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Crappiest bass you've ever played?
- Thread starter isaac_adrian
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It was a passive/active Aria Pro II, Classic I believe the model was called. Properly it would have been allright with a propper set up, the action was way too high, but it didn't sounded too good either.
I played it for years though.
I played it for years though.
I've played so many poo-poo basses...the worst in recent memory was a Turser ABG with fancy fretboard inlay. It was the first/last Turser I ever played and it was quite a while ago.
....IN?!?
....IN?!?
My Ibanez SR705 craftsmanship is just like ****. Unlevel fret, bad nut position, bad nut height, big drop of lacquer ..
I'm going to stay away from the easy knock off brands.
Honestly, the worst I've ever played was a Squier Pete Wentz bass. I don't know if it was the bass or the keeping it was in, but by god the action was at least 1/4 of an inch high at the 12th fret, and I think that's being conservative. It was like playing suspension cables
Honestly, the worst I've ever played was a Squier Pete Wentz bass. I don't know if it was the bass or the keeping it was in, but by god the action was at least 1/4 of an inch high at the 12th fret, and I think that's being conservative. It was like playing suspension cables
My first bass that I got in 82: A Cimar. It was a copy of an Ibanez Jazzbass copy BUT just horrible. It didn't stay in tune, constant buzz on higher frets (not that I used them a lot anyway) ... thin sound with tons of single coil hum and both pickups on seemed to eliminate not only the hum but the sound as well. And it seemed that the whole neck consisted out of deadspots. It also had a serious neck dive problem. Just a really crappy instrument. After I saved up and could afford a "real" bass I lent the Cimar to my drummer and I was quite glad to have it out of my house ... not sure if he still has it but I guess I would like to try it out again after all these years.
It was similar to the brown one ...
It was similar to the brown one ...
The worst I ever played was a tanglewood, I don't remember the model but it looked like a Warwick rip off. Overall, it was alright, but the string height at the bridge was almost an inch heigh (maybe even bigger) because the owner said that the owner before him had glued a shim under the bridge. Completely put me off that bass :S
My first bass, a Kramer Aerostar. Play was difficult. Did not sound very good. That was 26 years ago. Was young, dumb, and inexperienced, didn't know about proper set up. If I knew then what I know now, might be a different story. Next bass was a 1980 P Special, night and day. Been a Fender lover ever since.
An Arrow Precision Bass, a Chinese copy.
It was so beaten up that the owner (one of my best buddies) had to fix the capo with shoelaces, the action was incredibly high and has always a nasty tone, whatever I did with the pots! XD
I still have its neck that I broke by "trying to learn how to customize it!"
It was so beaten up that the owner (one of my best buddies) had to fix the capo with shoelaces, the action was incredibly high and has always a nasty tone, whatever I did with the pots! XD
I still have its neck that I broke by "trying to learn how to customize it!"
For truly crappy basses, you have to travel back in time a few decades (like the early '70s, for instance ) to appreciate just how 'good' some of the basses mentioned elsewhere in this thread are by comparison 
.
Full scale basses were pretty rare in those days (in Europe) and most of the budget instruments with four strings had plywood bodies, 30 or 32 inch scale lengths, ultra-narrow necks, tinny (or sometimes just plain muddy) sounding pickups, plastic-headed (guitar) tuners with tiny string posts and no truss rods :scowl:.
Nonetheless, plenty of big-selling artists started their careers on them and even (in some cases) recorded hit records on them
.
If I was to name a few of my least favourite brands from the '80s (when I started on bass), I'd probably single out the 'Satellite' brand (short scale, plywood junk) and some of the 'Encore' models, which tended to be made of either plywood or overly heavy ash(?) and always managed to sound nothing like the basses that they set out to copy (IMO).
Buyers today are so lucky to have the fantastic budget options that we have to choose from now (Squier Vintage, Warwick RockBasses and possibly even SX
).
) to appreciate just how 'good' some of the basses mentioned elsewhere in this thread are by comparison .Full scale basses were pretty rare in those days (in Europe) and most of the budget instruments with four strings had plywood bodies, 30 or 32 inch scale lengths, ultra-narrow necks, tinny (or sometimes just plain muddy) sounding pickups, plastic-headed (guitar) tuners with tiny string posts and no truss rods :scowl:.
Nonetheless, plenty of big-selling artists started their careers on them and even (in some cases) recorded hit records on them
. If I was to name a few of my least favourite brands from the '80s (when I started on bass), I'd probably single out the 'Satellite' brand (short scale, plywood junk) and some of the 'Encore' models, which tended to be made of either plywood or overly heavy ash(?) and always managed to sound nothing like the basses that they set out to copy (IMO).
Buyers today are so lucky to have the fantastic budget options that we have to choose from now (Squier Vintage, Warwick RockBasses and possibly even SX
).
For real. When I started playing in '81, there was not much available in my town. I think the music store there had ONE BC Rich Bich, the guitar of course, and all the basses were imported junk.
We had another music store outside of town, that was run by a grumpy old bluegrass guy (who gave me my first and only 3 lessons), but when he passed, his wife didn't want to keep the store going so she sold it. Damn shame. They were good people. Lots of knock-offs in that store too, though.
I had to drive quite a distance to get my first real bass, since Delaware in the early 80's was definitely not a musical hotbed.
We had another music store outside of town, that was run by a grumpy old bluegrass guy (who gave me my first and only 3 lessons), but when he passed, his wife didn't want to keep the store going so she sold it. Damn shame. They were good people. Lots of knock-offs in that store too, though.
I had to drive quite a distance to get my first real bass, since Delaware in the early 80's was definitely not a musical hotbed.
Johnson p and j bass copies. They are absolutely horrible. Frets are uneven, impossible to set up, and it has a terrible sound. Other basses that are crappy imo: Dean, Epiphone sg, some shecter basses.
My Series 10 bass made by the Crate/St. Louis Music/Ampeg folks was wonderful. Sounded ******, neck was warped in a U shape, tuners stripped out and it would stay in tune for minutes at a time. The cheesy metallicish white flake paint job completed the picture.
God help me that I sold it later to some punk rock college girl for $100 who wanted to learn to play the bass. I'm sure she's now a drummer.
I'd be careful with Dean. The 5 string fretless electric I had was wonderful, and I've owned one of their 5 string acoustic/electrics for 10 years now that sounds great (after I put a better pickup sysyem in it).
Just my $0.02
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