Do I need a "good" bass for auditions?

[bassbully]

Any band that puts the bass your playing above you personally and your musical ability, is a band I would not want to be with.

 

[bassbully]

Depends on the people who are auditioning you.. My ex-band members were gear-heads. They thought MIM instruments were all junk. They didn't know what they were talking about.

Surprisingly most gear heads don’t know Jack.

 

[bigswifty1]

Another "Audition Gear" story just came to mind. The same one where my Sadowsky P/J caused such furrowed brows and pronunciation failures, I was given a hand with my gear to my car (unwashed, paint faded, long standing minor dents, well and truly superseded model) to hear "Ahh that's a muso's car"

So I guess you could say pretty much everything matters

 

[bassrique]

Yep it matters. But maybe depends on the players a lot.

Just remember: A professional has professional equipment..... just like a professional in the business world doesn't show up with a 40 year old suit from Goodwill.

Hate to say it, many times to get the part, you have to look like the part.

Now if the audition is for a bunch of amateurs in a young band with pieced together equipment and inexpensive instruments, totally different story.

I was always taught "Dress to Im;press". Same thing for equipment. But don't need to always look at run of the mill ideas.

Personally I play Spectors, a little different from the rest. I have some inexpensive ones and then some custom ones. But I also have some cutting edge amp and equipment. Most anyone can tell the difference quickly. So I feel life is too short for short cuts. And I owe it to myself and my art to have good equipment.

Other players see that.
View attachment 3616443

Nice! What is the head?

A couple of clarifiers:

There is no audition lined up it’s a theoretical question, but...

Amp is a Rumble 500
Pedals are Boss GT-1B set up as stomp boxes with external foot switch.
Genre is variable but anything from Rick to Motown, to pop covers.

I’ve not been playing long, <3 years. I don’t need to earn cash from this.

I too have a Boss GT-1B. I'ts in my closet. It's a hell of a piece of equipment. I fear it. I am trying not to go9 down that perceived "rabbit hole".

To answer your question, we still live in a Fender world so to speak. I broke down and purchased two MIMs (P and J) and an awesome MIJ Bacchus Jazz this past year. People know the sound. Plug and play.

 

[CoffeeLove]

Skills first, gear 2nd. Your MIM Pbass is just fine, I doubt anyone will get close enough to see the country of origin, or even care. Be an amazing player, and the rest will follow.

 

[SgtHulka]

I have a parts Jazz that looks very expensive. I spent time building it myself and not only does it look badass but it sounds badass.

Do you think they'll care about the fender waterslide decal on the headstock? LOL.

I made this bass because I never had a jazz bass my entire life and it's really fun to play with the Precision neck I put on it. (Jazz necks weren't for me).

I achieved my goal and not only getting something I personally love to play but also something that looks really nice and can be gigable for weddings and the such. I believe that every player beyond a regular hobbyist should have a bass just for this purpose: classy, auditions, and high-end gigs.

 

[MobileHolmes]

I'll go with "it depends." The unfortunate reality is that quite a few folks are going to judge and do care. I think there is some minimum threshold of gear you probably need to audition/play out (doesn't make weird hums, is properly intonated, sounds reasonable), but clearing that threshold isn't that hard. But folks do judge. On the other hand, showing up with cheap/weird gear is a good way to audition them too. Decent players/people can look past the gear and hear the player. I've been playing a fair number of blues jams lately, and everybody is kind of checking each others' gear out. Most of my stuff is a little off the beaten path (I usually show up with a warmoth J or a early 80s MIJ P Copy), and I can tell that some of them look down on them. And typically the guys that look down on them are lousy players, and don't know anything about gear anyway. Unfortunately, in an audition setting, you are fairly likely to get judged on gear by people who don't know much

 

[Adjectives]

I've seen legit headline acts where the bass player has an SX on stage and nobody cares. I've also seen people play foderas in an open mic at a Chinese restaurant.

That's a great quote.

 

[hardtop]

i think two fingers nailed it in the first response. i was one of those judgmental jerks. I played with an indie rock band for awhile and one day forgot to bring my MIM fender jazz to practice. the drummer (who was an amazing guitar player and just playing drums in this band because guitar players were a dime a dozen...) let me use his squire jazz. I honestly thought it would be a major downgrade and wondered why a skilled player had such a cheap monster in his arsenal. It was WAY nicer playing and sounding instrument than my mexico made fender. Later I got my hands on a beautiful Corona California made jazz, and I still preferred the Squire. I tried to trade my US instrument for his beat up squire and he said no. He knew he had a rare beast on his hands. I learned later that he had a collection of parts-casters that he had carefully curated. He was the guy that taught me that tone was in the fingers. that said, I have had some bad instruments that sounded and played like crap. the point is that there are decent instruments out there that good players can make sound just fine. I try not to judge these days... but I'm still going to be a little skeptical if some shows up with a $120 dollar purple build-a-bass.

 

[byacey]

The bass shouldn't enter the picture. How does the guy play, and what does his tone production sound like? Of course tone production can be limited by the bass and amp, but it shouldn't be a factor in evaluating the talent.

 

[Minimalist]

I recently sold my Lakland Skyline as I couldn't stand the weight anymore and started looking for a MIM Fender P to replace it. While I'm waiting to find the right one I thought I'd upgrade the pups on my first bass, an Ibanez GSR180. I installed a set of Fender Pure Vintage 74s and it sounds so full and great, especially with the bridge soloed. I'm now in no rush to get the Fender. I still want a P but the question is, do I need it right now? The Ibby honestly sounds massive for a lightweight and what you might call "an entry level" instrument. But there are expectations when you audition. What you pull out of the gig bag surely goes some way to the band members forming their initial perception of how good you are, or am I wrong?

Does bass prejudice exists when auditioning?

Should I have an instrument with some status to help me get in a band?

Auditioning is like corting. If they don't like what you have to offer it won't be love. Unless you are doing it for money. That's a different subject though.

 

[Volker Kirstein]

If it looks like this View attachment 3617198 maybe.

Good call! I am definitely bringing this to my next audition...

 

[beaglesandbass]

I haven’t read the 9 pages of replies but Im sure this has been said...

Do you need one? No
Will if affect the audition? Maybe

I can go go audition with a $2000 Fender Custom Shop bass, take the bass home and put all the guys into a Squier Affinity P, and give the bass to my friend for him to go audition.

They will sound similar, and even if we both nail the playing (or he plays better than me), I’m willing to bet that 90% of the time I get the offer over him because of the appearance of professional vs. beginner gear.

It’s not right, but it happens.

 

[equill]

I like Japanese BC Riches a lot, but I would never bring one when meeting anyone for the first time. It would be like wearing vinyl pants to a first date. Luckily, I also like P-Basses.

Depends on your dating scene

 

[MrUsefulAlien]

I want to sound high-minded, but I would judge someone who pulled out entry-level equipment, regardless of talent, with a bit of skepticism if this audition was for a major gigging band.

From the few auditions that I've been in, you bring limited equipment - and it is a clue to what you would bring to the band on a larger scale. If someone showed up with one entry-level bass and plugged into the old bass amp that's been sitting in the corner of the basement jam spot for decades, I would take note to follow up with some very pointed questions about being able to play a professional gig, even if they had chops from heaven.

If the bassist has a $200 bass and uses the house amp, do they even have their own amp? Do they have a DI plan? Do they have a backup bass? Do they have a setup at home to practice and able to come prepared on a weekly basis?

I've been in the band that had to give other band members "loaner" equipment because they simply didn't own gear due to circumstances or life choices (too much money spent on drugs). I'm now highly suspicious of adults who say they are serious, but don't back it up with their actions.

On the flip-side, I'm just as skeptical of people who own expensive gear and don't know the material. Great gear collectors are not necessarily great players.

It's strange to me that people would self-sabotage an audition by being defiant about a generally accurate indicator, such as the one you just pointed out.
I like franken-basses these days, but I also have some US fenders, Lakland and warwick basses.

For most players, the gear is indicative of their level of commitment to the craft, that includes cheaper basses that are absolutely killer, you need to know a thing or two to find those gems.
There's no moral victories if I show up to an audition with a bass not suitable to the genre, get rejected, then complain that the people hiring are rigid.
They wouldn't accept me being sloppily dressed or looking messy, nor having terrible attitude just because my playing is a redeeming feature.

 

[mmon77]

There's no moral victories if I show up to an audition with a bass not suitable to the genre, get rejected, then complain that the people hiring are rigid.

The op said nothing about showing up with a bass not suitable to the genre. The post was about showing up with an entry-level, or "cheap" bass to an audition.

And who gets to determine what bass is suitable for a genre? I've seen progressive bands where the bassist plays a 4 string Fender, and I've seen blues gigs where the bassist plays a 6 string hippy sandwich bass. As long as they do what they're supposed to do, play what they're supposed to play, and sound great, why would you care? I've played traditional country/honky tonk gigs with my Warwick Thumb 5. No one in the audience cared, but they did dance all night.

My only exception to this would possibly be tribute bands, because there's an expectation of staying true to the original artist in that case.

 

[HeavyJazz]

On the other hand if a guy shows up for an audition and whips out a 7-string with 12 knobs, stripes of exotic wood everywhere and asks for help to haul in his stereo rig while he fetches the first portion of his pedalboard... Yeah, in that case I could see an audition with a rough start.

 

[lfmn16]

And who gets to determine what bass is suitable for a genre?

The people doing the hiring.

 

[TinIndian]

If you can play it shouldn't matter what you're playing on as long as it is not a pile of junk that isn't working properly. I recently bought an import Peavey Millennium 5 because I wanted a cheap beater. I ended up using it at my last show and I'll use it again.

 

[mmon77]

The people doing the hiring.

Touché

However, if you choose to base your hiring on superficial criteria, you may miss out on a great player.

I feel that, in that case, there is a moral victory because if you turn me down based on the brand of bass I play, I don't have to deal with a superficial brand snob.