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Only One Bass?

Dr. Cheese

Supporting Member
Mar 3, 2004
57,289
120,436
Metro St. Louis
I am pretty sure, I am not going to be a one bass owning player, but if I were to drop down to one, it would be my Pedulla. The more I think about it, two basses, a fretted and fretless are optimal for me. I will probably end up with four, but realistically, at four, at least one will be neglected a lot. I guess I really love basses, but I do not want too many at home.:bassist:
 
If I were to pick one and only one bass, I'd go with a G&L L2000. I currently don't have one as I sold my Tribute L2000 not too long ago with plans of getting a US one with a slimmer neck and lighter body so in the meantime, I have to make do with 8 basses. One of which is a Tribute M2000. :)

I hope the suffering isn’t too hard on you.;)
 
I can’t even get down to only 1 Rickenbacker bass.
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I’ve said it before....in a perfect world, I’d have a fretless version of my L2500 and stay with two basses. Problem is that fretless L2500’s are very hard to come by in the used market, especially if you’re looking for a particular color combination and specific options.
Most likely, what I want would need to be custom ordered, and that is a pretty penny.

In reality, I think my parts-bass fretless Jazz is more than enough for me to handle...and it cost a third of a custom G&L...and that will allow me to “build” the passive Jazz V I always wanted.
 
I am pretty sure, I am not going to be a one bass owning player
For me, this is a certainty.

I am a responsible adult in most aspects of my life. I permit myself one luxury. I own a crap-ton of basses. I've always said that if I had to have one, it would be one of my Fender P basses. Today, though, I'm not sure that is still true. I have a Dingwall Super P that is absolutely perfect for me. On the other hand, I have a D-Roc that is built for 100% pure fun and sounds like what I imagine the bass version of Mjolnir would be. On the other hand, I have an L-1000 that gives me all the P-bass vibe I thought I could only get out of a P bass. On the other hand, I have at least five Fender P's that are all great in their own way. On the other hand, my Spector has the best rock, pick tone imaginable. On the other hand, my G&L ASAT is almost as fun as the D-Roc and sounds almost as good as the Spector. On the other hand, when I want a five string, my Warwick Thumb is pretty hard to beat, but on the other hand my Afterburner I sure gives it a run for its money.

I guess it is good to have a lot of hands. :D
 
For me, this is a certainty.

I am a responsible adult in most aspects of my life. I permit myself one luxury. I own a crap-ton of basses.

This.

I just bought 2 basses at the same time, ahahahahah!


(I sold 2, to be fair. I have 7. And a DB, that doesn't count, because it's a DB. So, seven. The cheap acoustic bass doesn't count either, it's in the living room, for easy access. So, 6. My Hamer Cruise doesn't count, because it's my first bass. It's part of the family. So, 5. My MIJ P doesn't count either, because everyone knows you gotta have a P bass. So, 4. I have 4 basses).
 
This.

I just bought 2 basses at the same time, ahahahahah!


(I sold 2, to be fair. I have 7. And a DB, that doesn't count, because it's a DB. So, seven. The cheap acoustic bass doesn't count either, it's in the living room, for easy access. So, 6. My Hamer Cruise doesn't count, because it's my first bass. It's part of the family. So, 5. My MIJ P doesn't count either, because everyone knows you gotta have a P bass. So, 4. I have 4 basses).
I think if you keep typing, you'll find you really only have one bass.
 
I was a one-bass player for most of my bass player career. I always played a 5-string exclusively, and I always just had one, although I switched it out a few times. At one point, a few years ago I treated myself to a brand new Fender Dimension, American Deluxe V HH, all the bells and whistles, and figured that would do me for a long time.

Then one day out of the blue my bass enabler just gave me a set of cool strings (La Bella black tapes) for a 4-string, and something in my brain went "Well, I guess I need a 4-string to use with these strings now". I had always been a fan of Reverend, so I went ahead and bought a used Reverend Decision on eBay, strung it up with my black tapes, and I realized that I really enjoyed having the option of both a 4 and 5-string with me, and that became my norm.

Over time I got to really enjoy the passive PJ sound of the Decision, so I thought "Well, maybe I should find something similar in a 5-string so that they match up a little better". So I bought a Yamaha BB1025X on Reverb, and those two became my bass team.

But then my bass enabler started bringing Dingwalls into his store, and a Ferrari red NG-2 caught my eye, so I ordered one. But while I was waiting for that to arrive (took over a year) I happened upon a Reverend Rumblefish J5 that looked really cool, so I ordered that and did a bunch of modifications to it, which were cool.

Right around that same time, Musicman came out with the Caprice, and I tried one out at the same store, and damn, it was sweet. A buddy of mine bought two of them because he had planned to swap necks and then he ended up not swapping them and he sold me his white Caprice, and I put a tort guard on it, and I love this thing because it sounds awesome and plays like a dream.

And then my NG-2 arrived, and I upgraded it to an NG-3, and now my bass Team is my NG-3 and Caprice, and I own 6 basses.

And a few weeks ago I put a deposit on D-Roc.

So what I'm saying is that I have a problem, and it all started with one dealer giving me my first hit of 4 strings for free. The drug dealer business model really works!
 
I was a two-bass guy for years when I was mainly playing BG. A Precision and a fretless Jazz Bass Special (PJ). They did everything I needed, and I always had a backup. Now that I'm mostly playing DB, my BG stable has inexplicably grown to 5. I pretty much only ever play my 70s Jazz at this point when it comes to BG. As long as I can keep my DB, I could live with a single BG.
 
If you love the bass guitar I do believe it is impossible to be happy with only one.

Gear is a tool to make music for a small percent of people, and a very small percent of Talkbass members. Most of us found our way here for some reason or another, my guess is it wasn’t for music theory knowledge.

You will be hard pressed to find a frequent poster here who only has 1 bass, their first, and still has a valid opinion to share.