Loyalty to Any Specific Brand?

[paganjack]

I think all my instruments currently are different brands. I have slightly more Fender stuff than other stuff, but that's partly because they make amps too.

If I had to pick ONE brand to live with, it would be Fender. So there's that.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

I have a Yamaha, an Ibanez, 2 Carvins.

In the past I had another Carvin, a Fender, a Squire, another Yamaha.

Being a lefty, one day or another you will be kinda loyal to a brand ... right now for me it is Carvin since every bass is avalaible lefty but I feel like it miss something. I would like a Warwick but way out of my price range ( as of now). Musicman is also very interesting but I'm still unsure.

I'll have to figure out what I want to play, which direction I want to take before buying and playing the cr** out of it. I haven't bought a bass in 7 years now ...

 

[inthebassclef]

I am a Fender nut by birth. I love Fenders and I will always gravitate toward them over any other brand.
However, I do really like Musicman basses as well.

 

[singlemalt]

Dingwall. fEarful.

And if it snows, Subaru!

 

[cfsporn]

Companies have to earn my loyalty. They can do this in two ways; having great products and taking care of me as a customer. Rotosound and D'Addario have done both for me. However, I still buy other types of strings.

 

[CoarseBass]

I've got a pretty serious thing for Ibanez. When I started playing 11-12 years ago, their low end basses were junk, their mid range basses were junk, and their high end stuff was kind of...Ibanezy. I ended up buying a BTB400QM which had cool features and looked great, but sounded ehn and went through two necks on warranty.

I ended up getting an ATK later...cool bass. I still play it, along with an AGB200, which is good cheap fun - obvious cheap, but sounds and plays great for the price.

Modern BTBs are much, much nicer than the older ones, the mid+ SR series basses are fantastic, ATKs are the best basic rockers around, and I've never seen one in the wood, but the Groovelines are probably nice, too.

Other than Ibanez, I love G&Ls, which always sound and play great in my experience.

 

[Jarrett]

So what basses are you guys most partial to?

I'm loyal to the brand that gives me the sound/build quality I want at the most reasonable price. For the last 3+ years, that's been Carvin.

 

[Flabass]

Big G&L fan here. Although I own Fender's, I only play my G&L's at gigs. (L2000, SB-2 and Legacy, see my avatar)

 

[Riseinside1892]

Ibanez does it for me. I've tried alot of basses and for me nothing fits like an Ibanez SR. They are so comfortable to play, relatively light, and fairly priced.

 

[RobJ]

Well I'm pretty much a Rick guy but I'm not sure I'm a loyalist. While I own 5 Ricks I own 13 other basses including Fender, Modulus, Status, Hofner, etc. and enjoy them all. Lately my Status built T-Bass has been getting the most playing time.

 

[lpdeluxe]

My first good bass was a Carvin LB20. It didn't fit me very well, and I ended up gigging with a G&L Tribute L2K. That got me interested in Leo Fender's designs, so I then bought a '51 Precision RI, and followed that with a Classic '50s P. That convinced me that Leo got it right! I traded the L2K for a fretless Jazz...OK, maybe Leo didn't get it right every time.

The latest is an EBMM SR5, based on one of Leo's last designs.

It's not about brand loyalty (I also own a Godin A5 Fretless) so much as it is knowing what to expect. I am certain a Fender Precision will fit me, will have a good sound, and will behave like the others (not that I don't check each one out before I buy it).

 

[bufert57]

I only play musicman sterlings, the USA ones. I have never found a bass that Ive loved more, so thats all I will buy. And I also use Ashdown Amps.

 

[Precision345]

I'm a Carvin fanatic, although I own other basses too. The reason I prefer Carvins is that the value, measured as a ratio of quality to cost, is second to none.

Carvin, unfortunately, are about a year too late to sell me one of their new P-basses. I just put a Fender P in my stable last year, and I really dig it. Had the Carvin PB series been out then, I almost certainly would have bought one instead. So of course, now I'm thinking I should get a five-string version from Carvin. But I'm gassing for one of their SB5000s much, much harder.

Another bass I own is the Schecter Stiletto Studio 8, an 8-stringer strung in pairs of octaves. This one gets a lot of stage time, but I can definitely imagine something better. The day Carvin releases an 8-stringer, I will be relegating the Schecter to backup status.

At this point, I'd like to remind my fellow TBers of the "no pics, no bass" rule. Here are my Carvins:

that 4 string is sexy

 

[smperry]

I never thought I'd become a one brand guy, but I got the custom bug, ordered my first Martin Keith...and never found a reason to order anything else. They're all very different from one another but they all suit me perfectly (since I ordered them!). I'm four in, as shown below...would love to add another of course.

 

[MyMusic]

Carvin basses and amps. They just work for me. I own Fender and Ibanez basses also, but the Carvin is the one. My next addition will be a Carvin.

 

[Matthew_84]

Right now I am loyal to Warwick. I can't afford their German models though, so I go with the current Rockbass models and am seriously happy. I played Fenders before that, but the 20" radius Warwick neck feels so good... Even a Fender Geddy Lee sig neck felt clunky afterwards

 

[BenWhoPlaysBass]

Playing the old P-bass my uncle used to have kind of spoiled me on Fender basses. All I've got in terms of Fender is a jazz bass though, and I own 2 other basses of different brands. I really dig their stuff, but I love Music Man basses as well. A few Ric's have caught my eye a time or two.. But in terms of what I actually can AFFORD, I'd say Fender is my pick. My Jazz certainly won't be the last Fender I have.

 

[kilgoja]

i stick with the classic sounds i guess. i play rock music.

i like fender basses or a stingray. designed by the same guy Leo Fender.

i like ampeg svt-classic all tube amps and 8x10 cabs.

mesa boogie bass 400+ or orange ad200b mk3 all tube heads are great too.

 

[GM60466]

Fender

 

[Gecko 5]

I used to be a HUGE Lakland snob.
I owned just about every model at one time or another.
Numerous of certain models.
Soon realized thats ridiculous

Leo Fender invented the best bass ever. IMHO.
That works fine for me.

+ my Warmoth Gecko