Rant and A Comment On Reviews In General For The benefit of Newbie Bass People.

Paul Redmile (5980)

Bass Open Forum · 8/9/2012 1:40 PM

I have to confess right for the start dear reader that I (Ploddy) is addicted to gear reviews, ala Youtube mags etc.. I devour all bass reviews....... all of em, from simple unboxing of stuff right up to full indepth rewiews, yes I'm a gear freak, BUT.. BUT Im learning.
Just lately after watching sooooooooooo many vids (well I have some spare time coz I is unemployed AND my other distraction......my wife is away for a month teaching in the outback) I have come to this conclusion ..... gear reviews are like wine/beer/food/car/computer etc etc etc reviews. SUBJECTIVE !!!
It all comes down to what makes YOU happy.
For a long time I was the victim of the "If that famous bass player uses that bass and that amp them if I buy that gear I will become as good as that bass player..... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO you wont.
What will make you the best basplayer in the world is...... wait for it PRACTICE yes PRACTICE.......
Dont go down the road many of us take when it comes to learning the "Beautifull" instrument, Buy A bass, buy A amp buy A brain and practice...
My rant is now over.. you may now return to your previous distrction.

Ploddy.

Responses [ Pages: 1 · 2 ]

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Re: Rant and A Comment On Reviews In General For The benefit of Newbie Bass People.

8/9/2012 1:44 PM

Paul Redmile (5980) wrote:

BTW... God its good to be back on the real AB family....

Plod.

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Re: Rant and A Comment On Reviews In General For The benefit of Newbie Bass People.

8/9/2012 4:49 PM

Maurice Carr (37545) wrote:

Better than Farcebook, that's for real!

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Re: Rant and A Comment On Reviews In General For The benefit of Newbie Bass People.

11/1/2012 8:15 PM

Inactive Member wrote:

Arcebook!

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Re: Rant and A Comment On Reviews In General For The benefit of Newbie Bass People.

8/9/2012 4:10 PM

Paul Warren (15299) wrote:

Well, I'm not really addicted to gear reviews since, as you point out, they are subjective. I am, however, addicted to gear. hahaha

I do know that gear won't make me a great bass player. I've been down that road before. I want to sound like Geddy Lee (from the early days) so I find a Ric. Guess what. It didn't make me sound like Geddy; not one bit.

I agree that the only thing that will make me a better bass player is practice. It sucks but there's no quick way to be a good bassist. Another 25 years or so and I might be pretty good. Maybe.

Anyway, I completely agree with you Paul and BTW it's nice to have you back here too.

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Re: Rant and A Comment On Reviews In General For The benefit of Newbie Bass People.

8/9/2012 8:32 PM

Ed LeFave (30171) wrote:

Good rant...
The only thing I can add to that is cheap gear makes it tuffer to get ahead....especially when you're a beginner
Now I'm not saying you're gonna sound like Geddy using Geddy's gear or anything like that........but you will sound and play better on a well set up bass and a decent amp...
A crap plank hard-to-keep-in-tune bass and Radio Shack speakers is better than nothing at all.....but just slightly
:P
Peace Ed

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Re: Rant and A Comment On Reviews In General For The benefit of Newbie Bass People.

8/10/2012 4:46 AM

Dr. Leroy Ramone (4283) wrote:

Yo Ed..

Well said my friend, I started out with a Woolworth's special plank wired into an old HiFi.. so did the guitarist.. we sounded crap.
We quickly moved onwards and upward and felt we had to upgrade when we got sort of serious and got club n pub bookings.
The quality of the gear definitely had an impact on on our playing it was easier in some ways mainly due to better necks , action and the fact that we didn't slip out of tune mid song...

Have you seen the prices that the old planks sell for nowadays ? Makes ya wish you'd kept them now lol.

I must add that one of the basses I'm having the most fun and enjoyment with is a humble Epi EBO, bought it for a laugh one day after watching a sales guy demo it while I was buying strings..
Took a while to get "into" it at first... now I find it hard to put down.. I swear it sounds sweeter than my P bass.. and cost less than 5 packs of my regular strings.

Dr. Leroy..

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Re: Rant and A Comment On Reviews In General For The benefit of Newbie Bass People.

8/10/2012 10:13 AM

Brad Mock (16381) wrote:

Must fess up I too am a gear head, but not a snob. Cheap starter gear has come a long way since many of us started playing as has the upper range of equipment. The real trick is to find the combination of gear that works for you.

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Re: Rant and A Comment On Reviews In General For The benefit of Newbie Bass People.

8/10/2012 8:57 PM

WILLIAM HULSEY (25103) wrote:

I think you're wrong but who am I to argue with the police?

Seriously, it absolutely is a matter of preference. Four/five/six strings...who cares? Basswood, maple, rosewood, Pbass, Jbass, Stinkray, SX. Sure, there are differences in quality/construction/design but it's the end user who counts the most. What does he/she/it prefer in a bass/amp/effect or beer/wine/liquor? It doesn't matter; practice does

After/all/isn't/life/more/about/these/things/?>>>> /

#Or hash tags?

--Bo

By the way, my six and five year olds are really digging the Iron Maiden on my iPod right now. Sorry, random though insertion there.

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Re: Rant and A Comment On Reviews In General For The benefit of Newbie Bass People.

8/10/2012 11:53 PM

Craig Brisbine (3669) wrote:

I have purchased a lot of high-end stuff on the guitar side over the years. As far as basses go, I only have one: an Aria Pro II P Bass with Alembic pickups and a Badass bridge. My guitar tech in Tucson had repaired the cracked headstock, cleaned it up and sold it to me for the whopping total of $85.00. Everyone who's played it has commented on how good it sound and plays. (Right Mo?) The longer I've played and the better I've got (and I use the term "better" loosely), I've thought about buying another "better" bass, but then I play the Aria and I talk myself out of it...LOL.

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Re: Rant and A Comment On Reviews In General For The benefit of Newbie Bass People.

8/11/2012 1:01 AM

Inactive Member wrote:

don't agree totally, practice is essential but a good bass and amp helps too. you buy a bass that plays and sounds like crap is not going to help you much. i also sold many nice basses(precision basses at that) because i thought they sounded terrible only to find out years later it was my crappy amp, guess what, only play precisions now.

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