And the best bass sound I've ever had is..... (drum roll)

[lemmywinks]

On 30/11/2023 at 14:16, NHM said:

The best sound I get is when I practice at home, plugging directly into a Focusrite and then monitored on a pair of cheap Sennheiser headphones. All my basses, cheap or expensive, sound equally fab. No amp in a live situation has ever matched this. 

 

Same, sat at home straight into the desk with my IEMs, that's what I tried to replicate live for ages.

[dclaassen]

Best live tone was a 63 Jazz, half rounds, music man head into an 18. What I’ve got now might be better…mpv5 through a Trace rig. 

[Beedster]

Perceived bass tone (to bass player) = Actual tone/10 - Expected tone/10

 

Moderate performing low expectation bass = 5 - 0 = 5

 

Moderate performing high expectation bass = 5 - 10 = -5

 

In short a Squier has far more chance of being perceived by a bass player as an exceptional instrument than a Fender Custom Shop. But only the bassist experiences the expectation, the audience don't, so only actual tone really matters 👍

[AndyTravis]

Reidmar/proline 410

euro spector

sadowsky HPJ

 

That was everything covered

 

i did enjoy the GK MB800/Vanderklay 212 and Stingray 5 setup.

 

Now I have none of the above. And no amp.

 

what a guy.

[la bam]

I tried the hb mm84a straight into our desk (no preamp) at practice (switched the preamp pedal off) and the sound is brilliant. I really can't believe it. 

 

I've also been playing it through the Digbeth all weekend and it's so good. 

 

I'm getting worried as it's quickly becoming my favourite bass.... 

Edited December 17, 2023 by la bam

[Chris2112]

On 01/12/2023 at 12:53, zrbass said:

Just a guess. Is the OP talking about that lush J bass bedroom sound so enjoyed by a lot of younger players..the one which sadly disappears once on stage.

 

 

If you have a bad sound guy and a bad band, then yeah, that is a tone that can lose some of it's lustre in a bad mix. With sufficient competence to deliver it as it sounds in isolation, it's a gorgeous tone. 

[NancyJohnson]

My best tone was when I recorded my white Thunderbird into a BDDI into a little Boss multitrack.  Recorded in my kitchen.

 

Perhaps it was just planetary alignment, who knows.  Everything else is a close approximation of that ever since.

 

I'm just happy I was able to capture it.

[White Cloud]

I've been thinking about this lately. 

 

1986 Musicman Stingray straight into the desk at CAVA studio, Glasgow. 

 

I haven't owned a Ray since and often wonder why. Nothing but great memories of that axe. 

 

Maybe it's time.

[LeftyJ]

My best live sound was with my Status S2 Classic 5-string straight into an Ampeg SVT2PRO and SVT810, when playing with my doom band. EQ flat on both the bass and the amp, and just a tiny bit of tube grit. Worked wonders supporting two big sounding 7-string guitars tuned down to A, it sounded huge. Many musicians in the audience complimented me on my tone afterwards. The backline was the venue's own. Bassists were free to bring their own amp head, but had to use the venue's cab. I was the only one using the venue's head, as my live sound normally comes from an SVP-PRO preamp - which happens to be the preamp section of the SVT2PRO in a 1HE unit. So I left my preamp at home and just went with that amp. The other 3 bands on that evening literally all had Ibanez Soundgear basses and Darkglass heads, and none of them stood out sonically. 

 

Best studio tone was my Ellio Martina Forza 5-string through a buffered 3-way splitter, with one unprocessed channel straight into the (Studer Vista 5) desk, one channel into my Ampeg SVP-CL preamp set clean with a fairly flat EQ, and one channel through my Fulltone Bassdrive into a passive DI. Sounded great in the studio, but I wasn't happy with the final mix because of how it was EQ'd (too much sub, too much top end click, and no mids). 

[three]

Steinberger XL-2 into just about anything.  Ownership was short-lived as I couldn't cope with (to me) very weird ergonomics, but the tone from that bass was like nothing else I've experienced - staggering

[Chezz55]

My Best Studio/Recorded Bass Sound:   Status Stealth II + Ashdown ABM600 +Ashdown 8×10. (The Status was mine, the Ashdown was the studio's house bass rig.)

 

My Best Live Bass Sound:   Status Stealth II + GenzBenz Shuttle 6 + Schroeder 4x10L. (I should have resisted the GAS and kept this gig-rig.)

[2elliot]

Yamaha 734a into EBS BS deluxe/ce5 chorus/dd3 delay into Orange 4Stroke 500/Barefaced Four10.

 

Sold the bass and 4Stroke when the band broke up a month before Covid happened... band got back together not so long ago, bought a 4Stroke 300 because I couldn't find a 500, definitely doesn't sound the same, the beefy doom has gone.