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How much did you pay for your first bass?
- Thread starter Mr Gaston
- Start date
Around 2005 I bought a vintage Gibson grabber. I think it was a '76 and was something like $750 with case. Still one of the meanest sounding basses I've ever played or owned. Sold it because of the baseball bat style neck. Just too thick for my taste but man do I miss those sounds.
1998 Bar Mitzvah gift from my father. It was a Squier P bass starter pack. Don't know where the gig bag went, but I still play that bass as my #1 and the amp gets studio use (ripped paper cone? Yeah, that's my studio secret sauce ;-) haha)
Next bass I bought... Last week! Anyway, you get what you pay for, but an artist with sidewalk chalk and a sunny day can make a masterpiece.
Next bass I bought... Last week! Anyway, you get what you pay for, but an artist with sidewalk chalk and a sunny day can make a masterpiece.
I picked up a First Act bass with a matching stand, cable, and practice amp at a flea market for 35 bucks actually.
My new skills soon outgrew that terrible bass within a few months, and then I sold it and got an old, beat up Epiphone Accu-bass for 50 bucks. It had stickers all over, a messed up and rusted bridge and electronics, and the frets torn out by the previous owner. I painted the body, replaced the electronics, removed rust from the hardware and replaced all the stripped screws in the bridge, sanded the fingerboard level, used wood filler on the fret lines, stained it, filed the nut down, set it up, added tug bars, and put on some nice flats. It currently beats any bass I've tried in the store.
A while later I found a beat up fretted Ibanez GSR205 active 5 string for 40 bucks. I did all the same to it as the Epiphone but left the original pickups and left the frets on. I leveled the existing frets though. This also turned out to play way better for me than any 5 string I've tried in the stores.
I refuse to ever buy a brand new bass with all the sucess I've had with these. Plenty of other bassists I know have tried them out and asked me to do as good of a setup on their instruments. I suggest anybody find a beat up project bass and let it be the opportunity to make your own dream bass with a lot of fun, hard work.
As for amps, I've been though a few cheap practice amps I got used from random people. Ranging from 40-70 dollars and then I recently sold them to get myself a Fender 4*10 cab and 300 watt Behringer head since I joined a larger band. The rig I have now costed about 300$ new.
My new skills soon outgrew that terrible bass within a few months, and then I sold it and got an old, beat up Epiphone Accu-bass for 50 bucks. It had stickers all over, a messed up and rusted bridge and electronics, and the frets torn out by the previous owner. I painted the body, replaced the electronics, removed rust from the hardware and replaced all the stripped screws in the bridge, sanded the fingerboard level, used wood filler on the fret lines, stained it, filed the nut down, set it up, added tug bars, and put on some nice flats. It currently beats any bass I've tried in the store.
A while later I found a beat up fretted Ibanez GSR205 active 5 string for 40 bucks. I did all the same to it as the Epiphone but left the original pickups and left the frets on. I leveled the existing frets though. This also turned out to play way better for me than any 5 string I've tried in the stores.
I refuse to ever buy a brand new bass with all the sucess I've had with these. Plenty of other bassists I know have tried them out and asked me to do as good of a setup on their instruments. I suggest anybody find a beat up project bass and let it be the opportunity to make your own dream bass with a lot of fun, hard work.
As for amps, I've been though a few cheap practice amps I got used from random people. Ranging from 40-70 dollars and then I recently sold them to get myself a Fender 4*10 cab and 300 watt Behringer head since I joined a larger band. The rig I have now costed about 300$ new.
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Started out in 1979 with a used Vibra short scale plywood POS: $175
First amp: $150 1X12 combo branded 'Stage'
Just adequate to start learning on.
First amp: $150 1X12 combo branded 'Stage'
Just adequate to start learning on.
In 1972 for my 12th Birthday (combo Birthday and Christmas), My Dad bought me a used Fender Musicmaster from Star Music in Caldwell, N.J. for $80.00. I bought my first Amp the Ampeg B-18N used for $35.00 in 1975 which had a speaker with a hole in it I had rebuilt at Dennis Electronics for $95.00. The Bass was ripped off out of my basement, but the Ampeg I still have and remains my favorite practice amp to this day!
- Dec 28, 2009
- 2,053
- 1,380
- Disclosures
- Endorsed by K.B. Guitars, Nordstrand Audio Pickups, Von York Strings and Gallien-Krueger Amps.
My first bass was a Cort X bass. I bought it in I think 1987 or 1988 after trying to play guitar first. My guitar was a red Gremlin that I bought used for $60.00 and I think my bass was bought used for right at $100.00. Here is what it looked like.
My first bass was a Westone Spectrum GT (1987, I think) that i got from a pawn shop in 1994. I think it was $250. My dad bought it and i paid him back by doing chores. My first amp was a Crate BX-50 that I got for Christmas.
Killer! would love to find one of those today I used to play a Hamer Blitz sold it and regret it!I got my first bass on a trade in the '80's. A white Kramer Striker 200 guitar for this Ibanez Destroyer that I still have.METAL!
Applause GTX Black Precision copy. I think it was $300 for that and the Peavey Basic 60 (still works!), but we may have been actually stuck for $600 by the dude at Guitar Center in Walnut Creek back in December of 1989.
1990, a factory second Martin Stinger.. had a crack in the fret board.
The amp was free from some kid I knew, still have it because no one will give me $20 on Craigslist for the stupid thing. A Holmes T40b.
He offered me his Ernie Ball Musicman of some variety, and I said no. I figured his mom would be pissed at me. I regret that. A lot.
The amp was free from some kid I knew, still have it because no one will give me $20 on Craigslist for the stupid thing. A Holmes T40b.
He offered me his Ernie Ball Musicman of some variety, and I said no. I figured his mom would be pissed at me. I regret that. A lot.
...in 1968 I paid $75 for a used Gibson EBO single pick-up electric bass (SG style)...the amplifier was a used 2 15" Sunn 200S (about $700)...today the amp would sell for less than the bass!....in 1969 I purchased a used Fender Bassman amplifier (4x10 tweed) for $100. The price of my avatar bass was....
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
1976. $70 for something very similar to this. And it sucked. So I started playing guitar instead.
Hi all, just this summer was seeking a very cheap PJ and craigslist gave me both a student's $40 Bennett Samick PJ for which I had already got a $10 Yamaha 10 W practice bass amp. New strings cost me $30 + the same for a setup at Lethbridge's iconic Lucky Guitar. The amp, meh, but the pj on a better amp is great. 
I bought a new Gibson EBO, made in 63 but I bought it in 1964. Paid $180 with leather case. Still have it and it my only bass. Mom and Dad bought me a Fender Bassman amp late in 64 or early 65. I used an old Fender amp another band member with a 15 inch speaker and we had guitar, bass and microphone going through that old amp. I do not remember what model it was. I bought a Rickenbacker 4001 about 1972, played it a couple of years but sold it.
back in 1980
I got my first bass at the once great "Daddy's Junky Music" in Nashua NH. It was a Hondo pbass, and I believe I paid $75. I also bought a Peavey TNT combo amp, I think it was $125. Both were used. I remember I bought the Peavey because it had a "black widow" speaker. The sales person sold me on how good these speakers were, unfortunately the amp died within a year. lol
If I were starting today I would shop Craigslist and the local pawn shops first. I see used Squiers, Sub's, and Ibanez for around $100. Practice amps are a dime a dozen, should be able to score one for $25-$30 used. If you need a better amp I would save may money and buy new (if you can). You never know what people do to there amps.
I got my first bass at the once great "Daddy's Junky Music" in Nashua NH. It was a Hondo pbass, and I believe I paid $75. I also bought a Peavey TNT combo amp, I think it was $125. Both were used. I remember I bought the Peavey because it had a "black widow" speaker. The sales person sold me on how good these speakers were, unfortunately the amp died within a year. lol
If I were starting today I would shop Craigslist and the local pawn shops first. I see used Squiers, Sub's, and Ibanez for around $100. Practice amps are a dime a dozen, should be able to score one for $25-$30 used. If you need a better amp I would save may money and buy new (if you can). You never know what people do to there amps.
Circa 1985, first bass was a Frankenbass: Precision body with a Jazz neck. Think I paid $250.
First amp was a Roland combo (can't recall model). It had a built-in chorus which made me deliriously happy (I remember driving home at lunch time just so I could play it ). $300.
First amp was a Roland combo (can't recall model). It had a built-in chorus which made me deliriously happy (I remember driving home at lunch time just so I could play it
). $300.
Being that I started playing bass just a few months ago, my first was a Gold Tone GT Microbass for $375. But I bought the amp I use with it 15 years ago to use with my guitars for $375, a USA made Crate Limo 50w combo amp. Sounds really good with the bass and runs on a motorcycle battery, originally 7 amp hour that I replaced with a 12 amp hour.
