yeah it’s hard to describe sounds. but it’s still interesting, I think. it helps somewhat to give an idea and maybe build some kind of a commom language, or a least maybe some common terms to help communicate all together.
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ubass are like a practical joke, they just blow people’s minds. I’ve told this before, the first time my wife heard mine she walked in my practice space and said “wait, all this is coming from THAT!!??”
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@terb may I ask, did my cover of “Heard it in a Love Song”, which I did on the Hofner, sound that way to you? Muddy, less precise, etc.? I’m just curious.
P.S. I’m only asking about the instrument, not my playing skill
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yes @PamPurrs. “muddy” might seems to be pejorative but it’s not, it’s more in the sense of “blurry”, fat and not percussive. that’s totally expected from a violin bass, nothing wrong.
one thing that could be interesting would be to compare a Fender Precision Bass and a Fender Mustang Bass : the designs are very similar and the main difference (from a structural point of view) is the scale. the Precision is punchy and percussive, obviously, when the Mustang is more ample and blurry. I like both and I think that it’s a nice illustration of the differences the scale makes. maybe there are some videos on YT.
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A good example is the videos of the Gretsch Electromatics I posted above. Those are basically the same bass, one is a short scale version, and one is a long scale version.
It’s different players, amps, and so on, so not directly apples to apples. But you can hear the difference even so.
And in that case, with the hollow body resonance it has, I actually think I like the shorty better.
But it is noticeably less bright and defined.
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I’m astounded when people are able to listen to a song and be able to tell if it’s a jazz bass or precision, or rounds or flats, or short scale or long scale. Now I’m learning even the length of the nut makes it different. I wish I had that skill.
The only thing that I can tell is if it’s an upright or bass guitar (but not always). Otherwise, it just sounds to me like a song with bass in it.
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All that matters is that it sounds good to you 
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Thank you!
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I am not so sure that this plays a big role in the sound of an instrument, but it sure plays a role in how it feels and plays to the player, so it is a personal thing.
like Howard said before, it is one of the specs (all the neck specs) that let you know somewhat about the bass without having it in your hands.
you might hate fat necks (42 mm) and only like skinny ones (38mm) so if you see a bass that you long for, you can look up the specs and then say, YES, it has the neck I like, I will investigate further, or you can say “NO”, darn it, it has a fat baseball neck, I don’t think I will like it very much. Maybe I like it enough to put it in a “maybe” pile, or maybe I have enough other basses I am thinking about that i would SCRAP it.
There is not many other things you can tell about a bass on the website other then the Look and the Neck.
Even sound tests are subjective, often they give a good representation of the bass, but also, they may not.
So first, I see it, I like it.
Then I look at the neck dims
Then If I still like it, I investigate further.
I am not really sure, as stated before that it will impact the sound, only if the player plays it better then they would another neck because of comfort.
Maybe somebody knows something else about neck width at the nut and its impact on the sound, but I don’t.
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also it’s not all about the sound, and there are a lot of elements to create a final bass tone. every element is a matter of personnal taste and how you use it to create the tone you want. it’s not just the scale.
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totally agree. I think the short scale sound is somewhat overblown, to my ears anyways. or maybe I just listen to too many stingrays.
edit: I mean yes, I hear it, I just don’t think it’s night and day. it’s more pronounced in some basses.
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I love that tone @itsratso. I think if I add another bass it will be a shorty Stingray.
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Yeah the 'ray design is going to go a long way to brighten up any model
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I think you will keep that one. I have to be honest, I am not a big fan of the Stingray 5. I hate that big enveloping pick guard they use, instead of a control panel and pick guard. I think it takes away from the classic Stingray Look. Of course they sound fine, but I prefer the 4 string (standard and SS) over the 5. Most 5’s that is, the Sterling Ray25 doesn’t use that pick guard, so that is what I would get if I were going to get a 5 string stingray, most likely, plus they have that gorgeous Toluca Lake Blue (just a hideous mess of a pick guard, but that can be fixed)
I actually Prefer the Ernie Ball Sterling 5 strings better then the Stingray 5.
yes, there is a Model of bass that is called Sterling. it was made before Sterling was a company, and was just one of Ernie Ball’s Sons that liked them a little smaller and lighter, but with similar classic stingray look, or something like that.
They don’t use a control cover, so they only use the teardrop pick guard that I like. They do sound a bit different tho, but still can be punchy and brite, just the pick up has a selector switch for 3 different ways to run the pick up.
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so I put baby bear up for sale the other day
and bought… baby bear II?
what’s the difference? the hadean is sold through rondo music and has a really good reputation among the u-bass crowd. the first thing i noticed is it’s a lot heavier then the kala, which I realize is like saying a squirrel weighs more than a mouse. but it is very noticeable. the hadean tuners are terrible compared to the kala. when i got the hadean, the A string was almost inaudible compared to the other strings, this is a common problem on U-bass piezo pickups (and on many piezos in general). this also happened to me to a lesser degree on the Kala. there is a fix floating around out there; however, i couldn’t do it on the kala because it has a different piezo setup then the hadean. but I could do it on the hadean, and like a lot of u-bassers report, it works!
and of course, the hadean isn’t made out of koa wood. soundwise the hadean might roar even a little more than the tiny kala did. any other differences, none that i can think of. oh yeah, one more - it retails for almost a grand cheaper 
so the kala is up for sale currently on my reverb page if anybody wants to take a look. I made the switch because i need the funds to pay for something i’ve got coming that i’m super excited about, stay tuned.
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so cute
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I love Deerhoof!
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well this is certainly interesting 
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Looking forward to @terb seeing this one.
medium scale, under four kilos, sounds like a cross between a P and a Rick, looks like a tele. Matching gibson book-thing headstock. and 400 euros.
Ooh.
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