Has your taste in basses grown simpler or more complex?

[vistacruiser]

Pretty much stayed the same, Simple. My first "Real" bass was a Fender Jazz, '73. From there I bounced around with passive J, P and P/J 4 string basses. Picked up a 4001 and a T-bird along the way (which were keepers). Gave 5 strings a try, that didn't take a hold on me. My current main player is a Noel Redding signature Jazz, '97 passive 4.
My collection is entirely passive 4's, mostly FSO's, the most complex being 2 pickups equipped with series/parallel switching.

 

[yonkrz]

I have 8 basses,all are 4 string passive except a five string schecter that’s active and hangs on the wall.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

A P-bass is what I grab when I don't want to think about it. If I'm more engaged, then it's likely a fretless 5 string w/dual coils and coil-switching options, or an active fretted 5, or a 6-string.

 

[ScarfFace]

I started with a 4 string P Bass 25 years ago and have seen probably 40-50 basses come and go. Lots of variation in there with some 5 string, several active, several 2 or even 3 pickup basses. Now that I really know what I like, I have 4 short scale single pickup basses (Mustang style). They are all either Squier or parts basses and the only reason for 4 of them is to match outfits and/or moods.

 

[Watchootognbout]

You tell me.

 

[LowWay]

From very simple to more complex.

 

[Michael Jewels]

Simpler.

Lately the basses I play the most are my Breedlove acoustic and my LTD TL-4, which is an electric bass with a chambered body and an acoustic guitar-type bridge.

I'm getting to love woody-sounding instruments in my old age.

Mike

 

[Michael Jewels]

My Breedlove Pursuit.
Very warm and woody-sounding.

My LTD TL-4
Mostly sounds like an acoustic amplified. Very nice.

 

[EricOnTheBass]

My tastes are simple, always have been. It just took me many years to realize it! I need a good P and a good J, anything else is just for variety.

 

[crazycloud]

Forgot to mention in my earlier posts that all of my most used basses are active 6 strings.

 

[Root 5]

Definitely simpler. When I was younger I wanted lots of knobs and switches and active electronics.

Now I want passive electronics with no more than vol-vol-tone for controls.

 

[Church-Bass]

In my teens, started with a short-scale 4.

In my 30s, peaked with 12-string basses, 7-string basses etc.

Now in middle age, even though I've kept an active 6, my primary bass for is a 4-string fretless P.

So I've returned back to keeping it simpler.

 

[Turtle71]

I guess I'm a bit of a hybrid?

I started with a passive p-style bass, a Jackson 4 string something or another w/ a granite finish..loved that thing.

Over time I switched over to active basses, and went through my Tobias phase, then some Ibanez.

Then I circled back around to a couple of Reverend Mercalli's and some FSO (some I still have), and now I'll play a passive P-Bass or my Passive Squier medium scale for certain gigs, and then for other gigs I'll play one of my active basses, typically one of my Yamahas. I basically bring what ever bass suits the need for whatever task is at hand.

 

[sainz18]

20 yo me "I need a active bass with 3 band preamp, humbuckers, 5 pince neck, gotoh tuners...%
35 yo me "a good passive PJ fender and let's go"

 

[Jugghaid]

I prefer modern active 5 strings in general. But I have passive 4 and 5 strings as well.

 

[P. Aaron]

As much as I like my Dimension, in certain venues, I prefer the Fender Precision simplicity. Yeah, it's one 18v pre-amp with everything else staying the same but, it ALL depends upon the venue. If I know the stage, I can and have been able to make adjustments over time.

Any new stages of several gigs in a row, I keep it P-Bass simple because as much as performance matters, getting through them efficiently & effectively means fewer things in the signal chain and in general to get and keep clarity of the sound.

 

[J Wilson]

I see these rigs with basses with onboard EQ, a pedalboard, and all the tone controls on the front of the amp and wonder 'how in the hell do you get a tone with that many chances to drive tone off a cliff'. It's probably just me.

In a perfect world, I'd have single p/u basses with a vol and tone (active or passive), and if it were two pickups I'd only add a balancer.

NO pedals.

In that world, I'd have a plenty big enough amp with a front panel with gain, bass, and treble, with a transformer'd DI out back with a output gain not connected to stage volume. A preamp tube up front would be OK, but that's all. I might want to side chain a VERY good, invisible optical compressor, but that's still in discussion.

I want as little between me and the grill cloth as possible.

 

[5StringBlues]

I have no taste.

 

[SunByrne]

Neither simpler nor more complex... but more expensive? Yes.

 

[BRoth]

I’m a Pbass guy at heart. I only own one bass and it’s a P and I’m totally happy with it. That said, my tastes might be getting more complex…I found myself admiring a Jazz bass the other day. It has twice as many pickups AND another volume knob!