Professional bassists/musicians who choose to use cheap gear?

[JimmyM]

Ya, it's all about the player, not the instrument. I've done arenas with sub-$200 basses plenty of times. Nobody complains. Except me...turns out that on the whole I do like more expensive basses I don't like to pay for them, and it's not like I'm buying $3000-4000 basses, but I'll spend a grand on a good one as a main player and leave the cheapos for specialty basses that I use now and then.

 

[Kirk Bryant]

I agree with Jimmy. I bring two basses to almost every gig so I've got a back up if need be. For the last ten years my "back up" bass is usually a Fender Precision Lyte I paid a little over $300 for. I have modded it a bit with a 3 band EQ but I still have less than $400-425 in it. I do usually bring another more expensive bass but the point is I have many times set both basses out and played the P Lyte sometimes for a set or two and sometimes all night. I had a Squier Classic Vibe 50s Precision that was a wonderful bass. I would still have it except it was part of a package trade to get my Elrick Gold Series 4 which is my main go to 4 string. I also play a MIM Precision "Cowpoke" PJ type bass that I got cheap and it's a great bass. I could and have done any and every gig with an inexpensive bass, no problem, no shame. Frankly I could care less what anyone else thinks about what I am using. And if they do they are very shallow and not very bright. And I have been doing this for five decades.

 

[Ianhin]

I played a Squire VM Jazz the other day, sounded awesome and great playability.

 

[Imaginary Pony]

Say it isn't SO!! Blasphemy!! They CHANGE THE DECAL TO FENDER???? (Not Squier by Fender?)
Any second the decal police will be here....
Those artists should be ashamed... (just kidding)

You were right though, they SHOULD be ashamed. They should be ashamed of being ashamed of playing a Squier.
They should be ashamed of promoting brand snobbery by fraud. If a squier is good enough to play, then it's good enough to be seen playing.
If you want/need/lust after any expensive bass, that's fine, but why be ashamed of the bass you've got? Why try to, fool other, less knowledgeable, impressionable people?
It's a whole mulitlevel wrongness.

 

[Mind Eroded]

I'm pretty sure the bass player from soundgarden rocks out on some MIM P basses. He played his 50's classic P on Conan a few years back.

 

[jasonrp]

Does he still play with the bass at his ankles?

 

[JimmyM]

No, he's slightly higher with it these days.

 

[bearfoot]

I am just a poor boy, though my bass has strings of gold,
I just bought it for a Benny, in a pawn shop by the pier, I'd best get out of here.
All mids and lows, still the tone is in the players hands, and in those hands alone, mmm hmmm mmm...

 

[Bob_Ross]

Doesn't Justin Meldal-Johnson have a bunch of department store basses? There seem to be a lot of guys in the Williamsburg hipster indie-rock genre who are sporting old no-name basses from the 1960s ...not sure if those still qualify as "cheap", last time I found an old Vox for sale it was over $1k!

Jamaaladeen Tacuma used to use a fretless Peavey T-20

 

[Mustang Surly]

The late guitarist Nick Curran seemed to almost have a cheap guitar fetish. I saw him do some monster live playing on a sub-$150 SX "Liquid" with the Fab T-Birds a few years ago.

 

[Watchootognbout]

We must understand.
Inexpensive and cheap are NOT interchangeable terms.
"Cheap" gives the impression of shoddy workmanship.
Bad electronics and crappy pickups.
Mile high action.
An inexpensive bass does not necessarily mean such.

Since the 80's the quality of many imported and entry level instruments has drastically increased.
Paying $560.00 for a Korean seven string does NOT automatically mean "CHEAP"

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Esperanza Spalding sometimes plays a $600 MIM Fender fretless.

This was my first thought when I saw this thread . She sounds great regardless of the cost of the bass in her hands or where it was made.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Robert Bubby Lewis sometimes uses a MTD Kingston CRB along with his USA made MTD 's.

 

[wraub]

I have played numerous paying gigs with Ibanez and Squier basses.

I feel alright.

 

[Batmensch]

That was not his original bass. It was one Hofner give him in 1964. The original was a right handed model.

Well, free is about as cheap as it gets, idden it?

 

[Batmensch]

You were right though, they SHOULD be ashamed. They should be ashamed of being ashamed of playing a Squier.
They should be ashamed of promoting brand snobbery by fraud. If a squier is good enough to play, then it's good enough to be seen playing.
If you want/need/lust after any expensive bass, that's fine, but why be ashamed of the bass you've got? Why try to, fool other, less knowledgeable, impressionable people?
It's a whole mulitlevel wrongness.

Wholly agreed. Not that anyone is committing a crime by rebranding, but I just truly don't understand why anyone would do it. No matter the reasons given, it seems to me (if these people would be brutally honest with themselves) it all boils down to people being embarrassed about being "caught" playing a less expensive instrument, which makes no sense to me.

 

[Batmensch]

We must understand.
Inexpensive and cheap are NOT interchangeable terms.
"Cheap" gives the impression of shoddy workmanship.
Bad electronics and crappy pickups.
Mile high action.
An inexpensive bass does not necessarily mean such.

Since the 80's the quality of many imported and entry level instruments has drastically increased.
Paying $560.00 for a Korean seven string does NOT automatically mean "CHEAP"

Thank you.

 

[Malak the Mad]

We must understand.
Inexpensive and cheap are NOT interchangeable terms.
"Cheap" gives the impression of shoddy workmanship.
Bad electronics and crappy pickups.
Mile high action.
An inexpensive bass does not necessarily mean such.

Since the 80's the quality of many imported and entry level instruments has drastically increased.
Paying $560.00 for a Korean seven string does NOT automatically mean "CHEAP"

Thank you.

Yes, thank you, a thousand times over!

 

[ThaCoast]

I don't know famous artists other than those mentioned here, but i could include myself in this poll as part of using "cheap" gear. For years i've been playing my knock off precision basses - one bought in a pawn shop for 180$ & put almost as much into modifying it cause i needed to swap some parts such as bridge & pickups, & my white parts precision that i pieced together for 186$ it's been my main ever since i completed it. Been through a bunch of mods too but it's still worth it. Probably put a little less than 150$ into the fixes.

As for my bass rig, i struck luck this past spring finding a 1970's Peavey century 120 head for 100$ at a pawn shop (negotiated & walked with it for 50$) & found a mid 90's SWR Goliath II 4x10 cab for 160$ (top left speaker needs a recone but for sub 300$ i got my perfect bass rig).

I'm also in the midst of refurbishing this bass. Neck is off my drummers squier jazz of the same series as this precision bass. Paid 40$ for the loaded body i found at work & then about 250$ worth of new parts & paint

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

I saw a recent video on You Tube of Natt Watts recording his new solo project. He was in the studio recording with a Squier Bullet bass.