When taking a bass for a test
drive, you’ll get the most out
of the instrument if you play
it in an appropriate musical
context. For example, this
German-made Höfner 500/1
Vintage ’62—best known as
Paul McCartney’s 4-string
in the Fab Four days—has a
rich low end that also made
it a fave of the great reggae
bassist, Robbie Shakespeare.
A “Beatle bass”
sounds sweet strung with
flatwounds, but you wouldn’t
want to use it for slapping.
On the other hand, the Music
Man StingRay has long been
a favorite of funkateers since
its debut in 1976. The Sting-
Ray’s onboard preamp—
which was radical for its
time—allows the bass to cut
through a raucous band or
horn-driven ensemble.
Photo courtesy of Höfner
When G.A.S. gets the
best of you—or maybe
you actually
need a new piece
of gear—how can you ensure
that what you’re hunting will
become a keeper? The answer:
Try it out the way it will actually
be used.
Before you start looking,
though, you have two important
tasks. First, know what
you’re after. Somebody once
asked me if a bass I’d reviewed
would sound “better” than his
current axe. The way I look
at it, any new piece of gear
simply plays and feels different
from what you have now—
there’s rarely a real “better.”
Your goal is to decide if the
new piece takes you closer to
your own functional and
tonal nirvana.
The second task is to educate
yourself. Read manufacturers’
websites. Spend time
on discussion boards. Read
Premier Guitar reviews. Learn
what an amp’s controls are
designed to do. Learn setup
specs so you won’t confuse an
instrument’s actual playability
with the quality of its setup.
Armed with this information,
trying out new equipment
boils down to four
considerations:
Play it in the right place.
You buy gear at either a store
or online, and neither is a
good way to hear what something
will sound like. Go into
the amp room of a busy shop,
and you’re immediately competing
with players showing
off how much distortion they
can get out of a guitar amp or
how many notes they can slap.
I’ve found that with an
ongoing business relationship,
a shop will let you take a bass,
pedal, cab, or amp home and
spend some quality time with
it. Take it to your rehearsal
space too. Long ago, I swore I
would not buy any new gear
without this kind of testing.
For a bass, see how it sits
in your band’s mix. If you’re
looking at an amp or cab,
it’s crucial to test the EQ
capabilities. Many rigs have
a signature sound—warm,
zingy, midrangy, punchy—that
works in some settings or with
certain instruments, but not
others. Most of the time, when
I don’t bring home a piece of
gear to try out, it soon gets
sold off.
Play it with the right gear.
It’s tough to test out something
new when everything
else in the signal chain is new
as well. To get a feel for new
gear, try to hold everything
else constant. If you’re trying
out a bass, either bring your
own amp and cab to the shop,
or at least, use a rig in the
shop that’s familiar.
Carrying this idea to the
extreme, I once was looking
for an acoustic bass guitar,
but was concerned how it
would sound along with the
other guy I played with. I
rounded up my small-gig
amp and my friend (with his
guitar, harps, and amp), and
we popped into a local guitar
shop to put on an impromptu
gig. I quickly found that an
acoustic bass guitar had too
close a tonality to my friend’s
flattop and decided to look in
other directions.
Play it with the right
notes.
I used to go to a small
guitar shop with a friendly
owner, but every time he
picked up a bass, he began
to slap away at the thing—
even when I stopped by to
show him a ’60s Japanese
hollowbody bass strung with
flatwounds.
In general, unless you play
in a funk band and need to
slap all night long, this isn’t a
good way to test the tonality,
New Gear Time BY Dan Berkowitz
sustain, or playability of a
new bass. If you play blues,
test out the bass or amp with
some blues lines. If you’re a
rocker, go through some of the
tunes you actually gig. I can
understand a new piece of gear
best by setting up everything
neutrally—no radical tone or
EQ settings—and then listening
to long notes up and down
the neck.
You can learn a lot using
this method. One bass I tried
out sounded quite bright with
the passive tone control fully
open, while another had a big
sonic hole in its midrange.
Both axes would need a fair
amount of EQ to match the
sound I was after.
Play it with your usual
suspects.
Trying out a new
bass or amp with your bandmates
is an important test
too. I remember bringing
a potential bass to practice
with my blues band. “Sounds
funky, but certainly not right
for the blues,” I was quickly
told. Likewise, I learned that
a potential cab was mid-shy
enough that the other musicians
couldn’t distinguish the
pitches once we all began
playing. Put simply, if that
piece of gear doesn’t do the
job for the band’s overall
sound, don’t get it.
In all, be sure to give
potential new gear a realistic
test. Avoid a quick
romance that soon turns sour
and leaves you with buyer’s
remorse. And be sure you
know what you’re after with
your hard-earned money.
Dan Berkowitz
is a professor by day and
a bassist when the sun
goes down. He plays
upright and electric bass
for blues, jazz, orchestra,
and musical theater.
Contact him at
profdanb@gmail.com.