Are natural SR4 brighter and punchier than colored ones?

[oli@bass]

Basses are made out of wood.
Every piece of wood is different
So, every bass sounds a bit different and has its own personality.

There are broad tendencies, like a maple board will give a bit more treble than a rosewood board, and mahogany body will have stronger mids than an ash body. But since there are so many variables included, you probably could find a particluar ash / maple bass that has less treble and more mids than a certain mahogany / rosewood bass.
Another contributing factor is also the age / dryness of the wood... sound will change over the years, to many ears for the better.

But hey, I'm not a luthier... just an average guy who plays bass for a couple of decades.

 

[high mileage]

But hey, I'm not a luthier... just an average guy who plays bass for a couple of decades.

Very good points. My '86 is candy apple red, and apparently Poplar from what the EBMM folks were able to tell me. Had heard that they used Poplar around then for solid colors before so it's probably true. It sounds more like Alder than Ash and has punch for days. I don't think they're still using Poplar (correct me if I'm wrong) but not being a very pretty wood you wouldn't want a natural finish on it. Poplar doesn't have much of a grain to it, runs from light colored like Aspen to medium like a lighter shade of Walnut. It usually has a wierd greenish color cast to it - but it sounds great!

 

[armybass]

Natural Ash EBMM's make me a very happy boy.

 

[nashman]

It was probably the strings.