What made you decide to upgrade?

[Roosevelt]

I started playing bass back when I was 13yo and it was a brand new Cort (btw I still have it). Needless to say I stopped playing for a number of years and started back up about 4yrs ago. I am 50yo now and now have a better understanding of tone and playing now and have bought several Squiers over the past 4 years. I currently play every Sunday and gig every so often and have 2 Affinity's(a red P & a black J), 2 Standards(a red burst J and a pewter J) and a white Classic Vibe Jazz. Since acquiring the CV I have truly come to appreciate that quality compared to the others I have. I am toying with the idea of possibly stepping up to a Fender Jazz or Sire V7 but other than GAS, what made you decide it was time to upgrade?

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

The CV series is really a very good bass. if you can, I would suggest you take it with you and try a MIM and an AM and compare all 3. I have one AM J, but I have 4 Ps. Affinity, CV, MIM, and Select. The Affinity is in parts getting an overhaul, but I really don't hear a whole lot of difference between the other 3. The Select is bit fuller sounding than the others, but I am happy to gig with any of the others.

 

[Rabidhamster]

I played a better high end bass and realized it wasn't just a set up and new pickups away from my bass, it was all around worth-the-money-to-me better.
Some of it was just "milling around" trying to figure out what I like - when thru upgrades and downgrades. Sometimes I downgraded to pay the bills - then later I double upgraded to make up for it.

 

[dinoadventures]

Boredom, mostly. But my basses don't overlap.

Those Squiers you have are fantastic. We're in an age now where you can get spectacular quality and sound out of very inexpensive basses. I've played lots of $$$$ basses that are worse in several different ways than, say, a SBMM Ray35 or a regular Yamaha. I don't own a bass I've paid over $1k for but that has nothing to do with being able to afford it. If I ever played a five grand bass that felt like magic I could figure out a way to get it but I just haven't.

 

[socialleper]

When what I have isn't doing what I need it to do. Sometimes it takes a while to really understand your needs, so you end up with gear to just get by with.
I upgraded my Shuttle 9.0 when I realized the EQ on the D800 was what I needed.
I'm upgrading my GK 2x112 Neo rig to a Barefaced Super Twin because the GKs don't fill a room the way I want.
I've upgraded\downgraded basses based on their tone or playability.

 

[catcauphonic]

After about 10 months of dinking around on my Craigslist entry level Yamaha (at age 42), i KNEW then that electric bass guitar was going to be a rest-of-my-life obsession.

So i went out and got myself something (used) as nice as i could, that would make me want to play even more. When i saw that T-Bird style Spector hanging on the wall at BassNorthwest, i tried it, and told myself that i was going to learn to play THAT bass. It's been a love affair ever since

Next was the amp/cab situation. I should add that i don't own anything more valuable than my current setup as far as toys go. It was the one treat that i felt no guilt dropping a bunch of coin on.

 

[el murdoque]

I started out on a crappy old J copy which i did not really like. When I had some money to spare and knew i was in the bass business for good, i bought a Carvin. I had no clue about Basses back then, but people i trusted told me that these were high quality instruments for reasonable prices. That was twenty years back and i never felt the need to upgrade ever since. I wanted to, though, and i did.

 

[Mr_O'B]

Gas is infinite, so it's normal to want something different (not necessarily better).

I own two keepers (Fender American & Fender MIM). I don't need another bass, but I would own a Roscoe Classic Custom and Nordy DL in a heartbeat!

There is no law stating that a person has to stick to one bass.

 

[dxb]

For me, its mostly been driven by curiosity to find the price/quality sweet spot. When I started buying electric guitars, I went with a fairly expensive model at first which I didn't particularly like and hardly ever played. Then I started buying cheap guitars and slowly worked my way back up to mid-priced ones.

So when I started buying basses, I went with the cheapest I could find- a $100 used Ibanez- and worked my way up. Funny thing is that the Ibanez was already pretty decent so I could've stopped there, but I like to try different things and I've noticed that the each of the ones I've bought since then have cost a little more than the last.

 

[Badwater]

The Sterling SUB series is like a gateway drug. It's very different from most basses in it's look and sound. Thus, a week later I played the MusicMan Stingray, and It grabbed me, and pulled me in... I was hooked on on the MusicMan experience. So I upgraded the SUB SB4 to a Sterling Ray34.

 

[superdick2112]

My starter bass (way back in 1979) was a Sears Silvertone.
I decided to upgrade after a few years when I visited a music store, auditioned an Ibanez Musician Bass & realized it played, sounded & looked about 100x better than my Silvertone did.
It took me more than a year to save up for the Ibanez, and it was worth every penny.

 

[micguy]

If your current bass is bugging you in some way, that might count as a reason, so long as you make sure the upgrade doesn't bug you the same way. The other reason I'd say is that a new one might inspire you to play differently (or practice more).

In my case, some of the "bugging" was weight (back issues and just getting a bit older in general). I had a couple neckdiving boat anchors. Now I have light (and really great souding) basses that replaced them.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

The CV Jazz is a great instrument. The Sire V7 will give you more variety of tones with the preamp. And if you get a 5 string well then you will have an additional B string with some extra notes. So that would make perfectly good sense to add it to what you already have. I wouldn't say the Sire is an upgrade to the CV. More like a great addition. A different tool. Keep the CV. I would definitely consider the CV and the Sire or a Fender being an upgrade to the Affinity Squiers.

 

[lug]

Mainly the HUGE piles of money just sitting on my desk, looking lonely with no place to go.

 

[Roosevelt]

The CV Jazz is a great instrument. The Sire V7 will give you more variety of tones with the preamp. And if you get a 5 string well then you will have an additional B string with some extra note. So that would make perfectly good sense to add it to what you already have. I wouldn't say the Sire is an upgrade to the CV. More like a great addition. A different tool. Keep the CV. I would definitely consider the CV and the Sire or a Fender being an upgrade to the Affinity Squiers.

The CV is never going

 

[Gaolee]

I don't consider anything an upgrade or downgrade. It's all just different. Some things are easier to play, some are better sounding, some are just different. Some are more of the same. The only times I ever had what I would consider an upgrade are back when I got the 'Freebass' and stopped playing the awful Vantage neck dive special that was my first bass guitar. Trading the 'Freebass' for the EB-2 I still have was the second upgrade. After that, it's just GAS and curiosity.

 

[spiritbass]

I had some very nice basses, but then I got intrigued by Sheldon Dingwall's multi-scale instruments in 2007. I've been addicted to them ever since. Eventually, I sold all of my mono-scaled basses and only play Dingwalls. That's how it went for me...

 

[RickyT]

I started on a 4 string, played that for about 6 years then wanted a 5 string so I upgraded to a used Ibanez SR505. Then about 3 years later, I wanted a brand new bass, so I upgraded to an ESP LTD B205. Then (15 years later) I wanted a 6 string, with a Low F, so I had a bass built for me.

Now I think I need a 7 string......and a 10 *sigh. Does GAS ever stop?

 

[AztecViking]

I had been listening to lots of music made with 5 string basses and thought I'd like one. Favorite 4 string was an old G&L L2000 but had a friend with a Stingray 5H and once I tried playing that I think I was sold on Stingrays. But I went to winter NAMM in 2011 or 12 just to play Musicman basses and tried out every type of bass they make in one stop. I ended up going with a Stingray 5HH model.

My aunt then left me a small amount of money in her will and I spent that on a Stingray 5HH fretless. 2014 PDN run of instruments. Very happy with both of those basses but this place ( Talkbass ) and a player named Ric Fierabracci now have me very interested in Pedulla instruments.

But I've got great gas control and I'm very unlikely to buy anything new for awhile.

I'm genetically programmed to not have a bad case of gas! And you DO know what I'm sayin'!

 

[pappabass]

Glad you started back! I am not sure of the pickup configuration on the cv. But the jazz has a different sound. I sold my fender p & bought a perfect mim fender jazz but did not like the Jazz sound. after a couple of basses and many years, I am back to a fender p.