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cheap bass=no respect

#81
This thread is fascinating to me. I am kinda stuck on both ends of the spectrum.

Anyone that judges someone's playing by their gear is a fool, and isn't someone you should be worried about.

I have been playing the same beat to hell 80's Ibanez soundgear bass for many years now. I still get people coming up to me at a lot of gigs talking about what a great sound it has and how cool they think my bass is. Then I tell em what it is, and they kinda slip away as if all the wind was taken out of their sails. Of course, last time I was in a studio, the engineer was telling me how much he liked working with Ibanez's and how easy he could fit it into the mix before I even plugged it in. Said he used to use one for his own recordings and regretted it from the moment he got rid of it.

Of course, now, I have a Sadowsky coming soon. So, instead, the gear snobs can all turn up their noses and say how I don't deserve my axe if I have an off night. I am a little scared to be playing a beautiful new high end bass, not so much because I worry about dinging it, losing it or having it stolen, but because, I'd rather draw attention with my playing than with my instrument. I am getting it because there are certain little details on my ibanez that bug me. I gig with it all the time, and will be in the studio with it again next weekend, but I am at a place now, where having and playing an instrument with the careful attention to things like good fretwork and well done electronics really is noticeable to me...
 
#82
thewanderer24 said:
This thread is fascinating to me. I am kinda stuck on both ends of the spectrum.

Anyone that judges someone's playing by their gear is a fool, and isn't someone you should be worried about.

I have been playing the same beat to hell 80's Ibanez soundgear bass for many years now. I still get people coming up to me at a lot of gigs talking about what a great sound it has and how cool they think my bass is. Then I tell em what it is, and they kinda slip away as if all the wind was taken out of their sails. Of course, last time I was in a studio, the engineer was telling me how much he liked working with Ibanez's and how easy he could fit it into the mix before I even plugged it in. Said he used to use one for his own recordings and regretted it from the moment he got rid of it.

Of course, now, I have a Sadowsky coming soon. So, instead, the gear snobs can all turn up their noses and say how I don't deserve my axe if I have an off night. I am a little scared to be playing a beautiful new high end bass, not so much because I worry about dinging it, losing it or having it stolen, but because, I'd rather draw attention with my playing than with my instrument. I am getting it because there are certain little details on my ibanez that bug me. I gig with it all the time, and will be in the studio with it again next weekend, but I am at a place now, where having and playing an instrument with the careful attention to things like good fretwork and well done electronics really is noticeable to me...
Click to expand...

I'm trying to imagine how I'd stop convulsing with laughter if someone actually had the stones to tell me what they think I "deserve".
 
#84
Well, i'm playing a Squier, and in the words of the late, great, Rodney Dangerfield, "I don't get no respect." I was talking to a drummer and he asks me what I'm playing, and I respond a Squier. He laughs and says those suck. I said it doesn't matter what bass you play, it matters how good you are. Me and my band proceeded to beat him and his band in a little battle of the bands.
 
#86
um...I arived late to this one....Don't know if anybody has said this because there are to many pages and bla bla to go threw to see if someone did.

Anyway: The audience does not care what kind of bass your playing they just know when you suck.

Only other Musicians would care. Witch really dosn't say much since musicians or out of there freaken minds anyway.
 
#87
I've bought, and am currently buying a couple of custom-made 'boutique' (man, i hate that word for some reason) basses. The reason I'm going that way is that I'm able to get a bass to my specifications. There is nothing like a well-built, well-setup, hand-crafted or in other cases, hand-assembled, instrument. Sure, they don't make you play better, but they do make it easier to play (and practice for that matter). I also feel truly blessed that my wife allows me to spend the money on them. The truth is that if I didn't have the money to spend on these fine instruments, I wouldn't be buying 'em, and it would be fine either way.

I guess judging someone by the brand they play, wear, drive, eat, sail, sit on, watch, listen to, etc. will never end. Oh well.
 
#89
In response to a post of Brad Johnson, I never bought a bass assuming it would make me a better player. Some times I wanted a different tone, sometimes I wanted to go fretless or try out an extended range bass. There were times when In simply wanted a bass like Stanley Clarke, Louis Johnson, Anthony Jackson, etc.

I think I'll always be an equipment hog. I just love basses, and I could have ten or fifteeen if I weren't married. What I do know is that a good musician makes the tone moreso than any bass. On more than one occassion, I have had a better musician take my bass and get a much better sound out of my bass than I got. I have done this to other people for that matter. I'm not trying to show them up, it just happens that way some times.

Back to the original point, over twenty-nine years of playing, I know from experience that all a bassist needs is a well set up bass that has decent electronics and is comfortable. A decent bass and a decent amp is all anyone needs, however, as other people have noted, the opposite is true too. A player doesn't have to be a flawless sight reader and technical giant to own an expensive or boutique bass. Frankly, I have found that extended range basses, can actually be easier to play, in some instances, than a standard four. For instance, I find it much easier to play a five with a B string than to play a four with a detuned E string. A five or six means that I don't have to go up and down the fingerboard changing postions. Therefore, I find playing a six or five is an admission of my limits rather than a statement of my virtuosity.
 
#90
A couple of years ago when I first bought my Essex SPB-62 ($99 then) I decided to take it to a gig and see how it went. I took it along with my Lakland, expecting to play the Essex for a couple of songs and then play the Lakland the rest of the night. I liked playing the Essex so much I played the entire gig with it. :cool: Some young guy came up to me impressed with the Lakland sitting in the stand and asked why I wasn't playing it when it is a much better bass than the SX. All I could do was say that I was having a good time playing the SX.
 
#91
WickdMOnkey said:
What do you guys think? If someone is playing a cheap bass do you give them any respect or not? I personally do as long as they can play. I ask because right now my stable consist of a 1970s Gibson SG, Fender Jazz, and Squire P-bass 5 string. Lately I have been playing the crap out of the squire. I really feel like I have found a groove with it and I just love the tone I am getting out of it and the way it feels. Anyway, a guy in this band we are sorta friends with plays a Rickenbacker and we were talking about basses after a show we did with them and he goes "was that a fender you were using up there?" and I go no it was a squire and he laughs at me. I was like what the heck man? I personally think he and I are on the same level as bass players. We are both coming into our own but not great by any means. I would say we are average to slightly above average and now the guy disses me becuase of what I play. What do you guys think? Like I said I don't care what someone plays as long as they can groove with it.
Click to expand...
If the guy dissed you on account of the Squire, he's the one with the problem. It still hurts to get dissed, though.
 
#93
Brad Johnson said:
On topic... at our local GTG, there was a wide array of gear there. I didn't notice any dissing, people checked everything out and liked what they liked.
Click to expand...

For those who didn't read the MD/DC/VA GTG thread: I'm still amazed that Brad walked in with seven über-boutiques, set 'em up on stands, and let the rest of us have at 'em.

Anyway: yeah, lots of basses at that GTG got raves. They ranged from your Fodera AJ Contrabass all the way down to Nick's SX Jazz clone (and by "down" I simply mean price!)
 
#94
Fuzzbass said:
For those who didn't read the MD/DC/VA GTG thread: I'm still amazed that Brad walked in with seven über-boutiques, set 'em up on stands, and let the rest of us have at 'em.
Click to expand...

That was fun.

In my mind I'd feel like an ass if I did otherwise. Trust me, I've dealt with my share. They're basses and if something happens, something happens. Besides, where would a bass be safer than in a house full of bassplayers?

:D

Anyway: yeah, lots of basses at that GTG got raves. They ranged from your Fodera AJ Contrabass all the way down to Nick's SX Jazz clone (and by "down" I simply mean price!)
Click to expand...

And I can easily see why someone would dig that SX a lot more than the AJ. Heck, I dug the SX.

I've played gigs with that Contrabass and I've played them with my pawnshop beat to snot G&L L2000E with the red nail polish touch-up job that almost matches the paint and smells like a Blues dive... and I've had just as much fun at one as the other.
 
#96
As someone whose first stringed instrument was a 2x4 with clothesline tied around roofing nails (I kid you not), I'm just not wired to be a gear snob. I'll try just about anything, regardless of price or how different it may be from the norm. Check this out:

http://www.talkbass.com/photopost/data/500/728Doubleneck_fretless_NAMM_2004.JPG

Very cool, very strange. I'm guess the upper one was for brief interludes.
 
#97
People who laugh at what others play likely are too full of themselves for you to worry about. Just play what feels and sounds good to you.

And no, the audience doesn't care.... I ditzy girl who saw my very worn sunburst '71 Fender Jazz sitting on the stage between sets said that we (the band) couldn't be very good because we could only afford old beat up guitars...
 
#98
Brad Johnson said:
I'm trying to imagine how I'd stop convulsing with laughter if someone actually had the stones to tell me what they think I "deserve".
Click to expand...

Oh no kidding. I don't know how I would react if someone said I didn't diserve a bass I was playing. Obviously I don't have that problem to worry about though since I play a cheapy. :)

I also have the problem that some of you mentioned of bandmates not liking my bass. Our guitarist who thinks he is a bassplayer because he plays bass one set every few months with his other band with my Jazz bass :) hates my squire. He always wants me to play my Gibson but I never do because it is like a family artifact. My uncle gave it to me when I started playing bass and I don't want anything to happen to it so I never gig with it. Anyway, the guitar player badly wants me to get rid of my squire and get a Fender or Modulus. Its funny because he always tells people I play a fender instead of a squire and I will interupt and say "actually its a squire." I think on our website it even says I play a fender. However the other members of our band are totally cool with my bass. Our keyboardist who is like the band guru because he is the oldest and has been in bands for 20+ years loves my bass. When I told him a while ago I was thinking of buying a new one he just said why? Then he said you have great tone with the one you have I wouldn't change personally. So I thought that was cool and our drummer doesn't care what I play as long as his hair looks good. lol
 
#100
The real answer is that presentation is everything, and if presentation's not absolutely everything, then it's at least disproportionately important.

The question is to whom are you pitching?

I strongly suspect that a common rat bass of universally recognized make/model probably convinces more audience members and musicians that you are better than you are, on the assumption that if you've put that many dings in a bass that old you must have played a million gigs and paid some dues and must be real. Some chewed-up old Precision ought to work. Everyone knows what it is and that's the end of it. My good basses are in the studio. Who cares about the bass player anyway?

As an aside, I can't believe you people who schmooze with other musicians at gigs. I never, ever talked to anyone when I was fronting a band unless it was an exceptionally persistent chicky who looked promising. If it was some guy, I'd just point to the earplugs and shake my head like I couldn't hear. I'd rather have a case of hives than listen to some unsolicited crap about my gig from some guy who doesn't have one of his own.

Aloofness works well as professional presentation, too.:D

Seriously.
 

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