Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
When your "cheaper" bass is your #1
- Thread starter Dincrest
- Start date
This is pure wisdom right there ! Thanks for bringing us back to reality.The value of a bass isn't the price tag; the value of a bass is the music you make with it.
Stop worrying about ranking your basses by price and enjoy making music with them in whichever order makes you happy and fits the song.
I am calling the two that get the most play #1 & #1.2...I can't stop playing #1.2 and it was cheaper, so I guess I answer "yes". #1 is a Precision w/ flats that's just SOOOOOOO gooey and great but it's not for every situation in which I find myself. #1.2 because of the minimal pre-amp works really well for most everything. What IS #1.2 you ask? B E H O L D~
Need to put a price range on “cheap” !! Say $500 new.
Me? For a while. I have a pre Covid Sterling Ray4. I bought as a beater to play at this rough open mic we host. It is an excellent copy. For several years it was my main player! Outside the open mic. Leaving nicer basses at home!
Me? For a while. I have a pre Covid Sterling Ray4. I bought as a beater to play at this rough open mic we host. It is an excellent copy. For several years it was my main player! Outside the open mic. Leaving nicer basses at home!
All my basses would likely be considered "cheaper" and I honestly don't mind.
This one. My first bass. Scratch and dent discount 1995 MIM jazz bass. Upgraded with fender custom-shop noiseless pickups and more recently black hardware.
since the blackout it has been my go to, but i regularity swap through all my bases.
Well...
In my case? There are quite a few caveats and "yeah-buts" going on. Like, for instance...
"Expensive" as in - what the bass sold for new? Or "expensive" as in - what I actually paid for it? Since my basses are all left handed - and a lot of new lefty basses cost more than a new right handed one does - does that count? What about the scalper prices I paid for my 2 Rickenbacker basses when there were no new ones to be had, because RIC stopped making them - and hinted that they might never make them again? And, stuff like that...
However...No, it doesn't bother me that my #1, go to, most favorite bass, is not the one that cost the most when it was new. But, it's far from the least expensive bass I own - new price or used. It's my '73 Rick 4001. I bought it - and the '01 COY Rick 4003 - in the middle of the "no new lefty Ricks" period; from 2006, to about 2011. It cost me about 60% more than what a new lefty Rick would have cost - if there were any. As did the '01 4003...
In any case, I have several basses that cost more than the 4001 did. The '13 Gibson Thunderbird cost quite a bit more (Gibson has a very hefty Lefty Surcharge). So did the '17 Hofner 500/2 Club Bass; German Hofners have quite a Lefty Surcharge, too. There are several others that cost more than the old Rick did...
On the other hand, I have used basses that cost me a whole lot less than the original owner paid for them. My '06 Carvin LB-20, for example, cost it's original owner about $1600. I bought it 9 years later - apparently never played - for $360; shipping included. Since it was built to be a Rick substitute (and does one helluva good job of it, too), it could easily replace the 4001 as my favorite. Well, if the neck was just a hair skinnier, anyway...
So... bottom line? No, the fact that my "Favorite" bass is not the most expensive bass in my 30 bass strong Herd. does not bother me at all. I like - and play - all of them; they just... are what they are...
My cheap basses have to be number #1’s. For the simple reason that I don’t own any expensive ones he he he.
Last edited:
Not my cheapest bass, but not by much, still a cheap budget bass, my #1, without any doubt or ambivalence:
A lowly but very much beloved, just 28.6" scale, 5 string Ibanez GSRM25 Mikro Bass, with the surprisingly quiet stock J bridge pickup wired directly to the output jack socket.
Tuned in tenor bass, A standard tuning, that is A to F, or like the 4 upper strings of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning, plus a high F.
Perfectly cut nut, and perfectly leveled frets, right from the Cort factory in Indonesia where it was made.
Sounds amazing, and got an incredible amount of sustain, and quite effortlessly and comfortable to play.
Features a Poplar body, and a Maple neck with a Jatoba fretboard.
If I ever get that kind of money to spare I would have custom bass made, based on this bass.
Some sound samples:
My basic "clean" tone:
Modulation and reverse delay:
Overdriven:
And even more processed in a mix:
A lowly but very much beloved, just 28.6" scale, 5 string Ibanez GSRM25 Mikro Bass, with the surprisingly quiet stock J bridge pickup wired directly to the output jack socket.
Tuned in tenor bass, A standard tuning, that is A to F, or like the 4 upper strings of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning, plus a high F.
Perfectly cut nut, and perfectly leveled frets, right from the Cort factory in Indonesia where it was made.
Sounds amazing, and got an incredible amount of sustain, and quite effortlessly and comfortable to play.
Features a Poplar body, and a Maple neck with a Jatoba fretboard.
If I ever get that kind of money to spare I would have custom bass made, based on this bass.
Some sound samples:
My basic "clean" tone:
Modulation and reverse delay:
Overdriven:
And even more processed in a mix:
Last edited:
You say you gravitate to your old bass which is better in ergonomics because your body is used to it and don't play your new bass which is better in ergonomics?
In my humble opinion, only one of them can be better in that regard, not both.
I have played a ton of high quality, high price basses that were supposed to be superb to my bass in every regard, and always put them back and said "maybe from an objective viewpoint, but not for me".
Then I wondered if having used this one bass exclusively for more than a decade has hardwired my brain in a different way and every other bass feels inferior just because it's different from what I'm used to play - and then I found a bass that is better in every regard (according to my hands and gut feeling), and it pretty much retired my other bass on the spot.
I later bought another bass which quickly became my #1, despite costing less than half as much.
I have almost 15 basses at home, most of them are expensive and top notch ('71 Fender Precision, '51 Custom Shop, Manson JPJ, Spector Euro4 LX, Music Man Stingray, three Hofner made in Germany, Yamaha TRB6p, Yamaha BB3000), but it's been 10 years since I got a cheap Harley Benton JB75 (wonderful two-pieces ash body, rosewood fretboard, chunky neck profile exactly like 70's Fender Jazz basses), that I used for a couple of years with it's stock Wilkinson pickups, for some years with a set of EMG J, and then went back to it's stock Wilkinson).
it's still, after years and after acquiring so many "top notch" instruments, one of my favourite.
I've had a LOT of Jazz Basses over the years, from USA Standard to American Vintage, Elite, Deluxe ecc, and this one simply survived, while the others went away after a while.
it weights 4kg, balanced, with perfect fret-job, the neck is stable and I need to set it up only if I change string gauge. it sound like a good Jazz Bass, I gig it since 2015, went on planes to play outside Italy, and never had an issue.
I "re-payed" it with the first gig it did
I clapped together a frankenbass from parts I had laying around after finding a body to match the heel of a G&L tribute neck I bought on a blowout sale. Total cost of all parts was about $250 (used SD Quarter pounder, Omega bridge). This bass has ended up being my primary or backup bass for every gig I have. It weighs far less than 8 lbs and punches like a mule. The only weird thing was I had to put a strap extender on the horn because the body is actually too light to balance.
This could easily become my #1 if I didn't have a need for the lower extension my Kubicki ExFactors provide. '21 Pro II neck on a Vintera 75th Anniversary body. Loaded with Fralins. Not "cheap" by most standards, but still under $1k. Thanks again @tindrum !
Last edited:
All of mine are "cheap" so I don't concern myself with that aspect when grabbing one.
@el murdoque
The ergonomics thing is complicated. See with my "old" bass (the swirl one), it wasn't quite "love at first play." I really had to grow into that bass, but am glad I did because it really does feel like a great pair of jeans that were stiff at first, but with some time, effort, and love, are now pretty comfy.
Yet with my "new" bass, it started feeling really good almost immediately. I've only had it for about 5 months, yet can "think less, play more" with it as if I've had it for far longer.
And both feel different yet are both ergonomically sound. One has a 42mm nut width with a rounder neck carve (slightly chunky feel) whereas the other has a 38mm nut width and a much thinner and slightly flatter neck carve.
I love both, both are keepers. And I like having two basses (in case one's in the shop or something, I can play the other). But if could only have one, I know which one I would pick.
The ergonomics thing is complicated. See with my "old" bass (the swirl one), it wasn't quite "love at first play." I really had to grow into that bass, but am glad I did because it really does feel like a great pair of jeans that were stiff at first, but with some time, effort, and love, are now pretty comfy.
Yet with my "new" bass, it started feeling really good almost immediately. I've only had it for about 5 months, yet can "think less, play more" with it as if I've had it for far longer.
And both feel different yet are both ergonomically sound. One has a 42mm nut width with a rounder neck carve (slightly chunky feel) whereas the other has a 38mm nut width and a much thinner and slightly flatter neck carve.
I love both, both are keepers. And I like having two basses (in case one's in the shop or something, I can play the other). But if could only have one, I know which one I would pick.
