I don't have a dream bass in mind yet, but I'd really like to have an idea of what I want to work up to. I'll eventually get into playing alt, metal (most types) and a few other genres so what do you reckon would be the best for me seeing as I'd like to be versatile? What's your dream bass even if you don't play alt or metal?
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What's your dream bass?
- Thread starter Noctum
- Start date
My dream bass would be a Fender AVRI Bass VI. If only they would make them. That's not for metal though. For metal I like black and pointy basses with multiple split P pickups.
My ideal would have to be a custom build, incorporating all the features I like in basses I've tried, owned or just GAS'd over...
5-string Jaguar in Olympic white with tort pickguard, P-J pickups, all the shiny chrome bits and related switching options found on the MIJ Fender version... and a multi-scale fanned fret neck (maple with rosewood board, dot inlays), probably 35" to 33", with 24 frets. Is that too much to ask?
5-string Jaguar in Olympic white with tort pickguard, P-J pickups, all the shiny chrome bits and related switching options found on the MIJ Fender version... and a multi-scale fanned fret neck (maple with rosewood board, dot inlays), probably 35" to 33", with 24 frets. Is that too much to ask?
That's exactly what I've just had done. I had Warmoth make me a bass that takes cues from Ken Smith, Wal, Sadowsky to name a few...I love it.
However my dream bass was always my '97 Stingray 4.
What I'm now gassing over is a Wal MK2, so I guess that's now my dream bass......
My dream bass is actually a dream trio of basses: a good P, a Ric 4003, and a Gibson Les Paul Standard. I picked up the last of the trio (the LP) at the beginning of this year!
Sounds and functions like a Standard Precision V, 32” neck, singlecut body, spalted maple end-to-end, weighs 8 lbs...
under $500 would be cool.
under $500 would be cool.
Peavey Cirrus Custom 6 string! Flame maple top, birdseye maple fretboard and a mahogany body. Of course, this would be impossible to find now that the custom shop is obsolete. 
-Luke
-Luke
My dream bass in in my closet waiting for its next gig on 12/16 - a 1988 (89?) black Ric 4003. I set the intonation, bridge, & truss rods on it when I lived in Nashville in 1990, then moved to DC, MN, WI, & back to MN, and it's still PERFECT! It sounds glorious, and it makes my fingers do things they never could before (and still can't on other basses).
If that doesn't count as a dream bass because I already have it, then I'd say a Rickenbacker 4003 Tuxedo bass to complement my black one. I think the Tuxedo was a limited edition white color scheme with black highlights they released one year in the mid 80s? I drooled all over the floor model at Knut Koupee the moment I laid eyes on it. And then it went away and I haven't seen one in person since.
Not my first choice as a metal axe though. Bottom end (though SO beautiful) doesn't penetrate enough to compete with metal guitarists who would rather render us meaningless with their massive closed back 4x12s & tuning all the way down to Hell itself (half of them are frustrated bassist wannabes who got demoted to guitar!), plus drummers on the cranked-up kick every 12 nanoseconds. Ricks sound fantastic when distorted though, and that's the only way I'd see them as a good metal bass.
(Seriously, props to my metal guitarist friends! Y'all have had your laughs at your bassist's expense though - you know you do that! A little good-natured payback is all I'm after.)
I like the bottom end of my OLP Stingray for metal (and man, does it record well), but any old P-bass would do nicely, a la Steve Harris. (And I do mean old. I don't know what it is with the newer Fenders & Mexi basses. Their bottom ends just don't penetrate like the old Fenders. Did they switch to a different wood? Is it wood aging?)
If that doesn't count as a dream bass because I already have it, then I'd say a Rickenbacker 4003 Tuxedo bass to complement my black one. I think the Tuxedo was a limited edition white color scheme with black highlights they released one year in the mid 80s? I drooled all over the floor model at Knut Koupee the moment I laid eyes on it. And then it went away and I haven't seen one in person since.
Not my first choice as a metal axe though. Bottom end (though SO beautiful) doesn't penetrate enough to compete with metal guitarists who would rather render us meaningless with their massive closed back 4x12s & tuning all the way down to Hell itself (half of them are frustrated bassist wannabes who got demoted to guitar!), plus drummers on the cranked-up kick every 12 nanoseconds. Ricks sound fantastic when distorted though, and that's the only way I'd see them as a good metal bass.
(Seriously, props to my metal guitarist friends! Y'all have had your laughs at your bassist's expense though - you know you do that! A little good-natured payback is all I'm after.)
I like the bottom end of my OLP Stingray for metal (and man, does it record well), but any old P-bass would do nicely, a la Steve Harris. (And I do mean old. I don't know what it is with the newer Fenders & Mexi basses. Their bottom ends just don't penetrate like the old Fenders. Did they switch to a different wood? Is it wood aging?)
It will be my next custom built Fretless!
A pretty simple JB type of bass with a fat three-piece QS Maple Rosewood neck with two full octaves,Epoxied Brasilian Rosewood lined fretboard , Swamp Ash body with deeper lower cutaway.
A good piece of Swamp Ash for the body wood that weighing in between 3.4 -3.7 lbs is needed which is a crucial factor for this build!
A Custom wound Vintage style JB bridge pickup in the 60s position wound and tapped "dual output modes" with approximately 7,6k and 8,6k resistance of heavy formvar wire, basically a dual mode singel coil pup!
Oh, and 18.3 mm (0.72 inches) string spacing
A pretty simple JB type of bass with a fat three-piece QS Maple Rosewood neck with two full octaves,Epoxied Brasilian Rosewood lined fretboard , Swamp Ash body with deeper lower cutaway.
A good piece of Swamp Ash for the body wood that weighing in between 3.4 -3.7 lbs is needed which is a crucial factor for this build!
A Custom wound Vintage style JB bridge pickup in the 60s position wound and tapped "dual output modes" with approximately 7,6k and 8,6k resistance of heavy formvar wire, basically a dual mode singel coil pup!
Oh, and 18.3 mm (0.72 inches) string spacing
