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Anyone have only one bass?

#21
ACalbass said:
All depends :
Is a single bass giving you everything you need from it?
Matches your personality and sound?
Is versatile enough for the styles you want or need to play?
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I can honestly say yes to this.

I currently own only one bass. Bought it new in 2000 has been my main gigging ax since day one and the only one I own for about 8 years now.
However, I will admit that it would not bother me to have a twin as a backup. ;)
 
#22
I have only ever owned one bass at a time. Currently playing a Jetglo Rickenbacker 4003.

In the 25 years I have been gigging, I have never taken a backup. I don't see the point. Never had a problem with my bass and have never broken a string. I play hard too.

I have found that if you make sure your look after your bass, you shouldn't have any problems.
 
#23
I made the decision this week. After years of playing all kinds of basses, owning many at a time, at all different price points, 4-6 strings, active and passive, fretted and fretless, I decided to go with a new Fender American Standard 4 string passive bass, 3 tone burst, tort guard, rosewood board.
 
#24
i woud hold on to 2 simply cause you never know what will happen to one of your basses and need a backup. i wasnt home one weekend and my back up bass at home got broken by someone. luckly i still had my primary bass and got another with the money they owed me. so its always good to have another just in case
 
#26
Until I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase my dream gear 5 years ago, I always had only 1 bass at any given time; and then it became 2. I never did understand why/how people had so many guitars/amps. I had 'my sound' (whatever that was at the time), the gear that produced it, and I was happy. If I upgraded gear, I got rid of the old to fund the new. Now I'm attempting to get back to basics after being gearless- 1 bass, 1 amp, my sound. :bassist:
 
#27
I tend to get pretty OCD with multiple basses. Almost feel as if I need to make use of all of them in my music career in order to justify having several basses.
I sold several of mine and kept my favorite 6'er. Covers anything I want to play, and I'm comfortable with it.
Now I don't have to justify anything :)
 
#30
I played my Stingray a ton on my lunch hour. I don't know, both basses are so nice I'm not sure I could get rid of either one. I did think about getting rid of both to get a really high quality 4 string jazz bass and be happy with it, but I'm not sure I can convince myself to do it. I've put my Stingray up for sale a few times (it's up right now as a matter of fact), but lack of true interest and my love of that bass have kept me from really moving it.

Hmm...
 
#31
capofirstfret said:
I played my Stingray a ton on my lunch hour. I don't know, both basses are so nice I'm not sure I could get rid of either one. I did think about getting rid of both to get a really high quality 4 string jazz bass and be happy with it, but I'm not sure I can convince myself to do it. I've put my Stingray up for sale a few times (it's up right now as a matter of fact), but lack of true interest and my love of that bass have kept me from really moving it.

Hmm...
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Unless you really need the money, keep it. Even as is, it seems to serve a purpose in your life. Good basses are meant to be brethren in your home. You never know - you may end up kicking yourself if you sell it.
 
#32
ggvicviper said:
Unless you really need the money, keep it. Even as is, it seems to serve a purpose in your life. Good basses are meant to be brethren in your home. You never know - you may end up kicking yourself if you sell it.
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It's probably true, also I love the tone of the flatwounds on the P Bass and just can't see the Stingray giving me that tone with flatwounds. Then there's also the issue of sometimes wanting the flatwound sound and sometimes wanting the roundwound sound and not having time to be changing strings all the time....next thing I know I'm gonna talk myself into justification for having 4 or 5 more basses as I attempt to get the hollowbody sound, the jazz sound, the fretless sound, the fretless + hollowbody sound, etc, etc, etc :help:
 
#33
capofirstfret said:
It's probably true, also I love the tone of the flatwounds on the P Bass and just can't see the Stingray giving me that tone with flatwounds. Then there's also the issue of sometimes wanting the flatwound sound and sometimes wanting the roundwound sound and not having time to be changing strings all the time....next thing I know I'm gonna talk myself into justification for having 4 or 5 more basses as I attempt to get the hollowbody sound, the jazz sound, the fretless sound, the fretless + hollowbody sound, etc, etc, etc :help:
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Why don't you use the Precision strung with flats most of the time and the Stingray with rounds in case you want to use a brighter instrument? It seems you have a deep attachment to the 'Ray anyway (I'd go as far as saying that you have a hard time separating from the bass, seeing as you tried to sell it to no avail. Some things are just meant to be.) Besides, just owning it isn't doing much harm.

Plus, GAS for most of us is unavoidable. I doubt that moving to only one bass will cure it at all.
 
#34
capofirstfret said:
...next thing I know I'm gonna talk myself into justification for having 4 or 5 more basses as I attempt to get the hollowbody sound, the jazz sound, the fretless sound, the fretless + hollowbody sound, etc, etc, etc :help:
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That is the trap. I used to think that way. Then I got myself down to only needing a Sadowsky MV5 and a Ron Allen Mouse 4. Cover almost any gig, right. Well (for mr) truth was all I really needed was a fretted 4 string passive jazz. Yeah, all the other stuff and options are sweet, but how much do you REALLY NEED them. Only you can decide.

People who call me to play have no idea what I'll show up with as I have a reputation for flipping basses. They still call thought, as they know I'll have a bass that will sound good and (hopefully) I'll play it appropriately.

It also helps that around here, you can show up to play a jazz standards trio gig with a fretted 4 and not get the stink eye.
 
#35
I only own one, but I want another. My current bass is an active Schecter 5-string, but I have my eye on the Deluxe P Bass Special, with the PJ set up. I think with these two I could cover just about any sound, and I'd like to have a traditional body style to compliment my modern Schecter. As a bonus, sometimes my bandmates borrow my bass for song that I play guitar on, and I'm sure they'd like a 4-string rather than a 5. I'd also like to modify the Fender to be passive to really have some tonal variety.
 
#36
ggvicviper said:
Why don't you use the Precision strung with flats most of the time and the Stingray with rounds in case you want to use a brighter instrument? It seems you have a deep attachment to the 'Ray anyway (I'd go as far as saying that you have a hard time separating from the bass, seeing as you tried to sell it to no avail. Some things are just meant to be.) Besides, just owning it isn't doing much harm.

Plus, GAS for most of us is unavoidable. I doubt that moving to only one bass will cure it at all.
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That is how I keep them currently. Probably won't hurt to keep them that way for a while. I do think I'm going to consider selling off my old bass amp and buying a new one at some point this year because as good as the amp I've got is and I like it but I have played amps that are much more durable and have better tone so maybe that's where I should make my aim. I've gigged very prominently for the last 5 years as a guitarist, but I also have played bass for jazz combos, rock bands, blues bands, and even steel drum bands in the past couple of years and am thinking about taking some time and just being a bassist for a while.
 
#37
capofirstfret said:
That is how I keep them currently. Probably won't hurt to keep them that way for a while. I do think I'm going to consider selling off my old bass amp and buying a new one at some point this year because as good as the amp I've got is and I like it but I have played amps that are much more durable and have better tone so maybe that's where I should make my aim. I've gigged very prominently for the last 5 years as a guitarist, but I also have played bass for jazz combos, rock bands, blues bands, and even steel drum bands in the past couple of years and am thinking about taking some time and just being a bassist for a while.
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I think you have an impressive resume as a musician. Aside from that, you got two really nice basses. Enjoy them. I think you'll find yourself coming back to the Stingray again. If too bright bothers you (I started feeling the same this past year), you can always try stringing it with flats or half-rounds. I have a G&L L-1505 (not that far off from a Stingray) that I strung with flats, and I got a lot of compliments on my tone at a jam session I played it with. There are a ton of possibilities you can have with the two instruments you own if you use some imagination. Like I said, since you're obviously attached to the 'Ray, hang onto it.
 
#38
ggvicviper said:
I think you have an impressive resume as a musician. Aside from that, you got two really nice basses. Enjoy them. I think you'll find yourself coming back to the Stingray again. If too bright bothers you (I started feeling the same this past year), you can always try stringing it with flats or half-rounds. I have a G&L L-1505 (not that far off from a Stingray) that I strung with flats, and I got a lot of compliments on my tone at a jam session I played it with. There are a ton of possibilities you can have with the two instruments you own if you use some imagination. Like I said, since you're obviously attached to the 'Ray, hang onto it.
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Yeah, I think sometimes I just need a good talking to about it. I AM opening up the possibility of trying to find a sunburst highway 1 p bass body to switch with my honey blonde one as I much prefer sunburst finishes. Maybe if it was more physically appealing to me, I'd enjoy it even more (not that I don't already :)
 

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