Question BP/EBMM staff - Bongo tonal differences???

[guenter]

I assume the resistors and capacitors in the preamp have a 5 or 10% tolerance. So if a few of these are "off value" in the same direction (but within tolerance), then you can get a different tone. Five percent here, five percent there; it can add up.

Testing this would require swapping the preamp (or preferably the entire control plate), which is a pain. It would scientifically eliminate electronics as a possible reason...

Sure. Tolerances add up. But if applied correspondingly onto a hifi system or maybe a bass amp that would mean that even equal systems show big tonal differences. But that's not true. (Plus, a hifi or amp is a much more complex thing than a preamp)

I'm sure that it makes absolutely no audible difference if you swap two preamps.

 

[Rick Auricchio]

Point taken. As long as all components are in tolerance, there shouldn't be a wide tonal variation in the electronics.

 

[Basswave]

Rick being a EE in the past life I thought you where on to something but in hindsight the tolerance level on manufactured resistors these days are much closer then say 20 years ago.

Here is what I do to really hear the sonic differences of the instruments themselves.

-Get them set up using the same strings at the same time.
-Bring the top horn of your bass to your ear and listen to any pattern you play, and repeat it with the same touch and technique.
Its easy on a unconscious level to change how you play a bit per instrument.
and/Or
-Play acoustically in a bathroom with a kick @ss tyle job that has a decent acoustics and really listen (it can be difficult but can be done).

That way you can tell if there is a tonal difference to the composition of the bass itself.

 

[bassmonkeee]

Trying to find the source of mojo is like trying to find the weight of the soul at death.

 

[AnthonyD]

Trying to find the source of mojo is like trying to find the weight of the soul at death.

I like this...


Mojo (IMHO) comes from the fingers (player) - when the same fingers play different basses the same mojo comes through. The nuances discussed are beyond my perceptible tolerances...

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Trying to find the source of mojo is like trying to find the weight of the soul at death.

0.2 grams

 

[bassmonkeee]

0.2 grams

Yeah, okay...but what's the street value?

 

[bovinehost]

Probably some of you guys know Bobby Vega, or at least who Bobby Vega is.

He has this bass, this 62 Fender Jazz, that is either (a) the ugliest mongrel you've ever seen or (b) the most beautiful beat-up Jazz you've ever seen. It seriously looks like it might have been in a fire. But it wasn't. It's just been played and played and played and I don't think anyone would accuse that bass of having no "mojo", no matter their opinion on its appearance.

A few years back, we all sat down late one night and passed around this bass and that bass. Bobby played a Stingray and sounded a lot like Bobby playing anything else. My friend Ray - a very good bassist - played Bobby's bass and sounded like very much like Ray. I played Bobby's Jazz and sounded quite a bit like me.

You make your own mojo. Craig Young, on the thread about his new Stingray, said this:

....anyone who even thinks in the terms of "well the bass only has 2 knobs and does one thing" has already proven themselves an idiot. They're not even in the game enough to know that the bass isn't even the instrument... I AM! .... I play it... not "it plays me". It's a tool! I'm making the sound. If your bass is the source of your tone... you ain't there yet, cat. I dont want a bass to effect me, I want a bass that can and will do exactly what I tell it to do."

Has anything more true ever been written?

Jack

 

[MadMatt]

You make your own mojo

No Jack, I am NOT going to believe that.... that statement devastates the use case for my next purchase! Your telling me to learn to play better and not buy another EBMM thinking it will give me more mojo?!?!? Why that is blasphemy my friend

 

[Basswave]

All a good point guys.

Everyone is going to sound like themselves.

I'm just going into the nuances between 2 tools that are supposed to be the same for lack of better description.

 

[phatduckk]

at some point I have 5 single H sterlings and liked em all for different reasons. it happens... they were all in the same ballpark but some had more growl while others were smoother etc etc

maybe thats why some folks always play "the one". personally im not one of those guys and like having many

 

[Duarte]

Has anything more true ever been written?

Well you can't deny that you can get more sounds out of, say, a 25th than a P bass.

Just sayin!