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What benefit does owning multiple basses give you?

#122
Brad Johnson said:
Didn't say you could. Reread the quote, Jimmy.
:D

Minimal does not mean zero.
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Yeah, but bass players are dirty and filthy and rub grease from parts of their bodies on the strings. So while it's not zero, minimal understates your case. I'd say 50/50 chance you'll get some life threatening disease from touching someone else's bass.
 
#123
I own 4 basses so I’ll start with the easy ones:
Ibanez acoustic- I have it for playing around the house. It plays well and has great harmonics for messing around with solo stuff. I have gigged with it once just so I can say I have. Now it doesn’t even have a battery for the pick-up in. and it was cheap.
Upright bass: I play mostly jazz and singer songwriter stuff so it has jazz/pizz stings on it. I would love to get an EUB for this stuff then get better Arco stings on it but that will have to wait till: I am either making a living as a musician (unlikely as I have a good day job and starting a family) or until the kids are done college.
Fender 4 string road worn pbass with flats (chromes for those that want to know): that vintage Motown sound. Still has stock pups in but I’m hoping to upgrade, maby next year.
G&L tribute L-2000: this is the modern sounding bass I have. Right now it is sitting on kijiji a little overpriced until my new "modern bass" comes in, a bongo 5 sting. Then the price will be dropped a bit
The first two are more a less exempt from this argument as DB is kind of a separate instrument and I don't see the acoustic as an investment (not worth selling) or gigging instrument. A toy to keep myself occupied with.
Having a backup bass is a good idea. having had the only bass I had at the time stolen while in college I was left in a bit of a predicament when having to record and gig with no bass. Also, while playing in a handful of bands it is handy to leave a bass there and still have one at home or at the next band space. for playing different styles (all sort of in the Motown/funk/ jazz/hip hop/R&B/pop/Blues) the ability to get the tone for the vintage jamerson sound as well as the modern pop and hip hop sounds means a lot to me/ band leaders. Having decent gear means recordings also sound good. I recorded with the G&L and it is a relatively cheap instrument and sounds like it but as a performance bass it is great. Just somethings to keep in mind.
 
#124
I've had this ongoing discussion with my drummer, who owns like 15 snare drums and 5 full kits, who keeps bugging me about variety. I play two P's ('01 MIA and a 2012 '62 AVRI) and I reply "how can you improve on THAT!" but lately I've been thinking of treating myself to a Sadowsy or Lull or Lakeland just because I would like a *little* variety.
 
#127
Having lots of different basses with different sounds and setups gives me a keen understanding of what I like about my favorite bass which I ended up building myself out of parts.

Of course, not everyone needs to have a custom bass set up to fit them. They are content to take one off the shelf that feels and sounds good. I envy those people really....but alas, I'm fussy and downright perfectionistic.


Theoretically, Now that I have my ideal bass, I could sell off the rest. But I never know when my taste in things might change. Having the others around serves both as a reminder of what other basses feel like. Plus someone mentioned it can be inspirational to switch up instruments. That is also very true.
 
#130
I am always trying to learn. Each bass I play teaches me something. Each one handles in its own way. Here on TB I noticed a lot of people talking about Fender P Bass. Wondered why that would be a favorite to so many. Had a chance to pick one up pretty cheap. Love it and play it a lot. Got it used. Now that I have had it a few months I see that it is about and now I'm saving for a new one...
 
#131
I have 3 basses. A long scale Epi Thunderbird Classic 4, a Danelectro Longhorn shortscale and a Kala ubass ultrashort scale. Every one has a different sound and feel and I like bouncing around to different scale lengths. My technique changes with each bass, I play mostly classic rock, blues and contemporary Christian, and have no problem using any of the basses interchangeably. Flavor of the day I guess!
 
#132
some of my basses match certain outfits better than others. I wouldn't play my white with gold hardware 6er in a maiden shirt and ripped jeans, and I wouldn't play my brown memphis P in a tux

they all sound different too, and some work better for certain styles of music than others
 
#133
JimmyM said:
Yeah, but bass players are dirty and filthy and rub grease from parts of their bodies on the strings. So while it's not zero, minimal understates your case. I'd say 50/50 chance you'll get some life threatening disease from touching someone else's bass.
Click to expand...

You defintely need to run with a better class of folks, Jimmy.
;)

50/50 odds on a life threatening disease? Sounds like a leper colony.


Back OT... basses are just plain fun to play. More basses, more fun. Simple*

Speaking of fun... old pic ahead:
Group53ALL.jpg





*until you look at your string bill :D
 
#136
HunterBurgan4Me said:
I'm genuinely interested here.

I've owned an active Fender Jazz 5 string for about 4 years now and I love it to pieces, with the right amp settings I can get a ton of different sounds out of it. I've got a 4 string acoustic bass knocking around too to keep my hand in at 4 string and for idle practicing but I never use anything apart from the 5 string gigging.

When I've really really desired a different sound whilst recording I've managed to borrow a bass from a friend or my sound engineer has borrowed one from a music shop.

I just wondered what people's reasoning is for owning multiple basses? Is it for dramatically different sounds, a back up for gigs?

It seems there's more worthwhile bass gear to spend my cash on.

(I did a thread search but couldn't find anything)
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One can never enjoy enough bass. So get more.
 
#137
HunterBurgan4Me said:
I've owned an active Fender Jazz 5 string for about 4 years now and I love it to pieces, with the right amp settings I can get a ton of different sounds out of it....

I just wondered what people's reasoning is for owning multiple basses? Is it for dramatically different sounds, a back up for gigs?

It seems there's more worthwhile bass gear to spend my cash on.
Click to expand...

To be honest, I don't need more than two basses: one great one, and a second functional one as backup. I strongly believe that a professional musician should have backup in case something goes wrong. The show should never stop just because a string breaks or a bad solder joint comes undone.

That said, you're asking us why we have more than is necessary. Here are my answers:

  1. Variety in appearance: I have conservative and flashy basses, each one in a different color.
  2. Variety in tone: different pickups, different body woods.
  3. Variety in setup: I have flatwounds on one, rounds on others.
  4. Vanity probably factors in as well... but I only have 5 basses whereas some have dozens. :p
All I play are five string fretteds, but (as I'm sure has been mentioned), others like to switch between fretted and fretless, four/five/six strings, even active and passive.

P.S. Congrats to you for being satisfied with just one! Again, I don't think you really need more than one (aside from the backup).
 
#138
Fuzzbass said:
That said, you're asking us why we have more than is necessary. Here are my answers:

  1. Variety in appearance: I have conservative and flashy basses, each one in a different color.
  2. Variety in tone: different pickups, different body woods.
  3. Variety in setup: I have flatwounds on one, rounds on others.
  4. Vanity probably factors in as well... but I only have 5 basses whereas some have dozens. :p
All I play are five string fretteds, but (as I'm sure has been mentioned), others like to switch between fretted and fretless, four/five/six strings, even active and passive.

P.S. Congrats to you for being satisfied with just one! Again, I don't think you really need more than one (aside from the backup).
Click to expand...

+1 on everything Fuzzbass said! I have 4 basses and they are all so different in each and every way.
Tonal options, fretboard material, pickups (single coil, humbucker), active/passive. I have a pbass that i bash out every single punk/alternative metal song with cause it has that clunk to it. A thunderbird that i use for grunge/glam/original material cause i recently rewired it to have a kill switch which gives me more output from the two massive humbuckers. a Rickenbacker clone which is great through distortion and mellow sounds such as indie rock/punk. And my short scale which has a character switch that makes it sound like its supporting a mudbucker pickup. Get the gene simmons tone pretty well.

Overall, some people will have 12 basses but 5/12 are gonna be similar cause they like that specific model. SOme have 12 completely different basses all round others can have all the same. It really depends what you're comfortable with. But like fuzz says: you only need two. Your main bass, and a backup.
 
#139
I could get away with 3, but I have many more. I just like them, but there are other reasons. I record a lot and the different characters are useful in that regard. If you play a lot like me you may just get bored with the same thing every time. It's like putting on a new pair of boots or sporting a new haircut......it's fun.
 

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