This is why Paul has never explained one of his favorite terms, 'Timbre'.....(Not 'Timber')- becuase it takes a short novel to fully explain it!:
http://users.chariot.net.au/~gmarts/picktimb.htm
I couldn't even finish reading the whole thing, but what little I read cleared up a lot!
Why Bassist25 never explained it...
Why Bassist25 never explained it...
.
All kinetic, no potential.
.
All kinetic, no potential.
.
-
bassist_25
- Senior Member
- Posts: 6815
- Joined: Monday Dec 09, 2002
- Location: Indiana
When putting together one's "sound", the best thing to do is get an instrument that has great timbre when dialed in flat. Purchasing amps, effects, etc. will then be a lot easier. That's why the cat with the $3000 Mesa/Boogie rig and $300 Strat-knockoff isn't going to sound as good as the guy with the same Boogie rig and a PRS.
When I upgraded my rig, I found out how unhappy I was with my current bass. It's a good instrument and has served me well for the past five years. But it's a mid-grade bass, and it sounds/plays like a mid-grade bass. Other than a little mid-range boost from the neo speakers, my cabinet is pretty much transparent, so for the first time, I truly got to hear the natural timbre of my instrument. I don't hate the timbre. In fact, I love my pick tone.......but I only play with a pick on about three songs a night. It's just not the sound that I'm hearing in my head, so now I'm on a quest to find a bass with the timbre I like. And since the best bass sound I ever heard in my life was coming from a guy playing a Carvin LB76, and I've wanted a Carvin ever since I saw Timothy B. Schmitd from The Eagles play one, well..........
But usually when I'm talking about timbre, I'm talking about vocalists. That's what seperates the great ones from the good ones, the pros from the people doing solos at their high school chorus concerts. A lot of people can technically hit the right notes, but they don't have good timbre.
When I upgraded my rig, I found out how unhappy I was with my current bass. It's a good instrument and has served me well for the past five years. But it's a mid-grade bass, and it sounds/plays like a mid-grade bass. Other than a little mid-range boost from the neo speakers, my cabinet is pretty much transparent, so for the first time, I truly got to hear the natural timbre of my instrument. I don't hate the timbre. In fact, I love my pick tone.......but I only play with a pick on about three songs a night. It's just not the sound that I'm hearing in my head, so now I'm on a quest to find a bass with the timbre I like. And since the best bass sound I ever heard in my life was coming from a guy playing a Carvin LB76, and I've wanted a Carvin ever since I saw Timothy B. Schmitd from The Eagles play one, well..........
But usually when I'm talking about timbre, I'm talking about vocalists. That's what seperates the great ones from the good ones, the pros from the people doing solos at their high school chorus concerts. A lot of people can technically hit the right notes, but they don't have good timbre.
"He's the electric horseman, you better back off!" - old sKool making a reference to the culturally relevant 1979 film.