So what does a $25k bass actually get you?

[StayLow]

What are you really buying for your $25k or whatever? How much better do these crazy expensive boutique basses REALLY sound/play than say the best one from your average music store set up properly? Would anyone else really hear it?

A $25k bass will get you a $25k bass on which you can score the same gigs that you could with a $25 bass.

Probably less gigs actually, because some bands will shy away from a guy with a $25k bass if it's especially ostentatious.

 

[bottomzone]

I have no idea since I don't live in the proper zip code! Even if I did, there is no way that I would spend $25K on a bass!

 

[smcd]

$25K is vintage guitar pricing. Outside of a couple of Alembic models, what manufacturer sells $25K basses?

 

[buldog5151bass]

Other than Ritter (which is primarily about rare/unusual materials), I can't think of any new bass costing near that much. I can tell you that when I was looking to get a really nice precision, I got a Lull P4 for the same price as what mid-70s Fenders were going for (that was before Lull had the full rep it does now). What I can say is that the instrument is flawless, and sounds wonderful. Since I keep my instruments for decades (almost 4 decades of playing, 95% of that on two instruments), it was well worth it for me.

 

[Rojd]

Not a replacement for my 23yr old vehicle.

 

[Pings Bass]

Let’s ask over on the DB side, just for kicks.

You can get a pretty good DB for $25K. Or you can spend a lot more. There's a $40K DB on TB classifieds right now.

 

[wideload]

I wouldn’t think one would buy a $25,000 bass off the wall. I will mention Alembic, as it’s the only boutique builder I’m familiar with.
You know what EXACTLY that you want, from neck profile to wood combinations to inlays to headstock shape, ad infinitum. It would be exclusively YOUR bass, no other like it. And you’ll have it in 1-2 years. And you will cherish it, and hand it down to your child or grandchild.

 

[bass12]

How much better does a $2,000,000 painting look than a $2,000 painting?

 

[redwingxix]

To me, a $25K bass is a luxury bass. Luxury is up to the end user.

My father thinks that a glass bottle 10 oz Coke is a luxury because one can get a 2 liter Coke for the same price. I spent more on getting my back porch torn down a rebuilt and a new deck than he spent on the HOUSE he lives in now. To me, my back yard is now a wonderful place. He can't even go back there without grumbling about the amount of money we spent on it.

Glass bottle coke is the definition of Lux for me.

I would have the opposite reaction. A sick stomach and a spinning head thinking about what else could have been done with that much dough. I'd be scared to touch it.

I hear you. I recently had a $2000 bass that I had to sell because I couldn't bring myself to play it. I was just terrified that I get a nick in it or somehow diminish it's value and much as I liked it, it made no sense to keep it.

I have to believe though that someone that owns a bass that costs that much is not going to have those same fears unless we're talking about an historic instrument.




What a $25,000 bass really gets you is either respect or ridicule. If your peers judge it to be a worthwhile instrument that you play well = respect. If your $25,000 bass makes you like like one of those guys that's born every minute and was soon parted with his money then you're looking like a clown.

 

[Jack Butler]

She sounds pretty dope...

Seriously though, a few years ago Mrs Dope and I took a road trip vacation. Along the way we stopped at The Low End bass shop outside Nashville, Atlanta Bass Gallery, and a few other stores.

Mrs Dope gave me full permission to buy a boutique 5 string up to $5K. I played some beautiful works of art.

But ultimately, I did not buy anything because nothing played or sounded better than my Peavey.

 

[Lownote38]

What does it get you? An empty wallet!

 

[BioDriver]

You get insane self-consciousness.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

What are you really buying for your $25k or whatever? How much better do these crazy expensive boutique basses REALLY sound/play than say the best one from your average music store set up properly? Would anyone else really hear it?

One more bass than you had.

 

[Honkey tonk]

if I made a living playing bass and I really wanted a 25 k bass. I think I could justify it.

 

[kodiakblair]

You can get a pretty good DB for $25K.

Mingus played a 1927 Roth. Highest price any Roth has made in auction $17k.

Ray Campi made his career playing an old Kay,models from the 30's average $3.5k. He keeps the Kay in England,for US shows he uses 2 unbranded plywood DBs. Probably $1600 for the pair.

 

[devnulljp]

So what does a $25k bass actually get you?

Divorced. It would get you divorced.

 

[ThudThudThud]

$25,000 bass on TalkBass 'Bass Guitar' forum: "OOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!!"
$25,000 bass on TalkBass 'Double Bass' forum: "Meh..."

 

[cheapbasslovin]

A $1000 bass and priceless art piece in one 7-10lb package

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

it should be able to play itself and leak beer from the horn.

 

[Sparkl]

This.

How much better is a $125,000 Porsche than a $22,000 VW? How much better is a $5.8 MILLION dollar Bugatti than the Porsche?

You can't scale up basses like cars man. It's not additional horsepower you're buying with that bass. You might consider a comparison between a standard Toyota and a Rolls Royce in terms of luxury and comfort though. But then even that seat that you sit on reaches a limit of comfort at a certain price point and everything over that starts piling up in terms of "we have money, we can do it" leather and diamonds and poop.

My point? A 25k$ bass is way over that "practical engineering" limit and honestly, if a bass for 10k plays and sounds any worse than a 25k$ bass does, it is done so on purpose. Hell, I would say for half of that money even. I mean, are we saying that a 25k$ bass should by all means stomp over a NYC Sado or other brands like it's nothing? I really don't think so.

OTOH, a Bugatti Chiron should by all means stomp over that Porsche 911 like it's absolutely nothing. Both in terms of speed, comfort and luxury.