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There is Life After GAS

#21
I'm relatively gas free at the moment. Part of that is because I'm very satisfied with the basses I own, and are the top of my list of desires, but a lot is because I can't afford anything else. I made a promise to not get any new gear, and you know what? Its not that hard. I see stuff I want all the time, but since I know I can't get it, I quickly realize I don't really need it, and that buying all the gear in the past was just a habit (almost an addiction really). This goes for all my music gear, motorcycle gear, car, etc. What I have is great, does everything I need, and I'm able to enjoy what I have much more rather than worry about what's wrong with it and how something new would fix it.
 
#22
What keeps me reasonably sane, is that I realize I only have 2 hands=one bass at a time I can play. As my schedule for practice is limited with the busy day job and all, it pretty much winds down to one main bass i play all the time, and the rest of the bunch staring at me reprovingly for having been demoted to wall art.

That said my wife is getting me a bass for me b'day :bassist:
 
#27
EagleMoon said:
GAS is nothing more than obsession, which even though it's exciting is also stressful. I'm really glad I've been GAS free for a year or so. Doesn't mean I can't admire and appreciate other people's basses. But there's nothing that I just can't live without as much anymore.
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My limited playing time certainly has kept me from investing in a fretless because I know I would have a very hard time finding space on my schedule to get my intonation together.
 
#31
I'm very happy with what I have. My GAS was wanting to find those few "perfect players" and I have them. Got two American Standard Jazz basses; a 2011 5 string and a 2009 4 string. I also have an MIJ Classic 70's Precision bass that I am really digging on these days.

I will say that there's one bass that I occasionally GAS for, but everytime I play one I'm always let down by it. The Hofner Icon. I'm a total Beatlemaniac, a huge fan of Macca's and I keep thinking an Icon would be a cool little "couch buddy" bass to have. When I see one it's always "I GOTTA TRY IT!!" Then after 5 minutes it's back in the rack. That neck is just SO small and the spacing is so tight that I can't come to grips with it.
 
#33
I dreamed for years of owning one amazing bass....just one. Once I acquired that particular bass it set of a chain reaction and I wanted another one and then another. As soon as I'm satisfied with basses, I turn to my amp obsession. From there it becomes effects that haunt my dreams. Its really silly.

The excitement factor seems to decrease as time goes on and yet I still long for more gear. Not sure why but my theory is that at certain times in my life I was too pre occupied with gigging, song writing and recording to worry too much about new gear. But when little playing opportunities are happening, I tend to start dreaming of more and better gear.

At least I recognize my crazy obsession! :)
 
#34
I think we all just go through phases. I know when I first started I was happy enough to have a bass n amp. Anything. As time went I started wanting my own tone. I have a board with 8 pedals ( the max it can handle) and I'm always switching them out. I am tonight actually! But who knows, in another 2 to 4 years, I may just want a different head and cab. It depends on if you're actively playing in a band/project to IMO. That tends to change a lot of things I think.
 
#35
Mike M. said:
I'm very happy with what I have. My GAS was wanting to find those few "perfect players" and I have them. Got two American Standard Jazz basses; a 2011 5 string and a 2009 4 string. I also have an MIJ Classic 70's Precision bass that I am really digging on these days.

I will say that there's one bass that I occasionally GAS for, but everytime I play one I'm always let down by it. The Hofner Icon. I'm a total Beatlemaniac, a huge fan of Macca's and I keep thinking an Icon would be a cool little "couch buddy" bass to have. When I see one it's always "I GOTTA TRY IT!!" Then after 5 minutes it's back in the rack. That neck is just SO small and the spacing is so tight that I can't come to grips with it.
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You must have big hands. Mine are average for a six-foot guy and I find the the Ignition (Icon) just a little dream of a bass. It's a different experience from a long-scale, no doubt. Have you played one through a powerful amp? They really hold up.
 
#40
Crabby said:
I dreamed for years of owning one amazing bass....just one...
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That was in my head for twenty five years or so, and I distracted myself with other basses, but last month when I finally acquired "the one," it was like Gollum finally falling into the lava stream and disappearing, and, silly enough, I actually felt free to play and not criticize anything about any of the other basses I own... in other words, I'm not wishing they were something they weren't. They actually seem different now, i'm seeing them as they actually are and appreciating them that much more.
 

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