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Basses that disappointed you...

F

FBS1996

Feb 14, 2011
603
6
#1
I went to a guitar shop in town whilst my sister went shopping and they had a 1963 Gibson EB-0 and I thought to myself "Wow a vintage gibson, this must sound amazing!" so I asked the man if I could play on it and he let me. I plugged into a 100 watt Ampeg practice amp and played it. Wow, it was awful. I'd rather play my £30 P clone. Anyone else been extremely disappointed by a bass that you though would be great
 
#3
Alembic Series 1 - Just too much!!
Gibson EB) - hate, hate, hate mud maker!
Spector Q5 - I can't figure out why I hated it, I just did.
A Copley 5ver - I probably wasn't fair to it, but it made me violently angry
Epiphone Ripper - I've a '74 Ripper and this felt completely wrong in comparison. Sound was wrong, also.

And I've played a number of basses, some crap, some boutique, but these 4 stand out in my mind. I usually am of the school of "If it has strings and the neck has no splinters, I can play it".
 
#4
Alembic spoiler and wasburn-status headless bass.
both had great thin tones but no bottom end I just couldn't
use them live. also I had a yamaha trb 4p bass that i had to get rid of. It had to much bottom end and each pickup sounded great by itself but together there was no crispness.
I happen to prefer gibson basses especially the rd artist. plenty of bottom end and presense.
 
#7
I think some bassists tend to forget that when you see 'these' types of basses in the hands of professionals it is easy to forget that ...

A: The bass is in the hands of a very experienced player... and...
B: There is a lot of processing 'going on' (pedals/rack gear/amplification etc...)

Just my two cents... another factor (for me at least)... these days I choose basses based on how the feel and play not how they sound... I can always alter the tone...

In terms of disappointment... despite my high hopes, I really didn't like my first Stingray...
 
#10
Juan Count said:
Just my two cents... another factor (for me at least)... these days I choose basses based on how the feel and play not how they sound... I can always alter the tone...

In terms of disappointment... despite my high hopes, I really didn't like my first Stingray...
Click to expand...
That's always been my view as well, so I bought an '04 Stingray5 new that was beautifully made, but I wasn't happy with the tonal balance between strings. The salesman convinced me it just needed new strings. I was never happy. B and E sounded dull and indistinct and by the time you got to the G is was twanging like a baritone guitar. Just awful. I tried everything to modify it, but it was never right.
 
#11
I know some people would really like to set my house on fire for saying this but I really didn't care for my 4003 Ric. I just never cared for the way it played or sounded. I felt like in some spots on the neck the mid range punch to sub low ratio was AWESOME then i got on the E string and was like "Lolwut?". Just not my gig I guess :hmm:
 
#15
Jbyjnkx57 said:
I know some people would really like to set my house on fire for saying this but I really didn't care for my 4003 Ric. I just never cared for the way it played or sounded. I felt like in some spots on the neck the mid range punch to sub low ratio was AWESOME then i got on the E string and was like "Lolwut?". Just not my gig I guess :hmm:
Click to expand...


Just a week ago my local music shop had a 4003 ric on the shelf and I was really excited to play 1 for the first time. Couldn't be more disappointed.
 
#16
There was an Ibanez Soundgear 5-string in a shop, don't know what model but it had JJ pickups and a two-band active preamp. It was very pretty, tobacco sunburst over a flame maple top with rosewood and a gloss black headstock. Picked it up and played it, sounded like there was a sheet of drywall between me and the amp. No matter what I did with the controls it sounded like ****. Not at all like other Ibanez basses which usually have hot pickups. Maybe the strings were completely dead, who knows.
 
#19
I casually compared the current Fender "Roger Waters" signature P-bass to the Squier CV 60's bass (I thought I'd use the Fender as reference).

I like Roger Waters, but I wasn't specifically looking for his tone, I just looked at the bass as a P, on its own. Thoroughly disappointed. Admittedly, I am not a Quarter Pounder person, but it wasn't just the pickup - the whole thing, the neck, just felt so cheap - I wouldn't even pay $200 for that thing. It honestly felt like a boxed Squier + amp beginner pack.
 

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