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First Bass Rig

A squier P-bass and a Fender Sidekick amp. Back then that was a 115 combo at about 50 watts or so. I was 13, the band consisted of me, mom and dad. My ratio of money spent on gear vs. money earned playing said gear hasn't been nearly as high since.:D
 
Wow...great point!!! Now, I gotta come up with an approximate $$$ I spent on gear vs earned playing said gear....

Btw, not a bad rig at 13

I was playing a Sekovia Les Paul copy into a HEATHKIT (DIY electronics amp kit) that my dad built me claiming "it was just as good as those OTHER amps" :-)
 
Wow...great point!!! Now, I gotta come up with an approximate $$$ I spent on gear vs earned playing said gear....

Btw, not a bad rig at 13

I was playing a Sekovia Les Paul copy into a HEATHKIT (DIY electronics amp kit) that my dad built me claiming "it was just as good as those OTHER amps" :-)

For me that would be circa 1984-85ish. Rocked many a VFW hall with old country and oldtime german polka's, waltzes, and the occasional schottische.
 
Not bad at all...I didn't start playing out until I was in my early 20's and I blew more 15's than you could shake a stick at with that Sunn Concert...EV, JBL, Gauss...didn't matter, that amp ATE speakers (and no one ever figured out why)

Mid to late 80's I went to an SWR SM-400 with a 4x10 Goliath and a 1x18 Big Ben...

And luckily, I did end up making more $$$ than I spent on gear...but not by much :-D
 
a cheap short scale J Bass copy (Lero?) that I sank a mudbucker into the neck position and had the original pup rewound (by Dan Torres!) and positioned into the bridge position.

That was fed into a Standel preamp head going into two 2-15 cabs w/the power amps built into the backs. Maybe 100 watts at the most for each. Plenty loud.

The power amps eventually went up in smoke so went w/a used Peavey head but I can't recall the model.

Earned all the money that went into those and frankensteined them myself. Nearly 40 years later still doing the same thing :D
 
Wow...great point!!! Now, I gotta come up with an approximate $$$ I spent on gear vs earned playing said gear....

Btw, not a bad rig at 13

I was playing a Sekovia Les Paul copy into a HEATHKIT (DIY electronics amp kit) that my dad built me claiming "it was just as good as those OTHER amps" :-)

Wierd thing is, back then, my going pay was about $50 a night plus some comped soft drinks, burgers/fries, etc. Going rate for a typical bar band in typical smalltown, USA is still about $50 a man plus maybe getting a few drinks comped. The difference? A dollar then could get you a helluva lot more than a dollar does now. It's not that the bands are worth more, they're not, the dollar is worth less, and well on it's way to becoming worthless.:smug:
 
Another 70's child. First amp was a Sunn 200s and a Sunn 2-15 cab with JBL D-140's. Had a Univox black violin bass that was horribly neck heavy.

Later on got a Marshall Lead 100. then upgraded the speakers. First to Cervin Vega (junk, blew them out) and then to JBL K-145's. Later on, after too many beer spills in the Marshall, got a Sunn Colesium 880.

I now have a Yamaha B-100III (with parametric eq's) running through a JBL K-140. Got about $300 invested in my rig. Play for free at church, but I enjoy it.
 
I was fortunate in landing a paying gig with my then girl friend's, now wife, dad's wedding band before I had a bass rig. I had a Sound Gear SR800 but no amp. With a paying gig already lined up I bought a Peavy Mark IV and a Hartke 410. I made a bunch of money with that rig before moving on.
 
Likewise, early 80's. Traynor 1x15 combo was my first amp, followed by a Guild Thunderbird amp, but in those days I played as much guitar as bass. When I got serious about bass I got a Peavey Mark IV head and 1820 cabinet. No fond memories about the bass tone of any of the above.