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One to rule them all... OK, maybe two.

#21
BassJuju said:
After the session I felt like I had been wrestling for a few hours. The tone was fine, but the playability just isn't the same.
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Is the action higher on this bass? I have a P/J with higher action than my other bass and if I haven't played it in awhile, I feel like I have weaker fingers. On the flipside, my other bass is easier to play after working on this high action monstrosity.
 
#22
My main gigging bass is a fretless 5 which almost covers every playing situation I encounter but if I lost the fretted 5 I'd miss it's slap tone. The fretless 5 does sound great slapped too but it's a different type of slap tone than on the fretted.

I keep my two fretted 4 stringers mainly for nostalgia's sake. They both get zero gigging time.
 
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#23
I always got by with one or two basses until I joined TB! Then I got gas and had to try new things. Right now I have five although one is an acoustic bass and the other is a Kala Ubass. I could be happy with just my Rick 4003s and my Ubass for something a little different. The acoustic hardly ever gets touched, and my Jack Casady comes off the wall maybe once a month for noodling. The Rick is #1 and my Squier Pbass is #2 but I could do just fine with the Rick alone.
 
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#24
I sold every bass I had, and kept the last one standing, in the great gear purge of 2015. I'm content. Any GAS urges are written on my calendar for a mandatory, two week cooling off period. So far, I haven't bought anything except strings the past 18 months.

A ton of other gear went over the side during the purge. The more gear I off load, the better I feel.

I take the one bass and an Acoustic Image ten-2 , a smoothie compressor, and my MXR M-80 bass di +. One trip, in and out.

I'm eyeing a few other items that didn't sell in the purge, thinking I need to get my Craigslist ads up again, and reap enough cash to buy my wife that new couch and love seat she keeps going on about.

It's just stuff, and it was getting to be a burden instead of a joy.
 
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#25
BassJuju said:
I am not going to discuss brands or models in this thread because I don't want to raise that level of partiality. Certainly everyone has preferences and that's why there is more than one option.

So, I have multiple basses. 3 different brands as well. A couple are specialty, fretless and hollow body, but the others are similar in as many ways as they are different. I have been playing two basses from one manufacturer a lot. Like 2 gigs, all practice, and every chance I get for the past few months. Other than picking up the hollow body for a bluegrass number at church and playing a little fretless, it has been these two particular basses. I had a practice/jam session last night and due to the number of factors I took a different bass. After the session I felt like I had been wrestling for a few hours. The tone was fine, but the playability just isn't the same. The others play, or at least my perception is that play, easier. Now, I am wondering if I will ever play it again. So, is this normal? Personally, I think this might be a good thing, but I am curious what others think and if the have similar feelings.
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No worries mate. I went through basses like crap through a goose for a number of years. They were all good in their own way, but nothing really blew my dress up enough to keep me from cheating on them whenever I was in a music store and so the door revolved. In 1990 I bought a brand new model from a very old manufacturer and all my other basses, even the ones I no longer owned and second guessed dumping, lost their luster. It was the only bass I owned until around mid 99 when I picked up something to use in a series of outdoor shows in NW Florida in July and august and didn't want to risk my number one being exposed to the killer humidity in that part of the world at that time of year. I used that bass for the shows, but sold it the night after the last show and once again went back to a single bass. A few years ago I got the bug to piddle with basses so I chose a single model and began buying tinkering and selling them, so I've now got as many as four or five or more at any given time, and have even found one out those I really like a lot, but I've still got my number one and it will got to wifey or one of my kin when I shuffle off this mortal coil.
 
#31
I have my main 4 string, a second 4 string I have as backup/drop tuned (and I can't sell this one or some people I know would disown me), a fretless 4 string, a 5 string and a backup 5 string (that I wouldn't have bought if I had gotten the main 5'er first).

If I had to, I could get by with just a 5 and the fretless.

But where's the fun in that?
 
#32
Lowness said:
I have 6 basses - the idea of going to one, or two, is crazy.

Sounds like you are not exploring the tone options of all the basses enough - one dimension playing is a bad thing.
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Hmmm..so that would then make having 2 basses have you being a 2-dimensional player. Hmm...soooo...3 basses= 3-dimensional player!

CONCLUSION: And since we live in a 3-dimensional world, well, everyone (to be complete) should have 3 basses. Any more than that and you are probably an alien. :whistle:
 
#34
Tools or toys? That is the question.

If they're tools then it is job dependent. Do one thing? One and a backup is just fine. Freelance all styles? Then more is better. But one and a backup will work just fine.

If they're toys then it's up to you and your budget.
 
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#35
BassJuju said:
I am not going to discuss brands or models in this thread because I don't want to raise that level of partiality. Certainly everyone has preferences and that's why there is more than one option.

So, I have multiple basses. 3 different brands as well. A couple are specialty, fretless and hollow body, but the others are similar in as many ways as they are different. I have been playing two basses from one manufacturer a lot. Like 2 gigs, all practice, and every chance I get for the past few months. Other than picking up the hollow body for a bluegrass number at church and playing a little fretless, it has been these two particular basses. I had a practice/jam session last night and due to the number of factors I took a different bass. After the session I felt like I had been wrestling for a few hours. The tone was fine, but the playability just isn't the same. The others play, or at least my perception is that play, easier. Now, I am wondering if I will ever play it again. So, is this normal? Personally, I think this might be a good thing, but I am curious what others think and if the have similar feelings.
Click to expand...
I am pretty well in the same boat. I have two almost twin basses that get the majority of my playing time. They are fivers, and right now I have three other nice basses that are four stringers. They are nice enough, but sometimes I think I should probably just sell them and just be happy with my two main players.
 
#36
I have a traveling bass and a practice one that serves as backup. Traveling just means I take it out of the house to rehearsals, jams or gigs. I only play a gig about once a month. I just don't take it out of the case at home and keep the other out on a stand ready to play. I only pack it up for a gig in case there is some catastrophe at the show and I need a backup. I do have an eye on a 5 string, but don't have an urgent desire to buy one.
Amps, cabs & effects are a completely different story and I'm shopping that stuff all the time.
 
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#38
I could (and do) very easily get by with just 2 basses - a 6-string for my power metal and experimental progressive bands, and a 4-string for my punk bands and general session work.

Currently my Warwick Thumb and Stingray see 99.9% of all use. The Peavey is getting sold soon - great bass, just not getting any action currently. My new Marleaux which is on the way will probably be used for my power metal band and the Warwick for the other act (different tunings so I won't have to keep retuning it). But again, 2 basses would cover pretty much any need I have.
 
#39
I have two basses the same make and model, they do not play and sound exactly the same but at least if one breaks I have another I can use which is as similar as you can get. I have one other bass which I bought for nostalgic reasons its a 1976 model which I had when I was young.
 

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