How much did you pay for your first bass?

[Lee Moses]

1986. It was an Epiphone; I think I paid around $250 for it.

Oh, amp. It was over a year after I bought my bass before I was able to buy my first real amp, having borrowed amps until then. Late '87-early '88. It was a Peavey Mark IV with a 15/16 cab. I got a pretty good deal on it, paid around $600-650 total. That's still my amp 27 years later.

 

[wmhill]

1985, Yamaha BB300- $200 brand new @ NMV in Potsdam NY......still have it too!

 

[wmhill]

I started playing in the late 70s but used a friends bass and amp until around 1980. My first bass was a Washburn B20, my first amp was a Peavey Combo, 300 watts and one 15 inch speaker. I think I paid $200 for the bass and $150 for the amp.
View attachment 562381 View attachment 562382

Loved the looks of those Washburns!

 

[CGremlin]

$79 for a Harmony Marquis out of the Sears catalog in 1982, and my folks chipped in for an equally awful practice amp.

 

[tfandel]

Hondo P copy. Bought in '86 for $125.

 

[James Hart]

First bass was a Harmony short scale my Grandfather rescued from the trash for me... it cost him a D string tuner and a scrap of plexiglass to fix the pickguard. First amp was a 71 Ampeg B15 fliptop. Grandfather bought it for $100 from a local shop that was closing up. This was late 79 to early 80... I got both as a gift (I'd been asking to play bass for about 4 years at that point) on April 1st 1980 for my birthday (which was in March, but weather kept the Grandfolks from visiting the 2 weeks between).

 

[Mr Gaston]

First bass was a Harmony short scale my Grandfather rescued from the trash for me... it cost him a D string tuner and a scrap of plexiglass to fix the pickguard. First amp was a 71 Ampeg B15 fliptop. Grandfather bought it for $100 from a local shop that was closing up. This was late 79 to early 80... I got both as a gift (I'd been asking to play bass for about 4 years at that point) on April 1st 1980 for my birthday (which was in March, but weather kept the Grandfolks from visiting the 2 weeks between).

These are good stories.

 

[gregmari]

My first bass was a Peavey Foundation I bought new for $260 in the 80's. I used it with a Sunn head and 215BH cab. I regret selling the cab. The peavey was a great first bass to learn on.

 

[gjohnson441496]

How much did you pay for your first bass and amp? How long ago and what did you get?

I'm curious how much this stuff cost way back when I should have started.

In 1977 I paid exactly $450 for my 1977 Fender Precision bass, which I still have and play today

 

[James Hart]

These are good stories.

Thanks, Pop was a country western guitarist... he had an early 70s mapleglo Ric 4001 at his house he was holding for a family friend that I discovered when I was about 6 or 7. Use to play air bass with it. My school didn't teach strings so I started on Sax... my 10th Birthday I had finally proved I was sticking with music and the bass stuff was acquired.

 

[smperry]

A Kramer Pioneer for $75 in 1991 or thereabouts. I traded it in 1998 for a B&O record player, which I still own and use.

 

[2meterbassman]

1978. Ibanez Jazz Bass replica - the last "lawsuit" series, sunburst with maple neck.
My Parents paid 625 Deutschmark for it - would be 330 Dollars today (with inflation counted in).
After I bought my first Fender bass some years later, I started to mod the Ibanez in a heavy way: I chopped of the frets, making a fretless bass from it, put Badass 1 bridge on it, sprayed it babyblue, replaced pups with DiMarzios, threw the pickguard away, shaped the headstock telecaster style.
Some years later, I tried to build it back - then I lost some parts in several house removals.
Still existing: body, Badas bridge, DiMarzios.
i wish I would have never modded that bass...

 

[Bunk McNulty]

My buddies in high school were starting a band, and needed a bass player. I'd had violin lessons, and fooled around with a guitar, and figured that qualified me. Ah, the confidence of youth! And for once my father agreed to help me out (money was always tight) and for my 16th birthday in 1966 he got me a Hagstrom II for $65. Two months later I had my first paying gig playing a Sweet 16 at the Huntington Towne House on Long Island. I dimly remember the set list--it involved Beatles and the Ventures. Those were different times.

 

[londonbasshead]

I purchased a Samick P/J split (the neck had so much flex you could've taken it fishing) in 1996, along with a soft case, 30W amplifier (Epiphone), patch cord and small tuner -- $400.

Should've kept it go fishing... ah well.

 

[progrockbass]

It was a National I think sort of P bass style. Year 1975. Lasted about a year until I got an Aria Jazz Bass clone that was an awesome for $299 (saved my pennies working at McD's) Couldn't afford an amp at the time so plugged in the the 2nd channel on an Acoustic amp the guitar player had. First amp was a Sunn Beta with 2 JBL K145's mounted in a homemade cab.

 

[Mike Sorr]

$300 for an unplayed, sold as used, 1978 Olympic White Precision Bass. I bought the bass from a friend whose dad bought it for him new. He never took it up and it had been sitting in the case since he got it. First amp was a Peavey Black Widow 15" Combo that I think cost my Dad around $250 brand new in 1982 or 83.

 

[BazzTard]

1979

Cimar Jazz bass $125 (Cimar was Ibanez' Squier)

Sunburst,tort pg,rosewood neck, just like my current MIM

Coronet 30 watts bass amp, count em, 30 watts ! Also $125

Amp lasted for one or two jams, couldn't be heard jamming Led zep with a mate hehe.

bass lasted 5 or 6 years,til it stopped working,traded it in for $130 off my Vantage bass.

Last year I bought an Epi Les Paul,a MIA P Bass,a MarkBass amp,a Takamine ABG,and yesterday a pair of Yamaha HS5 monitors from the same store,from the original owner's son. I like continuity .

 

[JIO]

"Stadium" 34" scale solid body 1 pu bass (made in Japan before 'MIJ' was used!) bought new in 1966 from Woolworths dept store… $40 (bought with paper-route earnings) A year or so later my dad & I built up a Heathkit 2-15" solid state 'combo' amp. Until then I played/learned on it w/o an amp. (true but even to me sounds unbelievable! - I really wanted 'in')

 

[OldPlucker]

My first was somewhere around 1964-65 and it was a new Precision Bass. I don't recall exactly how much I paid; however, I have the 1967 catalog and it was $246.00 list plus $64.50 for the hardshell case in 1967. The Jazz Bass would have cost $47.50 more and I didn't have that much money. I was only 14 or 15 years old. My parents helped me out.

 

[BassHappy]

1964 - It was an Old Kraftsman made by Kay exclusively for the Spiegel catalog out of Chicago. $175 brand new and came with a two channel bass amp.