Chasing tone? ( just a little Rant , please Bear with me)

61

It’s funny, I work with software all the time. I’ve been a developer since the 80s. although my expertise is in health care systems - there’s a lot of really specialized computer systems.

When I get home I’m happy with my bass, and amp, and if I get a good sound out of that I’m happy. Change strings, pickups. sure. Once I get a good tone out of a bass, I like to sit down, plug in, and play. I like the smoothness of a P, and the simplicity of a 50s single coil. And the depth of a double P. And how 10-30% on a bridge J really smooths out a P.

Give me a p bass and I’m happy.

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62

That is as if I heard myself. I work in IT. Architecture and engineering. Loads of systems. But when it comes to playing I like simplicity. Plug in, play, have fun. I don’t like constant tinkering. I guess I fulfil my tinkering needs at work :slight_smile: So for example I set my compressor months ago and I don’t change it anymore. Etc.
For that same reason, I am not using HX Stomp (or any other multi-FX for that matter). I’d most likely set one or two presets I like and would stay with that.

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63

I’ll add my $0.02 to this mix in the off-chance someone else shares the same philosophy as me and wants to not feel alone:
I like to get the most I can for the money I spend. I also prefer that things be as versatile as possible (the Alton Brown “no uni-tasker rule”). When I buy a bass, I want to be able to shape it as much as possible. Bought a Jazz bass because I can make it sound like a J or P bass. Same for my basses with active pickups and such. Plus, I likely will never buy two of the same brand/model unless I find some cool vintage bass from the year I was born that won’t require I take out a 2nd mortgage. I want every bass I have to both sound different from each other as well as be able to sound like many other things. Is that too much to ask?

Oddly enough, when I practice, I have my basses set up to sound almost exactly like each other. That way I focus solely on my technique and such because, at that point, it’s not about the sound. When I want to actually play, I then tweak it to sound how I want it to sound for whatever song or style. That’s where my multi-effect pedal comes in handy. I have practice presets ready to go for each guitar.

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