How did you end up with your current workhorse?

[CTBassGuy]

My Carivn LB90F was my 16-yr-old-self's dream bass (that I could afford...). The guy who was my High School's "main bass player" (a senior when I was a freshman) got one; he let me play it for a few minutes and was hooked. I bought mine 2 yrs later after working summer jobs and any $ I could scrape together.

I still play it weekly at practice 31 yrs later. I even found its fretted brother in April of this year, and they are simply "my sound".

 

[JMarkD]

My first "workhorse" bass was my old Fender Jazz that I played for many years and still use to this day. That bass pretty much sealed my sound, so to speak, in the Jazz bass realm. But like most of us, as my expendable income increased and my music career warranted, I tried many other exotics looking for the greener grass. To name a few, Alembic, Steinberger, Modulus, Musicman, Warwick and many Fenders of all types. Loved 'em all but I always seemed to return to the Jazz Bass.

So my current go to gigging bass is a Lakland Joe Osborn Jazz Bass. From time to time I use and old Lakland 4-94 which can manage the Fender Jazz sound quite well. Why the Laklands? It's the necks. They are just perfect for me. For recording it is still my old Jazz which I will never part with.

 

[JPaulGeddy]

I was very much a 5-string active guy in 2008. Hooked up with a 'new wave of British metal' type band - Maiden, Priest, etc. Needed something that looked/felt the part.

Went to a GC with my preference for a maple board, active electronic humbucker bass - and walked out with a rosewood PJ passive (Peavey Scorpio DE). Became my workhorse through a series of bands, and still holds the spot. Feels perfect to me, and sounds like a monstrous Precision. I put Hipshot tuners/xtender on it, and swapped the pots, but other than that, same as it ever was.

 

[alack]

I assumed my pair of mid-70s P basses would be my “til death do we part” work horses. But a while back I tore my left shoulder making the P’s weight and reach uncomfortable. I tried a black Squier SS Jag and slapped some Chromes on it. From the first gig I was sold. The feel, the tone, the ergonomics! A few weeks back I picked up a red one in a Pawn shop for $127. After a quick change of strings and setup I had the perfect backup to my #1.

 

[40Hz]

Lost access to an upright when I stopped taking lessons and went off to college. So I started looking for something I could afford. Initially thought it would be a JB since I had been playing my cousins’s in his band when I wasn’t playing upright. But I accidentally came across an article on Greg Lake talking about a prototype Gibson bass he was using called a Ripper. Checked it out and decided that was for me.

Saved up, bought one in 1974, and have played it as my main instrument ever since.

 

[Wisebass]

Hi Tyler

how you ended up playing your current "workhorse" or favorite bass?

I wanted a fretless ever since I heard Pino Paladino with Simon Philips on "Give blood". (Pete Townshend)

In 2003 I picked up a (fretted) Sandberg in our local guitar shop.

I loved the neck, so I asked if there was a fretless model of it.

Found out that you can order them however you want (colour, pups, different bodies, active, passive, pg)

The configurator did not exist back then.

I made my list (the same day! ) and ordered.

Telephoned twice with the luthier (Holger Stonjek) for the details.


That bass was never meant to be my main. (fretless in a hard and heavy band is quite unusual)

The day it arrived I took it to my band rehearsal and noodled during the coffee break.

Our BL drummer sat in with me… and said: "Sounds good, bring it to the gig tomorrow"

(he did not realize that it was a fretless )

When I have a new gig and I ask which bass to bring

it always makes me smile when they say: Bring the red one.

greetings

Wise(b)ass

 

[dave64o]

Getting to the point where I am now, someone who's messed around for a lot of years but at age 55 is really just a newbie who is in his first gigging band (I've played two gigs so far). Not going to go into details there but it was typical of a lot of people - family and job responsibilities made it hard to do and I could only get serious once those things changed and allowed me more time to devote to playing.

While I was just messing around, I bought a lot of gear here just to try it out, see what I liked, decide what I might want to change, and continue the buying and selling cycle. To get to my current workhorse, I sold a MIM Jazz deluxe 5 that sounded really nice but was 13.5 of boat anchor I finally gave up on I replaced it with a Lakland 55-02 which sounded even better and had even more tonal flexibility. But for some reason that bass never felt comfortable to me and I, possibly incorrectly, assumed was the combination of 35" scale and wider 19mm string spacing. I replaced that with my first Stingray 5HH and I was actually kind of underwhelmed by it at first. It felt MUCH better to me than the Lakland did, but the tone controls didn't wow me at first. I eventually learned to hear the differences between the pickup switch settings and use the tone controls effectively and my opinion quickly changed. But the bass, at 11.0-11.5 pounds, was still too heavy for me. Then I saw a honeyburst Stingray 5HH in the classifieds. The owner had only had it a short while but realized that he just didn't like 5-strings and was just outside of the return window so he was selling it at a nice discount. It was beautiful, in brand new condition, just under 10 pounds, and well under the cost of a comparable new Stingray so I went for it.

I've bought about 8-10 basses since buying this one and most are gone now and none of them were able to knock this one out of the #1 position. Now that I've been playing in some basement jam sessions as well as finally in a working band, I'm more convinced than ever that it would take a lot to knock this out of my #1 position. It's worked so well in every playing situation I've been in, I can get any tone I've wanted out of it quickly and easily, it's very comfortable for me to play, and the now discontinued honeyburst finish is freakin' beautiful. And, after owning it for over 12 years, it's still in brand new condition. I still get tempted to try new basses because, well, why not? My other four all came after buying this one. But, as much as I like those four, I have to consciously decide to take one of them out because, if I don't think about it, my Stingray is the one I grab every single time.

 

[chris_b]

My current bass is a Sadowsky Metro RV5. The road to here starts with 25 years of a Fender Precision, then the jump to light speed with an MM SR5, then Lakland 55-94, then mk3 Wal and then a Lull PJ5. My only requirement is that every new bass has to be an upgrade (better in some way) over the bass I'm playing.

 

[bobba66]

When I turned 50 I wanted a nice Precision. It's the one I play now. Be 60 next year and looking at short scales.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

My workhorse in my profile pic (Alien Audio Constellation in case someone reads this five years from now and I've changed my profile pic) was born when we took a family vacation to Nashville and I stopped in to visit Chopper Anderson in his shop. Got to check out some wood he had in stock and put in an order. That was a fun trip. I really want to move to Nashville. I know they already have plenty of bassists, but I want to add another to the mix. Alien Audio basses have been great for me and sit great in the mix, easy to get the sounds I need. I have a 30" 5 string coming shortly.

 

[BOOG]

I was telling my wife how I came to be a massive StingRay fanboy and player and thought it might be cool to see from you all how you ended up playing your current "workhorse" or favorite bass?

Not that any of you asked, but here's how I ended up playing 'Rays.

I was 17 and and bought a POS Samick bass at a pawn shop (I don't remember if it was a P or J style). It sort of worked for about 6 months. In that time I picked up some bass instruction books and worked through them, and joining my high school's jazz band.

In the jazz band, the intonation and staying in tune problems of my Samick proved to be too much, even after a setup, so the conductor had me use the school's MIM Fender Jazz bass.

My Samick was relegated to a corner of my room, never to leave the cheap gig bag I had it in again.

I was allowed to take the MIM J bass home over the summer between junior and senior year so I could build up my chops. I also started to jam with some friends and learn how the bass functioned in the mix with a band--in jazz band, I was just playing the notes; there was no feeling in my playing.

During that summer, I found out Les Claypool used Carl Thompson basses for hiw work with Primus. I loved his sound with Primus and desperately wanted a CT of my own (I had no idea how to get one, hell, I thought I could go to Guitar Center and grab one off the shelf. That's how naive I was at the time) so I could sound just like Claypool.

Turns out, GC doesn't stock CT basses (again, I was jsut starting and had no idea what I was doing), but they did have a bass that looked similar to a CT, or at least close enough that I fell in love with it on sight--the Rickenbacker 4003.

So I got a jetglo Ric and played with my band friends. About a week later, the neck became horribly bowed, and I had no idea why or how it happened. I took it in for a trussrod fix, but even that couldn't save it. GC gave me a refund for the bass and I was back looking for a bass that would be a step up from my MIM Jazz bass.

I found a Warwick Corvette and went with it. Except it was fretless, and since I had some experience with an upright bass, I thought I could handle it.

Nope.

I had bitten off more than I could chew, so I took the Warwick back within the return window. I had missed the refund window, which was fine since I was going to get another bass, and the sales person I ran into asked me about the basses I had played thus far. I retold the previous story to him and he pointed me in the direction of an obnoxious orange bass. He said this guy named Flea used a bass like this, and that maybe this might be a good route to take. And, if I didn't like it, I could always return it and try to find another one.

So I tried out that orange bass with an SVT head.

I was in love. That sound...I can still hear it more than 20 years later.

That bass followed me home. It was a StingRay and I was hooked.

I ended up selling that bass when I went into the USMC 4 years later.

Two years into my USMC enlistment, while deployed to Iraq, I decided to order a StingRay 5. At the time (2005) nu-metal was a thing and I was into it, and thought the extended range would be a benefit more than anything else, so I pulled the trigger.

Turns out Musician's Friend ships to APOs, and about a week after ordering my bass, it was delivered to my office in the middle of the An Anbar Province of western Iraq.

I had to sell that bass a few year later due to moving across the country after my medical discharge from the USMC, and took a little break from bass.

Eventually, I got the urge to play again and found a red StingRay 5 with black pickguard, and bought it.

That's my current workhorse. I tried out an Adam Clayton Signature Jazz bass in the Sherwood Green when they came out, but the neck profile wasn't something that worked for me.

So here I am, a StingRay player and I couldn't be happier.

Well, I will be happier once I pick up that Rickenbacker 4003S/5 I fell in love with last weekend.

Semper Fi, Teufelshunde ! Hope all is good for you Brother.
(I was stationed in Iceland at the time you were in the sandbox)

I have a few bass’s and always gravitate back to my first for learning new material and default to it when I can’t decide which to take out of the house. It’s a 98 MIM Fender P with Geezer p’ups and DR Pure Blues. I love the tone and I especially love the simplicity. It also happens to be my second lightest bass. This bass has been with me every step of the way teaching me how to play, how to do a setup, how to make modifications, how my hands change the tone and articulation, and most importantly how to play with other musicians and how amp settings effect my bass in the mix.

 

[Pyrat]

After many trials and tribulations, love and loss, darkness and light...I found myself in a place where I was willing to take a chance. All roads previous led to nowhere. So...I jumped off. Ltd B-1005 SE Multiscale. BLEW MY MIND. Intuitive and natural...reshaping DAILY what I used to know. Much like the Steinberger L2/5 I fell into a-way back when...right instrument, right time. GO AND BE YOU~

 

[OptimalOptimus]

Since I got my first issue of Bassplayer mag, I always wanted a Warwick bass. They always had a Warwick add at the last page.

But I always thought they were out of my price rang and I never saw one in store.

I started with a Fender PJ, probably MIJ or MIM from a pawnshop and it was crap. it was 1998

Then I had a Yamaha PJ. Probably a RBX.

Then a Yamaha BBNEII5L. It was the bass to me. A 5 strings left handed. It was 2000. It wasn't easy to find a left handed bass at that time especially since store only had a few brands. That bass became my partner in crime. I played with it on everything. I always found a way to make it works for me. It was also my bass when I went to college earn a music degree. I still own that bass.

I finished college in 2006. And discovered Carvin. Affordable and I could get a 6 strings and customize a little. So I ordered an LB76 strings.

In 2007 I bought a BB70 fretless with lines and a LB76 fretless with lines too.

Then I sold the BB70 and got a NS Design NXT somewhere in 2012 I think.

I sold that thing because I needed the money fast ... I was very sad to sell it because it was my father who bought it for me.

In 2013 I bought a Carvin Icon 6 unlined fretless.

In 2017 I sold my Carvin LB76 fretted and my Carvin LB76 fretless. And bought a Warwick Thumb BO6 ... I finally found a store that sold those ... so I ordered one.

in 2018 I bought a EBMM Sterling and a EBMM Stringray 5... I liked the tone but didn't like to play them... I prefer to play 6 strings ... so I sold them and ordered a Warwick Thumb BO6 fretless that I got earlier this year.

So now I own 2 Warwick Thumb BO6 and my Yamaha BBNE5IIL ... The only way I would buy another bass is if I could buy a custom shop Warwick Thumb 4 strings with a tremolo bridge. Inspired by Les Claypool whammy bar trick in Primus.

 

[Leonid Nidis]

I used to avoid active basses.Played a p mostly.Once I saw an add for a elite jazz v cheap,imported it and hated it It had a small cosmetic flaw and I couldnt sell it.
Traded it for a 1979 stingray with bartolini electronics(with a pickup split) and suddenly realized its so much easier for me play it compared to any bass i had.
Now I use it for everything,from pop to metal.

 

[jj4001]

2017 AVRI '63 Precision here. I wanted one for a long time. When they were discontinued and replaced with the American Original series, I knew I had to make a move. One of the guitarists in my band has a friend who can get him great deals on new gear. They were down to their last three in stock. I was able to get the bass brand new for $1600, which at the time seemed to be the going rate for used ones. It'll likely be the last bass I buy and I will never sell it. It's perfect.

 

[jnewmark]

I bought a new Fender MIA Jazz in 1995, and its still my go to bass. Fits me like a comfortable glove. I have other Fender basses, but that one is my fave.

 

[bassplayer9512]

Traded an Ibanez Sr600 for a stock highway 1 p bass (non grease bucket circuit version). 3 different neck combinations, 3 pickups combinations, and 2 different bridges. I finally landed on this. Perloid binding and block Warmoth neck, bartolini 8s pickup and a gotoh 201 with hipshot tuners. The Randy sticker is what gives it the tone though.

 

[Nedmundo]

Most of my basses are "workhorses," but I'll focus on my G&L USA M-2500 because it's the most versatile, and because I'm surprised I like it so much.

Back in 2014, I was tapped to play a musical theater project, and I immediately realized it required a five. I liked my 2008 Fender Jazz V, which would have been fine tone-wise, but the show put my chops to the test, and I'd never been crazy about its playability even after getting it Pleked. It was fine for the rock band, but I wanted something else for this project. Plus, of course, I had GAS.

So I immediately started looking at G&L fives, hoping for a great deal on an L-2500. I found a local shop with two USA L-2500s, one of which was NOS at a decent price (from about 2010), and a brand new one with expensive options. These taught me that G&L had changed the neck profile, because the NOS one was a little thick for me, but the new one felt great.

Soon thereafter, I found a bass shop on line blowing out two USA M-2500s at fantastic prices, and one was in perhaps my favorite finish--Ruby Red Metallic. It also had a quartersawn neck, which I had liked on my G&L JB. I had never liked fully-active basses at all, and really wanted an L-2500. But I figured the M would still deliver loads of MFD goodness, and active EQ might be good for musical theater anyway. I took the plunge.

Luckily, those hunches proved correct. The M-2500 was perfect for that show, and for a cover band I joined a couple of years later. It was great for the original rock band too, and I've used it on a quasi-professional recording project. The tone, playability, and construction are all fantastic. I'm still mostly into old-school passive basses, but the M is incredible. It covers everything, and has the best playability of all my basses.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I got my 1st bass because it was the only one I could afford where I lived (a used P copy that I got for $100, and paid it in 3 months). Then I tried a J copy and traded the P for that. I tried a bunch of other basses some active, but felt home w/ a J or a P. After playing basses w/ P-style necks for about 12 years, I bought my first American Fender w/ a J neck, and fell in love w/ the neck. Now I got J's, P's and MM style basses, all passive and w/ J necks.

 

[dramatwist]

I needed a tough bass for live use, with a good range of usable tones ... this got the nod.


Played one of those all through the 80s... did the job.