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Two basses or one?

SalRust

SalRust

Nov 16, 2016
51
16
Inland Empire
#1
So I'm saving up ~$2000 for a bass splurge, but I don't know whether I should get two basses or one.
Two basses : I've already got a 6 string, so I'm thinking just get a 4 and 5, something like a American P bass V and sterling ray34 (natural-maple). This way, I'll have a "full" collection. Any leftover funds would be used for hardware changes.
One bass: I could get a Spector Euro DW or get lucky and find a forte and just tune down to cover the range of the 5.

What would you guys do?
 
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#3
What 6 string do you already have? I'd look at a used American Standard P-bass and a used MM SR5 if I were going for 2 basses. If only buying 1 I'd go for a new American Pro p-bass 4 string. (all bass players should own at least 1 4 string p-bass)
 
#4
Reasons for two basses.
Fretless.
20170422_125300.jpg
 
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#5
SalRust said:
So I'm saving up ~$2000 for a bass splurge, but I don't know whether I should get two basses or one.
Two basses : I've already got a 6 string, so I'm thinking just get a 4 and 5, something like a American P bass V and sterling ray34 (natural-maple). This way, I'll have a "full" collection. Any leftover funds would be used for hardware changes.
One bass: I could get a Spector Euro DW or get lucky and find a forte and just tune down to cover the range of the 5.

What would you guys do?
Click to expand...
If you can find a fender classic 50s precision bass, they slay. IMHO one of the best Precision series Fender has put out in the last 15 years.
 
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#6
fwiw, if you have a 6 not sure why you'd need a 5. Totally a personal bias, but at this point I'm going with 4s and a 6 for extended range. But depends on if you want to embrace the 4-string thing. Since I started on 4 and played upright, I still consider that the "core" instrument despite having spent a decade plus playing only 5-strings. A lot of the music I play and am influenced by was done on 4s as well.

Just depends on what you're trying to accomplish and what speaks to you. Humans can be adaptable if we want to be, so most anything can be made to work. Just depends on if you want to make it work, or prefer another path.
 
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#8
Ampslut said:
What 6 string do you already have? I'd look at a used American Standard P-bass and a used MM SR5 if I were going for 2 basses. If only buying 1 I'd go for a new American Pro p-bass 4 string. (all bass players should own at least 1 4 string p-bass)
Click to expand...
A 90s Ibanez 406QM. The neck is absolutely amazing. I would totally do that combo, but I think the SR5 looks ugly (pickguard is not my cup of tea). I saw a MM SR classic deluxe 5 -- looked just like an SR4, which was perfect, but was sold :(.
 
#13
Aside from the specifics of what you're looking for there, my general advice would be to go for quality over quantity or even variety up to a point (unless you have a number of things you really specifically need, like say you have three gigs that absolutely require a fretless, a 6 string and a conventional fretted P-bass respectively).

I'd put your budget towards one high-quality instrument that you really like. I'm in the process of consolidating a large low-end/mid-range collection into a small selection of higher-end stuff, and I think that's the way I'm going to go from now on. I'm going to have less clutter around the place, and every bass I own is going to be in the regular practice and playing rotation; no more instruments sitting gathering dust in a corner.
 
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#15
SalRust said:
So I'm saving up ~$2000 for a bass splurge, but I don't know whether I should get two basses or one.
Two basses : I've already got a 6 string, so I'm thinking just get a 4 and 5, something like a American P bass V and sterling ray34 (natural-maple). This way, I'll have a "full" collection. Any leftover funds would be used for hardware changes.
One bass: I could get a Spector Euro DW or get lucky and find a forte and just tune down to cover the range of the 5.

What would you guys do?
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by Hardware changes? I don't buy a 1-2k bass that requires hardware changes.
 
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#20
Sort of depends on your goals as a bassist. Do you want to have a wide variety of basses and sounds to draw upon or do you want to focus on having one or two sounds and have a backup for that?

I'm trying to get to where I only have a handful of higher-end basses but they cover a wide variety of sounds, so if I was in your position I would probably buy one nice bass that was totally different than what I already owned (as in, if your 6 string is fretted with jazz pickups then maybe look into buying a 4 string with a P pickup and if possible a humbucker at the bridge).
 

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