Gibson basses

[Smidgelton]

It is funny when you compare this company to Fender, a brand that has all but dominated the the bass guitar world and is a heavy contender in the electric guitar world as well. On the other hand Gibson, whom has the guitar world by the balls, does not really make a quality bass guitar. They are all essentially just larger versions of their guitars.

For instance the Thunderbird which is fairly popular, has many design flaws. It has a big neck dive problem, and accessing past the 15th fret on the fretboard is a pain in the ass. The tone is okay, not great and adjusting the knobs doesn't really change the sound much. All in all the bass isn't terrible, but definitely not worth the price tag on it.

I just find it funny that a company known around the world for making high quality instruments have never really attempted to make a good bass guitar, yet have a handful of high dollar ones that don't stack up to some basses that are half the cost.

[brandondrury]

You bring up a very interesting point. However, I don't think that Gibson is trying all that hard to make good electric guitars anymore, either. I've been very dissapointed with some of the newer Gibsons that have made their way into the studio.

I had the opportunity to record a Fender Jazz bass through an Ampeg VST (no DI on this session) for a modern punk / emo type of project last week. I forget just how much I love the sound of the Fender Jazz bass for this style. I love being able to actually HEAR the bass. This specific sound is one I go for often, but fail to get most of the time simply because no other bass really sounds like a good Fender Jazz bass.

With that said, I'm convinced there hasn't been any innovation in the world of electric guitars and basses in 40 years. The quality of cheaper instruments has gone up, but the best guitars, basses, and amps are still the old ones. Get an old fart to show you his modern metal tone through a '68 Marshall Plexi and it'll make more sense.

So with that in mind, Fender hasn't really don't anything new in years. Of course, I wouldn't say the Fender Jazz needs "improving". However, I will say that guitar / bass tones are not evolving.

So going back to Gibson. They probably could create a bass that stayed in tune (unlike their guitars) and may have access to all frets, but in order for it to be a "hit" would require the bass player masses to hop aboard.

Brandon

[SteveHalv]

Remember the Ripper or Grabber? It had the sliding pickup. Greg lake got a pretty good tone with one of those.

[knutek]

I had the chance to play a Thunderbird recently; it was ungainly, the neck felt like half a baseball bat and it had really limited tonal ( like one!) options. That tone though was dynamite:nasty, snarly and unlike anything else I've played. I definitely would not buy a Gibson as my only bass but would consider adding one to the arsenal, AFTER a Fender, a Music Man and a Rickenbacker.

[garageband]

Even worse, they are badly balanced and you have to spend way too much energy holding the neck up.

[Cailyn]

Originally Posted by knutek

I definitely would not buy a Gibson as my only bass but would consider adding one to the arsenal, AFTER a Fender, a Music Man and a Rickenbacker.

I wouldn't bother with any of those basses. For a little more money, one bass does it all. The Peavey Cirrus just blows all of these out of the water. Looks great, perfectly weighted, killer tones, and unbelievable action. I sold my other basses after I bought the Cirrus because I never played them. Gibson would definitely be way down the list for me except perhaps for an older EB3 which are fairly light and fun to play.

[knutek]

Hi Cailyn,

I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying your Peavey Cirrus; my experience with Peavey basses has been that they're very well made, very good sounding basses and excellent value. However they sound like Peavey basses not like a P-bass, a Jazz bass, a Music Man or a Ricky which are all widely recognized as "classic" sounding basses. These basses IMHO are not better or worse than a Peavey but they don't sound like a Peavey or like each other.

[gs1800]

You are right dude...

I played a Thunderbird too a few weeks ago in a live show in 2 songs... it isn't a versatile bass, it's gainless, punchless... It is a pity, the looks of it is awesom, but if you really love it I would suggest just an epiphone with upgraded active electronics.

I guess anyway Gibson focused always on guitars while Fender never let basses sink, they have P and J basses as classic fixed basses... but they keep innovating always, with interesting signature models, MB4 models, JP90 in the early 90s, etc... Gibson is just not destinating any fixed assets nor marketing expenses on this... I think it's a policy, not a problem for them.

Sad or not, it's what we have

Santi