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Do you buy cause an influence plays?

You buy a bass from what you see your favorite bassists play?

  • YES

    Votes: 38 30.4%

  • NO

    Votes: 87 69.6%
  • Total voters
    125
#21
For me, the short answer is "no" I would definitely try a bass because a favorite player of mine plays it, but I wouldn't buy one for that reason. Like anything worth having it has taken me a while, but i think I have finally found what works for me so I am really only into what's being played and not what it's being played on.......... mostly ;) lol
 
#22
now see, this poll was a yes AND a no for me... my other basses i didn't buy because of anybody, i just got them because of sound and looks. HOWEVER, I DID buy a stingray because I see alot of pros playing them, so I tried one out and fell in love. so in a way yes, but in another, no.

Rock on!!!!
4 STRINGS 4 LIFE!!!!!:bassist:
 
#23
Guess I have never noticed what basses my idols play. As far as Modulus I think they are worth the money and then some. I've owned Warwick, Fender, Gibson, G. Gould, Ibanez, Rickenbacker, etc.

I tried a Modulus on a whim at a guitar shop about 7 years ago and now that is all that is in my arsenal. The necks on the funk/vertex are just right for my hands and the craftmanship is second to none IMO.

I live in WI/MN so I was having to have my basses setup at least 3 times a year with wood necked basses - we have constant changing seasons/humidity. My main Funk was set up 5 years ago and hasn't needed a tweak since :) I really see me playing nothing but Modulus for the rest of my playing days. There are my two cents!
 
#24
I was pushed to play bass by Mark Hoppus tone, but never had any bass he hass. I mean with his exact pickup, neck etc. configuration.
I had a Music Man StingRay Copy (a passive one, unlike his original one), a Yamaha BB 414 (P/J was the configuration I prefered when I got to know music is not only pop-punk :D). Then I fell in love with maple necks and hi-mass bridges so I bought myself an American Standard Precision. :bassist:
 
#26
M.Mannix3 said:
I answered yes above because that's what I did for my first bass and amp, but I think I'm becoming a little wiser.

I've always liked bass but the bassist that made me want to play bass is John Paul Jones. I looked at his setup and decided I wanted to sound like him so I bought a Jazz bass (Squier VM Jazz) and an Acoustic amp (Acoustic B10 combo). Boy did I have much to learn, to start with JPJ's tone on the early stuff sounds more like a P bass than a J bass to me, so I was constantly frustrated with my Jazz's tone being too bright and clangy. I didn't realize I bought a bass that seems to be built for Funk. It had 500K pots (To be brighter), a maple body (heavy, bright), and came with roundwound strings(like usual but still very bright). The amp is good though. I put flats on it and did a series/parallel mod (which is usually in series) and now I have realized I should have just bought a P bass.
Click to expand...


The Squire and the 62' ( was it?? ) that JPJ played are similar in shape only.
 
#27
I have never really followed any of my influences on gear choice. When I first started I was obsessed with System of a Down so I always thought I wanted a Black and white Thunderbird(which I still would love to have), but I never really aspired to try and get one. I always bought gear on what I thought would be good for me next.

I guess I could say I got my very first bass (Warlock) partly because my favorite band at the time was Dimmu Borgir and their bassist used one. Mostly I got it because It was hella metal and that was most of what I listened too back then.
 
#28
First and foremost, buy something that feels great in your hands. I cannot understate how important feel is. Second, it's very tough to gauge whether a bass is a keeper soundwise until it's in a band setting. Especially live.

As far as buying certain basses due to influences... yes. I too was a JPJ and Bobby Vega fan enough to buy a J bass. Getting efficient with is a pick is a great way to cop some of their tones. Some of the very early JPJ had flats apparently like the album I. All that being said though, the jazz wasn't my vibe. I started on a P bass and way more of a low mid Jamerson type of player. Plus the precision body and neck feel much more comfortable to me. Feel and sound...

I currently play a Modulus funk Unlimited J5. It used to be known as the flea sig but it sounds nothing like flea because of the J pups. Plus it feels nothing like a quantum because of the 34 inch scale. It sounds and plays like heaven to me. There is no loss of low end like some one stated. The B string is great. It's actually is way warmer than my jazz was. I also really missed the low B when playing the Fender. 80% of modern rock, country, and R&B has the low B used on it nowadays.

The biggest advantage of the modulus neck is that I never have to adjust it on the road. Never...

Find out what's right for you.
 
#30
like many here, as a young'n, I bought my first bass - a 72 Fender P - b/c of Steve Harris. It just so happens that it is one of the only basses that has ever felt right in my hands. Even other P basses sometimes don't have the right feel. So I guess that's what started me was getting something that someone else had, but now I buy purely for feel...feel even over tone since I feel like tone is easier to modify than feel.

Geddy is my other main influence, and I vascillate between wanting a Ric or not...sometiems they feel right, sometimes they don't. I think the feel thing is what has kept me from buying a Ric. I would never own a Steinberger or Wal though...once again b/c of the feel...
 
#32
Kinda. I like my P because alot of my influeces play a P, but the main reason is because it was what I (re)learned on.

I would love a 4001 for a very specific tone I'm hunting, but I'm in no rush for it...

but, if I ever find an Aerodyne P like this, I will scoop it up in an instant:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#33
Not really. Ive never liked the feel of a Hofner but love Paul and the Beatles. Not really interested in a Cort, or a Grabber, grew up in the 70's with gene and Kiss. But when it comes to my Am Standard jazz I did get the 3TB, tort, RW because of John Paul Jones and all the British Invasion guys back in the day. Other than it being beautiful of course. So yes just for that classic color.
 
#34
I was thinking about this the other day. Back when I first started playing I bought what my hero's played. It was wierd....I was trying to find myself thru them because I hadn't found "me" yet and not just musically. Bought an EB-3 because of Jack Bruce and I bought a Rickenbacker because of Chris Squire.

Nowadays I play Fenders because I like them. Looking back at the type of bands and music I use to play, Fenders would have been perfect. But, I was an insecure kid who didn't know squat back them.
 
#36
When I first started playing, I didn't really pay much attention to what my influences were playing. My first bass was a Jazz knock off, because it's what was available in the local pawn shop. When I finally got about to buying my own, "real" bass, all I could think about was getting a 51 Precision, because I saw a picture of Dusty Hill playing one (he wasn't even my biggest influence at the time, I just liked the look of the bass). I headed down to the Guitar Center in Seattle, found the 51, played it, and decided I found it uncomfortable. I knew some of my influences (JPJ, Noel Redding, Geddy, Jacob Sproul) played Jazzes, so I tried out a Jazz, and I found the neck too small for me. The last bass I tried out, on suggestion from my father, because he liked grain of it, was a 62 AVRI P-bass. That's the bass I walked out with that day, and it's the bass I've played nearly every day since.

The next bass I bought was a Zebrawood T-Bird, because I loved the raunchy tone and the wood of it.

Now, my amps, THOSE I've bought because of my influences: Sunn 2000s, thanks to Noel Redding, Felix Pappalardi, and John Entwistle.

I can't say I haven't gassed for basses due to influences though: I really want a 64 EB-3, because of Jack Bruce and Andy Fraser, and a bound/block Jazz with either a Darkstar or Mudbucker due to Berry Oakley & Mel Schacher, or a Telecaster bass thanks to Ron Wood.

My next bass though will be an amalgam of those influences though, but I want to make it distinctly mine, so influences do shape my purchases to some extent.
 

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