A bass you always wanted, until you played one...

Warrior.. Have played several but I've never been able to connect with any of them.
Steinberger XM2 - Cool bass but TOO HEAVY!!!
Fender Deluxe P5 - Floppy B string. No punch or definition.

 

Now I'm curious. So what did you find that finally worked for you?

Edit; Nevermind. Just looked at your profile.

 

When Bass Emporium (RIP) was around, i got the pleasure of playing a plethora of very nice basses. Ritter, Elrick, Turner-Renaissance, Rickenbacher, Roscoe, etc.
Was never let down by any of them, but learned pretty quickly that a P bass with a baseball bat neck was the right bass for me.

(Though i wouldn't say no to a Roscoe)

 

It happens to me regularly with acoustic basses. I keep wanting to love them, but then return them (or just leave the store without them).

 

A Ric- love the sound but it's not comfortable for me to play on it. I know it's a personal thing- works for some and not for others as Geddy and Chris Squire evidently have no problem with it.
I've been to the music store a few times with a specific bass in mind but walked out with something completely different. This is a good reason to always try a bass before you buy it- you never know how it's going to play for you until you get your hands on it.

 

Word!

I have some regrets on all the money I've spent swapping gear over the years (decades!), because some purchases were truly impulse buys (not enough research)... and there have been impulse sales that I regretted later. However as you say, these transactions were largely positive because the best way for me to learn what works for me is by buying the gear and trying it out at the gig for an extended period.

This is true for amps as well as basses. And I've learned that a set of strings that sounds great on one bass might not sound as good on another. So... yeah, it can be a complicated process for some of us!

 

Always loved SR5s until I got one, I think I put it up for sale the next day. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good enough to keep.

 

I've got decades worth of stories. Off the top of my head:

Alembic -- Always loved the tones that Entwistle got out of 'em, but they tend to be heavy and neck-divey (Series, Exploiter). Also, the electronics are versatile, but also complex.

Spector -- owned an old NS-2, loved the tone and feel, but a 24-fret neck on a short body makes for neck dive and weird ergonomics: feels like you have to reach way out to get to the lower frets. Sure, if this was my only bass I could get used to it, but I will always own Fender-style basses which have perfect ergonomics for me.

Ric -- love the tones of the 4001, but it has no forearm contour, and the body binding is uncomfortable. I know, Ric makes some contoured-body basses, but all I wanted was a black 4001 like Geddy had.

Modulus Quantum -- loved the modern piano tone of the 35" composite neck... but owning this bass made me realize that my right hand is incredibly uncomfortable on narrow bridge spacing. I'm uncomfortable with all narrow-spaced fivers: Music Man, most Ibanez, etc.

Fender Jazz -- fantastic bass, but I'm a P-bass guy! I don't go for PJ basses either... I rarely used the bridge pickups. My current P-basses are P-only.

 

Rickenbacker.

 

Rick and Mockingbird. Both sound great but very
uncomfortable.

 

Gibson SG & Ric 4003.

 

Warwick. Looked great, build quality great, but super uncomfortable and sound was very meh.

 

Hofner 500/1 and RIC.

Ergonomically not for me.

 

This. All day.

 

Bongo 6. I REALLY wanted one (I wanted a stealth HH to put some green DR neons on it for a freaky look) and went to try a stealth at GC with cash in hand to buy it... until I played it, or better, tried to. I could not play the guitar at all. The string spacing felt so wide that I kept missing strings while fast plucking and the neck felt HUGE, my left hand was cramping from the reaches in minutes and I kept missing notes all over the thing. I grabbed an Ibby 6 off the rack and blazed through it easily. Still, I was determined to get the Bongo, so I thought, "Maybe it's just that one... I'll try another." I tried 4 different ones (two setup wonderfully) before finally, reluctantly and totally giving up.

A Bongo is the only bass I ever REALLY wanted until I played it, and then I tried and tried and tried.

Now, if I could have a specially modified Bongo 5 modified as a 6 with the thinner neck and narrower spacing, I might be interested... but.... nah... I bought a Yamaha RBXJM2 and am completely over the Bongo - modded 5 or straight up 6. They are nice guitars... for people other than me to play.

 

Ric

 

I believe that's exactly what Myung had them do (6 string on a modified 5 string neck).

 

G&L, Modulus, Suhr.