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When you finally find the perfect bass...

smurfco

smurfco

Mar 16, 2007
1,177
2,394
Austin, TX
#1
So I go through gear like a bum goes through Steel Reserve. I liked most of my basses but I grew tired of them after a while.

I recently bought a 1977 Rickenbacker 4001 from xlows on here, and I honestly think that this is "the one". I will still keep the Sterling and Warmoth around because they have their places, but I've never had a bass that was this much fun to play, that sounded this good, that just FIT me so well.

What bass is it for you, if you've found it yet?
 
#5
My Bacchus Standard 5.

At the time I was waiting on a custom Hotwire to be built. The Bacchus looked nice, even though it was a fairly beaten up 2nd hand jobbie in Japan, at a price that would've been stupid to turn down. I had never heard of them but everything I could find about them in English said "yes" so I went for it.

It just ticked every box. The tone is the tone. The feel is just magical, the neck is the perfect 5er neck, nitro finished too. Oil finished body, it just sings unplugged and wails when amped up.

When the Hotwire did arrive it just didn't grab me the way the Bacchus did and does. I've gotten other basses since, but when it's time to cut the crap it's the bass that I pick up.
 
#7
I have found my "ONE" in 1999; my Dingwall Prima 5, my "Uber Alles". I've been challenging my finding by trying any bass I could lay my hands on and buying another 40 basses only to return and acquire (over time) another 18 similar to the ONE (different woods, pickups, electronics)
 
#8
Reverend basses are the ones for me. I've had my blue one for almost 10 years, which is the longest I've owned any bass. For me, their combination of tone, playability and vibe can't be beat. And, I never get tired of them.
Now, if money wasn't an obstacle, my "one" might be different. I played a Dingwall Super P/J a few months ago that blew my doors off, but the price was beyond prohibitive. And, who knows, it might have been infautation.
 
#9
I got back into playing @ 10 years ago and was using an old ESP parts Pbass which was the only one I owned at the time. Seven years ago I decided I wanted a five string fretless (I started years ago on a fretless P). When i went out looking I found a Rob Allen MB2. It is the ONE!.
 
#14
I *THINK* my Sadowsky jazz is "the one". I've tried a few different modern botique basses but was never thrilled. The first time I played the Sadowsky (with a live band), my thought was "this is the sound I was hoping all the others were going to have." I just never realized before that I was a jazz bass kinda player.
 
#15
maconbass said:
I *THINK* my Sadowsky jazz is "the one". I've tried a few different modern botique basses but was never thrilled. The first time I played the Sadowsky (with a live band), my thought was "this is the sound I was hoping all the others were going to have." I just never realized before that I was a jazz bass kinda player.
Click to expand...

I had a very similar experience with my Mike Lull M5V (the 'vintage' style 5 string). I have actively, for some time, tried to find basses that didn't fit into that particular mold, but ended up with the kind of five string Jazzes (in my opinion). It beat out not only a bunch of other Jazz basses, but also every other Lull I'd tried. When a bass comes out on top against the likes of Sadowsky, Fodera, and its own manufacturer's other instruments, well, that says something.

Doesn't stop CT's being 'the one' though. I have a feeling that most of them are, even if they feel and sound drastically different (like the two I played - thank you CTandBirdsong). I think there comes a point when everything about the instrument, pros and cons, good things and faults, balance so well and add just the right amount to the whole that the instrument seems 'perfect' even if it isn't. Some luthiers hit this more than others, and the threshhold is definitely different for different people (Mike Tobias seems to hit it for a lot of folks).
 
#18
I'm satisfy with my 5 string G&L Tribute L2500 , Warwick Corvette and Aria Modify bass.

They all classify as the "One" for me in different situation.

If i ever get rid of them it will be an upgrade to another bass, i'm happy to have 3 bass. Anything more then that i will not be able to use them all.
 
#19
Dave Siff said:
I played a Dingwall Super P/J a few months ago that blew my doors off, but the price was beyond prohibitive. And, who knows, it might have been infautation.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on this. I played a Super J with P/J pickups a year and a half ago, and I think it's the best bass I've ever played. I've regretted letting it pass by, and it's even more painful with Dingwall's price increase.

Luckily, I have "the one" for conventional Jazz basses -- my 2003 American Series Fender with noiseless Fralins. It's so good that I have no J-bass GAS, apart from the Dingwall which is in another universe.

For P-basses, my American Series Fender and G&L SB-2 are each 95% of the way there, but neither is quite "the one." My G&L's neck seems to be settling in, and if I can get the action a touch lower, it could get there. It's definitely "the one" for tone.
 

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