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Familiar with this?

#23
micguy said:
Ibanez Mikro?? You mean you’re happy looking like you’re playing guitar??

;-)
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I'm not a model, I am a musician, I use my ears.

If music was about looks I think a lot of acclaimed musicians ought to consider a career change.

Tone and playability rule over looks, and in that order, every time, though I actually think the Mikro looks just fine as it is.
 
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#24
JohnArnson said:
I'm not a model, I am a musician, I use my ears.

If music was about looks I think a lot of acclaimed musicians ought to consider a career change.

Tone and playability rule over looks, and in that order, every time, though I actually think the Mikro looks just fine as it is.
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The ;-) meant I was having a bit of fun.
 
#25
More basses good, less basses bad. Boy/girl friends with good jobs really really help. Only they questions the number of basses. So don't show them all at once in the same place. If you run out of storiage space, behind the couch and on top of closets are good places for additional fly cases. I now keep a few at friends' house also. Good luck.
 
#26
micguy said:
The ;-) meant I was having a bit of fun.
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Which you are perfectly entitled too, and which I did notice, though that doesn't make me less entitled to reply, or should I have added a ;-) at the end too to be so?

The "I'm not a model" part and the suggestion that some professional musicians should maybe consider a career change, I think should indicate that I at least attempted on a humorous reply as well.
 
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#27
I enjoy trying new basses and configurations. If I see something I like I try to buy it or something similar to see if it has a use for me. I'm a hobby player so none of it makes the difference between me making my bills or not. But I have to say I have acquired a pretty cool set of basses that I enjoy the hell out of. I have one that I bought about 7 years ago that is still my favorite and will probably always be. It's not a Vintage Fender or expensive exotic or anything like that. And I would never have bought it through a calculated purchase decision. It was just one of those 'It's cool - let me check it out' kind of impulse purchases. I still try to see if I can find something better and I also try to find things that will complement it's features. Maybe a similar bass with flats, different pups, different (or no) pre, etc. Try it then you know if it is better for you.

Call it affliction or whatever, but I know many people who spend more in a year on booze, drugs, or gambling than I have spent in my LIFETIME on basses. I know people that spend more on credit card interest in a year than I pay for basses in a year! So I'm OK with my bass purchases. Sobering thought - the first two months of mortgage interest on my house totaled more than I have paid for ANY bass I own and more than almost any two basses I own!

Just my 2 cents. Gotta go - I here a bass calling out to me....
 
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#29
I recently bought an 1985 Epiphone P bass. Body and neck were in great shape. Electronics were shot. I put EMG GZR pups in it. Did some work on the bridge and nut. Bought a custom made truss rod cover for it. Put Fender road worn knobs and thumb rest on it, and strung it with D'Addario chrome flats. Of the 4 basses I own, its now my favorite. But it also gave me the urge to find more basses to mod. Its never ending. Welcome to the club.
 
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#30
It seems ridiculous to me to spend $180 on pick ups and drop them in a bass of the same value. The Mikros are entry level instruments. Maybe if you had the opportunity to try a better quality bass you would feel and hear the difference.
 
#32
nilorius said:
Still doesn't understand what do you want from us. You got a bass that you like in design and sound, so keep using it.
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Not really the point of my OP at all, and as for the other posts I made in this thread I was simply replying to people who questioned or asked about my choice of bass.

For your information the actual intended theme of this thread is GAS, and I am using my own rig as an example.

aprod said:
It seems ridiculous to me to spend $180 on pick ups and drop them in a bass of the same value. The Mikros are entry level instruments. Maybe if you had the opportunity to try a better quality bass you would feel and hear the difference.
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As I already wrote, I owned basses that costed over 1000$, and while they were great instruments, the Mikro is just more to my preferences.

And my ears are perfectly fine, thank you, I just don't judge the quality of things on price alone.

Also I somehow got the feeling that you are not exactly talking out of experience.
 
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#33
jd56hawk said:
Why wouldn't you want another bass?
That's the only question.
Despite all the talk about how good entry-level Ibanez and Squier basses are, I have to think that quite a few people who own them want something better.

I learned to play on a Squier CV Jazz and it was perfect for what I wanted at that time, but I was constantly looking for something better, trying between fifty to sixty basses a year, and I eventually found one. Then, I found two more.

I must've posted a dozen or more times about how good that Squier was, how much I liked the tone, the neck, etc, but guess what...it's gone.
If i saw the exact same one, I might buy it for sentimental reasons, but it could never replace my number two or three bass, and it doesn't even come close to my number one.

Are you sure your bass is the best bass for you or do you think there's something better?
Nothing wrong with how you feel either way, but I bet that you'll eventually find something that will make you forget all about your current bass.
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I have a Squier Affinity PJ. It’s a POS. I use it to test stuff. The stock PUPs were horrible. Fret end work was awful. Neck changes all the time depending on the weather. I also have a Sterling SUB. Took a lot of work to make it playable. You get what you pay for.
 
#34
MCF said:
I have a Squier Affinity PJ. It’s a POS. I use it to test stuff. The stock PUPs were horrible. Fret end work was awful. Neck changes all the time depending on the weather. I also have a Sterling SUB. Took a lot of work to make it playable. You get what you pay for.
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I've tried half a dozen Affinity basses.
One was unplayable, two were unremarkable, two were okay...but one was surprisingly good.
Still, I didn't buy it.
I'm in no way against bargain basses or beginner basses, but once I found my bass, there was no looking back.
 
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#36
D331DA5A-03E6-4DAF-B9E7-FCA8E53216E1.jpeg
JohnArnson said:
Thing is I own and have owned basses that costed over a 1000$, and no doubt they were great basses, still the Mikro suits my personal preferences better, and with the stock pickups swapped out for a set of P/J Geezer Butler ones it came to sound exactly like I want my bass to sound as well.

Buying a budget bass is definitely a bit of a crap shoot, since quality is usually very inconsistent from instrument to instrument, a few will be pure crap, by far most will to more or lesser degree fit into the decent to good category, but a few will be truly great instruments, and if you are lucky and get one of the great ones that was made from great pieces of wood, with perfectly leveled frets e.c.t, there is really only the cheap hardware and electronics to differ them from more expensive basses, and that can easily and relatively cheap be updated.

It's really fairly limited how much you can improve on a relatively simple design as the electrical bass before it just becoming extra whistles and bells that doesn't really effect playability and tone much.

You are free to believe otherwise, but I will still say it will be mostly an illusion.

If you are into pretty hi-fi tones there might be some truth to it though, but while such tones does have their place in music I personally think they lack character.

As for your question, yes, I can imagine a better bass for me, it's just that it's not currently in production, or ever was, so I would have to have it custom made, and I don't have that kind of money.

Meanwhile the Ibanez Mikro that I got gets me close enough.
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I love my Mikro!
 
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#38
MCF said:
I have a Squier Affinity PJ. It’s a POS. I use it to test stuff. The stock PUPs were horrible. Fret end work was awful. Neck changes all the time depending on the weather. I also have a Sterling SUB. Took a lot of work to make it playable. You get what you pay for.
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That's not my experience with the Mikro, which of course you may feel free to ignore if you want.

My Mikro got perfect fretwork from stock and the most stable neck I ever had on any bass or guitar, even if I owned some that costed over 1000$, as I already wrote a couple of times, all it really needed to shine was better pickups.

Sometimes it will be absolutely true though.
 
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