The Official "So %!@# Broke" Bassists Club.

[Muddslide]

I think maybe I should start up this club.

It would make me happy if everyone else was doing better than me and I ended up being the only member, but I have a feeling there are others in a similar situation to mine.

It's hard to write this stuff without sounding like I'm whining. I don't mean to. Believe me, I KNOW I am better off than most of the people in this world, and I am thankful for that!

Also, I want to be clear that I think it is great when people have money to buy new gear and post it here--I love seeing pics of people's collections. I don't harbor any ill will whatsoever to people who are in a better financial spot than me. In fact, I cheer them on and am happy for them.

But I'm frustrated these days. My only bass is a humble (but really decent!) SX P-bass. However, it (along with 98% of all of my family's possessions) is in storage over 3000 miles away from me. Long story...lost my job, had to relocate, didn't have the $$$ to move our stuff with us...but I have a new job and I'm very happy and fortunate in that regard.

I really wanted this year to be the year I either got our stuff back from the other side of the country so I could be reunited with my SX P or perhaps even score a new bass and amp rig and get back into gigging. I've missed that SO MUCH the past few years since I had to sell off nearly all my musical equipment.

But it looks less and less like this is going to happen. I'm sure we'll eventually figure a way to get our stuff back out of storage, but I'm beginning to think I'm just going to have to pack it in and give up the dream.

Every time I think I can put together enough scratch to plunk down on a bass, something else rears its head. I scan CraigsList and will see a $75 old Squier P-bass or something and I think "This is it!" but then some other priority comes up--car needs a brake job, get hit with a medical bill, etc., etc.

Argh!

So, anyone here care to join this sad little club and share your tales of woe?

Anyone here play with really meager gear but still having fun?

There's no shame in playing cheap headstocks!

I still consider myself a bass player, but maybe just semi-permanently retired.

[Psychotisis]

I think this is perfect for me as well.

I'm playing on a squire p-bass copy that was given to me as a gift a few years ago... been my one and only bass since then. I dont have a rig, dont even have a little tiny amp. I dont have a job at the moment, and its been really stressful recently for me.

But when times get hard GRAB THE BASS!

I love that bass with all my heart, and even though I'm not a good player, I dont have any gear other than it, that thing will always make me happy till now and the end.

I'm terribly sorry to hear about you're gear being so far. I think personally it would be easier to know that i had sold it, or it broke, or something. But I imagine it just sitting there waiting for you to come pick it up and touch its body is just terrible.

One day my friend, you will be re-united...



#2 please.

[REAPER52]

When i get to feeling down, i think of one thing that brings me back. We have very young men and women fighting and dieing in a War right now-They have it bad -I dont

[Plays_For_Dog]

I won't take a number because my wife and I are finnally doing ok. We still live pay check to pay check, but I have a few nice things as fruits of my labor. Most of my gear, I got long before I got married and developed bills. No way I could ever afford a new bass or amp now. From time to time I'm ahead enough to sneak and buy a pedal

I just wanted to show some support to you buddy. I lost my job early this year and was the only income for my wife and I. I was paying off her bachelor's degree loan and putting her through grad school out of pocket. We lived in a studio apartment, shared a car, did laundry at a friends house, had no tv, landlord let us mooch wireless internet in exchange for me helping her on her farm. Life was tough for a few years there.

Once I lost my job, I was in panic mode. I was laid off due to the economy down turn in the aviation industry, and quite frankly was suprised I was able to ride it out as long as I did. For a while I was doing more building maintenance on the hangar then actually working on the aircraft. I was happy being able to pay the bills though, but eventually the money ran out.

So, I survived a month off what little I had saved, a few odd jobs here and there and accuring some significant credit card debt. A good friend of mine I served with in the Marines had snagged a good job in the aviation industry down in Texas. Thankfully he was able to push my resume' across the right desk, and I got the job. I had to borrow money from my family to afford to move from my beloved home in Washington state
Once I got here my buddy let me stay with him because I was still supporting my wife (apartment, car payment, food and utilities) who was still in grad school up in Washington. I hate living here, but at least we're taken care of now. My wife has since graduated and landed a good entry level position in her field, we have insurance and benefits now (didn't in WA) and I've got a good job.

Moral of my story is sometimes you've got to do things you don't want to do in order to survive. We hope to move back in the Nortwest someday, but for now we're concentrating on paying off debt, gaining valuable experience in our respective professions and waiting for our opprotunity to move on to bigger and better things. My post is in no way intended to be a sob story, but simply to show that you are not alone in having to make sacrafices. Hang in there man and keep pushing forward. Slowly but surely things will get better as long as you work hard, make smart and well thought out decisions, and most importantly keep faith.

And you can always window shop for basses at the local music store to get some playing time in on good equipment

[ShredderMaximus]

I'll take a number. My story starts about October of last year. I had been living on my own, but lost my job, which wasn't paying much anyways, and as a last resort ended up moving in with my Dad at his condo he'd been living at for a few years. I was paying him rent for living there which I was barely scraping together month to month pulling random jobs for cash, but things were alright, we were getting by.

Fast forward to March. I was getting very curious and worried about these calls we were always getting from the land lord, which my Dad always instructed me to ignore, he was "taking care of it." To clarify real quick, he is in construction, and for a few years after high school I was working for him making decent cash, pulling in up to a grand cash a week sometimes which ain't bad at 18-20 years old. But I got caught in a cycle of workin myself to exhaustion, then goin nuts whenever I had a day off since I had so much cash, never saving a dime towards the Fireglo Ric I've always dreamed of having. When our big cash cow job ran dry I managed to find another job which didn't pay nearly as much, but was enough to pay the rent for the room I was renting from a buddy. It was this job that I later lost that I then had to move back in with my pops. Turned out later I found out that after that job, he himself was slowly falling further and further behind in rent, and when I moved in he wasn't working at all and was using the money I was paying him to survive.

Back to where we were now, though he was trying to hide it, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but not to how soon it was coming. One day coming home I noticed a sign on the door from the sheriff saying that we had 3 days to get all of our stuff out of there before he was going to come and remove us. This had apparently been brewing for quite awhile and wasn't helped by the fact that my dad hadn't been communicating with the landlord at all, so we were both getting slapped with an unlawful detainers even though I had no idea beforehand of the severity of our situation. So in 3 of the most physically intense days of my life running on no sleep and a couple McDonalds double cheesburgers a day we managed to get all of our belongings to a new place (before we moved to the condo we lived in a house on 7 acres with a huge barn where my Dad kept his giant collection of tools and other personal belongings that he had crammed so tight in the garage of the condo it was pretty amazing) where my dad had a deal set up where we could live for free for 3 months in exchange for doing all the work needed on the house, then after we would pay rent like normal.

Things seemed to be going good again for a few months, I had another low paying job that was paying my rent and a couple roommates that were paying rent too, but I noticed my dad still wasn't working, and though we didn't have a land line this time I was starting to get a bad feeling. Then in October envelopes from law offices started showing up again that I would sometimes find if I got to the mail before he would and the roommate was noticing these too. When we confronted him about this he would get really angry and it would turn into a giant house argument usually ending up with him going to his girlfriends, then come come back later saying he was taking care of it. Then in early November when a especially big argument broke out he didn't come back. A few days later we had no gas or electricity. A few more and no water. I knew where he was but he wasn't returning calls. That month ended up being one of the coldest we've had in a while and I sure as hell noticed. then in December the landlord finally showed up in person packin heat and angry, but after I pleaded to give me one day to finish packin up some of my stuff he agreed.

I really lucked out in finding some friends that had room for me to put my stuff temporarily and my Mom is now letting me stay at her house for a little bit (you can't even imagine how nice those first few nights were, water, electricity, warm food...) but it very temporary and pretty cramped quarters in a 1 bedroom apartment with her, her fiance', their dog, and me sleeping in the living room. I've been looking for a job now furiously but to no avail yet (actually had a hopeful callback today, I'm crossing my fingers!) But the one thing that really bugs me is the fact that now, my Dad, who has always been a very proud, driven man with all the coolest toys (i.e. big lifted trucks, boats, Hawaiian vacations, the works) literally has nothing, his deadline to get the rest of His was December 26, and to my knowledge he had never gone back even once to pick up a single thing, thousands and thousands of top of the line tools, family heirlooms, everything... now sitting who knows where

Right now I got my basses spread out all over the place, except for my Destroyer and the Jackson guitar I found a week or 2 ago
both of which have been getting heavy usage

Originally Posted by Psychotisis

But when times get hard GRAB THE BASS!

what he says

Sorry, not meant for attention or sympathy, just needed to get this off my chest somehow and this thread became my victim, thanks

[Muddslide]

Originally Posted by Psychotisis

I'm playing on a squire p-bass copy that was given to me as a gift a few years ago... been my one and only bass since then. I dont have a rig, dont even have a little tiny amp. I dont have a job at the moment, and its been really stressful recently for me.

But when times get hard GRAB THE BASS!

I love that bass with all my heart, and even though I'm not a good player, I dont have any gear other than it, that thing will always make me happy till now and the end.

Now here's a man with a great attitude! Thanks for your post. And best of luck to you too.

Originally Posted by REAPER52

When i get to feeling down, i think of one thing that brings me back. We have very young men and women fighting and dieing in a War right now-They have it bad -I dont

Absolutely right. It's this kind of thinking that brings things into perspective. I try to remember--whenever I start to stress or get down--there are so many people in worse situations. Families living in shelters, families with gravely ill members, people not able to see their families, people who don't know where their next meal is coming from or where they will be sleeping tonight.

I really have it good in so many ways. We may barely scrape by paycheck to paycheck and live off of Ramen noodles for a week every month, but we have a roof over our heads and my kids are healthy and happy.

[Muddslide]

Originally Posted by Plays_For_Dog

I won't take a number because my wife and I are finnally doing ok. We still live pay check to pay check, but I have a few nice things as fruits of my labor. Most of my gear, I got long before I got married and developed bills.

I am glad to hear you are on the upswing. I had a lot of nice gear before I became a family man. Gigged 3-5 times a week, etc. When daughter #1 came along I ended up taking a second job and eventually sold everything I had except an old acoustic beater guitar. Stopped playing live.

Fortunately my wife is a musician herself--used to tour and record for a couple of bands. So she's very supportive and actually wants me to assemble a bass and rig when we have the means to so that I can start playing again.

I just wanted to show some support to you buddy.

I'm hoping in this thread/club we can show support for each other. Your story has a lot of similarities to mine.

Once I lost my job, I was in panic mode.

Yes. I lost my job at the very end of 2009 and was out of work until June, 2010. About the scariest time I can remember.

I had to borrow money from my family to afford to move from my beloved home in Washington state
I hate living here...

So sorry to hear about your forced relocation. I was born in Texas and lived around those parts much of my life. Never liked living there. There are things about Texas that I like, and I do have friends and family there, but I would never want to live there. Especially after moving out here to the Pacific NW. See--that's another thing that makes me realize how lucky I am. May not have any leisure cash (and barely enough to make bills/rent) but my family is in a place we love dearly.

My post is in no way intended to be a sob story, but simply to show that you are not alone in having to make sacrafices. Hang in there man and keep pushing forward. Slowly but surely things will get better as long as you work hard, make smart and well thought out decisions, and most importantly keep faith.

Hey--this thread is FOR sob stories. A place for people to vent a little and get things off their chest.

Thanks for the kind words and I will hold good thoughts for you as well. Onwards and upwards for all of us!

And you can always window shop for basses at the local music store to get some playing time in on good equipment

You gots that right! That has become my #1 hobby...stopping off at a music store on the way home from work when I can. I'm getting to try out all kinds of stuff.

[Muddslide]

OFFICIAL "SO %!@# BROKE" BASSISTS CLUB ROSTER:

Psychotisis - #2
ShredderMaximus - #3

Honorary Members: Plays_For_Dog

[Muddslide]

Originally Posted by ShredderMaximus

I'll take a number. My story starts about October of last year...

...Sorry, not meant for attention or sympathy, just needed to get this off my chest somehow and this thread became my victim, thanks

Whoa, man. Best of luck to you, and your pops as well. That is one heck of a story.

Don't worry about letting it all go here. This is the purpose of the thread in part. I mean, I don't want it to just be the thread that bums everyone out, but maybe a place we can share stories and get things off our chests a little. Support group kind of atmosphere, but centered on our love of playing and music.

[funkingroovin]

Not sure if I qualify or not..I currently have a job,but my entire paycheck goes to living expense bills,and child support.The latter really chaps my @$$ cuz my daughter spends AT LEAST 50% of the time with us. My fiance' has a job,and makes over twice what I do,but we're still living paycheck to paycheck..And we have NO credit card debt,our vehicles are paid off,and we have no outstanding loans. But,the cars always seem to need something,the house always needs something,and,I gotta tell ya,even low maintanence kids are expensive!

On the plus side,my gigs give us a little 'mad-cash',my girls are ABSOLUTELY supportive of my gigging 48 weekends a year plus the occasional weeknight acoustic gig,and they don't see any gear purchase as needless..my basses make us(some) money. I'm especially fortunate tonight because I just picked up a GK 400RB and a Peavy 210TVX cab from CL for $150!!!!(had to borrow 80 from a friend) Both work great and are 8.5/10 cond! !!SCORE!!

In the end,financially I'm broke as %$#@,BUT I have everything I really need in my friends and family..

As far as a number,If I qualify,I'll happily take 'last,w/a smile' which is how it seems to work out...but I'm ok with that ;D

[Muddslide]

OFFICIAL "SO %!@# BROKE" BASSISTS CLUB ROSTER:

Psychotisis - #2
ShredderMaximus - #3
funkingroovin - #4

Honorary Members: Plays_For_Dog

[Muddslide]

Originally Posted by funkingroovin

Not sure if I qualify or not..I currently have a job,but my entire paycheck goes to living expense bills,and child support.

Of course you qualify! It's "broke" as in relatively poor--not necessarily destitute or homeless or starving.

...we're still living paycheck to paycheck..And we have NO credit card debt,our vehicles are paid off,and we have no outstanding loans. But,the cars always seem to need something,the house always needs something,and,I gotta tell ya,even low maintanence kids are expensive!

Preach on, brother!

Sounds so familiar. We also live very frugally. My car is a 1996 Geo. We don't have cable. We don't have any expensive habits (we don't drink or party or do drugs and haven't for about 12 years.) We don't have car payments, credit card debt, any fancy toys we are paying off....

Our only debt is my student loan debt, which we are faithfully paying off. I got my masters in 2005 and i took me from very good job to very good job, so I thought it was going to be worthwhile having spent the money and taken the effort, but now I'm back at the bottom rung of the ladder.

Rent and bills and food and gas and repairs to the cars and occasional school-related items for my two kids...heck, we shop for school stuff at the dollar store and clothes at Goodwill.

Our only extravagance is the internet. And I use that a great deal for work (and looking for better-paying jobs) and my kids use it all the time for school work. We were having to us the public library for computer business but we got our old laptop (which I'm now using) from my mother-in-law after she hada stroke last year (and lived with us for nearly a year.)

Just saying all this to point out--not everyone who is poor is lazy or on drugs or blows money on flashy cars and plasma screen televisions.

On the plus side,my gigs give us a little 'mad-cash',my girls are ABSOLUTELY supportive of my gigging 48 weekends a year plus the occasional weeknight acoustic gig,and they don't see any gear purchase as needless..my basses make us(some) money. I'm especially fortunate tonight because I just picked up a GK 400RB and a Peavy 210TVX cab from CL for $150!!!!(had to borrow 80 from a friend) Both work great and are 8.5/10 cond! !!SCORE!!

In the end,financially I'm broke as %$#@,BUT I have everything I really need in my friends and family..

Great, positive attitude.

Yeah, one thing I miss from my band/gigging days is the extra $$$. I actually often made more gigging than I did from my day job. I would LOVE to put together a rig and start playing again--in a cover band, whatever--just to have fun, be making music again, and hopefully make a little extra scratch.

Fortunately, as I said earlier, my wife is a musician who did it professionally for a while. She has no interest in being on stage or in the studio any more, but she completely supports my desire to and encourages me to get a new bass and amp gear when and if we can swing it.

I got my fingers crossed that I can use a little money from our tax return to do just that, but we'll see.

[Tmoney865]

Wife got the Kids and the $50K from the sale of the House, after her intenet affairs.

I got $2K in Child Support @ mo. with only a H.S. ed.

Defaulted on the Credit Cards $25K, at least I got some gear out of it.

IRS probably wants $120K from me after I made them withdraw the prior Federal Tax Lien for $200, all because I told the truth and blew the whistle on the money system and their terror operation.

Was supposed to get some music going with a Friend. he died.

Was homeless working for a ministry.

Church took me in. Live in the basement.

Made 18K book of Romans to go to a nation that never had any part of the Bible before.

Have my gear, but no car, and the Music here is just the Hymnal stuff which I will need to know when they catch me on the $90K in support. Will be acapella for a long time then.

Was a good run to make people happy at the last place I played Open Mic.

[perkidan]

Ok, I'm in. had to quit working in April of last year due to heart trouble. After stents in 09, and near stroke in April 10, I wound up 52 grand in medical debt, not counting mortgages and the like. I made a little less than 5 thousand dollars last year. Being single with no dependants, I don't qualify for food stamps or anything like that, so if my uncle wasn't living with me I would be homeless. I do have a Yamaha BBG5 I got here off the classifieds, a Carvin BR210 cab I traded from here, and a Eden WTX500 head. Hell, at one time I can remember having 4 Pedulla raptures as well as a full Eden Stack. So far this year, I have made 100 dollars playing. So, hit me with that number pal. I still do have dial up to post and read on Talkbass.

[GL797]

Not to toot my own horn here but I consider myself an expert on "cheap" gear. Just because something is inexpensive doesn't mean it can't sound good or get the job done. I've posted hundreds of videos on various YouTube accounts and many people would ask me how much or what year that Fender/Gibson is.

I buy gear on YouTube, use it for a couple of weeks and then sell it to afford the next item. Done this for years, about 300-400 different items.

imo the best inexpensive gear is:
for bass:
Peavey Milestone II (got mine for $58.00, this will NOT be sold).
I also had the top of the line ($199) Rogue active bass that kicked a**. Yes that's right I said Rogue.
For a multi-fx bass unit the Korg AX1B (used $25.00) equalled a Boss ME20-B ($250.00), actually I like it better.

for guitar:
I never met a guitar I didn't like, imo the pedals matter most.
Far and away the best distortion pedal I've ever used for surf - Sabbath, (not metal) is a Washburn Soloist Distortion ($30.00 new). much better tone than the 50 or so other dist/overdrives/multi-fx units I've used including an original Ibanez Tube Screamer. More tonal control, I've heard they are being discontinued though so...
If you want a great and CHEAP Metal device the VOX Amplug Metal was very good and records direct extremely well.

For a delay the Behringer AD400 is the closest you can get to an Ibanez AD9 for less than $40.00.

Best inexpensive reverb pedal; Electro Harmonix Holy Grail, you can find used ones for around $50.00.

If you type in gl797 in the YouTube search I have a few vids using some of this stuff, all recorded direct, I don't own an amp and probably never will.
I've had lots of them though, tube and SS, for me, an old dude basement dwellar I don't need one anymore.
The "Tube only" theory is WAY over-blown imo.

Think of it this way, those cheap Silvertone guitars and amps that you could buy from Sears back a long time ago blow away much more expensive gear. Search YT vids and hear for yourself. Unfortunately people realize this and they aren't cheap anymore. But there's plenty of stuff made today that will be just like it in 20-30 years.

in conclusion: buy some cheap gear that rocks and cheer the **** up.

[OPBASSMAN1994]

I'm 16 and have no car. My main income is allowance, selling stuff, Christmas, and birthdays. I think the story speaks for itself!

500 bucks in the bank, though, all aimed toward a Rickenbacker 4003.......


Eventually.......

[oldcatfish]

I'm not as broke as many of the other TB'rs here, but I do have a family to support...so I can't justify expensive gear. I also went down the tone chasing via "better gear" thing as a guitar player....my conclusion, you can get 80-90% of any tone you want with cheaper gear; if it's setup to play well, and you know how to eq. Much of your tone truly is in the fingers.

I have 3 basses, all inexpensive Peavey basses. Two of them I purchased used. I don't even own a bass amp. I use a Zoom B2 and go direct through a DI box. I use the venue's (I play at several different churches) bass amp as a stage monitor (if they have one), or a used Beheringer powered monitor if they don't. I get compliments on my tone from other bass players, and the sound engineers frequently.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love a high end bass, expensive bass amp, and boutique pedal board....but unless someone gives them to me, I'll never own them.

[Muddslide]

OFFICIAL "SO %!@# BROKE" BASSISTS CLUB ROSTER:

Psychotisis - #2
ShredderMaximus - #3
funkingroovin - #4
Tmoney865 - #5
perkidan - #6
OPBASSMAN1994 - #7
oldcatfish - #8

Honorary Members: Plays_For_Dog

[Muddslide]

Hey--our numbers are growing!

GL797: you can sure get a number of you want, but I wasn't sure if you were here to join or just drop some wisdom regarding inexpensive gear. Let me know.

Some of these stories are "Yikes!"

I'll be back to talk some more soon. Good day, everyone!

[GL797]

Originally Posted by Muddslide

Hey--our numbers are growing!

GL797: you can sure get a number of you want, but I wasn't sure if you were here to join or just drop some wisdom regarding inexpensive gear. Let me know.

Some of these stories are "Yikes!"

I'll be back to talk some more soon. Good day, everyone!

Well I guess not being able to afford top quality gear is not much of a "woe" story. But I hope my past experience with so much relatively inexpensive gear can save some TB'ers a lot of time and money. Like the 16 year old saving for a 4003, if he doesn't have a bass now then I think he's letting years of experience pass by not getting himself an SX or something to learn on while he saves.

So...no I don't warrant a number (that's a good thing right?).
Good luck to all of you.