Different Gear and Being a chameleon

[laklandfan07]

Hi there Justin, thanks for lending all of your advice on here, its been a great help. Given your ability to seamlessly blend into virtually any band and have no bias towards gear brands or anything i had a few questions for you.

I've always been a Lakland guy, and the last few years i've been the guy with flats on the lakland pbass. Ive gotten quite a few gigs and positive comments on my tone and its kind of become my thing (think a poor mans pino palladino kind of vibe). I recently got offered a gig with a band to which i feel needs a brighter, more overdriven tone (Im using your tone on the live rehearsal vid of NIN playing discipline as a template). Now my question is, my automatic response is to reach for a Lakland J bass. Do you have any suggestions as to overcoming these intial gut reactions to specific brands? Ive been on Lakland for years because i know theyre fantastic quality (even the skylines) and i think there is something to be said about going with what you know. However, i also know being open to everything out there is wildly important. Have you ever had these issues? And if so, what do you do to remind yourself to be impartial?

 

[waynobass]

Why try to be impartial, especially with your username? If Lakland didn't make a good J-bass, you would have to branch out, but they do. (Two actually, the 44-60 and the DJ.)

 

[laklandfan07]

Why try to be impartial, especially with your username? If Lakland didn't make a good J-bass, you would have to branch out, but they do. (Two actually, the 44-60 and the DJ.)

But maybe the point is maybe other things should be tried. Just because you use on kind of cheese on your spaghetti doesnt mean you should stick to that one kind everytime

 

[laklandfan07]

Or brand of cheese i suppose would be more accurate

 

[laklandfan07]

Or the same brand of cheese on every kind of pasta. Lol

 

[jmjbassplayer]

I think you might be overanalyzing. I would urge you to buy instruments that you want/need, and not to worry about outside considerations. I'm not too much of a fan of the Laklands myself for various reasons, but who cares. If you dig them, then just use that J bass with roundwounds as a starting point and start experimenting with different types of picks (if you play with a pick), strings, and overdrive. That'll get you where you need to be. Good luck on your journey.