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Most Disappointing purchase
- Thread starter Bill Murray
- Start date
you got it! sounds like you've been-there-done-that yourself! 
Depend on the bass and how old they are in my experience. Older set on my Ibanez ATK? Amazing. That bass will NEVER have any other strings on it. Goin on 3 years now. 2 month old set on my Fodera? Utterly lifeless. Hate them with a passion on that bass.
If I ever have several thousand bucks laying around not doing anything I’m going to get one of Andrew Mowry’s mandolins. They are as perfect as perfect can possibly be. James Condino would also get a call.
Acme Low B2
It was a cool cabinet. Tone was amazing. Rehearsed with it a few times. It was great there. Flash forward a week: first opportunity to gig with it. Hometown gig, lots of folks. The sound disappeared in the room. I drove home at the first set break so I could swap out to a cabinet I could hear.
In the end, I do NOT believe this was the B2's fault. For what I needed volume-wise at the time, I should have had at least 2 B2s or 2 B4s.
I remember Andy was not particularly friendly about the return (in spite of his 14 day trial policy). He wasn't nasty, but just seemed... irritated.
It was a cool cabinet. Tone was amazing. Rehearsed with it a few times. It was great there. Flash forward a week: first opportunity to gig with it. Hometown gig, lots of folks. The sound disappeared in the room. I drove home at the first set break so I could swap out to a cabinet I could hear.
In the end, I do NOT believe this was the B2's fault. For what I needed volume-wise at the time, I should have had at least 2 B2s or 2 B4s.
I remember Andy was not particularly friendly about the return (in spite of his 14 day trial policy). He wasn't nasty, but just seemed... irritated.
I think most of us can relate to this kind of buildup and disappointment.
I'm right there with you on Modulus in particular. I loved the Modulus brand, and I owned several Modulus basses: Q5s, Flea and a VJ. In the '90s, I was into the five-string jam band thing, and the Q5 was a staple for the genre.
Modulus really does/did make an distinctive, outstanding product, but the physical advantages of a graphite neck come with a very distinct tonal difference. Whether you call it clarity, sterility, or - in my case - both. Their ad slogan was "as a clear a deep mountain lake", and that really resonated with my experience. But I was constantly knob twiddling and fiddling, trying to make tonal adjustments. Something was always wrong or missing.
I even bought a five-string Genesis, thinking it might be the best of both worlds. IHMO, it's the worst of both. And its ginormous body is definitely not for everyone.
The defining moment came one day when I was recording with my trusty Flea bass. I had just purchased a Lull M4V on a whim, and I gave that a go on the track on which I'd be working with the Flea. Sonically, it made the Flea sound like it was running on flat tires. Eighteen years later, I'm still using a Lull M4V.
I would still like to play around with a vintage Q4, or more likely a Gould for its 34 scale. But it would be a specialty item, and not a workhorse...and I don't aspire to own any "specialty" items
Stingray. "No really, the G string is supposed to nearly hang off of the edge of the board, you'll get used to it." Oh man, I really wanted to like it, but I guess it's not for me.
Most disappointing purchases?
A Hofner Ignition Club bass, it had an ok sound, thumpy enough for the 3 pc I'm in but it just felt like a toy to me. Every time I cased it and hauled it I was convinced it would be broken somehow before I got it home. And the controls didn't really change the sound IMO.
And pedals. I've played bass since the late 90's and was always a believer in the "less is best" mindset. Bass to wireless to tuner pedal to amp, that's enough. But after some folks here on TB saw some video on gig reports etc it was suggested I purchase this or that pedal. I don't believe there was any malice in their suggestions, just opinions. I tried a couple different overdrive pedals, a chorus, and the worst was a multi-effect Vox (all kinds of sounds I would never use). All of them worked fine but I just found they were an extra thing to fiddle with and connect for little payoff. They've all gone down the line to hopefully happy new homes.
A Hofner Ignition Club bass, it had an ok sound, thumpy enough for the 3 pc I'm in but it just felt like a toy to me. Every time I cased it and hauled it I was convinced it would be broken somehow before I got it home. And the controls didn't really change the sound IMO.
And pedals. I've played bass since the late 90's and was always a believer in the "less is best" mindset. Bass to wireless to tuner pedal to amp, that's enough. But after some folks here on TB saw some video on gig reports etc it was suggested I purchase this or that pedal. I don't believe there was any malice in their suggestions, just opinions. I tried a couple different overdrive pedals, a chorus, and the worst was a multi-effect Vox (all kinds of sounds I would never use). All of them worked fine but I just found they were an extra thing to fiddle with and connect for little payoff. They've all gone down the line to hopefully happy new homes.
Walkabout Scout 112.
I pined after one of these for a very long time. After picking a used one up and using it on a gig, I just returned it.
I pined after one of these for a very long time. After picking a used one up and using it on a gig, I just returned it.
1977 Precision bass. White with a black pickguard and a maple neck. It weighed a ton and I never could get comfortable with really wide neck.
For me it was a Birdsong Shortbass. I just wanted something simple and USA-made. It took forever to finally get it and when I got it, it was just okay and it sounded just okay, but the neck was weak and it wouldn't tune up properly. Tune one string and all the others would go significantly out of tune. It became a game. I would have to either "under-tune" or "over-tune" individual strings, in a particular order, to get all the strings close to being in-tune. Yes, I do know how to tune an instrument and I had never had a problem with any of the other instruments I had ever played before. Geez, what a PITA. I should have just gotten a Fender Mustang or whatever.
That reminds me of a BC Rich Heritage that I once had. Beautiful bass. It wasn’t great sounding haha but the neck was unreal... literally you let go and it just dove for the floor.
Fender Dimension bass. It wasn't that it was disappointing, it was just that I never really bonded with it. It was just...okay? It didn't sound or play bad, but I just didn't like it for some intangible reason.
I also had an Acme Low B that I ended up selling relatively quickly. I bought it used, and again, I just didn't really love it.
I had a Schecter Stilleto that I really enjoyed for a few years; I got to the point where I was kind of a Schecter fanboy. Then I noticed that all of my Schecter guitars had issues with the jack after a while; and I wanted a Stilleto 5 string but the spacing was really wide compared to what I liked at the time; once I noticed the width I noticed it on my 4 string; and eventually it went. My schecter guitar had the same jack issue and I never really loved it either.
I had an Essex Hawk with a 1 piece Ash body. I completely refinished it with a turquoise stain. It looked great and sounded fine. Same thing, I didn't love it, so I sold it. (One of few instruments I've made a profit on)
I threw a lot of money at a Gibson Firebird 0 hoping to get it to where I liked it; and I kind of did, but it had so many quality issues that it just wasn't enjoyable to work on or play after a while. (in my experience a low end Epiphone is miles above a low end Gibson as far as quality control goes)
After 20 years I've gotten down to 4 basses, 1 electric guitar, and 2 acoustics. (all in my signature) The acoustics are the only ones I would ever willingly sell.
I also had an Acme Low B that I ended up selling relatively quickly. I bought it used, and again, I just didn't really love it.
I had a Schecter Stilleto that I really enjoyed for a few years; I got to the point where I was kind of a Schecter fanboy. Then I noticed that all of my Schecter guitars had issues with the jack after a while; and I wanted a Stilleto 5 string but the spacing was really wide compared to what I liked at the time; once I noticed the width I noticed it on my 4 string; and eventually it went. My schecter guitar had the same jack issue and I never really loved it either.
I had an Essex Hawk with a 1 piece Ash body. I completely refinished it with a turquoise stain. It looked great and sounded fine. Same thing, I didn't love it, so I sold it. (One of few instruments I've made a profit on)
I threw a lot of money at a Gibson Firebird 0 hoping to get it to where I liked it; and I kind of did, but it had so many quality issues that it just wasn't enjoyable to work on or play after a while. (in my experience a low end Epiphone is miles above a low end Gibson as far as quality control goes)
After 20 years I've gotten down to 4 basses, 1 electric guitar, and 2 acoustics. (all in my signature) The acoustics are the only ones I would ever willingly sell.
An Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray Special I bought online new about 3 years ago. Beautiful instrument, and light too. But it had the worst dead spot of any bass I've ever owned--from Bb to D on the G string. A dead spot is not uncommon on basses, but this was a dead zone! And it was extreme. I tried a bunch of different strings, really tried to make it work. I contacted EB about it and their response was laissez-faire. It bothered me that neither Ernie Ball's QC, or the dealer (with their "55 point inspection") caught this glaring problem. Also the redesigned preamp sounded very different to my ears from previous Stingrays I had owned, and it was tonally lacking (could never get rid of the high end clickiness, even with old flats). So I traded the bass off, at a significant loss.
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I've been playing a 35" scale Modulus bass since 1988 (and got my second 35" Modulus ~2 or 3 years ago) and while I love them and can't imagine ever parting with mine, I completely get what you're saying.
The one I got in '88 has a bolt-on graphite neck and EMG J-type pickups, and as-built it had a very distinctive tone. "Clear as a mountain lake" indeed; I often found myself using the word "transparent" ...with all the positive and negative connotations that word may imply. The low end was deep and extended, but not really firm (and definitely not thick or fat/phat). The top end could get almost horn-like, which was excellent for playing lyrical passages, but sometimes lent an almost trombone-like character to bass lines. I upgraded the electronics to an EMG BTC preamp and that made a modest improvement, but it still was very transparent and horn-like. Finally I upgraded the electronics to an ACG/East EQ-02 filter-based preamp, and that really made the instrument open up and sound like an amazing bass. Still very clear, but now (finally) solid. So yeah, it took a lot of experimenting, knob twiddling, and modifications.
Interestingly, my other Modulus is a TBX neck-thru model with EMG soapbars, and right out of the gate it sounded fantastic. None of the sterility or transparency issues, just huge phat solid bass from DC to daylight. When I swapped out the EMG BTS for an EMG BQC preamp, it became even more amazing sounding. Not sure if I want to attribute the difference to the neck-thru construction, the soapbars, or both.
So yeah, any of you guys who are disappointed with your Moduli, either A) be patient and experiment; or B) feel free to send them my way!
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You’re the first person I ever heard say their TIs felt tight, let alone extra tight or uncomfortable.
There was definitely something seriously off with the set you had. Possibly counterfeits? It’s not unheard of in the music instrument string world when it comes to expensive strings. Packaging is easy enough to cheaply duplicate. Drop a set of cheap no-name strings into bogus packaging and it’s done.
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I had for a short time from Darkglass the Vintage Ultra V1.
The Distortion sounded great. Not really a surprise since it’s a Darkglass pedal.
But my problem was that I wanted to use it as a clean preamp and add the distortion when I wanted it.
But there was a very big volume jump between the clean and the dive sound. It only had one master volume.
When I turn the drive down and switch back to the clean it was quiet and the other way around.
Maybe a little bit of user error but the design didn’t really help to begin with.
The Distortion sounded great. Not really a surprise since it’s a Darkglass pedal.
But my problem was that I wanted to use it as a clean preamp and add the distortion when I wanted it.
But there was a very big volume jump between the clean and the dive sound. It only had one master volume.
When I turn the drive down and switch back to the clean it was quiet and the other way around.
Maybe a little bit of user error but the design didn’t really help to begin with.
Same here. My point of entry with the Stingray was Flea, though. Neck just did not work for me. A buddy of mine owns that bass now - I pick it up now and again and realize I made a good choice to unload it. I prefer Jazz necks.
To my surprise and disappointment I just couldn’t connect with the two Barefaced cabinets I purchased .... and quickly sold. One was a double 12 and the other was a single 12. Excellent quality and service but I couldn’t get a likable sound. My band manager actually commented on how bad it sounded which is very unlike him.
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Lots of hate for Rickenbacker in this thread. I bought a new Rickenbacker 4003 Walnut from MF, in 2017. MF was running a deal and I was able to get it for $1,530. Only issues I had with it was the bridge pickup needed to be raised slightly and I had to file the nut in the D string slot when I changed to new strings from stock strings. Other than that, it's been a fine bass. Rickenbackers can achieve a sound that no other bass can.
