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Where did you start? When and on What?

#83
I started playing bass in 1974, when I was 13 years old. First used a borrowed Fender Mustang into some tiny Vox combo amp (also borrowed), then bought a Sekova (cheap Korean copy of a Hofner Beatle bass) which I played through a seemingly never-ending litany of cobbled together crappy amps & speakers.

Wait, what was the question?
 
#84
I started in '71 on a rented Kingston Jazz wanna be a total P.O.S. I bought a example of the Kingston a few years ago for old times sake.
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After couple months my folks bought me my Klira and a Ampeg Reverb Rocket II with the accordian input lmao. I still have the Klira
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#85
I started playing bass in 1961 on (I now know) a '58 Fender Precision. At the time I was the sax player in the band and was asked to move to bass on a few songs because the bass player couldn't play and sing at the same time. The first bass I bought was a '63 Fender Jazz that I purchased in '63 that I played through a blonde Bassman (blew the speakers), then a blonde single Showman (not loud enough) and finally a blackface Dual Showman (still own it).
 
#86
I started in the mid-70's at 15 or so when my soon-to-be-stepdad gave me a cheap Global bass. He took it back not long after that, so I bought my own out of a Sears or Penney's catalog, and played it through a Holmes combo. Eventually upgraded to an aluminum-necked Kramer and a Peavey TKO 65, which took me into college where I started spending student loan money on bass gear...

He and I never really got along, but I guess I have him to thank (or blame) for my being a bass player!

Mike
 
#87
I started in the spring of 1998 at the age of 14, on a Midnight Wine Squier P-Bass that my friend bought. I played that bass for the next three years through a Crate 15-watt combo, until my mom got me an Ibanez EDB-something-or-other and a Genz-Benz 2x10 combo.

That P-Bass is in my friend's basement still, and I want to buy it from him...we beat the crap out of that poor thing...
 
#89
I started playing bass at 16 in 1985 (I played guitar since I was 7 though).

My first bass was a late 70's Ibanez Roadstar P bass clone.

My first amp was an early 70's Hiwatt head (old PA head that sounded amazing. Can't believe I sold it!) and a 4x12 cab made by a local guy. I used this for bass and guitar.

I quickly moved to a Gibson G3 and a '70's P bass though.
 
#90
Although I had a long musical background in both church and school choir (culminating in making it into New York's "All State" Choir my Sophomore year of High School) I started playing bass Christmas of '89, my Freshman year on a "Pro Session" P-bass copy... and as I like to say, "it was neither Pro nor a bass worthy of sessions". Seriously, some of you younger members are lucky enough not to remember a time when "Starter"/Beginner Basses were truly awful, with plywood bodies, barely functional hardware, and necks that allowed the most meager of "set-ups" (I use that term loosely - it was somewhere in the Jamerson range of 1/4"-1/2" off the fretboard).

As much as I have my own personal issues about SX basses, the market of basses to start learning on has exploded, giving you infinitely more choices. A large amount of basses under $200 aren't just "good for the price", they're good period!
 
#92
Swtiched from guitard in 93 when i was twelve because the highschool pep band needed a bass player who could go on the road with teams, so i jumped in using the schools no name short scale bass through a funky old combo PA with a giant prehistoric 15"+giant metal horn PA cab.
my dad quickly got me this
View attachment oldbass.jpg
its a stinger. don't know much about it, some kind of fender knockoff but its got a great neck and tone it just needs a complete overhaul. he also got me a fender BXR15 combo amp. gone through all kinds of stuff since then
 
#94
samson3382 said:
Swtiched from guitard in 93 when i was twelve because the highschool pep band needed a bass player who could go on the road with teams, so i jumped in using the schools no name short scale bass through a funky old combo PA with a giant prehistoric 15"+giant metal horn PA cab.
my dad quickly got me this
View attachment 127703
its a stinger. don't know much about it, some kind of fender knockoff but its got a great neck and tone it just needs a complete overhaul. he also got me a fender BXR15 combo amp. gone through all kinds of stuff since then
Click to expand...

I had a Stinger for a while in the 80's...they were marketed by C.F. Martin. Yours has had a better life than mine did.
 
#95
Ian Perge said:
Seriously, some of you younger members are lucky enough not to remember a time when "Starter"/Beginner Basses were truly awful, with plywood bodies, barely functional hardware, and necks that allowed the most meager of "set-ups"
Click to expand...
Verily! I started in 1987 with a Mako. Sustain was non-existent and it would start going flat within about ten minutes of playing. I had to tune up every other song.

If I knew then...well, I'd played cello before, so I assumed the action was supposed to be that high. It actually did help me a great deal in terms of hand strength, but when I moved up to a low-end Aria a couple of years later, it seemed like a botique bass to me.

I think the Mako (are they still around?) ran me $200 in 1987 dollars. Adjust that for inflation, and there are some really nice basses out there right now in that price range. New players have it much better than we did in my day <insert crotchety old guy voice>
 
#97
I started at the impressionable and predictable age of thirteen in the early '70s, though I'd already been playing cello and acoustic guitar for several years.

Chris Squire, Michael Rutherford, John Camp (of Renaissance), Geddy Lee and Paul McCartney provided the impetus, so it's equally predictable that my first bass was a Ric; a mid-'60s Fireglo beauty with checkerboard binding and a toaster pickup. Wish I still had it :(.

Hard to believe I'm going on forty years as a bassist. Oh well - the older I get, the better I was.
 
#98
I started in 1964 at the age of 17 on a fender P-bass my father got for me. At that time it cost my father $400.00 for the bass. I lost the bass one night giging, it fell out of a U-halt that was left open. I didn't replace it until 2007 with a custom made one. I had a Oliver amp at that time that the head would come up from in side the cab by a click of a switch.
 

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