how has your taste in basses changed?

[emoterply]

My 1st “real bass” I got is my’78 Precision. But I thought it boring back in the day(1983). How wrong I was. And why did I yank out the pick ups? True, there were quality issues with Fender then and I am sure my pbass was one of the ones that had noisy pickups-but I tossed them which significantly reduced any resale value! I have come around to realize that fancy active pickups aren’t necessarily the cat’s meow (Of course a few exceptions such as Sadowsky!). I have come full circle and realize that I love the old-school thump the best. I also have come to a compromise with my Lakland J bass and realize there’s a trade off with the low end thump of a pbass vs jazz bass articulation.

 

[swink]

Machisma?

When there are kids => Machismama

 

[J-Bassomatic]

When there are kids => Machismama

This one made me LOL.

 

[MrLenny1]

I started on P bass then a J bass then boutique active 5's.
Now I want a light PJ 32" headless custom passive.

 

[Jaymo]

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.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

When I got serious about bass playing, which is to say when I started gigging more than once a month, I got a Fender Jazz. When I started playing with guys who were full-time musicians, about 10 years ago, I got a Birdsong cBass. When I started getting studio work, I got a '51 reissue Precision, because that was what the studio guys liked. Today, I have the Birdsong and a 32" scale Fender Japan Jazz. Now if I could just get back to work...

 

[Fat Freddy]

My taste hasn't changed at all....
It's still impeccable.....

 

[projectapollo]

Somehow, I've recently decided I like Fender Custom Shop Relic instruments. Never would have predicted that a year ago.

 

[CryingBass]

Ever since I joined TB, my taste for Basses changed to - wait for it - insatiable!

 

[swarfrat]

The very first music I remember discovering was sort of twangless country in the late 70's. My older brother got into Don Francisco. He was essentially a country artist on a small Christian label and well in 1977 they didn't really have an opening for "country". Through the 80's when I would make band sketches in my notebooks it was always slap and hartke cabs. All that was before I started playing bass. Now...I'm back to flatpicked flatwound P thump. Rock that 40;years ago had bass that might be tight and bright but definitely pre-tweeter days. About as bright as a P can get through a 215 in 1977 and no more.

 

[equalizin]

I started on stingrays. Has a Classic and a HH. They were used by so many of my influences I figured I cant go wrong. Well over time it was just a bunch of little things that annoyed me so I went to jazzes and eventually to PJ basses with vintage spec necks. I appreciate all the choices out there but I've never had any desire to switch again.

 

[CoffeeLove]

Went from cheap basses only to expensive basses only, and now a little of both. That way I have a beater bass for dive bars, but still has a nice preamp and pickups so it sounds good. Also, 4 to 5 string, as well as wide bridge spacing to fairly narrow. Lots of changes over the last 9 years.

 

[JimmyM]

They didn't change. I tried to will them to change because I resented only owning one good bass for a very long time (my Fender), and wanted to try things that were different once I finally had money. But every time I picked up a Fender and played with a band, it sounded just like what I wanted out of a bass, while the other basses I have/had are very cool but just don't sound good on everything like a good Fender. Tones may have gotten a little darker and a little less zingy over the years, but that's about it.

 

[TheLowDown33]

Went back-and-forth between boutique 5/6 strings and passive, fender shaped 4 strings for a few years before I realized that for what I do, I want familiar/vintage sounds in a modern package. For me that's impeccable ergonomics, 5 strings, 24 frets, active with a passive tone (and preferably a bypass), a generous cutaway and slim neck profile. I want that with a nice vintage flavored P pickup in the correct and a more modern, bordering on edgy humbucker in the 60's bridge position. I also want all my basses to look somewhat neutral, to avoid too many people listening with their eyes.

 

[bobba66]

Switched from a 4001 Rick to a Fender Precision around 1980. Today I still play a Precision.

 

[Tigerpig]

Much prefer maple these days, that's about it.

 

[Cutter8]

- can women have machismo?

Definitely!

 

[Watchootognbout]

In 1980 I started playing bass.
I wanted a bass like Stanley Clarke's Alembic basses.
But I quickly found out they were too expensive!

Most all basses had paint,pickguards and chrome.
I wanted dark natural woods and gold hardware.
I avoided anything with a pickguard.
Why cover a bass with plastic sheeting?

So for years I was forced to surrender to buying painted basses with chrome hardware.


Up until 2000.
From that point manufacturers started making more naturalwood basses.
And gold hardware items can be bought if needed.

And six string basses are far more common.
Now that's all I buy.
So my preferences never changed.
I just had to wait until makers changed.

 

[Jay2U]

Never tasted my basses.

 

[mark roberts]

when i first started playing bass in 1994 and for years after, i played black PJ basses with rosewood fingerboards. then i changed... i started thinking a little variety couldn't hurt. i got a minty green (ibanez called it lime) mikro. i enjoyed it. the world didn't end.

now i have a red bronco (maple neck, fingerboard is part of the neck), a surf green mustang, a wood finish GSR100EX, a roadster orange mezzo (i always like that orange, but it didn't used to fit in with my dark color scheme). i also owned a sunburst traveler TB-4P that i sold.... apparently along with all my black basses. my semi-hollow ibanez SRH500 doesn't even come in black.

when i went to order my smallguitars.com bass, i went with daphne blue, and it was then that i realized both of my black basses, only bought to mod, aren't even with the basses i currently play. * gasp *

and the only bass i'm pondering now is a short scale EBMM stingray. not a PJ, not black.

i also moved from long scale to short scale, but that wasn't so much taste as injury. on the other hand, i love my short scales - i just hadn't given any a chance before that. sort of a machismo thing - can women have machismo?

so what - if anything - has changed when it comes to your bass taste / preferences?

I started playing bass in 1969. I just wanted to play an instrument in a youth band for my peers and the bass position was available and I am drawn to it. I was overseas as a military-related dependent in Japan living on or near military bases. Not much available as bass amplification as we understand now. At that time, mid-to-late 60’s to early ‘70’s, plenty of great “lawsuit” style basses. Ok Japanese bass amps. (Acetone Bass 6 and Bass 9 come to mind...as well as a few obscure, exclusive to Japan, other bass amps/speakers). My first love was Mosrite. But, out of my youth price league. Same for Rickenbacker. I found Aria, Greco Gibson copies of the EBOand an Excetro copy of a Fender P that Used until I was able to latch on to Gibson EB-1 and Rics.