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Loyalty to Any Specific Brand?

#61
kcole4001 said:
Personally, I'm a Rick fan.
I have others, but usually when I play them I'm thinking my Ricks sound and play better to my tastes.
I've got a Peavey 5 string and a VM Jazz, and they're both quite good for the money and different tonally, both play pretty nicely too, but Ricks are my thing (I have 4).

I finally got all of my gear in one place, so I have a 'family' pic:
100_0878_zps20c18c30.gif


My reasoning for having four of a same brand is that they're all slightly different, one is tuned down 1/2 step and wearing flats, 2 have rounds but one is a single pup 4000 and the other is my main player with a Hipshot D Tuner added, and obviously the other is a doubleneck, so it does what the others can't as well.
Four different tones and or purposes (not to mention finishes, a common reason to have more than one Rick).)
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nice family...and most likely a beautiful plot of land for thme to stay on given your location!
 
#62
Maybe a little bit. I was all about ibanez in my teens, my 20s were all about Warwicks, these days I love my Conklin. I've also owned fenders, peavey, and musicman. The old peavey p bass copy I preferred over my fender p. the musicman was a custom order and it was nice but my main bass at the time was a Warwick thumb nt5 so I only played a couple shows with it and it sat around the house until I decided to sell it. The thumb basses were my go to basses for several years until I came across the Conklin used at guitar center. By then I had been playing 5 strings for about 15 years and was basically bored with it. So I got the 7 sting. As for loyalty right now. I want a custom 7 string but I don't know if I'm going to go Warwick or Conklin, or maybe try something else like a benevente or something
 
#63
I have absolutely ZERO brand loyalty. If I buy a bass it will be because I loved it when I played it not because of the name on the headstock. A company has to earn my patronage by putting a great bass in my hands. Why should I make excuses for them if they can't do that?
 
#65
Cycho said:
I have absolutely ZERO brand loyalty. If I buy a bass it will be because I loved it when I played it not because of the name on the headstock. A company has to earn my patronage by putting a great bass in my hands. Why should I make excuses for them if they can't do that?
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I don't think the OP was suggesting that. It's more about preference.
 
#66
I favor Laklands. Why?
*I love the necks and the overall quality.
*Their lineup is tonally diverse, so I could play them exclusively (though I currently don't) and get a wide array of sounds: The 94/02 models, the hollowbodies (long and short scale), the Decade, the Ps (split- and single-coil), the Js (active and passive) and their take on the Bass VI.
*Great customer service.
*Lakland is local to me, and I love supporting local businesses when I can. Also, they welcome visitors (though be sure to make an appointment first, as they are busy), and the staff has proven to be a bunch of great people over time.

That said, there are a lot of other excellent builders out there. Some of the basses I've tried don't do it for me tonally and ergonomically, but I have great respect for many of those companies nonetheless.
 
#68
Nope.

Well, I was for a period of time; my first two basses were a Squier (which I sold last year) and then a Fender AEB (which I still have), and I also have a Fender acoustic guitar (I used to have a Squier CV Strat as well). Obviously I was bitten by the Fender bug...

So when I looked for a solid body electric I (obviously) considered another Fender...but then I discovered TB (and GAS) and started looking at other brands. Fell in love with the Ibanez Soundgear series based off of TB reviews (thanks, Soundgear club, for putting up with my questions), and bought one after playing it and promptly falling in love at GC.

My current GAS list consists of...
2 Ibanez (Higher end SRs)
3 Fender (All Japanese models, strangely enough)
1 Spector (A short scale)
1 Lakland (44-64 Custom)
1 MM (Classic Sterling)
and one Warmoth Custom build.

Brand loyal no longer. Sorry Leo.
 
#69
Cycho said:
I have absolutely ZERO brand loyalty. If I buy a bass it will be because I loved it when I played it not because of the name on the headstock. A company has to earn my patronage by putting a great bass in my hands. Why should I make excuses for them if they can't do that?
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Well, some of us have found a builder who HAS earned our patronage. If it happens more than once, and is combined with great customer service, there is a reason to have a preference for that brand. It sounds like you haven't found that, yet.

Also, I don't think preferring a particular brand means you love or even like EVERYTHING that has their name on the headstock.

All that said, I agree that each bass has to play and sound right regardless of any other factors. It's just that knowing some folks you can count on for putting out high quality products and backing them up is a great resource. If I spend my dollars, I'd like them to go to a company like that. :)
 
#70
Currently I'm into G&L's because I've found in them what I like from many standpoints like luthiery and engineering, ergonmics**), sound not at last, looks, nice platform for electric mods, affordability, etc. Plus I like their image and the story behind G&L.

Things were different five years ago and will be different five years on and choices may well be somewhat arbitrary anyway.

**) As for ergonimics, I definitely need to try a multi-scaled Invalid Link Removed one day, I'd say this definitely looks like the most sane approach to playability that one can think of.
 
#71
MarcTheRogue said:
Hey guys, I was wondering if any of you guys out there who are dedicated to one specific brand over all others.

Out of the five basses I own, none of them are the same brand. I own a Peavey, a Rogue, a Samick, an Ibanez, and a Washburn. They each work great in their own rights, but I don't really have any loyalty to a certain brand because 1) there's a whole wide world of millions of basses to choose from, and 2) it gets extremely expensive to be a brand-dedicated player.

So what basses are you guys most partial to? I am simply trying to understand what makes you guys want to spend thousands of dollars on several basses of the same brand.

Looking at you, Spector and Warwick owners. ;)
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Throughout my playing life, I've owned Fenders, Rickenbackers & Gibsons. More recently, I've become a big fan of Carvin bass guitars - as the quality of Carvin has fairly skyrocketed during the past 20+ years (check out my profile).

That said, I feel the need to correct a couple of your misimpressions:

1) For those of us who favor one make over the others, it has nothing to do with "loyalty" - as if it were a matter of moral obligation of some sort. At least it's not for me.

The concept for which you're fishing, I believe, is "affinity": Through years of playing experience, there are those of us who have discovered certain instrument characteristics we like, that are perpetually well-represented by certain manufacturers - and often not present at all by many other manufacturers. Under those circumstances, it would be irrational for us to not focus on what really works for us - would it not? :eyebrow:

It's not necessarily a matter of exclusivity either. While I happen to like Carvin bass guitars a lot, and while I don't presently own basses of any other manufacture, I've also got my eye on a couple of MusicMan instruments, as well as a couple of Peaveys that I'd eventually like to add to the collection.

2) How exactly does being "a brand-dedicated player" necessarily entail any greater expense than not being a "brand-dedicated player"? Doesn't that depend strictly upon which specific makes & models one chooses to buy - whether or not they happen to be of the same make? One could just as easily become a collector of Squier or vintage Silvertone basses...and ultimately spend a small fraction of the amount it takes to collect Alembic basses.

On the other hand, if your reference was to Spectors & Warwicks - and only Spectors & Warwicks - no offense intended, but I'd rather invest in only two (2) well-chosen Spectors or Warwicks, than to own an entire garage full of Rogues, Samicks & Washburns. It's all about quality - not quantity.

I don't understand your reasoning... :eyebrow:

MM
 
#74
If I had to pick one company tomorrow to use for the rest of my life, it would probably be Ibanez. I feel like they have a broad spectrum of products in both bass and guitar, all of which are great bang-for-the-buck and cover a variety of sounds. Their necks are the best in the biz IMO, can't really find another 4 string that has a better neck than the SR series basses have.

When it comes to amps, it depends on who is carrying my gear around. If it's a roadie, then I'll go with Ampeg. If I'm carrying my own gear, I'll go for Markbass or GK :D
 
#75
No brand loyalty here. I think this is the complete list of manufacturers I've owned basses from:

Fender
Squier
Modulus
Music Man
Spector
Carvin
Pedulla
Gibson
Kramer
Washburn

I think that's about it.

Anyhow, the GAS list includes a Rob Allen, a Wal, another Pedulla, and there are a couple of smaller custom luthiers out there whose work I'd very much like to try out.

Same goes with amps, though for the time being I'm very happy with what I have.
 
#77
Phalex said:
We're kind of a package deal. Only photo I could find:
521321.jpg


I played this bass as my main player for years. But after going back to a 4 I'm not too keen on the tight (ish) string spacing these days.
Click to expand...

Thank you sir! I've considered getting one of these for years now. The problem for me is that I think a fretless one would sound best, but I suck at fretless. So it's, get a fretted one, or commit to shedding the fretless. And then I start looking at the SB5000s again.

Really, it's kind of stupid for me to be looking to buy any bass right now. I'm in one band, and I use my 6-string and 8-string in that band, and that's it. I'm not bringing any more than 2 basses to a bar gig, no matter how delusional I may otherwise be. :D
 

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