Interesting bass comparison

[Granny Gremlin]

Not perfect, but interesting nonetheless and probably pretty helpful to the kids.  Personally I think it would be improved by at least stating what settings (pup if there's a choice; where da tone knob at) were used, and I'm not sure it was fair to use a 70s P but a 2010 Tbird, but that might be hard to improve upon for most mortals.

Fingerstyle, it was hands down Ric or Tbird, with honorable mentions to the Stingray and surprisingly, the thumb.   I don't remember Ps sounding that bad (relative to my personal tastes of course); musta had the tone wide open.

With a pick the Thumb just sucked; again Ric or Tbird for the win, though the P was back in the game.

(I skipped they whole slap section)

Didn't make me reconsider my dislike of J tone at all.

[Rob]

Thanks Jake that was an interesting comparison.

[Pilgrim]

I can't tell any appreciable difference between them with fingers. The P and J sounded just about identical to each other.

I skipped the slap portion as I knew I'd find it obnoxious, and found the pick portion too bright and clangy.  I think they all need a set of six-month-old flats.

[slinkp]

I love things like this. That's why my fave manufacturer site is Lakland.  On many of their models they have clips of 10 different styles/techniques, all with both rounds and flats. For 2-pickup basses they have all those combinations on neck alone, both, and bridge alone.  That's 60 clips for a 2-pickup bass. An amazing time investment reallly.
I only wish they had continued to update it for the newer models.

And it sounds like the same player(s) for each composition.  So if you want to hear "pick punk" (sounds more like the theme to a comedy central talk show, but that's beside the point) on 10 different neck pickups, you can. (Chi-sonic: I like!)

https://www.lakland.com/audio.htm

[westen44]

I was trying to be as objective as I could.  The T-Bird sounded the best, followed by the StingRay.  After that, the rest were roughly equal. 

[Granny Gremlin]

I can't tell any appreciable difference between them with fingers. The P and J sounded just about identical to each other.

Wow; I found the J was much clankier with less bottom in all styles (except slap maybe cause I skipped that bit).

I think they all need a set of six-month-old flats.

Yep; though I think the main culprit here was direct recording + leaving the tone knobs wide  open as some sort of variable control.

[slinkp]

I really liked the P and disliked the J, but what else is new.
The bird sounded nice, but wish there's been a neck-only variant.

The Thumb was interesting because I'm not familiar with them. I quite liked it played fingerstyle, especially for chords, but it was really unpleasantly bright for slap and pick. Awful. Err, I mean, not my cup of tea.

I thought this setup was not flattering to the Ric at all.  I have heard Rics sound awesome in different ways, but this recording sounded really weak to me.

[Denis]

If I were going to buy basses solely based on this video and after listened to finger, slap (never a favorite of mine) and pick, they would be in this order:
1. Thunderbird
2. Ric
3. P bass and Stingray tied
4. Jazz
5. W

[Pilgrim]

My conclusion is that fingers and strings make a lot more difference than the brand and model of bass.

[Dave W]

My rating: None of the above. Whatever settings he's using, he sounds nothing like I would sound on any of these basses.

Also, he should have included a way to click past the entire slap section.

[doombass]

Another one for those interested including some more Gibsons (EB, EB-3, Ripper). It is actually recorded at the nearest local studio to where I live (4km away):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP4Brt232vA&sns=em

[Basvarken]

That's pretty cool Daniel.
But still it does give a rather limited impression on what most bass guitars in that video can do.
Any bass with two pickups has so many different characters.

Oh, and the Rickenbacker needs a set up to cure that terrible fret buzz. ;-)

[clankenstein]

Cheers for those videos. Unfortunately now i want a 1960 jazz a 1964 thunderbird and a 1972 rick. Damn!

[slinkp]

I was surprised how distinct the three jazzes were in that last vid, Doombass.  I liked the '60 the most of the three.  But I still don't want a Jazz

[4stringer77]

From the second vid, my impression is the 69' single coil Precision sounded the best only after the Thunderbird which had beastly growl in the lower register. The EB-1 is definitely kick ass too and you can see it in the players reaction.