Multiple great basses and amps, cabs and effects. Hell give me some carrots too. Life is short. Live it up!
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One great bass or multiple good basses???
- Thread starter schietschijfje
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Multiple GREAT basses is my goal. I need both fretted AND fretless basses in BOTH 4 and 5 string iterations (and hopefully 6ers too) as well as a good Upright (got it) and a 6 string which I don't own yet. The thinking is that IF I can figure out which 6-8 (out of 22) basses I can part with, I can make it happen. Unfortunately, somethings that have a sentimental tie will have to go to bring the planets into alignment. And therein lies the rub. I'm not good at parting with things. First world problems, I know, but there it is. Sadly several have to go to make this a reality.
After reading lots of TB forum posts I've concluded that everyone that sells an instrument ends up regretting it. I say hold on to what you've got unless you really don't like it. Save up for what you think you want. I play the same Precision maybe 8 out of 10 gigs but I sure like having options with my other basses if the opportunity arises..
I would tend towards one bass that is both great and not terribly expensive, but I haven't found the right one for me yet. I wish i could find something I can play for 5 years and never get tired of, as opposed to having a bunch of basses I switch between because I get tired of one or the other.
This is an interesting thread. I’m really surprised with the results so far. 2 to 1 in favor of multiple good basses. For me it’s not even close - one great bass. I know myself. If I had multiple good basses, I’d always be disappointed that I didn’t have a great bass, which I could have had if I didn’t buy all those good basses.
- Mar 8, 2011
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- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
But it does beg the question of what a 'great bass' even is. Expensive? I have a couple expensive ones. I'd gladly trade em for the $200 bass I played from 1981-2006 when it was stolen. That was a great bass for me
One great bass, and one cheap but respectable backup is my thing.
Having a bunch of basses sucks because it’s a pain to keep setups ideal and strings fresh, also quality over quality makes sense because you can only play one at a time. I’ve known people who were big collectors and they would be like “I think I’m going to bring out blah blah blah tonight, haven’t played it in a long time” and they get to the show and there’s some issue like a bad jack, loose wiring, or the strings sound extremely dead.
At the same time having just one nice bass can be nerve wrecking if you’re playing big shows and your bass suddenly has issues. Although rarely needed A backup can save the day and your sanity.
I have a slight mental problem when it comes to Stingrays - I own a 2 band and two 3 bands. I keep the 3 bands set up for different tunings. They are all 4H's. I find 'rays to be super versatile. By that I mean that although they *always* sound like a 'ray, I can always pull a tone out of them which suits the genre I'm playing. I agree that the 2 and 3 bands are very different.
Mike
But it does beg the question of what a 'great bass' even is. Expensive? I have a couple expensive ones. I'd gladly trade em for the $200 bass I played from 1981-2006 when it was stolen. That was a great bass for me
Fair point. I guess I just assumed that the question contemplates that I’d have to sacrifice a great bass for multiple good basses, which is, as you note, not necessarily true.
I agree and disagree with this. If by "versatile" that a 'ray can sound like a lot of other basses, then I agree, a 'ray will always sound like a 'ray. I would say, however, that while always sounding like a 'ray, it's very easy to pull an appropriate tone from a 'ray for almost any electric-bass music, so in that respect I think they're very versatile.
Mike
After 20 years of buying and selling basses and trying to find "the one", I've come to the conclusion several good basses is more fun than having one great one. Frankly, I find that having fretted and fretless versions of 4s and 5s to be very helpful and fun. They don't all have to be "good" either. I enjoy the $200 Peavey Fury I converted to fretless just as much as my others for it's own unique sound. I scored a '79 MM Sabre for cheap 15 years ago and it sounds amazing but it requires accuracy to play and it's really heavy so it I only use it when recording.
I did fall into the "great" bass too I never thought I could afford. But 10 years later than I first wanted it and I'm the third owner. It's not the color I would have picked, but it's still great and was 1/4th the price of new. Patience pays off.
I did fall into the "great" bass too I never thought I could afford. But 10 years later than I first wanted it and I'm the third owner. It's not the color I would have picked, but it's still great and was 1/4th the price of new. Patience pays off.
i used to have a $169 yamaha and a rather nicer squier P/J. i enjoyed playing them, the bands i played with all said they loved my tone, and i had more bands offering me spots than i had time for. having a great bass wouldn't have improved my bass playing experience at that time in any way. maybe later when i discovered that the carvin stack i had been playing wasn't delivering great tone for my preferences, but i was a very happy bass player with those basses and that stack for years.
I only need one 'good' bass... Is what I always say. But what I really want is 2 of the exact same basses. One for regular playing and one with piccolo strings.
^^^ this (at least part of it). I've done the 6'er experiment now 5 or 6 times (lost count) but have finally figured out that for me, I'd have to totally commit to 6 to make it work, and I have a couple of 4-string basses that I love too much. So I'm sticking with 4 and 5. But agree that I need fretted and fretless, and in a perfect world they'd be matched pairs. But we don't live in a perfect world, so instead I've managed to find a couple of 4-bangers that are in the "great" category. Now working on getting the same state in 5-string.
But so many great builders out there, no reason to settle for good - great can be had and often for reasonable prices, particularly if you buy used.
There was a time I had 6 basses. They were decent instruments but always left me with a desire to want something better. I ended up selling all of them to help pay for a custom jazz from Nino Valenti. I also scored the deal of the year on a Cirrus 6'er. So, I went from 6 very giggable instruments to 2 Awesome instruments that meet my needs. I'm still waiting for the deal of a century to buy my next bass (a Fodera) but until that happens, I'm satisfied with 2 top-notch instruments.
"The Agony and the Ecstasy" should be the title of this thread.
I love basses! They are 3D art. At one point I owned around 30 basses. They were all quality basses. But eventually I realized that "this" bass sounds and feels like I want it to and "those" basses look good but are lacking in the tone dept or they sound great but play/look like sh!t.
Now there are 2 that I rotate as main players. A '77 Ric and a '76 BC Rich Mockingbird.
I sold half of the others, and now only take these 2 out to play live. The backup bass never comes out of its case unless there is an emergency. It is a '90's Squire parts bass that sounds like a high $ Fender P so I don't have to adjust any amp tone control knobs. The other basses look like soldiers standing in my living room waiting to go to war.
The only time I actively changed basses every 3 or 4 songs was coz one was strung B E A D and the other was E A D G. Both were '96 MIA Fender P's.......great basses. Sounded identical. Then I went 5 string with a EBMM SR5 so no changing. I played that bass for 2 yrs and then one day realized "There is a "77 Ric, a '76 BC Rich, a '75 MIA P Bass, a '7? Gibson explorer bass, etc, being totally ignored................And Im not playing them. So I strung them all B E A D and never looked back.
Now the SR5 sits in its stand and is mad at me.
The BC Rich should have come from the factory strung BEAD. 24 frets, total access to every inch of the neck. The B string is flawless. And I didn't do any filing on the nut or extreme adjustments to the bridge. In fact, it plays better strung this way.
Also I trashed the active electronics and installed passive pups.
Playing live is kinda like war............get you a weapon you trust and slay.
I love basses! They are 3D art. At one point I owned around 30 basses. They were all quality basses. But eventually I realized that "this" bass sounds and feels like I want it to and "those" basses look good but are lacking in the tone dept or they sound great but play/look like sh!t.
Now there are 2 that I rotate as main players. A '77 Ric and a '76 BC Rich Mockingbird.
I sold half of the others, and now only take these 2 out to play live. The backup bass never comes out of its case unless there is an emergency. It is a '90's Squire parts bass that sounds like a high $ Fender P so I don't have to adjust any amp tone control knobs. The other basses look like soldiers standing in my living room waiting to go to war.
The only time I actively changed basses every 3 or 4 songs was coz one was strung B E A D and the other was E A D G. Both were '96 MIA Fender P's.......great basses. Sounded identical. Then I went 5 string with a EBMM SR5 so no changing. I played that bass for 2 yrs and then one day realized "There is a "77 Ric, a '76 BC Rich, a '75 MIA P Bass, a '7? Gibson explorer bass, etc, being totally ignored................And Im not playing them. So I strung them all B E A D and never looked back.
Now the SR5 sits in its stand and is mad at me.
The BC Rich should have come from the factory strung BEAD. 24 frets, total access to every inch of the neck. The B string is flawless. And I didn't do any filing on the nut or extreme adjustments to the bridge. In fact, it plays better strung this way.
Also I trashed the active electronics and installed passive pups.
Playing live is kinda like war............get you a weapon you trust and slay.
Love every women. Love only great bass guitars.
I just solved the biggest world problem.
