The recent ugly amp thread got me thinking about gear aesthetics, and what gear that we talkbassers own primarily for their looks. This can be anything; amps, cabs, basses, they’re all welcome!
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Gear you own for the looks
- Thread starter PennyroyalWe
- Start date
I’ll start! For me, it’s my Grote club bass copy. It looks great, has a vibe all its own, and when I see it, it makes me want to pick it up start playing the greatest hits of the 60s. Not to say it doesn’t sound good, too, but that’s not the main reason I bought and keep it. The other piece of gear I own for the looks is the cab that I built last year. Frankly, it’s not the best cab for my purposes, but I’m stoked on how it turned out looks wise.
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I used to run LED strip lights inside the grills of my cabs. I might do that again.
That’s a neat idea. Are they battery operated, or does it need plugged in?
Pretty much everything...but let's go with this for now.
It just so happens it feels and sounds even better than it looks, so...
I can say the same for this little amp.
It just so happens it feels and sounds even better than it looks, so...
I can say the same for this little amp.
The only thing I have bought on looks alone really was the Boss BB-1X Bass Driver. After I got the BC-1X Bass Comp, and saw how gorgeous it was, I had to get the BB-1X to match it. Turns out it sounds good, too.
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I've got a thing about form and function. I'll pick a model I can afford, be it bass or a sports car or a phone, with the most functionality. Then I'll pick the best looking of that model. Hence most of my stuff looks pretty good!!
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My #1 bass is the wildest looking and best sounding bass I own... but the neck isn't my favorite; the back of the neck is a little too rounded for my tastes and I prefer a 1.5" nut width rather than its 1.65" inches... but I'm used to it.
But, yeah, its looks are the #1 reason I keep it and tone is #2.
But, yeah, its looks are the #1 reason I keep it and tone is #2.
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I didn't get it for the looks, but my Charvel Surfcaster has a pretty distinctive look. Not ever going to end up on the "Best Bass for Metal" list, but for some surf-rock? Heck yeah!
I own a Fender 60s reissue Jazz bass, sunburst/tort, because I'm in a Zeppelin tribute band and it looks like the Fender jazz that JPJ played back in the day, complete with the grounding strap back to the bridge. I prefer to play other basses, particularly my G&L El Toro for gigs, and only bring this out for photo shoots and videos.
All my basses are purchased partially for their looks. Other than that, nope.
I eat a lot of mushy food, but i keep my teeth for the looks.
All of my Jazz Basses. A P gives me what I want from a Fender bass. But Js look so awesome.
My G&L Launch Edition Fallout Bass. It gives me nothing special tonally. It's good sounding, but not anything I can't get from my old L-1000s.
All three of my Mustang PJs, and my American Performer Mustang Bass. They give me nothing special in the tonal department, and I don't even use their bridge pickups.
My G&L Launch Edition Fallout Bass. It gives me nothing special tonally. It's good sounding, but not anything I can't get from my old L-1000s.
All three of my Mustang PJs, and my American Performer Mustang Bass. They give me nothing special in the tonal department, and I don't even use their bridge pickups.
All of my Fender basses, esp. the blue ones...
This would have been cheaper in another color without a cl*t blinking the serial number...
This would have been cheaper in another color without a cl*t blinking the serial number...
I would wager there aren't too many gigging musicians out there that absolutely don't care about the looks of the instrument. Most of them are in what's left of the punk crowd. There is a visual aesthetic to the performance of live music, and the instruments are part of that aesthetic.
That said, I bought my Sire P7 for its timeless traditional P-bass styling:
... and I certainly didn't mind the look of my primary before that, the TRB-1005:
My amp, not so much; I needed power and portability, and while I've always been impressed with how much amp Markbass packs into relatively small packages, the yellow on black aesthetic was never really my thing. But, I couldn't say no to an Italian-made CMD102P for $675. Most of the time, it hangs out behind a stage scrim with the band logo on it.
As for effects, I bought one based at least in part on its looks, but it's a bit more complicated. The pedal I own is the Walrus Audio Julianna, which I bought because I was initially drawn to the entrancing art of her older little sister, the Julia V2:
I was looking for "the last chorus" for my skinny-string board, which would free my CEB-3 to come home to the bass board. Julia, on looks alone, beat out pretty much everything else in the field, but I could never quite justify the cost for a fairly basic chorus pedal. Enter her big sister:
The art is similar, but apparently a few people said Julia V2, while a definite improvement over the V1's art, was turning too many guitarists into literal shoegazers. To keep the idea of V2's sea spirit while getting rid of the soul-searching stare, the artist put Julianna's arm over her eyes. Feature-wise, they added the tap tempo and stereo that I said I wished Julia had, and the ramp and drift features that I actually use, for not a terrible amount more than Julia cost new, so I could no longer say no to a Walrus chorus.
That said, I bought my Sire P7 for its timeless traditional P-bass styling:
... and I certainly didn't mind the look of my primary before that, the TRB-1005:
My amp, not so much; I needed power and portability, and while I've always been impressed with how much amp Markbass packs into relatively small packages, the yellow on black aesthetic was never really my thing. But, I couldn't say no to an Italian-made CMD102P for $675. Most of the time, it hangs out behind a stage scrim with the band logo on it.
As for effects, I bought one based at least in part on its looks, but it's a bit more complicated. The pedal I own is the Walrus Audio Julianna, which I bought because I was initially drawn to the entrancing art of her older little sister, the Julia V2:
I was looking for "the last chorus" for my skinny-string board, which would free my CEB-3 to come home to the bass board. Julia, on looks alone, beat out pretty much everything else in the field, but I could never quite justify the cost for a fairly basic chorus pedal. Enter her big sister:
The art is similar, but apparently a few people said Julia V2, while a definite improvement over the V1's art, was turning too many guitarists into literal shoegazers. To keep the idea of V2's sea spirit while getting rid of the soul-searching stare, the artist put Julianna's arm over her eyes. Feature-wise, they added the tap tempo and stereo that I said I wished Julia had, and the ramp and drift features that I actually use, for not a terrible amount more than Julia cost new, so I could no longer say no to a Walrus chorus.
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I know I'm weird, but I always thought the Steinberger 80's square basses looked cool. I had a Spirit 5-string bought from MusicYo in the 00's.
I haven't bought anything purely based on appearance, but I won't buy anything I find unattractive unless there's no alternative.....and in the bass world, there's always an alternative.
