Six of one…. Half a dozen of the other.

[chris_b]

1 minute ago, Rayman said:

I suppose it’s all part of the same conversation….. would the audience notice the difference between that and a Fender Rumble? 
 

 

Most of them won't, but it's not important if they notice or not.

 

Just as playing a $90 guitar to 5 or 50K people is an irrelevance. 

 

Our gear is for us and if we know we sound good we'll play better, and that will make everyone else play better, and the audience will notice that, and that's the goal.

[Rayman]

Yep, that I absolutely agree with 💯 %

[Happy Jack]

26 minutes ago, Rayman said:

Yep, that I absolutely agree with 💯 %

 

That's all very well, but I agree with him 1000% so that makes my agreement ten times better than yours. 

[Rayman]

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

 

That's all very well, but I agree with him 1000% so that makes my agreement ten times better than yours. 

But will everyone else hear the difference?? 😆

[diskwave]

Correct, and here is a very important public service announcement to the bass hive. The sound dude is programmed to crank the subs, kill the mids and render you and your squillion quid custom whizz banger to sound no better than the Walmart kids toy bass we all got at xmas. (Beleive you me I honestly wish I was joking).🙄

[Richard R]

As the dude who does FOH sound and plays bass, I can safely say that in my mixes you can tell the difference between a Rickenbacker, a Precision type thing and a Jazz type thing, if you’re really listening, but not between individual makes unless one is utterly carp.

 

However one lad at church has started playing a much nicer bass than his first one, and his playing is now better and more interesting. On that basis alone the more expensive bass is worth it.

[Waddo Soqable]

I've only ever had one person come up to me afterwards and say "that's a really good bass sound you've got"  and it turns out.. he was another bass player... 

I've had numerous say they like the "way I played" type thing... but that's more likely the whole "throwing shapes" performance malarkey rather than considered approval of what I actually played on the bass itself. The average punter probably doesn't know the difference between a bass and a guitar anyway. 

I'm firmly in the 50 to 200 quid brigade too.. I seem to make the same clanging racket on any bass, posh or not, so I'd certainly not splurge an absurd amount of dosh on one even if I could afford it ( which I can't ) 

[binky_bass]

11 hours ago, Rayman said:

Yep, the same formula works for pretty much everything. I’m not saying either are right or wrong, just saying.

 

 I suppose it’s all down to the user experience and the performance of the item, but if it achieves the same end result….. I do wonder about the big price difference.

Some, IMO, are absolutely not worth the price, Some are, but... you are of course essentially absolutely correct! Some of us are vein and like a fancy top! 😁

[Waddo Soqable]

8 minutes ago, binky_bass said:

Some of us are vein and like a fancy top! 

 

[snorkie635]

Really enjoying this thread. Wanted to add that sometimes I turn up for a gig with an 'expensive' bass and then discover that the 'house' bass gear is so appalling, I could play any type of bass and still sound as crap as the next guy (or gal). Also, don't forget to consider what the others in the band are playing. Two guitars worth £150 and two cheap guitar amps and a knackered drum-kit, will usually sound as you might expect. Your Foderabacker Gibder Dingbat ten string bass is unlikely to make a huge difference. Discuss (50 words, to be handed in by tomorrow morning).

🤗

[gjones]

7 hours ago, Cato said:

 

Case in point I saw a lad playing a Music Man Bongo in a pub covers band a while back.

 

The bass sounded great in the mix but while I was sitting round the corner just listening, before I actually saw him, it never occurred to me just from listening that he was playing something a bit out of the ordinary.

 

On the other hand......

 

I was chatting to the drummer in my band, after we'd finished our set at my local music bar. The band on after us were starting their soundcheck and the bassist started playing. Both my ears and the drummer's pricked up and we spun around at the sound of the bass guitar. It sounded amazing and I immediately tried to identify the bass he was playing. I could see it was a WAL mark 11, which I'd never seen in the flesh before and it had the best bass sound I'd ever heard. 

 

Now that's an objective opinion, as I didn't know what model of bass it was before I turned around to look.

 

After hearing one in the flesh, and now knowing how great they sound, would I ever buy one for the many thousands of pounds it would cost me to do so?  

 

Nah......

[Lozz196]

I often watch the Andertons “Sound Like” vids on YouTube. They do a without busting the bank and a by busting the bank. Sometimes they’ve done both on the same band, and in every case the without busting the bank sound treblier and thinner in comparison. So maybe the more expensive gear is worth it.
 

That said, having watched Rig Rundowns on YouTube many of the bands seem to have Gibson & Fender Standards as their main axes as oppose to Custom Shop stuff and they seem to sound ok.

 

 

[TrypF]

11 hours ago, rushbo said:

I think this is a pretty good analogy. Whenever I've played any super-duper, high-end basses, for the most part, I've been impressed, but the difference in build quality and shininess couldn't justify the financial outlay - for me, anyway.

 

My modus operandi is that I'll buy an inexpensive but decent bass and then over time, replace some parts and do some tweaking until I have a bass which absolutely matches my needs. These hybrid instruments I put together have next to no resale value, but that's not the point. I love them and they inspire me to play.

 

Musicians buy instruments for many reasons, with tonal quality not always being at the top of the list. Because a bassist is professional/semi-professional/high profile, there is an expectation that they'll play an instrument that somehow matches their perceived status. I worked in the jewellery trade for a couple of years and my old boss drove a Rolls Royce which he loathed and complained about it bitterly. When I naively suggested that he got rid of it, he replied that if he replaced it with a cheaper yet more reliable car, it would appear to be a retrograde step, meaning that he's fallen on hard times.

 

If your £12,000 Fodera Richard Bona Imperial 5 inspires you to play at your absolute best (and you can afford it!) then that is the bass for you. If that second-hand Harley Benton P Bass that your dad bought for you for Christmas is your pride and joy, then hang on to it. You can hammer a nail into a wall with a hammer or a rock. As long as you can hang a picture on that nail, you've done the job.

 

This is my experience. I don’t have the money to buy a £1,000+ bass, but I can buy an instrument, give it a proper setup (learnt through many years of trial and error) and I’d be happy to gig it. Add a few hundred quid of upgrades (over a number of months, usually) and I have a roadworthy Instrument I can really rely on - it helps that they’re always Fender-shaped, cause I know where I am and have all the tools. That’ll do me.

[Richard R]

13 hours ago, snorkie635 said:

Foderabacker Gibder Dingbat

 

Great basses, but suffer from neck-dive due to the 14" headstock required to accommodate the logo.

[diskwave]

22 hours ago, Richard R said:

As the dude who does FOH sound and plays bass, I can safely say that in my mixes you can tell the difference between a Rickenbacker, a Precision type thing and a Jazz type thing, if you’re really listening, but not between individual makes unless one is utterly carp.

 

However one lad at church has started playing a much nicer bass than his first one, and his playing is now better and more interesting. On that basis alone the more expensive bass is worth it.

R , just the man. How come then at every show, gig, festival Ive been to in the last five or so years the bass is always boomy mud. 

[BigRedX]

16 hours ago, greavesbass said:

How come then at every show, gig, festival Ive been to in the last five or so years the bass is always boomy mud. 

 

Probably because you've been to the wrong ones. Come and see some post-punk inspired bands at small-ish venues and there will plenty of bass guitar mixed up front where it supposed to be.

[smithy]

Just my two cents...

playing a bass with a high reputation on stage might end up in expections that not everybody is able to meet, while playing well with an underrated instrument will be noticed positively.

On the other hand, I´m pretty sure that professional players do hear and feel the difference (I´m not one of those, so it´s just a guess)

 

 

[Richard R]

On 07/04/2023 at 16:58, greavesbass said:

R , just the man. How come then at every show, gig, festival Ive been to in the last five or so years the bass is always boomy mud. 

 

Might be that there is just too much else going on from the other instruments and they need the low frequency cutting back to make space for the bass? You can cut the bass as well, oddly enough, and that can tighten up the sound.  I usually boost a small amount about 800Hz, depending on what else is going on.

 

I'm fortunate,  I do sound in the same church, so I know the venue and the players. Doing FOH for a band changing venues every night would be a much harder job. 

[Bleat]

I sound barely average on pretty much every bass that's ever been in my hands regardless of cost. I would pay extra for a talent control though.

 

[Ralf1e]

On 06/04/2023 at 10:37, MacDaddy said:

You can buy one for fifty quid, you can buy one for fifty grand…. but they all do pretty much exactly the same thing. You can make folks smile, dance and have fun with an instrument that cost less than a tank of fuel…. or you can bore them senseless playing a slap solo on one that could be a deposit on a house instead. (Mod edit - This was Rayman not MacDaddy who said this, for clarification). 

I have a simple Squier p bass 50 anniversary edition made in the Yako factory.

Found it on Gumtree less than 20 miles from my home

£50.

Gave it a setup including neck shim.

Fabulous to play. Great sound really nice eye/ear opening bass

Can't imagine paying 50k for a bass.

It would cost me less to learn the last few extra skills to make my own.

As a side note.

Every time a celebrity buys a high priced collectors instrument everyone gets to hear about it in the media.

Giving them millions worth of free publicity 

Think about it?

Edited April 11, 2023 by Cat Burrito
quote error

[Waddo Soqable]

On 09/04/2023 at 15:20, Bleat said:

I sound barely average on pretty much every bass that's ever been in my hands regardless of cost. I would pay extra for a talent control though.

 

A talent knob, what a great idea! 

" woah.. can you roll the talent button right down, this is a '76 punk cover.." 😁

[MacDaddy]

 

@Ralf1e you have quoted me in a quote, which I did not quoth!

[Muzz]

On 08/04/2023 at 09:37, BigRedX said:

 

Probably because you've been to the wrong ones. Come and see some post-punk inspired bands at small-ish venues and there will plenty of bass guitar mixed up front where it supposed to be.

On the other hand, I went to see the Stranglers a couple of months ago, and the sound bloke even managed to reduce the poster boy for upfront bass's sound to mushy, boomy mud*...I've walked out of almost every 'big' gig I've been to over the last few years (including big names like the Foos, Alterbridge) in big venues because of this trend to scoop and blur the bass into a wash underneath a cannon-kick...

 

* See another post somewhere for my post-gig rant/bleat for more details...

Edited April 11, 2023 by Muzz

[Ralf1e]

10 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

 

@Ralf1e you have quoted me in a quote, which I did not quoth!

Not by intension but looking back above instead of Rayman your name has come out on it. I can't say I know enough about this system to say how or why. I must have done something to make that happen but I have no idea how.

Do apologise oops.

[Cat Burrito]

Moderation note - 

 

@Ralf1e, @MacDaddy - I am not sure how this happened but I can't correct the original quote! The main body of text is easy to alter but not when quoting somebody - that is bolded out! I think as the thread correctly acknowledges that it was @Rayman who said it, we'll have to let it stand. Otherwise, it'll make the thread look untidy if I start hiding comments. I'll put a clarification in the original post.