How did you end up with your current workhorse?

[TheLiberator]

I became a bass guitarist out of necessity. First gig was at a barn party (country music) and they needed a bassist. I was in my early 20s and I already played guitar since I was 16 by that point, so it really helped my descent into bassdom.

My very first bass was an Ibanez SR405QM from 2011. Now a 5 string might not be an ideal first bass, but it worked well and really wanted that low B string. Used it mostly for playing jazz in my college jazz band at the time. Not a bad bass for the price; the neck is thin but very comfortable. I still have it and use it on occasion.

My main workhorse for a few years was an Ibanez SR-506 from the mid-90s with Bartolini pickups. I was playing a lot more metal then with 7 & 8 string guitars, and was doing some experimenting with chords as well, so that 6 string worked decently.

Around 2016, I was getting tired of just using active basses all the time and I really wanted and loved the sound of a Jazz bass. I was still playing a bit of metal at the time, and I loved how well a jazz bass could work in a metal context. I was also really digging Geddy Lee at the time where the tonal profile had a nice top end but plenty of bottom.

So after deliberating, the summer of 2017 I went on Ebay and purchased a Fender Mexican Jazz Bass made in 2000, black with white pickguard.

She definitely needed a little work done on her; new strings (of course), adjusted action and truss rod, etc. However, I really wanted to make this bass my own, so I swapped out the old bridge for a black Hipshot A Style bridge, installed Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders (\m/), installed black Hipshot tuners with a Bass-Xtender, and shielded the cavities with copper shielding tape. Would eventually like to rewire the bass with new pots as well and possibly install a blend knob.

So that bass is my main workhorse. I'm currently using it a lot right now for a piano, bass & drum trio that plays more pop/rock oriented stuff. Using D'Addario Chromes on it at the moment and still sounds nice even with the Quarter Pounders. I'm mostly favoring the bridge pickup though.

 

[soundsupport1]

Best friend at school was a bass player. Everyone else was learning guitar, so I followed his example and went the low road.
First bass was a gift from someone in my church, an early 70s Kay knockoff of a Gibson SG, made out of plywood. Did my first gig with that bass. Had my first band with that bass, as a 13 year old. Interestingly, the guitarist in that group would eventually turn professional - he's the guitarist in CCW group Rend Collective now.
After a couple of years, learning double bass in school convinced my parents to get me something better.
Went to Bruce Millers in Aberdeen, Scotland, and bought a Peavey Fury IV. Quilt maple veneer top, rosewood fingerboard, active electronics, dual soapbar pickups. Ridiculously narrow neck.
I loved that thing. Basically played that all through my teens. Learnt the entirety of the RHCP album 'Stadium Arcadium' on that bass. No notes, no clever gizmos to slow down the recording: Just the two CDs of 28 songs, that Peavey, and a Fender Rumble 60 amp. Such good training for playing by ear!

Then, in 2007, my grandmother died and left me a little inheritance money. Decided to get a 'pro' bass.
Returned to Bruce Millers to see what they had. There was this blue bass buried in among a rack of Fender Jazz basses, and it was beautiful. Made the Fenders look bulky, somehow. This was the same, but...sleeker.
Picked it up, and fell in love immediately.
2007 Lakland Darryl Jones Skyline. One of the last to be made in Korea.
It's done hundreds of events with me since, it has never needed adjustment. It's what I'd run to save from a housefire.
Punchy, aggressive, full, rich, smooth, mellow, scooped...it has such a detailed tone.
I was recently playing around at a band practice and lent it to the guitarist while I played drums. I was genuinely taken aback; I take how nice it is to play for granted, but I'd forgotten just how good she sounds!

Last year I added a Lakland 55-02 fretless. I haven't fallen in love with her the same way, but I won't sell either of them. Ever. I'm done now.

The only thing I'll be altering from this point out is amps and cabs.

Peace,
SoundSupport

 

[bassicmike]

Bought it from hasbeen 10 years ago or more. It's been my #1 since.

 

[neo 7]

Three years ago I decided to sell all my full scale basses and play only medium and short scale. The only medium scale I owned at the time was a black Fernandes Revolver, and I wanted a green one. While searching eBay I found a medium scale Fernandes 25th Anniversary model. It wasn't what I was looking for, but was somewhat interested. I watched the bass for a month before I bought it. The bass was delivered and blew me away when I played it. Now I have two: one with rounds, one with flats.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

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.

For me. It was when I started recording

 

[dbsfgyd1]

First off and most importantly, thank you for your service.

My two sons are in the Marine Corp, and both were in Iraq in 2004. My youngest son is in the USMC Fleet Band program as a bassist. He too purchased several instruments while deployed in Iraq, but had them shipped to me instead. One of which we worked a trade for the MIM Fender Jazz I lent him to learn on that I had upgraded the electronics after he was done with it. It is an American P-Bass Deluxe (PJ config).

As for how I found my work horse bass, when I started to record a lot, I found that Fender Basses more often than not provide the definitive electric bass voices, allowing for them to sound very natural, not to mention how easily they fit in the mix. This PB has never disappointed me.

BTW: if you go to the 3rd MAW Band Facebook, they have a video posted of their Rock band.

 

[Admiral Thrawn]

First off and most importantly, thank you for your service.

My two sons are in the Marine Corp, and both were in Iraq in 2004. My youngest son is in the USMC Fleet Band program as a bassist. He too purchased several instruments while deployed in Iraq, but had them shipped to me instead. One of which we worked a trade for the MIM Fender Jazz I lent him to learn on that I had upgraded the electronics after he was done with it. It is an American P-Bass Deluxe (PJ config).

As for how I found my work horse bass, when I started to record a lot, I found that Fender Basses more often than not provide the definitive electric bass voices, allowing for them to sound very natural, not to mention how easily they fit in the mix. This PB has never disappointed me.

BTW: if you go to the 3rd MAW Band Facebook, they have a video posted of their Rock band.

Holy crap, you're just a few miles south of me!

And there's no need to thank me for my service; I enjoyed my time in and wish I could still be in. But I appreciate the thought nonetheless!

I will check out the 3D MAW page. Didn't know the Corps had rock bands--they didn't have one at LeJeune with 2D MLG (formerly 2D FSSG) when I was there.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Holy crap, you're just a few miles south of me!

And there's no need to thank me for my service; I enjoyed my time in and wish I could still be in. But I appreciate the thought nonetheless!

I will check out the 3D MAW page. Didn't know the Corps had rock bands--they didn't have one at LeJeune with 2D MLG (formerly 2D FSSG) when I was there.

The girl in the band my son recruited when he was working his B Billet as a recruiter here in Richmond. Funny, that they ended up together at Miramar.

As for ensembles, when they have the talent, they will put it out there. Good rock drummers and lead vocalists are hard to come by in the Corps. Most of what come through the Armed Forces Music school, are percussionists, as opposed to drummers, and vocalists of the choir variety. A lot of the percussionist that make it to the fleet have to be taught how to play a kit. The bunch in the video however, can certainly rock it out.

 

[Glenn Johnson]

A similar thing might be happening to me if I pull the trigger on that Ric I played last weekend.

Just a thought: You already have a 5 string. Are you exclusively a 5 string player now? If not, why not reconsider another Rick 4003???

 

[Bozendoka]

My beginner bass was a cheap Gibson I think Accu-bass. As soon as I heard about five string basses I had to have one and soon bought an Ibanez ATK 5'er. I played that bass for years but was never happy with the B string. I don't recall how but I got my hands on a Dingwall catalog and I just knew that was the bass for me! Unfortunately, I was pretty broke, but when they came out with the Combustions I finally had a little money and got one. I own several other fan-fret basses but I always come back to that one.

 

[Glenn Johnson]

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.

Okay, now you've gone and done it! I just checked out a video review of the Rick 4003s/5 for the first time. Now I want one too. Thanks a bunch. Lol.

 

[Admiral Thrawn]

Just a thought: You already have a 5 string. Are you exclusively a 5 string player now? If not, why not reconsider another Rick 4003???

Yeah, I'm a 5er player exclusively (for now). I like having the ability to play across the neck rather than having to move up and down it.

I've been playing one for so long that when I tried out a 4 banger--incidentally, a Ric 4003 and 4003SW the same day I tried out the Ric 4003S/5--they didn't feel good or "right" in my hands. I know the bulk of that is because of playing 5 strings since 2005, but also the necks didn't feel as good as the matte finish on the Ric 5er I tried out.

 

[Admiral Thrawn]

Okay, now you've gone and done it! I just checked out a video review of the Rick 4003s/5 for the first time. Now I want one too. Thanks a bunch. Lol.

Hey, the Ric sound in a 5 string package?! Sign me up!

If it makes you feel any better, I'm getting a lot of peer pressure to pull the trigger on a Carl Thompson--make no mistake, it's not a bad thing, exactly, it's just a bigger financial commitment than a Ric--so I know how you feel.

Sort of.

Sorry, not sorry?

 

[Admiral Thrawn]

My beginner bass was a cheap Gibson I think Accu-bass. As soon as I heard about five string basses I had to have one and soon bought an Ibanez ATK 5'er. I played that bass for years but was never happy with the B string. I don't recall how but I got my hands on a Dingwall catalog and I just knew that was the bass for me! Unfortunately, I was pretty broke, but when they came out with the Combustions I finally had a little money and got one. I own several other fan-fret basses but I always come back to that one.

I gotta ask: what makes a Dingwall so special?

I see people love them and I've never had a chance to play one. They look amazing and sound great, too.

 

[Glenn Johnson]

Hey, the Ric sound in a 5 string package?! Sign me up!

If it makes you feel any better, I'm getting a lot of peer pressure to pull the trigger on a Carl Thompson--make no mistake, it's not a bad thing, exactly, it's just a bigger financial commitment than a Ric--so I know how you feel.

Sort of.

Sorry, not sorry?

Don't succumb to peer pressure: buy the bass that speaks to you - sounds like the Ric 5 to me. . .

 

[Admiral Thrawn]

Don't succumb to peer pressure: buy the bass that speaks to you - sounds like the Ric 5 to me. . .

Oh, that's the problem.

I've wanted a CT since I was 17-18. I love their sound and looks, and from what I'm hearing, they play incredibly well, so much so that people have multiple CT basses. That says a lot about a luthier.

And the Ric, well, that speaks to me on about the same level. Like I said, my first "real" bass was a Ric 4003, and I absolutely love the Ric sound. So I know one of those will be added to my 'Ray 5.

The real question is--which one comes home first?

 

[Bozendoka]

I gotta ask: what makes a Dingwall so special?

I see people love them and I've never had a chance to play one. They look amazing and sound great, too.

I think it's down to craftsmanship, even on the Chinese basses. Compared to my other basses, the Dingwall is lightweight and sounds amazing. I bought mine without being able to play test and wouldn't hesitate to do so again.

 

[JMacBass65]

1988, I had been playing for three years, owned a Precision Elite II at the time, my first bass. My friend and bandmate was going to pick up a guitar at a local shop. I went with him and wandered back to the used section. There was a Jazz bass there, $400. I picked it up and started thumping on it, unplugged. Something about it just felt, and sounded, right. It was the way it vibrated....it was very lively.

I walked to the front of the store with it and asked my friend to front me $100 to hold it until my tax return came in.

I didn't know it at the time, but it was (is) an '83 62 Reissue Jazz, aka, a "Fullerton Era" reissue. Didn't discover how sought after they are until about 20 years later. Keen observers will note I swapped out the stack knobs.

A few others have come and gone (including the Elite), but this has remained the one constant. It's my "go to", I don't ever need to think about things when I play it. Any and all limitations are due to my skill set, and not the bass, that's for sure.

 

[abarson]

I was checking out stuff in a local used music store when the sales dude comes over and says "Hey, come check this out!" It was a leopard wood Tobias Basic that I thought was the most gorgeous thing possible, except for the big gouge in the upper horn. Some klutz had knocked a Randall amp onto the Tobias, relegating it to the back room. Even with the "special discount" I thought it unreasonably priced and I had doubts the gouge could be reasonably repaired. How would you ever match that grain? That said, I never held a bass like it and I became determined to get a Tobias of my own.

A month goes by and a primo blonde Growler comes up on eBay. I have the top bid but didn't match the minimum so the auction ends unsold. I negotiate with the seller a compromise price and the Growler shows up after a couple of days in its OHSC in nearly unplayed condition, including all the original paperwork.

It's been with me for the past 16 years and I doubt I'll ever get rid of it.

 

[bassbenj]

When I switched from playing 4 strings to 5 strings my first 5er was an Aria Pro II. It always sounded bad. I did everything to that bass. New pups, new electronics, EMG preamp, setup by luthier. All failed. So when G&L came out with L2500 tribute and I tried it at local guitar store, I thought, crap I"m dumping this Aria for that! And traded it in. Flash forward and I"m playing the local blues scene and now I have the Tribute and a couple Chinese SX Jazz bass clones which were perfect dive bar basses. And then I happen to be at GC (of all places) and there is a used fretless USA G&L L2500 on the wall. $600. Yeah had to leave the store with it. The more I play it the more I love it! It's really the shiznit. Yes, I still have the Tribute for dive bars and also acquired a fretted G&L USA L2500 as well but that Fretless is my baby! Generally speaking I don't even think of dragging out the Fender Jazz deluxe V unless the gig really requires a Fender-shaped headstock.