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

[Nail Soup]

49 minutes ago, nilorius said:

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

Yes, I understood what you meant... just wondering why you used the word 'Unicorn' to say it?

[Boodang]

5 hours 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.

Is it just me or does the B string on a five sound like a different instrument to the rest of the bass? To my ears it doesn't have a focused tone.

[BigRedX]

6 minutes ago, Boodang said:

Is it just me or does the B string on a five sound like a different instrument to the rest of the bass? To my ears it doesn't have a focused tone.

 

There are two possible causes here:

 

1. For the most part the low B in a standard 5-string set is far too low in tension. I wouldn't consider anything less than a 130 for B to complement a 40-100 set and ideally even a bit heavier. You might be able to improve matters by picking a B which is taper-wound at the ball end, but it will depend on other factors on the bass, mostly the break-angle over the saddle.

 

2. There is more to a 5-string bass than simply taking a 4-string and putting a wider neck on it. To get the best out of a low B the neck needs to be stiffer than normal and the joint between the neck and the body has to rock-solid. IME bolt-on necks only cut it on very expensive instruments, where the fit of the heel in the pocket is perfect.

 

IME cheap 5-string basses simply aren't worth the money. They're not well enough made to get the best out of the low B-string and all they do is put people off 5-string basses.

[LukeFRC]

14 minutes ago, Boodang said:

Is it just me or does the B string on a five sound like a different instrument to the rest of the bass? To my ears it doesn't have a focused tone.

Depends on the instrument

[Grimalkin]

30 minutes ago, Boodang said:

Is it just me or does the B string on a five sound like a different instrument to the rest of the bass? To my ears it doesn't have a focused tone.

 

Part bass, part ears I would say. A low B starts at around 30hz, it's not the sensitive end of our spectrum. That's why you can get away with ropey intonation at the bottom end of a fretless neck, but not at the top.

 

 

 

[Boodang]

24 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

There are two possible causes here:

 

1. For the most part the low B in a standard 5-string set is far too low in tension. I wouldn't consider anything less than a 130 for B to complement a 40-100 set and ideally even a bit heavier. You might be able to improve matters by picking a B which is taper-wound at the ball end, but it will depend on other factors on the bass, mostly the break-angle over the saddle.

 

2. There is more to a 5-string bass than simply taking a 4-string and putting a wider neck on it. To get the best out of a low B the neck needs to be stiffer than normal and the joint between the neck and the body has to rock-solid. IME bolt-on necks only cut it on very expensive instruments, where the fit of the heel in the pocket is perfect.

 

IME cheap 5-string basses simply aren't worth the money. They're not well enough made to get the best out of the low B-string and all they do is put people off 5-string basses.

I have managed a solution to the 5 string conundrum... I string mine high C instead.

But back to the OPs original question, for me tone wise it's a Jazz (I particularly like the pups wired in series) but as I hate bolt on necks with a passion it's a custom J with a set neck.

[nilorius]

3 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

Yes, I understood what you meant... just wondering why you used the word 'Unicorn' to say it?

I thought it meant aproximately the same.

[Nail Soup]

7 minutes ago, nilorius said:

I thought it meant aproximately the same.

Ok, understood.

[AinsleyWalker]

19 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?

I assumed it was an auto correct error as they said 'unicorn' in the title and then 'universal' in the actual post 😆

[nilorius]

3 minutes ago, AinsleyWalker said:

I assumed it was an auto correct error as they said 'unicorn' in the title and then 'universal' in the actual post 😆

Why do You don't want to take ''unicorn'' and ''universal'' pretty the same ? 

[AinsleyWalker]

3 minutes ago, nilorius said:

Why do You don't want to take ''unicorn'' and ''universal'' pretty the same ? 

 

I'm not sure what you're trying to say, but a unicorn is a mythical creature haha... nothing to do with "universal".

 

[AinsleyWalker]

7 hours ago, Grimalkin said:

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

Partly because Marcus has been putting Sadowsky preamps in his basses for a long time!

Edited September 21, 2022 by AinsleyWalker

[nilorius]

1 minute ago, AinsleyWalker said:

 

I'm not sure what you're trying to say, but a unicorn is a mythical creature haha... nothing to do with "universal".

 

Sometimes people call unicorn as a thing that is meant to do for another feature, but can do all the features, too.

[BigRedX]

3 hours ago, Boodang said:

I have managed a solution to the 5 string conundrum... I string mine high C instead.

But back to the OPs original question, for me tone wise it's a Jazz (I particularly like the pups wired in series) but as I hate bolt on necks with a passion it's a custom J with a set neck.

 

I tried this but I couldn't get on with the sound and feel of the high C string on a 34" scale bass. IMO the same notes played 5 frets up on the G string always sounded better with more body to them. Everything on the high C sounded like bad jazz guitar. 

 

I think it's partly a scale-length thing because high C (and high E) on all my Bass VIs sound great, but I do treat them like a guitar rather than a bass and switch to a more "driven" sound when playing those strings.

[pete.young]

29 minutes ago, nilorius said:

Why do You don't want to take ''unicorn'' and ''universal'' pretty the same ? 

The usual use of 'unicorn' means pretty much the complete opposite of the way you've used it. It normally means something so rare and mythical that it doesn't exist.

[Leonard Smalls]

This is a Unicorn Bass!

 

[SteveXFR]

On 19/09/2022 at 22:01, LukeFRC said:

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!

 

Works for all genres including goth metal. Peter Steele used to play his on a chain strap for live shows.

 

 

[Grimalkin]

43 minutes ago, AinsleyWalker said:

Partly because Marcus has been putting Sadowsky preamps in his basses for a long time!

 

I think it's the difference between a soloed back pickup ala Jaco and a blend between both ala Marcus really.

[tauzero]

40 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

This is a Unicorn Bass!

 

 

This is probably even more unicorn:

 

[neepheid]

Unicorn == unobtainable (or at least super difficult), mythical.  The only thing it has in common with the word universal is that it starts with the same three letters.

 

Also, the unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.

[itu]

5 hours ago, BigRedX said:

1. For the most part the low B in a standard 5-string set is far too low in tension. I wouldn't consider anything less than a 130 for B to complement a 40-100 set and ideally even a bit heavier.

I thought the same with my MG Quantum 5 SPi. I tried many gauges, but .120 sounded the best ever against all expectations. Maybe the 35" scale and carbon graphite were parts of that equation.

[LukeFRC]

1 hour ago, Leonard Smalls said:

This is a Unicorn Bass!

 

That looks like someone spent too long wanting a GB bass, a alembic and a Spector and made their own 

1 hour ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Works for all genres including goth metal. Peter Steele used to play his on a chain strap for live shows.

 

 

Exactly- I’m not messing with that guy

[SteveXFR]

12 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

 

Exactly- I’m not messing with that guy

 

Sadly Peter Steele won't put up much of a fight these days unless you believe in ghosts. 

[msb]

The one on the far left is a Unicorn.

[Paul S]

Just now, msb said:

The one on the far left is a Unicorn.

 

 

I had one once, briefly.  Lovely thing but passed on to someone who appreciated it more.  Only slightly rarer than the rocking horse poo bass.