how has your taste in basses changed?

[Ghook]

The more I play my Ignition BB the more I realize why I liked my first bass in the 60's so much. A Framus Star single pup. Light, short scale, thumper. I have a P , 2 Fretless, 5 string and a Yamaha 170 with Jazz bass configuration. Each is different but the BB kinda feels like a great pair of worn in boots.

 

[murphy]

can women have machismo?

Probably more than the men I know

 

[murphy]

After my initial "anything but Fender" start, I determined a Fender was the best option after all, as long as it was a slab. There were many other basses/ brands that came & went over the years, including a short but determined [7] ASAT bass collection, but the slabs always remained and have been consistent part of my musical DNA.
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How can you still be so cool...cough...thin....after so many years

 

[growlypants]

Several years ago, while trying to learn Shania Twain, I couldn't understand how notes lower than the low "E" were happening. Then I discovered 5-strings!!

 

[CTBassGuy]

Honestly, mine hasn’t in 32 years (Geez I’m old...)

I bought my fretless Carvin LB90 new in 1988 and played the heck out of it for 4 years. Took a long hiatus being in the Air Force, having a family, and generally busy doing life. Got back in to playing when my youngest son started playing drums (drums! I’m so ashamed... ) 2 ish yrs ago. Bought a few basses since, but then found my LB90’s fretted brother..

I reach for these two almost exclusively for practice and gigs; even my Pedulla sits...

 

[Sid Fang]

When I started out, didn't much like the ergonomics of the Ps or the tone of the Js or the scale of the EBs. Gravitated towards Thunderbirds and Rotosounds, influenced by people like Entwhistle and Martin Turner (Wishbone Ash). A lot of performers I respected played Ricks and Alembics, but I found both to be disappointing in different ways when I finally got to try them. Played a 60's Epiphone (T-bird neck and electronics on a different body) and a Pedulla MVP. Then one day I found myself needing to fly to Austin to play with some people, but unwilling to pay for a seat for a rare or valuable bass, so I picked up a second-hand Steinberger XL-2A from the local classified ads, just 'cos they're rugged and fit in an overhead bin, and at the time they were no longer fashionable, but not yet collector's items. It wasn't love-at-first-practice, but over the following few years I came to realize that the 'berger was just plain easier to play well. A bit flipped somewhere around the year 2000, and now I'm a headless graphite guy, with the XL-2A plus 2 Status Graphite 5ers.

 

[nonconformist]

Honestly, mine hasn’t in 32 years (Geez I’m old...)

Twenty years of playing bass, and I have to agree. My ideal bass tone is as solid a foundation as my artistic expression that I endeavor to share. In a world of uncertainty, these are the audible constants.

 

[John Webb]

Yeah.....I went from a Fender P to a Fender PJ.

 

[Nedmundo]

Since I got back into playing in 2002, my tastes have changed for brands, types of basses, and some design features.

Brands: After some Peaveys, and Ibanez, and a DiPinto, I got seriously into Fenders with the MIA Jazz I bought new in 2003. I played Fenders almost exclusively for a few years, and I still have that J. But in 2006 I first tried a G&L with MFD humbuckers, and ordered an L-1500 soon after. Tone-wise I still preferred my Fenders, but that changed when I bought an SB-2 in 2007. It kicked a few basses out of the herd, and I've been a huge G&L fanboy since then. At one point I had four Fenders and one G&L, but now it's four G&Ls and one Fender.

Types: After a bad experience with an Ibanez SRX500, I became devoted to old-school passive basses for many years, with the exception of my L-1500, which I usually played in passive mode. I generally disliked fully active basses and never thought I'd have one, but this changed with my G&L M-2500. It's fantastic, and I completely understand why many players rely on basses like this. I've also gone from being exclusively a four-string player to playing both fours and fives.

Features: Because of how much I loved my 2003 Fender J, I thought I'd always want necks with similar specs, including fretboard radius. But eventually I realized I played a little better on flatter fretboards, like the 12" radius boards on my G&Ls. That's become a big deal to me, especially on fives, where I'd prefer to go much flatter than 12". Also, for many years I had a strong preference for maple fretboards, but that's gone, and most of my basses have rosewood.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I'm a Southpaw, so my choices are very limited.
I can have any bass I want, except the ones I REALLY want.
I can have any color I want, as long as it's black or (sometimes) sunburst.
So, I pretty much have to take what I can get.
Never wanted a short scale, until I tried one. So, I added a miKro to the stable. Black, of course, because it's the only color available for we of the sinister hand.
I have the same limitations with guitars.
I never really liked the pointy superStrat guitar shaped.
Then, I got a 1992 Carvin LB70L (Super JB?).
It's black. because lefty.
Though I'd prefer a different color, black really suits that model, and it sounds and plays great.

Hah! Welcome to my world! Been a lefty strung upside down guy all my life. When I was younger I would just buy any old Fender or Ibanez and flip it. Didn't have to flip the strings. Then in early 2000's I decided I was tired of holding up my bass necks. I switched to lefty Ibanez, Corts, Revelation from England, Stagg lefty's but I've always come back to Ibanez. They are so solid and consistent. BUT-- as you mentioned--BLACK! As Henry Ford once said "any Model T you want as long as it's black.." or something like that. My latest excellent catch is a black (of course) Ibanez Mikro bass. It came perfect from Sweetwater. Beautiful neck feels like it's been played 10 years. Dial out 50% of the P bass and I get a Music Man tone out of it. So, for me-- Ibanez basses. Just wish they'd make a nice upscale hippie sandwich lefty!

 

[Sid Fang]

...BUT-- as you mentioned--BLACK! As Henry Ford once said "any Model T you want as long as it's black.." or something like that.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I tried to will them to change

Where there's a Will there's a way!

 

[Inara]

The main changes for me after that I no longer detest Jazz bridge pickups, and I don't care whether a fretless is lined or unlined. A single pickup unlined fretless, whether a P or a Stingray, was my ideal. For the longest time, if I owned a Jazz Bass it was played with the neck pickup soloed nearly 100% of the time. Now I find some useful tones with a J bridge pickup sometimes. I still don't like the thin sound of a jazz with both pickups full on, wired in parallel, though. Wired in series is wonderful! And I just don't care whether a fretless has lines or not. I can play both just fine, and I judge an instrument on its other qualities.

Oh I guess I've also come back to preferring 4 string basses. I played only 4s for the first 10 or 12 years I played, then played nothing but 5s for a long time. Now I'm back to where, though I play 5s a lot more often live because it works better for my band, I prefer the feel of a 4.

 

[bobyoung53]

I've not really changed very much except with strings. I've gone full circle with strings, I started out using flat wounds in 1967, changed to round wounds in the early 70's and went back to flats off and on maybe 15 years ago although I do keep a few round wound basses. My taste in basses has not really changed much, it has just broadened, still Fender, Ric and Gibson. Even my taste in amps has not changed since 1976, Ampeg and Fender tube amps with an SVT being my main amp choice.

 

[juancaminos]

Bass wise I started on a Telecaster bass around 1969. I played a friend's early 50's P bass a lot as well. That was all I knew. Then I happened to be in the right place at the right time to buy a late 70's Jazz bass some years later. That became my #1. Then I wanted to try fretless so I bought a Hamer Cruise 2 TEK. I loved that bass so much that I was never ever going to play a fretted bass again.

Until all of the active electronics hoopla got to me so I bought a MM SUB active. Then that was my bass for life. I don't remember why but I broke out the Jazz again around 2004 and man did it feel good. So I took it to the Bass Place and asked them to make it sound like the MM. They installed a John East Retro pre and the Jazz became my #1. No more fretless and nothing but active for me...HA!

Fast forward to now and my infatuation with putting parts basses together, thanks to some of you here at TB, and I am back to passive fretless. More importantly non lined fretless, something I though I could never play. So now, 51 years later at 65 year old, I am loving fretless Jazz basses. Because of retirement downsizing I will be selling off everything that is not Fender fretless with the exception of my first two fretted basses (Tele & Jazz bass).

 

[frankie5string]

Yup... Started on fretted, moved to fretless on an SR5 exclusively for about 13 years and came back to fretted 5 string. My TRB and my BB do everything I need. If I need a fretless for anything, I bring out my SR5.

At one point very early on I wanted a Hofner 500/1 and could have got one relatively cheap from Geo. Heinle before Boosey and Hawkes took over Hofner and raised all the prices, but decided against it.

 

[hardtop]

My First Bass was a Jazz, my second a P. I liked them both, still do. Like many, I prefer the jazz neck and the P pickup. I now have 5 P's and 1 Jazz (only one of them is an actual fender).
The only thing that has really changed is that, when I was young, I really didn't like any kind of burst finish or tortoise shell pickguards. Now I like some bursts and tort if its in the right context.

 

[2saddleslab]

How can you still be so cool...cough...thin....after so many years

Cause I took my time when choosing parents.

 

[Bassist30]

Back to vintage and fender.

 

[Cut the middle]

I guess I've more just zeroed in on what I actually like than "changed" per se. 34" scale, at least five strings, tight spacing, passive electronics, a bright tone with a good amount of low mids. The one thing that's changed, that surprised me, is that I'd much rather have rounded contours and natural wood than anything angular and black these days. (Don't tell that to the new guitar I just ordered though, it'll be sad)

I'm pretty much with you on everything except I don't really care about passive or active. Would love a red spector or Warwick ns style in red, purple, or green stain. Wish I could get it w/14-15mm string spacing at the nut and not much wider at the brigde

I guess what I'm saying is eye appeal has really moved to the top of the list.