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fender MIA p/j (still my main bass) and my 1st "bass amp" was a minimark which I got to double as an acoustic guitar amp too . . .
I should note I wasn't a total noob when I started playing bass - I'd already played guitar for over 10 years and was an engineer for quite a few years as well . . .
I had a borrowed "Roberts Custom", some type of no-name, sparkle gold bass with a horrible setup, pluged into a Fender Bassman, circa 1970's.
My first owned bass was a Ibanez Ergodyne, and I currently play Fender P and J basses mostly, though I still have the Ibanez. I have a mix of Ampeg and Avatar cabs, w/ GK and Genz-Benz amps.
I had a Kingston something or other. It was a pretty good bass from what I remember. My dad gave it to me, we took it apart planned on repainting it. never did though cause I got a p-bass instead.
My first amp was an 80's 100 watt yamaha combo. I got it 7 or 8 years later when I turned 15. I actually used it till recently. Was a really good little (heavy ass) amp. Now its sadly done for..... But I got a new amp coming as of today
When I was in high school (1982-83?), my dad took a stab at playing bass, so initially I played his rig, which was a Cortez jazz copy through a Peavey TKO-65 with a Black Widow. Subsequently he got a black T-40, which I used for a while but which was stolen when my folks' house was burglarized. Later when I got out of college (89?) I got a bass rig of my own, consisting of a Peavey Mark IV bass head, a Fender SideKick 115 cabinet with a Black Widow in it, and a Yamaha BB-1600.
A Squier Jazz bass and about a month later an Acoustic B200 I got lucky with the Acoustic; they had just come out and there were no reviews on them. Luckily they turned out to be pretty good starter amps.
I worked in the orange groves down here in Florida all one summer 40 yrs ago. Saved up $70 ish dollars to buy a Kay bass hangin in the local small town independent music store of the late 60's and 70's.
No amp. layed on the bed and put the bass against my ear. Played along Three Dog Night and CCR.
Got my first playing gig @13 yrs old with a small time gospel combo.
First amp i got was a silvertone. 2-12's and a seperated head. Was not a bass amp. Did ok for the combo though.
My first semi real bass amp was an Earth head of some sort and a 2-15 loaded with ev's.
As others have said, its been a wild ride since the beginning.
stay tuned for more!!
First bass - Kay EB3 copy, It was terrible, there was a timezone between the strings and board no matter how much it was adjusted.
First Amp - Univox Bass 30, 30 watt head with a 1x15 cab.
Played it every day till my fingers bled, wasn't long before I had calluses like concrete. I started saving every penny I could from odd jobs and gigs and about a year later I traded them both plus cash for a Gibson RD Artist.
My bass teacher gave me a Kalamazoo Bass 30 so I had an amp to practice with and I borrowed amps to gig with until I saved enough money to get my own, which turned out to be a Fender silverface Bassman 100 head and an Acoustic 2x15 cab.
I started out with a Music Man Stingray 4H, Gallien-Krueger 400RB, Carvin 210.
I have a very, very generous Uncle who is a bass gear collector of sorts who set me up when I wanted to learn to play. I doubt I would have worked as hard and tried as hard at learning bass if I didn't have as nice of gear.
Yamaha BBN4 and a Carvin 100w combo. I hooked up with a little garage band as a singer after being out of the scene for a number of years. They didn't have a bass player so I bought the Yammy and Carvin used, taught myself a few songs, and showed up at the next practice with the gear. The guitar player asked "You play bass"? I said "I do now". That is how I started playing bass 8 years ago.
I "borrowed" a Rickenbacker copy (1982) from the neighbor kid for 2 years (I wouldn't give it back till the day I moved outta town) and my high school let me take home a Randall combo (also returned the day I moved).
My first bass was a Tokai Jazz and first amp was an old Acoustic (don't remember the model) and a JBL 15" Cabaret (1984) bottom.....a friend still owns the JBL.......
ahh memories even if it was just like 4 years ago
i started with a washburn bantom xb 100 bass in a tobacco sunburst, simular to a squir p bass. i played it through my dads behringer pmx 2000 and a peavey pr15 for like 3 months befor i finaly got a peavey max 158. i still use both the pa and the 158. but i finaly upgraded my amp to a peavey mark iv with a hartke 410 about 6 months back.
I started out with one of those Squier started packages. I raised the fret height on it to an ungodly level so my fingers would become stronger. I've since upgraded to an Ampeg SVT 4 pro with an Ampeg 8x10 and a fender geddy lee jazz, a stingray and a thunderbird.
I was very lucky back in 1964. My older brother gave me his 1955 P Bass and early 1-15" speaker Fender Bassman combo amp. I took lessons from Jack Cassidy before he moved to San Francisco to "join some band."