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One Bass Bassist?

#41
I have always had 1 bass only and I can imagine if I had the money I would buy more, but I wouldn't 'like' having 5 or more basses. When would I play them? It would be overkill. 3 would be a maximum, the L2000 I have as my current bass, a fretless and a P-bass. With those three there'd be zero need for more or anything else. ;-)
 
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#43
I find now that I'm using IEM's...and no amp and get my sound for different songs through my Helix Stomp, that it doesn't really matter which bass I use as long as it's comfy and reliable. It happens to be a '73 Ric 4001. I'm trying like heck to get my 6 basses down to 2. The Ric and a 5 string Sire marcus miller jazz for the odd gig where I do more modern covers.
 
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#44
Dr. Cheese said:
Spoiler alert, I am not reducing my collection to one bass, but I no want a large (5+) collection anymore. The reason is that looking back over five or so years, I usually favored one bass. I remember taking as many as three basses to church, and wasting time switching between basses. It was just easier to play one and be done. When I was mainly using Pedulla, it didn’t sound good being slapped, so I did not slap so much, and nobody cared. I mainly play my Super 5 now, and I still don’t slap so much.:D I still think it is good to have a few basses around to change up sometimes or if one has issues. I still like option of fretless, but unless it is a program in which the it is decided I need a different bass for a given song, I am taking just one, and if it is active, a few batteries.:bassist:
Click to expand...

WHO are you, and WHAT did you do with Dr. Cheese?????
 
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#45
I've reached a similar point in my life:

Session work was a part of my income from about '89 to mid 2000s.....but with the exception of a small bubble almost ten years ago, it has mostly disappeared for me.....

It was the main reason why I have so many different instruments....now I'm also in my early old age and I still have a lot that I want to say musically: I have stopped playing in cover bands and I am focusing on original material to leave behind a body of work that is me for a future without me......for now , I am keeping everything, but when I reach a satisfactory point of saying "this discography is me in a nutshell", I will call it a day, wipe my hands, and sell off almost everything

If I was to keep just one bass for Swiss Army versatility, it would be my G&L ASAT......I too am looking to add a MTB Kingston Super 4 or 5 for the same reason and when the day comes for me to mostly shut the door, I will keep one or two Swiss army basses ( and another two instruments for sentimental reasons) and everything else will go
 
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#47
For most of my life I was a one-bass bassist, out of necessity. I couldn't afford any more. In 35-odd years, the only failure I ever had was one broken string.

Finally I got to the point where I had the money to buy pretty much whatever I wanted, and I bought a new bass and had two for the first time ever. I loved the new one so much I never played the old one any more, so I sold it, and was back to being a one bass player.

I just bought a 5er yesterday, so now I'm back to two. I felt I never really bonded with my last 5 and I'm committed to some serious woodshedding to see if I can really get into this one. It may become my main bass, but at the very least I'll keep it as a backup. Until...

...I buy the fretless I was saving for before I "blew" my money on the 5. I've only ever played a fretless for about an hour, but it wasn't bad (I mean, it wasn't great, but OK - better than I thought I'd be for my first time). I'm keen to see how good I can get on it.

But ultimately I do think I could be a two-bass bassist; one fretted and one fretless.
 
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#48
whero said:
For most of my life I was a one-bass bassist, out of necessity. I couldn't afford any more. In 35-odd years, the only failure I ever had was one broken string.


...I buy the fretless I was saving for before I "blew" my money on the 5. I've only ever played a fretless for about an hour, but it wasn't bad (I mean, it wasn't great, but OK - better than I thought I'd be for my first time). I'm keen to see how good I can get on it.

But ultimately I do think I could be a two-bass bassist; one fretted and one fretless.
Click to expand...

Similar story, by first bass was my only bass for a long time, art student, then aspiring guitar/bass builder, so no spare money.

Over the years I bought, or built, numerous guitars and basses, often having several around the place, currently I have an old acoustic guitar, one 6 string electric and no basses! Just temporarily though, I'm building two basses, both medium scale, one fretted, one fretless. Those will be my last basses, (well, that's the plan) I'm going into my 70's before the year ends, so I figure it pretty much playing for my own pleasure from this point on, I can't see needing any more instruments.
 
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#53
I guess I’d consider myself a one-bass guy. I used to switch it up a lot, taking a different bass to every jam, but at the end of the day, I still just sounded like myself. So, I sold a lot of what I had and now I have 4 basses;

My number 1 that goes to every gig is my ‘94 Honeyburst stingray, I love that thing and it’s like an extension of me. I do have a backup P-bass since I started gigging, it’s a parts bass with a Duncan 1/4 pounder wired straight to the Jack. It comes along when we go on the road, but it’s second fiddle to the Ray. The high output lets me keep my amp settings mostly the same when switching between the Ray and P.

then I have a Cort Gb44, a cheapie bass, but it was my first and my father bought it for me. It hasn’t been played in years, but no reason to sell it either.

finally I have my Peavey Dynabass 5er. It’s a cool bass, but was in rough shape from previous owners. I bought it with the intent of fixing it up and never really did anything with it. I haven’t been as drawn to 5-strings as I expected. I might eventually defret it or just fix it and sell it.

I have found that actually gigging and playing live music cuts down on GAS by a huge margin. Familiarity and muscle memory are so much more rewarding than a cool new bass every night.
 
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#54
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#57
My current stable is 5 basses, and that's the most I've ever owned at one time in ~35 years of playing. I'd have to say that the Alien Audio Lunar 5 gets the most use by far, but then again it's arguably the most versatile (Nordy Dual Coil and Big Split, 3-band, passive tone, modern/vintage switch, onboard overdrive).

I also have a fretless 'Ray 4, so it's hard for me to say that I could get by with just one bass bc I see the fretless as an entirely different type of tool. I have used it many times to record with, but I only play it live when we do a gig comprised of original material. You'd never catch me showing up to any gig with more than the two basses though.

Having a handful of basses also affords me luxury of keeping one at our band practice space -- I just show up, plug in and go.

In a nutshell, I could do the one bass thing but I'm fortunate I don't have to. :thumbsup:
 
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#58
My current stable is 6.

I travel the road with at least 3.

I see no reason to reduce the inventory.

I won't switch instruments during a set. But I will switch up between sets. If we are just playing a one and done set show (opening act) I'll stick to just one, with one backstage as backup should disaster strike.

But the 6 I currently have are forever Basses that I plan on taking with me to the hereafter.
 
#60
skyline_01 said:
My current stable is 5 basses, and that's the most I've ever owned at one time in ~35 years of playing. I'd have to say that the Alien Audio Lunar 5 gets the most use by far, but then again it's arguably the most versatile (Nordy Dual Coil and Big Split, 3-band, passive tone, modern/vintage switch, onboard overdrive).

I also have a fretless 'Ray 4, so it's hard for me to say that I could get by with just one bass bc I see the fretless as an entirely different type of tool. I have used it many times to record with, but I only play it live when we do a gig comprised of original material. You'd never catch me showing up to any gig with more than the two basses though.

Having a handful of basses also affords me luxury of keeping one at our band practice space -- I just show up, plug in and go.

In a nutshell, I could do the one bass thing but I'm fortunate I don't have to. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

There is no need to have only one bass except only being able to afford one bass. I especially understand having a fretless.
 
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