I like both kinds of bass - Precision and Jazz

IIRC Felix Pappalardi managed to coax some decent sounds from an EB-1, and he knew a thing or two about recording and playing.



Jack Bruce managed to squeeze some cool tones from a short scale EB-3 back in day too...

Oh yeah and Tony Visconti played an EB-3 on The Man Who Sold The World apparently...

http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/Tony-Visconti-Talks-about-Tour.aspx

But I'm ragging you, you know what you want and that's no bad thing.

 

I still don't agree with you, though you are making me feel good about the fact that I have a Jazz and Precision already.

 

Plus there's that McCartney guy.

 

If you can't get a useable or decent recordable sound from a short scale bass I'd say the fault lies in your technique both playing and recording. I generally prefer a Jazz bass but the shortscale violin bass a had had plenty of good sounds recorded and live.

 

felix pappalardi's eb1 is a wall of fuzzed out nonsense that seems the audio equivalent of a hash bash festival. jack bruce's eb3 is a burpy mess better suited to mimicking a frog than making music. i wouldn't call either great bass tone. if anything, they're exhibits a and b why you should pick up a fender and be done with it. heck, jack bruce played felix's eb1 during the cream reunion and somehow he managed to sound worse. it's because gibson basses have always been garbage. they've never been able to design a bass properly. the clouds could open, god could speak and send an angel down with blueprints on an inscribed stone, and gibson would still find a way to screw it up.

the only short scale that's ever sounded halfway decent was mccartney on the hofner, but honestly, even then i wonder if he didn't play a fender provided by the studio for the recordings. nine times out of ten that's what winds up happening because short scales record so poorly. it happened to me and my friend when we were making a recording in his studio with an sg bass. after struggling for two hours, we pulled out a precision and problem solved. there's probably a reason the beatles acquired a jazz bass.

short scales sound good on paper. in practice, not so much. i don't mean to insult people or anything, i just want anyone who's considering a short scale to have fair warning from someone who's been through it.

if someone really wanted to pick up the bass, i'd recommend looking at the following:

1) precision - split or single-coil
2) jazz - traditional or pj setup
3) stingray
4) l2000 or l1000

and that's about it.

 

The problem I had with playing a short scale bass was hearing myself in tune, and I think I used some pretty heavy strings to get back the clarity of pitch lost when tuning normal gauges to normal pitch on a shorter string.
I also had to use a lighter touch to avoid a mash of overtones if I plucked too hard.
I had an old Hofner Beatle bass for a while and that one took some extra care to play with good clarity. Not really a skill I spent a lot of time working on though.

 

And yet Jack Bruce's Gibson tone is admired by many bassists, including yours truly. Go figure.

Gibson has made many different basses, most of them long scale, many of them sounding quite different from each other. You're entitled to hate them all, of course, but to condemn them all b/c they were manufactured by Gibson is absurd.

It's well known which songs Sir Paul recorded with the Höfner. To suggest otherwise is wishful thinking.

I love my L1000 and Stingray. They're keepers. But I don't find it necessary to insult anyone else's choices.

 

everyone's entitled to enjoy bad bass tone if they want, i suppose. i don't see the appeal.

gibson basses are garbage. they all neck dive. every last one of them. even if they sound good, they're still a chore to play. they're better served as firewood than musical instruments.

kudos on the l1000 and stingray though. those are solid basses.

 

Moderator's Note

From the posting rules given at the top of this and every forum:

POST OPINIONS NOT FACTS:
Always respect other Forum members opinions even if they clash with your own. Give others room to have differing opinions. Don't state your opinion as FACT.

Some of the posts in this thread could use a big old fat IMO. You can disagree with people without belittling them.

 

Thanks for taking the time to example and explain. That helps!!

... and the controls are the same as they'd be for a jazz bass (?) - individual volume knobs per neck / bridge and one universal tone knob? That'd be perfect as the bridge p/u on the jazz is what makes it unique and, well, the "P's" p/u's are what makes the "P" special. Very convincing, and beautiful basses!

 

Thank you for this. One of the things I love about TDPRI is how few of those kinds of posts you get on here. One of the friendliest forums I've come across.

For the record, I took up the bass a month ago when our band lost our bass player, and started with a borrowed P bass copy. Then went to find one to buy, tried a Squier VM Jaguar, short scale, and loved how it played, how it felt and how it sounded. Posted about it on another thread here, and got similar warning to avoid short scales. So I went back to the shop and spent 2 hours trying a P Bass, J bass, and the Jaguar again. Still loved it, so I bought it. Got about 80 hours on it already, played at home, and in band rehearsals which I recorded, and not experienced any problems whatsoever. Cuts through fine. With P pickup on full, J down, and tone rolled off it seriously thumps, and with J on full and tone all up it has a completely different tone which I also like, with all the combinations in between. I just don't understand the hate some people have for short scales. It's like going on a PC forum and asking what people think of the new Macbook.

But these are just my own personal experiences with one, so usual caveats about how your mileage may vary. I'd be very surprised if I don't end up with a P or J Bass as well at some point, but I'm very happy as I am for now.

 

It's horses for courses (of course). Now that I put my mind to it I'm thinking of several players who used short scale to great effect. The guy from Status Quo, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers bass player, there's more I'm sure.

The one example that PaisleyAddict didn't criticise from my original list was Tony Visconti; and his playing on The Man Who Sold The World is a perfect example of how to maximise the musical potential of short scale. He's all over the fretboard in a fluid, fast style that would be very difficult on a standard P bass.

PaisleyAddict appears to have a very fixed idea of what constitutes 'good bass sound' - I'm imagining it to be deep, rich, full of definition and punch but that's not the only way a bass can be used.

McCartney's often held up as an icon of bass style yet he was very happy with his Hofner for many years. Once they got into recording track by track he used to lay the bass in near the end of the track laying because he wanted to inject a melodic element into it and a short scale instrument excels at that.

A musician with overly fixed ideas isn't going to get far unless s/he has an enormous amount of creativity to back it up and the personality to take others along for the ride.

 

Yes! 2 Volume knobs, 1 Tone.

The Fender Special Precision has the jack on the side, the Squier Pro Tone P/J has it on the pickguard.

 

I like both too, which is why I have one of each. The P-bass is standard, but the Jazz bass I re-wired to master volume, pickup blend, and a TBX tone.

 

I collected a few Basses/bass amps before I started playing them.. bargains off local players... an old Squier Bullet bass with a dimarzio PU that was the mainstay of a local band for years and a Squire Jazz bass with case I got for a hundy..... figured they'd come in handy one day...

Then I had to start coaching the kids in my school band on the bass, I bought a 3/4 bass for them to use. Learning the patterns before I could teach them..playing in the band if the kid was away, etc...

I also started playing in a local trio who needed a bass player... I've been learning songs on the fly reading off the guitarists song books/charts at band practice... mostly playing the 3/4 bass through the PA and sometimes playing the bullet bass... both of which thump pretty well. At home I run them through a Laney 300W amp.... houseshakingly nice...

I found the Jazz bass a bit thin sounding and awkward when playing seated, so I donated it to an indigenous muso at the Woorabinda community where I'm sure it's getting plenty of use....

for some reason, playing the Bass recently feels like coming home....

The small wear through at the top of the PG is from the lady bass player's thumbnail....and years of playing... she topped the music faculty at Uni and bought herself an older Fender Jazz bass. I bought her old bass to help with the purchase...

 

Shall I post a pic of my SG Standard Bass balancing on its strap without my hands touching it?

I know enough Gibson bassists that I can probably get a couple of dozen pics of different Gibson basses not neck diving.

 

A perverse over-generalisation. There is no reason a shortscale bass should be flabby and undefined if you use the correct string gauges and the pickups are in more modern spaces.

Check this out:

http://www.shortscalebass.co.uk/swb-1-standard/

 

eh, i'm done arguing. you guys enjoy your gibson/short scale basses. like i said, i've been there and tried it, and it doesn't work for me, but more power to you if it works for you. me? i couldn't be happier that my girlfriend's playing pink paisley and blue flower precisions.

 

Nah, it didn't work in the '70s when you probably last tried. A small area of short scale bass-dom has evolved beyond all recognition.

If you are done arguing then don't say stupid ****.

 

While I own & respect both of Leo's esteemed classics, I also am especially a fan of the ingenious design of the Dano Longhorn bass, (full 24 frets, easy upperscale accessibility, versatile lipstick tubes, very light & resonant), mine's a Jerry Jones & the Guild Starfire, ( I have a Dearmond Starfire with a pair of the original Hammon Dark Stars). I'm also extremely fond of Reverend's & their original USA basses, having owned the entire line at one point, (many were Fender inspired, in terms of pickups, with the added, light resonance of a semi-hollow build). I currently have one of Joe Naylor's great, Dub King, short scale/semi's.