Bass Comparisons

Keefy

JezWynd said:

the Precision is a bass colossus bestriding the musical universe. 

My feelings exactly. YMMV etc.

Bridgehouse

Keefy said:

JezWynd said:

the Precision is a bass colossus bestriding the musical universe. 

My feelings exactly. YMMV etc.

You all know my feelings on this subject.. the fretless I seem to have procured has a piezo bridge, but a colossus of a big fat precision pickup in the sweet spot under the full length board... yum

JezWynd

Bridgehouse said:

Keefy said:

JezWynd said:

the Precision is a bass colossus bestriding the musical universe. 

My feelings exactly. YMMV etc.

You all know my feelings on this subject.. the fretless I seem to have procured has a piezo bridge, but a colossus of a big fat precision pickup in the sweet spot under the full length board... yum

The Shuker?

Bridgehouse

JezWynd said:

Bridgehouse said:

Keefy said:

JezWynd said:

the Precision is a bass colossus bestriding the musical universe. 

My feelings exactly. YMMV etc.

You all know my feelings on this subject.. the fretless I seem to have procured has a piezo bridge, but a colossus of a big fat precision pickup in the sweet spot under the full length board... yum

The Shuker?

Yeah I sinned and bought it. Pick it up Thursday.

I rang Jon and he talked me through the bass and I thought.. “ah fuck it, it’s only money. Bread and cheese for the rest of the month” etc

I don’t remember what brand of soapbar P it is under the board but I think he said it was a Bartolini. Dunno. Either way it’s in the P sweet spot and a big split coil..

JezWynd

Bridgehouse said:

JezWynd said:

Bridgehouse said:

Keefy said:

JezWynd said:

the Precision is a bass colossus bestriding the musical universe. 

My feelings exactly. YMMV etc.

You all know my feelings on this subject.. the fretless I seem to have procured has a piezo bridge, but a colossus of a big fat precision pickup in the sweet spot under the full length board... yum

The Shuker?

Yeah I sinned and bought it. Pick it up Thursday.

I rang Jon and he talked me through the bass and I thought.. “ah fuck it, it’s only money. Bread and cheese for the rest of the month” etc

I don’t remember what brand of soapbar P it is under the board but I think he said it was a Bartolini. Dunno. Either way it’s in the P sweet spot and a big split coil..

Wow! That's a big purchase in every sense! Brilliant design, with the fretboard extending the whole length. You'll be hooked.

Bridgehouse

JezWynd said:

Bridgehouse said:

JezWynd said:

Bridgehouse said:

Keefy said:

JezWynd said:

the Precision is a bass colossus bestriding the musical universe. 

My feelings exactly. YMMV etc.

You all know my feelings on this subject.. the fretless I seem to have procured has a piezo bridge, but a colossus of a big fat precision pickup in the sweet spot under the full length board... yum

The Shuker?

Yeah I sinned and bought it. Pick it up Thursday.

I rang Jon and he talked me through the bass and I thought.. “ah fuck it, it’s only money. Bread and cheese for the rest of the month” etc

I don’t remember what brand of soapbar P it is under the board but I think he said it was a Bartolini. Dunno. Either way it’s in the P sweet spot and a big split coil..

Wow! That's a big purchase in every sense! Brilliant design, with the fretboard extending the whole length. You'll be hooked.

I know mate - I just thought go big or go home.

The guy advertising it on Basschat said it was a grand off new price, but when I rang Jon he said that to do one the same now would be a lot more so about half price or thereabouts. It’s mint and I just thought I’d kick myself hard if I didn’t. 

It’ll be a play at home queen until know what I’m doing - but I can see it getting recorded. 

JezWynd

Bridgehouse said:

JezWynd said:

Bridgehouse said:

JezWynd said:

Bridgehouse said:

Keefy said:

JezWynd said:

the Precision is a bass colossus bestriding the musical universe. 

My feelings exactly. YMMV etc.

You all know my feelings on this subject.. the fretless I seem to have procured has a piezo bridge, but a colossus of a big fat precision pickup in the sweet spot under the full length board... yum

The Shuker?

Yeah I sinned and bought it. Pick it up Thursday.

I rang Jon and he talked me through the bass and I thought.. “ah fuck it, it’s only money. Bread and cheese for the rest of the month” etc

I don’t remember what brand of soapbar P it is under the board but I think he said it was a Bartolini. Dunno. Either way it’s in the P sweet spot and a big split coil..

Wow! That's a big purchase in every sense! Brilliant design, with the fretboard extending the whole length. You'll be hooked.

I know mate - I just thought go big or go home.

The guy advertising it on Basschat said it was a grand off new price, but when I rang Jon he said that to do one the same now would be a lot more so about half price or thereabouts. It’s mint and I just thought I’d kick myself hard if I didn’t. 

It’ll be a play at home queen until know what I’m doing - but I can see it getting recorded. 

Fretless is addictive, I haven't touched the Ric since one arrived. They're a good choice for solo/home play as they have so much more melodic potential, plus it really forces you to get your left hand technique up to snuff. 

Bridgehouse

@JezWynd  - exactly that! I’ve been told I can play fretted to a reasonably competent standard, and I’m musical by nature having played a vast range of instruments in my time - but my biggest weakness is accuracy of left hand technique.

My right hand, rhythm, phrasing and so forth is okay - dare I say it, pretty good - I use a well practiced floating thumb and fingers technique so my muting is pretty good too.. but my left hand technique is not so good - it’s not accurate enough. I notice it more playing on dark stages where I’m really having to strain and concentrate. 

The fretless is all about nailing that and getting that bit right. Kill or cure I suppose. I can only think it will improve my left hand technique on fretted regardless of how competent I am on fretless. Plus, it’s a musical adventure and a challenge. Last time I did something like this I bought a traditional system wooden flute. I learned embrochure, flat fingering, the lot from scratch and then gigged with it. It was bloody hard but my musical ability increased massively for doing it

PVO_Dave

Interesting video, for me the Stingray was my favourite BUT that's probably more to do with the bass sound I prefer from my musical influences growing up (huge RHCP fan, fading out after Californication). Helps that I have a Stingray too I guess  

They all sounded bloody awful with the pick on the first round, I think the Rick sounded the worst out of the lot, it was like a hearing a bass but covering your ears with a pillow. The Warwick to agree with a comment above was very HiFi, not really my thing and the Thunderbird was pretty lack lustre too. P sounded like a great all rounder, surprised how bright the Jazz bass was.

Bridgehouse

PVO_Dave said:

Interesting video, for me the Stingray was my favourite BUT that's probably more to do with the bass sound I prefer from my musical influences growing up (huge RHCP fan, fading out after Californication). Helps that I have a Stingray too I guess  

They all sounded bloody awful with the pick on the first round, I think the Rick sounded the worst out of the lot, it was like a hearing a bass but covering your ears with a pillow. The Warwick to agree with a comment above was very HiFi, not really my thing and the Thunderbird was pretty lack lustre too. P sounded like a great all rounder, surprised how bright the Jazz bass was.

I still think it was the wrong string choice for the Jazz. And something was definitely off with the Ric - maybe the Preamp or something...

guitarfishbay

It sounded like it was possibly clipping something, and not in a nice way.

Funkfingers

Fret rattle!

ICBM

The Rick is definitely clipping, especially in the first picked part. Why is that the fault of the bass? It just means that the recording gear wasn't set right, and the output of it is more dynamic than the other basses. Which is remarkable given that two of them are active and three have humbuckers, but it is what it is...

guitarfishbay

Stingrays are really not loud basses at all, unless you boost the low end with the preamp.  I was surprised at this myself.

The Warwick is capable of low end but I feel like they had the treble too high on this video.

In the official demo at 1:06 he dimes the bass on the preamp, on the neck pickup. Plenty of low end.  But you can hear that characteristic high end in a lot of places.



Also the 5 string has the neck pickup even closer to the bridge than the 4, and Ryan Martine manages to get a nice low end out of his Thumb.

guitarfishbay

I think the reason Stingrays aren't that loud is that they're wired parallel.  They'd probably be super loud if they were wired as series, but then they wouldn't have the same characteristic scoop.

PolarityMan

I feel like the Warwick and a lesser extent the Stingray are also voiced with a mix in mind (which is probably also why I like them).  I think this is what people are saying when they feel it is "HiFi".
The other reason is the articulation, you can hear every nuance of what was played in all playing styles (the fenders I think had the same articulation but in only one style each). 
By contrast the rick would need severe carving to fit in a mix and I could barely tell whether he was slapping or using fingers from the sound.

Funkfingers

I have refrained from posting in this thread so far because I wanted to see whether it would shape up along similar lines to a thread on the exact same topic on an American pickup forum from over two years ago. 

One of the problems of the instrument comparison including a visual element is that it is all too easy for a listener's judgement to be swayed by his or her pre-existing opinion of the specific make or model that can be seen on screen. For some viewers, even the finish colour scheme could alter the attitude.

The video instrument comparison is flawed in both concept and execution. The reactions posted in this thread should come as little surprise. Few minds will have been changed. 

guitarfishbay

They didn't represent the instruments especially well IMO.  It's pretty hard to do a good bass comparison anyway.

This guy does a better job, he doesn't own as many basses though.

PolarityMan

Funkfingers said:

I have refrained from posting in this thread so far because I wanted to see whether it would shape up along similar lines to a thread on the exact same topic on an American pickup forum from over two years ago. 

One of the problems of the instrument comparison including a visual element is that it is all too easy for a listener's judgement to be swayed by his or her pre-existing opinion of the specific make or model that can be seen on screen. For some viewers, even the finish colour scheme could alter the attitude.

The video instrument comparison is flawed in both concept and execution. The reactions posted in this thread should come as little surprise. Few minds will have been changed. 

That's a bit smug and presumptuous. 

Funkfingers

Is it?

guitarfishbay said:

I am disappointed that there was no attempt made to slap the fretless. My Name Is Mudd!