The most notable weakness of Gibson basses is the price tag. Gibson designs are also considered a work of art, and a Gibson bass will look amazing hanging on your wall. SEE ALSO: Squier Affinity Jazz Bass vs Ibanez GSR200: Which is better? When set up through a Marshall Stack like Jack Bruce in his Cream heyday, Gibson basses have enough clarity to stand apart from the guitar, drums and vocals, enough bite and character to propel the song and still bringing a nice little buffer to the bottom end. It takes a certain type of player to appreciate the specific tone of a Gibson bass, based on the individual style of the bassist and whether their technique and touch gets the best out of a Gibson bass. So the EB-3 fit the bill in all of those ways – I was able to get some great distortion, and it didn’t sound like a Fender at all!” – Jack Bruce, bass player from Cream “I wanted to play bass like a guitar, and you can’t do that on a regular Fender you can’t bend the strings … I wanted it to sound very personal. The deep tone of a Gibson bass, particularly the earlier models like the EB0 and the EB3, is what makes them so special to fans, bringing a devilish, dirty alternative to the ubiquitous bright trebly tone of the Fender bass. Jack Bruce and Krist Novaselic, two of the most famous Gibson bass players of all time, played in powerful 3-piece bands that brought the best out of the heavy tones of a Gibson bass. On the other hand, in a larger mix with multiple guitars, keyboards, backing vocals etc, Fender basses work better as their soft, bright tone is able to stand out and cut through the mix in a way that the Gibson EB can’t. This works particularly well when the bass doesn’t have to fight many other instruments. Turned up to the limit they produce a distorted tone that, if used subtly, can sit perfectly alongside a bluesy guitar. When turned down low, the EB basses sound almost like a stand-up bass. These are guitars you either love or hate. The big single pickups found on the early ‘60s EB models were dubbed ‘mud-buckers’ due to their big brazen sound, written off as muddy by its detractors. The popular Gibson bass guitars have big humbucker pickups that produce a heavy, solid sound very different from the clean, bright tones of a Fender. While not as popular as its standard electric cousin, Gibson Les Paul basses also have enjoyed a lot of popularity over the years due to their iconic curvature design. SEE ALSO: Best Bass Guitar For Reggae: Finding That Sweet Low-End Tone Let’s take a deeper look at a guitar legend and discover whether its low end stands up to scrutiny. Some classic Gibson basses, although flamboyant and beautifully designed, are quite bulky and heavy for smaller players and are known to present certain ergonomics issues. For a dirty rock 3-piece with plenty of room for the bass to assert itself, however, the Gibson bass can be spectacular. When played alongside many other instruments, a Gibson bass might turn the music into a big muddy mess, swamping up the song and killing the groove. Despite killer looks, a deep tone that harks back to the sixties and a singular feeling that appeals to a certain player, for a Gibson bass to sound good, it requires a certain touch, a certain style of music, and a relatively small mix of instruments. Still, there’s a reason for the dissension. Even though Fender’s classic tone and famed versatility have made their basses the #1 choice for many, there’s no doubt that Gibson makes very special bass guitars. Some of the greatest bass players of all time have used a Gibson. Others, however, love the unique sound and character of a Gibson bass. On one hand, many people think of them as inferior to Leo Fender’s standard bearer. While Gibson electric guitars enjoy legendary status among guitar players, Gibson bass guitars are a little more divisive.
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