Thanks michaelhanson, point taken and I do understand what you are saying and I suppose that (shape-ability down the line) is even more true now with DAWs than it was in the decades of old.  Even with that said, and that recording was made a long time ago, there is something about that recorded bass sound that makes me think there is something at the beginning of the chain that is responsible for a large part of the final product -- of course I could be completely wrong as at this point it is still an elusive sound for me!  I do understand though what you are saying about results will vary in all of our own experiences!!! 

I got the Danelectro out and played along with Pablo Cruise on that one as best I could and actually the tone did kind of sound like that with the benefit of all that stuff going on (the other musicians) and with the benefit of that is the part in the song and that is how it sounds -- so yes I didn't mean to give short shrift to your response I know you are right -- it is dangerous to take an example like that and say this is the ideal bass tone -- because I could maybe put the same exact tone playing a two note pattern behind an old George Jones song and I might not even think that the bass tone is particularly nice 

and by the same token I played my bass, which I have already established I am looking to improve on, along with the song and the tone sounded surprisingly more like the one in the song than I thought it would have.  So again I know you are right michaelhanson. 

bapu
Why has no one mentioned an Alembic?
... 
 

Agreed! 
 
In general, I would suggest checking out OTHER basses out there. I have become enamored with the Status Graphite (headless) and want to try one bad, including a Steinberger (sp?), but have not had the chance, since no stores carry them!
 
I, personally, find it too easy to fall into what every one else does, because the same instruments and stuff is in every store, but if you hear something different ... where did that come from? ... to me is the valuable moment, because you go after it. 
 
It's true, as it has been said, that you can hardly go wrong with a Jazz or Precision Bass, but in the end, there are some limitations that those have inherently that are not mentioned here easily enough, but they are excellent starters and not as expensive, otherwise.
 
I had a Fender Jazz bass for over 25 years. Alas, it did not get enough play, although I was fine with it, because I simply could not get the nice tone that I originally had with the Gibson EB-0 (with the pegs back instead of side!), and in the end, the desire to have that strong tone, was lost on the Fender Jazz ability for me. I have not studied or played the bass much since then, when the Fender was gone. I've never been able to get some help in trying to figure out how to get that strong tone, and depth, out of the Jazz bass, and never have tried a Precision.
 
But I want to try the Streamline one, but can't.

The Gibson EB-0 -- isn't that a short scale bass?  Are short scale basses inherently lacking something?

pedro803
The Gibson EB-0 -- isn't that a short scale bass?  Are short scale basses inherently lacking something?

I have no idea .. all I know is that it felt great and played better. Ask Bapu, he had one and might be able to take the myth out of it, but it was one of the big basses in the early English music scene, until Paul made the left hand famous with a fake violin?
 
I can remember a few bands, with it ... Caravan, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Curved Air, but you might check out Mike Howlett's modified Fender Jazz special, which was also used by Richard Sinclair and others.

Unless you have weak hands or are REALLY short/have small hands don't get a short scale bass.
 
Personally I think you have to spend a FORTUNE to get a good Gibson bass. I mean once you get a good one it's a FREAKING good one and worth the money but for the budget minded consumer there are other brands offering MUCH better basses for what you'd pay for a low end Gibby/Epi. The opposite is true for their guits though. You can get some BRILLIANT low cost Epi and "Gibson" guitars. I just wouldn't go for their basses.
 
Also Ibanez basses are really quite horrendous IMO (but I love Ibanez guits for certain stuff). Especially if you are doing more traditional sounding music. Ibanez basses aren't really designed for a nice warm round sound which seems to me you are likely looking for.
 
Cheers.

Short scales have lower string tension at the same pitch. This changes the tone somewhat. If you tune a 34" scale bass to low D instead of E it's essentially the same thing.
 
 
In terms of a bass, I would say you want to get the sound you want by letting the instrument be what it wants to be, not fight you because you're trying to do something that isn't its forte. IME it's not hard to find an inexpensive instrument that does one thing well, but often they are less adaptable because of whatever shortcomings they have. 
 
I would say that the most important things are:
1. Technique, particularly right (plucking) hand technique.
2. Strings that suit the bass in question and what you're trying to achieve. 
3. A decent bass with decent PU's. Note that changing PU's in a Fender style bass gives lots of options. So does a bass with the most common sizes of soapbar PU's.
4. A good bass unplugged. Play every note up the neck and watch out for dead spots - Fender style basses typically have some sort of dead spot on the G string in the 5th to 7th fret area, but some are much worse than others.

The Danelectro I have is a short scale bass and as I said in the first post I don't think it has good intonation.  Our piano player likes to play some songs in E flat and I notice it being a little out of tune up there around the 6th to 8th fret range.  And it seems -- I haven't looked closely but I don't even see a way to adjust the bridge saddles on this one.  Probably its one of those deals where you can move two of them and you have to split the difference.
 
And I think I remember trying to set the intonation on another short scale bass one time and coming to the conclusion that it was super touchy.  By that I mean the tiny amount that I would have to move the bridge saddle to get it intonated was just too tiny to be able to navigate -- so trying to find the spot is a battle of constantly overshooting etc. and never really being able to get the intonation completely in.

pedro803
The Danelectro I have is a short scale bass and as I said in the first post I don't think it has good intonation.  

They are famous for that. 

Moshkito

bapu
Why has no one mentioned an Alembic?
... 
 

Agreed! 
 
In general, I would suggest checking out OTHER basses out there. I have become enamored with the Status Graphite (headless) and want to try one bad, including a Steinberger (sp?), but have not had the chance, since no stores carry them!
 
 

 

                                                                               Stein  
 
 
 

                                                                           Burger
                                                         I've been wanting one of each of those as well. Yum.