Your bass tone called—it’s tired of being sh*tty. Let’s find out what gear actually matters for tone, and what’s just marketing mumbo-jumbo.
If you’re doing the Beginner to Badass course… this lesson isn’t necessary right now! But you will learn many cool things that might be useful later.
What did y’all think of our tests? Anything else you would have liked to have seen tested?
Loved the video @JoshFossgreen , but, may I respectfully disagree with the new pickups affecting the tone. I swapped out the original Fender pups with new Fralin P-Bass pickups and it did make a difference, at least to my old ears. It was a fun video to watch and I thoroughly enjoyed the tests.
I have to agree with @JerryP @JoshFossgreen , I think you missed it on the pickups. The Duncan Quarter Pounders are overrated, except the SCPB. That really shines. If you were to have swapped for say a DiMarzio Model P ceramic (which is cheaper than the Duncan) the difference would have been obvious. To me, you swapped a middle of the road pickup with another middle of the road pickup (tone wise).
Interesting
I originally watched this video on YT and while watching the screen , could totally “see” the difference. But just now listening again , I closed my eyes, completely different experience. @JoshFossgreen , my rookie ears couldn’t tell the difference. There is definitely a difference with the fingers section of the video but my ears couldn’t distinguish between AMP , Wood , etc
When Mr Ben Nailed The Order Of The Amps , Way A$$ Impressive. Like I Mentioned In The YT Comment , For Some Reason I Really Enjoyed This Episode. I Don’t Consider Myself A Gear Head But Great Installment Regardless.
And when the boys broke down the real difference is the ROOM , absolutely. The room/venue makes all the difference for sure. I could see the argument vs each Strings combos. But again , very entertaining video there Josh Man.
You All Have A Fabulous Day ,
Cheers
Obviously, I also disagree with the PU swap statement.
I have swapped stock P/J to EMG GZR, Dimarzio DP126 and EMG PJX.
Stock P/J was ok (= bad :-)), both the GZR and the DP126 were a significant upgrade … and the X series totally changed the tone to something absolutely different (but might not be for everybody, as the tone becomes very analytical).
If the stock PU is already great, an upgrade will not do much, of course…
Kudos to Josh for producing that video but in at least some of the tonal components that were compared his approach may have been a bit too simplistic. One might be pickups. If he were to have tried enough of them other than just a set sold more by rep and sales than true tonal quality I believe his panel would’ve heard more difference especially at different tonal settings.
For me the single most important feature on any bass pickup is it’s clarity and neutral voicing. I actually prefer this with guitar pickups as well. IMHO we should want clarity and a neutral voicing so our bass is more responsive to it’s own tonal controls and to those of the amp/speaker combination. I don’t want to “fight” to take some objectionable voicing out of the signal because it can become difficult if not nearly impossible to do. I want a bass to sound like it sounds with me playing it.
If a stock pickup gives me that wonderful. I have no need to swap it out. If not then like others I have my favorite go to pickups that I know will give me what I want tonally and I’ll install those instead. On a bass it’s pretty easy to do that.
String type is important but string brand less so. We tend to have our favorites based on their tonal qualities and “feel”. Some love a lower tension with a looser feel while others like me prefer a stiffer feel with more “fight”. Play what you prefer because strings will impact the way we play and the way your rig sounds.
Amp and cab are also important especially in terms of their suitability to the way you plan to use them. A 50w SS combo with a single 10" speaker isn’t gonna cut it in a full rock band. Conversely no one needs a 300w SVT and 8x10 cab to play pubs and coffee house gigs. Here again voicing of the amp and cab also make a difference but much like strings we all have our own preferences. I prefer more neutral voicings here as well. Then I can use the bass and amp EQ to fine tune the sound for the room. Also, great rigs tend to be very difficult to get any really bad tone out of.
The only thing I’d temper the whole pickup swap argument with (I’ve put DP122’s in my P Bass and am happy with the results) is once you start playing live with other people the nuances and minor auditory obsessions that you can hear in your bedroom become less important in the overall mix 
Yeah - but I guess that’s true with everything Josh mentioned, except the way the bass is played!?
Especially, when you play for an audience …
Most things we discuss are pure vanity, I agree…
And he’s teasing us with the BassBuzz shirt 
Great video!
Yeah… I need to agree with the others with respect to pickups. I think part of the test there is a little colored by the fact that while the Squier stock pups are pretty meh, they aren’t terrible; and at the same time, SD Quarter Pounders are quality but pretty middle of the road tone-wise.
A more aggressive or punchy pickup (DiMarzio, EMG) or richer vintage style (Fralin, Bareknuckle) would have made a much bigger difference than a Quarter Pounder.
Additionally, the difference is even greater if the original pickup is actually worse, and not good at all. Which absolutely happens.
Like Yamaha? 
Not taking the bait, caballero
@JoshFossgreen … Tone problem : Sorted 
RIGHT!?
At least you get that, @Whying_Dutchman
I thought that the tonewood explanation was hysterical.
Welcome to pandering to the masses, 101.
I have to jump on the pickup comments as has done everyone else before me. One example with limited difference isn’t going to be a statistically significant data point. My 5 string Mikro bass with Fishman Fluence pickups sounds REMARKABLY different from the original passive pickups.
I was pretty happy with everything else.
Very informative and entertaining, thank you ! 
Oh, nooooo - I might be affected by wispy plucking… now I’ll never get that Iron Maiden Tribute gig 
I just wanted to say that, having been watching the BassBuzz YouTube channel for a couple of months, this particular video made me join up and enroll in the B2B course. The system works! 
