The first consideration must be : What is the SOURCE of the bass ? Bass is not generic --- it is specific. Is the source instrument bowed, plucked, blown or struck to produce the bass in question ? The "leading edge" of the sound predicates the instrument that produces it. A bowed doublebass has no "slam". A tuba cannot sustain a note as long as a bowed doublebass can unless the tuba player uses a technique called "circular breathing". A percussive or struck bass will decay rapidly whereas a blown or bowed bass can be sustained at the will of the player. Once the source is determined, then a correct assessment of bass can be made.
Of course, with the advent of electronically produced bass, all bets are off since bass guitar can be sent directly into the recording console without the benefit of any acoustical environment to "tailor" the sound. "FutureMan", the bass player with "Bela Fleck and The Flecktones" added octaves below what one would expect with his ground shaking "Drumitar" instrument that he invented. So, in regards to electronic bass, your guess is as good as mine.
Great response. Thank you for this.
I don’t think most modern audiophiles listen to classical or jazz music a lot, so acoustic instruments are not something they seem to know well. If I go by what I hear on YouTube, acoustic instruments are practically non-existent on most pop songs.
By contrast, if this was 1982, it would still be mostly acoustic 🎸(and analogue). I can’t fathom not hearing all the beautiful instruments that exist. And it’s ironic: we’ve arrived in the ’Digital Age’ where everything is available, but we use fewer instruments to make music than we ever have and most of that is electronic instruments. Which is wildly ironic, since High End designers were trying to make their component reproduce all the colors of an orchestra playing acoustic instruments, only to have so much music reduced, 20 years later in pop music, to a diet composed (almost completely) of drums, guitar, synthesizer for the most part. The odd instrument is thrown in, but mostly, the tonal palette in pop music is pretty "gray"-sounding.
