- Thread starter jubjub721
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bovinehost
Administrator
1. Warwicks. I've only played a few of these as I find them visually stinky, but they seem to have necks like freaking Louisville Sluggers. When your necks make Precisions seem slim and sleek, you've got a fat neck, dude. Also, points off for appealing to the "Tune Down and Scream" crowd.
2. Gibsons. I had an EB-0 way back when Nixon was still nominally in charge; bought it because it was fairly cheap and "name brand" basses were hard to come by back then. Plus I had seen Cream, had I not? Of course I had. I began to loathe the thing right around day two. A tone that can only be described as "bathtub flatulence". I saw the guy from Ben Folds Five playing a Gibson a while back and thought it sounded good, but I never want another one.
3. Pointy Headstocks. Jackson, ESP, et al. The 80s are over. In fact, that aspect of the 80s was over before it started. If you have one, trust me - give it away. We say we're not making fun of you behind your back, but we're lying. We laugh and laugh.
4. Boutiques. Especially those horrific sperm-whale looking single cuts. Okay, look, shut UP, I'm sure they DO sound wonderful! But hey, if I paid 3k for a bass, I'd bloody well expect it to sound wonderful, make coffee, mow the yard and perhaps service me late at night. THEY LOOK RIDICULOUS. I think Ahab is still hunting one of those basses. Thar they blow. Fodera, Benavente, insert a funny foreign name here.
5. I have never, ever wanted an Alembic, not even when that damned Stanley Clarke album came out.
6. Conklin. Fine instruments, I'm sure, but I don't want to be seen down at the blues bar playing what looks like a Klingon OBGYN device.
7. Washburn. Bad, bad, bad business practices. If karma is a working concept, expect Godzilla to stomp this company into splinters real soon.
Oh, there are more, but I figure that's enough for early in the morning, right?
2. Gibsons. I had an EB-0 way back when Nixon was still nominally in charge; bought it because it was fairly cheap and "name brand" basses were hard to come by back then. Plus I had seen Cream, had I not? Of course I had. I began to loathe the thing right around day two. A tone that can only be described as "bathtub flatulence". I saw the guy from Ben Folds Five playing a Gibson a while back and thought it sounded good, but I never want another one.
3. Pointy Headstocks. Jackson, ESP, et al. The 80s are over. In fact, that aspect of the 80s was over before it started. If you have one, trust me - give it away. We say we're not making fun of you behind your back, but we're lying. We laugh and laugh.
4. Boutiques. Especially those horrific sperm-whale looking single cuts. Okay, look, shut UP, I'm sure they DO sound wonderful! But hey, if I paid 3k for a bass, I'd bloody well expect it to sound wonderful, make coffee, mow the yard and perhaps service me late at night. THEY LOOK RIDICULOUS. I think Ahab is still hunting one of those basses. Thar they blow. Fodera, Benavente, insert a funny foreign name here.
5. I have never, ever wanted an Alembic, not even when that damned Stanley Clarke album came out.
6. Conklin. Fine instruments, I'm sure, but I don't want to be seen down at the blues bar playing what looks like a Klingon OBGYN device.
7. Washburn. Bad, bad, bad business practices. If karma is a working concept, expect Godzilla to stomp this company into splinters real soon.
Oh, there are more, but I figure that's enough for early in the morning, right?
5 StRiNg WiZaRd
Active member
xbass - what was it that put you off the trace elliot stuff? - Curiousity got the better of me. My half stack does the job totally, couldnt ask for anything more (well i could but i'll leave it there).
I think i agree with 3, 4 and 6 of Jack's list! Im too lazy to think up any of my own...
Jack - if theres more to add, lets hear, could do with a good laugh to brighten this bloody miserable evening.
I think i agree with 3, 4 and 6 of Jack's list! Im too lazy to think up any of my own...
Jack - if theres more to add, lets hear, could do with a good laugh to brighten this bloody miserable evening.
Well, I had good moments with trace elliot too
. Has a lot of switches and lights and buttons and inputs and outputs, and the first thought is -cool, what a great sound I will make with those!
But an ampeg (for example) sounds better even with no corections. But hey, can be just me... Anyway, all I am saying is that T.E. is a little over rated.
It's my duty to appologise for my english, once in a while
. Has a lot of switches and lights and buttons and inputs and outputs, and the first thought is -cool, what a great sound I will make with those!But an ampeg (for example) sounds better even with no corections. But hey, can be just me... Anyway, all I am saying is that T.E. is a little over rated.
It's my duty to appologise for my english, once in a while
StingEye
Well-known member
Anything Ibanez. Now I know evryone might be like "Of course Ibanez Sux!!!" But the only reason I list them is because so many of the new "acts" play em like they are something to be desired.
They make descent Seven string guitars but very little else is worth buying...in my opinion maybe I'm wrong.
They make descent Seven string guitars but very little else is worth buying...in my opinion maybe I'm wrong.
xcental34x
Well-known member
Most overrated bass? Thats a toughy, but I'm gonna have to go with Spector. I like the way some of the play and all, but I think they can sound down right horrible.
~Patrick
~Patrick
scottbass71
Well-known member
I wiil have to say the f word
F@*nder , Even though the great man invented the electric bass and of coarse the great one - the stingray
I think in this day and age the company is trading on their past eg reissues etc.
I have heard a lot techs say that the have trouble setting up the new J and P basses takes them hours but if they get a stingray they only have to do minor adjustments and the bass is ready to gig to the customers delight.
I hope this is not too controversial I do own a couple late of 60s and early 70s
which are fantastic
I am talking more on the newer instruments
F@*nder , Even though the great man invented the electric bass and of coarse the great one - the stingray
I think in this day and age the company is trading on their past eg reissues etc.
I have heard a lot techs say that the have trouble setting up the new J and P basses takes them hours but if they get a stingray they only have to do minor adjustments and the bass is ready to gig to the customers delight.
I hope this is not too controversial I do own a couple late of 60s and early 70s
which are fantastic
I am talking more on the newer instruments
5 StRiNg WiZaRd
Active member
xbass said:Well, I had good moments with trace elliot too
But an ampeg (for example) sounds better even with no corections. But hey, can be just me... Anyway, all I am saying is that T.E. is a little over rated.
It's my duty to appologise for my english, once in a while
Naw thats cool
Im probably more bias to them because its all ive ever owned really, only had a chance to play through an ampeg stack once and i think i was too young to appreciate it! My Trace Valve Head gives a great sound and the trace cab backs that up so i havent found the need to find a replacement yet!fifthorange
Well-known member
ibanez and carlo robeli, they just feel and sound like ****. ibanex ampilifiers really suck, too.
bovinehost
Administrator
8. Yeah, Ibanez. Or as I call 'em, 'I Been Had". These are called instruments in the same way that Madonna is called an "artist", which is to say - by default. To paraphrase my pal Steve Lawson, if the tone you're looking for is similar to the sound of breath mints being thrown down a stairwell, THIS is your bass.
I'm going to defend Fender a bit. Sure, their QC is spotty, but then they build a gazillion instruments a month. (This is no excuse, to be sure.) But every now and then, the gods smile down and a good one rolls out of the vast FMIC industrial complex. If you get one of these, you have a friend for life. I have a 97 MIA Jazz, run of the mill bass, it shouldn't be as good as it is, and you have to give credit to Fender both for what they have done and what they still occasionally do. The reissue Jazz basses are good, too, as are the Custom Shop instruments (and they bloody well SHOULD be, for that kind of money).
Here endeth my rant.
I'm going to defend Fender a bit. Sure, their QC is spotty, but then they build a gazillion instruments a month. (This is no excuse, to be sure.) But every now and then, the gods smile down and a good one rolls out of the vast FMIC industrial complex. If you get one of these, you have a friend for life. I have a 97 MIA Jazz, run of the mill bass, it shouldn't be as good as it is, and you have to give credit to Fender both for what they have done and what they still occasionally do. The reissue Jazz basses are good, too, as are the Custom Shop instruments (and they bloody well SHOULD be, for that kind of money).
Here endeth my rant.
I think you can get a nice sound from Ibanez basses, but their low end models are pure crap. Some will say, "No ****, boy. All low end models are destined to be crap," but Ibanez low end models are the crappiest things I've come by. The EQ knobs fell out, the strap buttons fell out, the electronics got fried, the strings tried to kill me, I caught the bass with a knife next to my bed one night, and, I heard, if you've had a low end model for some time, an Ibanez sales rep. comes by your house and slaps you.
Fuzzy Dustmite
Well-known member
I have an Ibanez, and as I recall it was about $450 new. Is that low end? I don't know anymore. Anyway, I bought it about 12 years ago, and it still chugs right along. Always gotten compliments on the tone & the sounds I get out of it.
And yes, it has now taken a back seat to my SR4.
And yes, it has now taken a back seat to my SR4.
bovinehost
Administrator
To be fair, and also in order to expose myself to unnecessary ridicule - and I get a fair amount of much-deserved ridicule, mind you - I, too, have owned an Ibanez bass. Two of them, in fact, making me double the target I might have been had I only confessed to the one.
I had a Roadstar, I think it was called, built in the 80s and resembling in some ways a Rickenbacker. It had a nice, normal look to it and a P/J setup and I actually played it live and *gulp* recorded with it once.
Then, later, when I should have known better but was possibly drunk, I had an Ibanez ATK, a Stingray-ish looking thing which turned out to be a decent bass except the neck needed adjustments every time a butterfly flapped its wings in China.
So there. The truth is out, although I don't feel as if I've been set free, but that might be because I have on pants that are just a tad too small today.
I had a Roadstar, I think it was called, built in the 80s and resembling in some ways a Rickenbacker. It had a nice, normal look to it and a P/J setup and I actually played it live and *gulp* recorded with it once.
Then, later, when I should have known better but was possibly drunk, I had an Ibanez ATK, a Stingray-ish looking thing which turned out to be a decent bass except the neck needed adjustments every time a butterfly flapped its wings in China.
So there. The truth is out, although I don't feel as if I've been set free, but that might be because I have on pants that are just a tad too small today.
Fuzzy Dustmite
Well-known member
Mine is a SoundGear(?) SR-405? Tells how much I know about it after 12 years. Natural finish, rosewood, P/J pickup, active electronics.
Aussie Mark
Well-known member
Jack, you should try a long scale Gibson bass, such as a Thunderbird or the current Les Paul series. The days of the EB mudbuckers are well and truly gone. The Les Paul basses with the Bartolini pups are wonderful instruments.
But, I'm with you on the whole pointy headstock thing. Yucky.
But, I'm with you on the whole pointy headstock thing. Yucky.
shaver
Well-known member
hey dont diss ibanez, sting used one for a while...my bass teacher has one one of those sting ray looking ibanez's..it looks almost like the sting bass, but it has a humbker....my teacher has had it since b4 i was born and the only problem he had with it was one tuner broke, other then that nothing else has gone wrong, and its his main electric...on the other hand, he is mainly an upright player, but still
