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cheap bass=no respect

#121
dave_clark69 said:
Yes, finally a good post. But what i was saying is that if you saw a band playing in a pub, average bass sound, you just walk past. If the bass player had a squire what would you think, but what if the bass player had a bouttique bass, would you think "wow he has a bouttique bass"

p.s i think this thread has got out of hand
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Nothing personal. :)

If saw that a player had a boutique bass, I wouldn't have more respect for that player. I don't respect anybody for what they have. I might be envious, but I don't feel respect for them because of it. I might think, "Cool bass"...but it would be completely disassociated with the owner of it. I mean, anyone can buy a boutique bass...that only takes money and says nothing about one's ability to play it.

I'd have more respect for a player because of his talent and ability, regardless of what bass he's playing.
 
#123
I have owned some high and low end basses. None of them made me any better a player. Some made me look more like I knew what I was doing but none made me better. I just received a Galveston Lucite Jazz as a gift. What's a Galveston? I have no idea! But, it has become my favorite bass because of it's tone. Yes, my G&L will always be missed but my Galveston right now is my player. Besides when you see a player with a high end bass you expect perfection! Observe a player with a less exspensive bass throw great tone and then your far more amazed! :D
 
#124
Basspolizei said:
Besides when you see a player with a high end bass you expect perfection! Observe a player with a less exspensive bass throw great tone and then your far more amazed! :D
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When I see a player with a high end bass, I think..."That's a high end bass." I don't expect anything because of it.

However if I see a player with a cheap bass playing his ass off, well that is something cool...but not because he's doing it on a cheap bass...only because he's playing his ass off...period.
 
#125
Basspolizei said:
I just received a Galveston Lucite Jazz as a gift. What's a Galveston? I have no idea! But, it has become my favorite bass because of it's tone.
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Hmm. Interesting. I just received a Grand Lucite Jazz as a gift. Probably equally as well known! ;) It's a 5-string, and (like yours) has great tone! Considerably heavier than my other basses, tho... dunno if I'd want to hang it around my neck all night on a gig. But it does look kinda cool, and plays well.
 
#126
briand said:
Hmm. Interesting. I just received a Grand Lucite Jazz as a gift. Probably equally as well known! ;) It's a 5-string, and (like yours) has great tone! Considerably heavier than my other basses, tho... dunno if I'd want to hang it around my neck all night on a gig. But it does look kinda cool, and plays well.
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I picked up a Grand acoustic bass last Summer. You're the first person I've heard of who also has a Grand bass. Heck, last time I searched I couldn't even find Grand on the web!
 
#127
They have a Grand 5 hanging in a local store. The bridge J style pickup is slanted. It is also a four-string pickup! They are cheap Indonesian-made instruments, probably coming out of the same factory the Squiers are made in. I'm a little suspicious of their QC department, though, sticking a four-string pickup in a five-string bass at an angle!!! :eek: :D
 
#129
Sundogue said:
When I see a player with a high end bass, I think..."That's a high end bass." I don't expect anything because of it.

However if I see a player with a cheap bass playing his ass off, well that is something cool...but not because he's doing it on a cheap bass...only because he's playing his ass off...period.
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Same here.
 
#130
WillPlay4Food said:
You're the first person I've heard of who also has a Grand bass.
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Well, I'm sure there are more out there somewhere. Perhaps we should start a club! hahaha! :cool:

Bassic83 said:
They have a Grand 5 hanging in a local store. The bridge J style pickup is slanted. It is also a four-string pickup! They are cheap Indonesian-made instruments, probably coming out of the same factory the Squiers are made in. I'm a little suspicious of their QC department, though, sticking a four-string pickup in a five-string bass at an angle!!!
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The bridge pickup on mine is slanted a bit, as well (maybe 15 degrees or so), but the pickup is definitely a 5-string pickup, and all five strings pass squarely between the pickup poles... Maybe, like you say, the QC department let a 4-string pup sneak into production on a 5-string bass... dunno.
 
#132
Basspolizei said:
I just received a Galveston Lucite Jazz as a gift. What's a Galveston? I have no idea!
Click to expand...

I have two of their basses; a 7 string and a 12 string.

Galveston basses are made in Korea by a company called Sungbo using the trade name Silverstar. Sungbo / Silverstar manufactures low-budget basses for many other companies, to be sold under numerous names (including Grand, Marcus Martini, Venson, Carlo Robelli, Dean [Rhapsody], Hamer [CH-12], Hense, and Sam Ash's Brownsville lines).

More info here:

http://www.12stringbass.com/newpage13.htm
 
#133
Ideally, we shouldn't care about what instrument a person plays, but....

In my experience, any moderately serious player in his 20s or 30s should have had enough dough saved up from even the lamest of jobs for at least a semi-pro rig. Not boutique, but not shameful.

I have by-passed this credo (I play bass and guitar and have been a guitarist auditioning bassists at times) because of "not wanting to judge". The bassists who were decent and had lame equipment all ended up being demented, unprofessional people. I should have surmised this. After all, who would want to be professional or semi-professional and not even be able to focus their mind long enough to earn dough to get a halfway decent instrument. I'm talking about a boutique bass here. I'm talking about a solid bass and rig.

I'll never make that mistake again. I've also noticed that the other guitarists I know who say stuff like "I'm not into equipment" are, out of all the people I know who play music, the ones who have the least motivation to move ahead, even though they might have the most talent.

LL
 
#134
I generally believe agree with the idea that a serious player should be willing to invest in equipment but I think that one should not be absolute about this view. For instance, if a player really gets a great sound out of cheaper bass and has checked out other options, why should he or she change basses? Once again, music is about listening, not looking.

Second, a player may have had a personal crisis like a divorce or health crisis that forced her or him to let go of some choice gear. That person is not less serious, that person is just trying to survive. Just some thoughts for your consideration.
 
#135
I to agree with "play with what you like" idea. I have owned almost every bass.....from Almebic to Danelectro, and everything in between. I still have the Dano, and I ended up selling the Alembic. Out of all the basses I have owned the Dano still gets the most comments about it's tone than any other bass I have owned hands down. I look at it as what kind of sound am I gong for. Right now I'm playing my Warmoth '59 Pbass with flatwounds through a late 70's Bassman 135 w/matching 2x15 to get the early 60's bass tone. I can't tell you how many times bassist say the love my tone live, but when they see the bassman the get this really confused look on their face as if they are thinking "I thought that was a guitar amp?" :D
 
#136
I'll have to agree with the other brethren here. If it sounds good and feels good, it is good. Doesn't matter what it costs. My MTD 535 collects dust while my Frankenbass P/MM 5 get played almost every day!

It's all about the music and how you feel and think. Not what somebody else feels or thinks.


dcr
 
#137
This seems to have turned from a thread on "cheap bass=no respect" to people boasting about stereotyping others based on what they own, which, if I understand everyone else's meaning, is generally taken as being snobbish and immature.

so you see somebody who doesn't have cool equipment, and you **know** he's a second-rate person? That's the sense I seem to be getting.

As for me, Happy New Year, y'all. I need to go pull out that Global JB copy I bought from Montgomery Ward's 20-some years ago and boogie! And, yes, I did gig with it, up until I got promoted into a band where me and another guy traded off a Squier JB...that's when I knew I was in the big time.
 
#138
Dr. Cheese said:
I generally believe agree with the idea that a serious player should be willing to invest in equipment but I think that one should not be absolute about this view. For instance, if a player really gets a great sound out of cheaper bass and has checked out other options, why should he or she change basses? Once again, music is about listening, not looking.

Second, a player may have had a personal crisis like a divorce or health crisis that forced her or him to let go of some choice gear. That person is not less serious, that person is just trying to survive. Just some thoughts for your consideration.
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Beautifully said. On the other side of the coin: I gig regularly, and spend most of my gig money on gear. My bass collection contains some fairly nice bling bling. In fact, I often think they are TOO nice for me. I mean, I'm no hotshot. I give myself credit for the bare essentials: learning songs on the fly, supporting the song. But I'm talking rock/blues based tunes here... I'd fail miserably at a jazz gig.

So, I sometimes wonder if any gear-savvy bassists look at my MTD 535 and think "well, let's see if this guy has the chops to match his fancy boomstick". (But FYI: for most musicians I know, MTD = ***?).

The point is, I don't actually NEED the fancy gear I own. It's worth it to me because it tickles my ear the right way, but I'm the only one who cares about that. I've said many times that if I ever got into financial trouble, I would sell my boutiques and be quite happy on something like a Kingston 5.
 
#139
louloomis said:
Ideally, we shouldn't care about what instrument a person plays, but....

In my experience, any moderately serious player in his 20s or 30s should have had enough dough saved up from even the lamest of jobs for at least a semi-pro rig. Not boutique, but not shameful.

ave by-passed this credo (I play bass and guitar and have been a guitarist auditioning bassists at times) because of "not wanting to judge". The bassists who were decent and had lame equipment all ended up being demented, unprofessional people. I should have surmised this. After all, who would want to be professional or semi-professional and not even be able to focus their mind long enough to earn dough to get a halfway decent instrument. I'm talking about a boutique bass here. I'm talking about a solid bass and rig.



LL
Click to expand...

I'm in my 40s and can afford any equipment I want. I have 14 basses, ranging in price from $99 to $2000. Sometimes I play the $99 Essex, so if you see me playing it on a gig are you going to assume I'm a demented, unprofessional person? You would be wrong.
 
#140
I too own very nice basses and amps but it doesn't make me a better player. I would say I am average at best but when people see me onstage with my Lakland and Modulus basses I notice that some people expect more out of my playing. It doesn't bother me, it's just an observation.
 

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