Open letter to those on the Quest for Bass Gear.

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I wrote a PM to a TBer who asked me a question about buying gear. I thought I'd post it here too. Maybe it will help those just starting The Quest (to find the gear that is best for them) to avoid the mistakes that I made.

Usually I do a ton of research to find the item that will exactly meet my needs (at least at the time). Then I hunt one down. For example, I'm tired of buying and selling bass cabs looking for that happy medium b/n "sounds awesome & is relatively light". If you check my profile you'll see that I've gone thru quite a bit of gear in my search. My experience has taught me to just buy the best possible unit I can, even if I cant quite afford it, because if you buy something sub standard you'll eventually not be happy with it and end up selling it. Everytime you sell something, you never get what you paid. Well, maybe if you're real lucky. Especially when you add in shipping and paypal fees etc etc. Its just better to buy the "best there is" in the first place. You may eventually get bored or tired of it, but it still does what you required it to do when you first got it. The key is to have the presence of mind to stay satisfied. Dont let GAS get you. If its getting hard to fight off the GAS go play some crappy gear and then you'll appreciate what you have.

For me, I've gone thru about 5 high end cabs. This time I'm buying the best there is (arguably). The Epifani UL310. I also bought an AI Focus SA poweramp a couple years ago brand new... cost me about $800usd. But I'd be crazy to ever sell that poweramp. It does a fantastic job and only weighs 3.5LBS. Weight is very important to me.

So I got the poweramp, the cab is on the way. I'm very happy with my Geddy Jazz. The only missing piece is the preamp. I have an Ampeg SVT IIP (tube) preamp on the way. I'm hoping that its the "holy grail" of pres that match my requirements of great tone and lightweight.

To find the gear I will scour TB classifieds, bassgear.com, harmony central classifieds, local craigslist and even do a N. American search of craigslist. If I'm getting desperate I will leave "Want To Buy" ads in most of these classifieds as well. Ebay is another source. That's where I got my Epi UL310, which is due to arrive Feb 12.

Bottom line: Dont screw around. Buy the absolute best if it meets your requirements, even if you cant afford it (within reason). It will save you money in the long run and you will have the best. That's been my experience anyway.

take care
Torin

[Atoz]

Agreed. One often finds that that extra $150 - $200 (s)he shells out more than makes up for itself in service headaches, trying to resell it for something (s)he really wanted in the first place, or just the simple dissatisfaction in his/her overall tone. Besides, you don't really miss that extra $$$ after a couple of months.

[markjazzbassist]

great advice. my search looks like this.


1. research and more research - spend lots of time on distributors websites and the manufacturers learning about their products and specifications. Check talkbass, basscentral, bass exchange, bass emporium, bass northwest, eBay, Bassgear, basstasters, bass specialties, theperfectbass, etc. Read, Read, Read.
2. buy high - i realize that some things are cheap and sound good, but for the most part, You Get What You Pay For.
3. don't buy impulsively - take a LOT of time researching, asking other TBer's questions and thinking about your decision. The more time and effort you put into a purchase, the better it will feel when you make the right choice.

If you do enough research, you'll know that that piece of gear is IT. Cause you've learned all about the competitors and other products, and you didn't choose them, cause they don't have what the product you bought does.