing the game, but the Sandberg sounded the better by a country mile to my ears.

[hooky_lowdown]

1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

I wasn't really playing the game, but the Sandberg sounded the better by a country mile to my ears.

I agree. 👍

[Guest]

Having watched it I then didn't bother trying - they're all on different strings, which is liable to make more difference than any notional difference betwixt the instruments.

[jimbobothy]

... just what I was thinking when listening to it again now.

[TheGreek]

We did this at the Herts Bash years ago...I'm sure that somebody can be bothered to find the link but it isn't me...

@Lozz196 should sue for plagiarism. 

Edited January 11, 2020 by TheGreek

[Maude]

Whatever differences you think your are hearing is obviously the placebo effect of thinking they will sound different, when in actual fact all four sounded identical because they were played by the same person, with the same fingers, and as we all know........... it's all in the fingers. 

[4000]

3 hours ago, jimbobothy said:

... I was just going on the tone I preferred and it was No. 2 overall. I suppose I’ll be going for a Sire if I ever want a jazz again then 👍🏼

I thought that was by far the worst....

I don’t play Jazzes - haven’t touched one in years - so didn’t really have that much of a reference, but I got 2. Mixed up the Sire and the HB. I thought the Sandberg was easily the best. 

[Roger2611]

I got the first two right but the last two wrong, overall I preferred the Sandberg and in second place the Harley Benton, sadly the Fender came last for me  

[Hellzero]

Luckily enough the people making these tests are not working for the pharmaceutical sector otherwise we would have some really dangerous drugs on the market...

These deaf (blind would be a compliment) tests are always biased and anti-scientific.

[stewblack]

34 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Luckily enough the people making these tests are not working for the pharmaceutical sector otherwise we would have some really dangerous drugs on the market...

These deaf (blind would be a compliment) tests are always biased and anti-scientific.

I found it a harmless bit of fun. 

[Graham]

I got none of them right, but liked the Sire best

[skidder652003]

Sandberg was by far more clear sounding, the other 3 were quite muddy in comparison but I wonder if that was due to the strings, were they all the same? 

I can't believe there would be such a difference if they all had the same strings on.

[Doctor J]

17 hours ago, stewblack said:

I found it a harmless bit of fun. 

Exactly. It presents you with the results of your cognitive bias, nothing more. 
 

I remember a thread on talkbass years ago (before the humour vanished and the Fender shills ruined it) where someone put up samples of a late 50’s Precision and a bottom-rung Squier with a high-quality aftermarket pickup and listeners were tasked with picking which was which from audio alone. When faced with not being able to pick out the mojo, musically charged old-wood molecules, nitro, mellow aged magnets, pre-CBS sorcery and all the other guff we convince ourselves of and apply value to, some people got surprisingly defensive about it all.

It’s amazing how much we hear with our eyes at times 🙂

Edited January 13, 2020 by Doctor J

[SICbass]

I guessed that #2 was the V7 ‘cos I own one so know the sound, and that #4 was the HB.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Surprisingly I got all four right - probably more down to luck than judgement.

[BigRedX]

They all sounded like bass guitars and with the appropriate EQ and compression for each would work fine in the mix of other instruments.

[CamdenRob]

0/4... Sandberg sounded the best to my ears with the Harley Benton a close second. The Sire sounded like it had the world’s oldest strings on it though so likely not a fair comparison...

Edited January 14, 2020 by CamdenRob

[Doctor J]

Work with me on this one... back in the 80’s, there was a TV show called “You Bet” where contestants would bet points on a challenge of some sort to be completed by guests they wheeled on. I’m pretty sure I’m not making this up. But I digress...

I am reasonably confident a challenge on one episode was a guy who said he could name the bass being played from a selection of, let’s say, 50 basses. This was from the mid-80’s, before I started playing, but it stuck in my mind. Does anyone else remember this? He had to name something like 13 out of the 50, picked at random, based on listening alone. I think he couldn’t do it either. Tripped up by ebony not sounding dark like its colour and non-laboratory conditions making a mockery of the science of it all.

[Newfoundfreedom]

They all sounded like a farting bee on my phone.