Most universal bass in all type of music from Your ears.

[nilorius]

Hi! Which do You think is the most universal bass in all situation, music type and so on......??? From my side - Fender fretted Jaco jazz bass.

Edited September 23, 2022 by nilorius

[Lozz196]

In the music I listen to - punk/Oi/rock - it’s the Fender Precision.

[LukeFRC]

double bass. 

Even in the genres where you don't normally see them the dude's 

a) learned to play the thing
b) worked out how to transport the thing
so I'm not messing with them!

[Nail Soup]

Got to be a basic P.

[dclaassen]

For me,  it’s a fretted jazz…

[Doctor J]

All of them. The restriction, if there is one, is the player.

[Hobbayne]

The transit van of the bass world - The Fender Precision.

[tauzero]

[kodiakblair]

Fender Precision.

 

Works for all types of rock and soul, plenty of jazz players use the P-bass. It's great for finger style Funk.

 

As for slap ?

 

 

[chris_b]

 

Fender Precision

[Mykesbass]

21 hours ago, tauzero said:

Nah, they all sound the same - it's all in the fingers 😎

[Nail Soup]

Question to OP: Is ‘unicorn’ a term in your native youngest for something universal?

Or was it a typo or something else?

[leschirons]

Seems everyone is thinking only of sound. For me, it's any 5 string. With a twiddle here and a twiddle there, you can get a useable sound out of 99% of working basses.

[BreadBin]

38 minutes ago, leschirons said:

Seems everyone is thinking only of sound. For me, it's any 5 string. With a twiddle here and a twiddle there, you can get a useable sound out of 99% of working basses.

My £200 Yamaha 5-string is the only bass I really need. The rest are just nice to have.

[Paul S]

This is the most unicorn bass I can think of

 

[NancyJohnson]

This is going to run and run.  It's all so speculative.

 

In a many cornered boxing ring, in one corner you're going to have the Leo got it right team, who will always say it's all about Precisions and Jazz basses.  In another corner, you'll have the Gibson mob, waxing lyrical about various EBs and Thunderbirds.  Then you'll have the Modern Crew, which will be all about Spectors.  In another the Japanese traditionalists.  In another corner, Rickenbackers.   And so on.

 

Despite the amount of money I've haemorrhaged on gear over the decades, I'd readily admit that if you have a nicely set up bass with a PJ pickup configuration, tonally you're pretty much good to go for any situation.  All these other things, shape, colour/finish, woods, nut width etc. make no difference (*as proven).  

 

Just an observation on the whole punk thing, while the ethic was supposedly all about making music from nothing/cheap instruments, but it's not unsurprising that most of the early bands were actually using quite high end gear (Gibson/Fender/Rickenbacker).  I do wonder if things might have been different if Glen Matlock/Paul Simonon/Dee Dee/JJB/Foxton etc had not favoured Fender basses long term (yes, I know several used 4001s).

[neepheid]

You say that, but from a Gibsonhead here - universal == Precision bass.

 

I'll embellish: I like Gibson basses BECAUSE they're weird, because they have foibles, because they're relatively uncommon.  All those attributes which I deem to be positive pretty much knock them out of contention when it comes to universality.  I'm not that blinkered.  Gibson have made several choices along the road which ended up practically guaranteeing that they would forever be outliers in the bass world.  Including the latest choice of the past few years - don't bother.

Edited September 21, 2022 by neepheid

[dclaassen]

10 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

This is going to run and run.  It's all so speculative.

 

In a many cornered boxing ring, in one corner you're going to have the Leo got it right team, who will always say it's all about Precisions and Jazz basses.  In another corner, you'll have the Gibson mob, waxing lyrical about various EBs and Thunderbirds.  Then you'll have the Modern Crew, which will be all about Spectors.  In another the Japanese traditionalists.  In another corner, Rickenbackers.   And so on.

 

Despite the amount of money I've haemorrhaged on gear over the decades, I'd readily admit that if you have a nicely set up bass with a PJ pickup configuration, tonally you're pretty much good to go for any situation.  All these other things, shape, colour/finish, woods, nut width etc. make no difference (*as proven).  

 

Just an observation on the whole punk thing, while the ethic was supposedly all about making music from nothing/cheap instruments, but it's not unsurprising that most of the early bands were actually using quite high end gear (Gibson/Fender/Rickenbacker).  I do wonder if things might have been different if Glen Matlock/Paul Simonon/Dee Dee/JJB/Foxton etc had not favoured Fender basses long term (yes, I know several used 4001s).

Very insightful comment here. I think the hard truth is that NO instrument is right for all occasions in the eyes of all people. I don't like sightreading on a 4-string bass...personal choice. I like a fretless for most forms of jazz (to exclude fusion/funk/whatever in this genre....also a personal choice. P Bass necks annoy me, so I like a Jazz bass for covers/country/pop/rock...also personal choice. 

 

The same would be true for amps, I wager, or what the best, most universal pint is ........(running out to get some popcorn now....) 

[neepheid]

4 minutes ago, dclaassen said:

Very insightful comment here. I think the hard truth is that NO instrument is right for all occasions in the eyes of all people. I don't like sightreading on a 4-string bass...personal choice. I like a fretless for most forms of jazz (to exclude fusion/funk/whatever in this genre....also a personal choice. P Bass necks annoy me, so I like a Jazz bass for covers/country/pop/rock...also personal choice. 

 

The same would be true for amps, I wager, or what the best, most universal pint is ........(running out to get some popcorn now....) 

 

Perhaps I meta'ed the whole thing because of the use of the word "universal".  I saw beyond myself and had a realistic think about bass players/bass playing in general.

 

If it's just another free-for-all scrum of personal opinions then you're all wrong, my basses are the best basses in the world until I sell them and get other ones which are the best basses in the world

[Grimalkin]

A Jazz bass. The difference between Marcus Miller's sound and Jaco's are worlds apart. Need two pickups, choice is nice. 

[BigRedX]

In my record collection all the best bass lines are played on synthesisers.

[neepheid]

10 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

In my record collection all the best bass lines are played on synthesisers.

 

Is there anything "universal" about you other than you breathe oxygen?  You do breathe oxygen, right?

[nilorius]

14 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

Question to OP: Is ‘unicorn’ a term in your native youngest for something universal?

Or was it a typo or something else?

Any bass that can be the best for any type of music.

[Reggaebass]

9 minutes ago, nilorius said:

Any bass that can be the best for any type of music.

I would have thought that’s any bass, but I’ve found for what I play the jazz gives me the best response 

[msb]

3 hours ago, Paul S said:

This is the most unicorn bass I can think of

 

 

I managed to find one of those ! And it’s a lovely thing , I got it just in case I might have the need to run away and join a new wave outfit. If this blues thing doesn’t pan out …