I had a '95 Fender American Std Precision Bass and I still regret selling it. Excellent bass!
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Who cares about 90's basses??
- Thread starter pancho1111
- Start date
I wouldn't blame the decade on your singular experience.
I have the following:
97 US Jazz Dlx V. Killer bass. It's going to the grave with me.
99 Carvin BB75. Same, it's not going anywhere without me.
94 Peavey Forum Plus. Amazing.
early '00 US Precision Dlx V. (Technically not 90s, but it's the design/series that came about in 98). Also killer.
91 Peavey Dyna Bass 5. Also a great bass.
I had a 93 Peavey Foundation that was a great bass, but relatively not as great as the 84 and 85 Foundations.
I have the following:
97 US Jazz Dlx V. Killer bass. It's going to the grave with me.
99 Carvin BB75. Same, it's not going anywhere without me.
94 Peavey Forum Plus. Amazing.
early '00 US Precision Dlx V. (Technically not 90s, but it's the design/series that came about in 98). Also killer.
91 Peavey Dyna Bass 5. Also a great bass.
I had a 93 Peavey Foundation that was a great bass, but relatively not as great as the 84 and 85 Foundations.
90's are my favorite decade of instruments.
To those who are old enough to remember, in the sound of popular music 80's were all about synthesizers but 90's saw the revival of string instruments including bass. At the same time, this was an age of innovation in boutique and production manufacturers with exotic woods, graphite, ERB's and ergonomic designs. Tobias, Ken Smith, Fodera, Modulus, Yamaha, Lakland, ... to name a few. Fender and Music man were putting out quality instruments too at the time.
To those who are old enough to remember, in the sound of popular music 80's were all about synthesizers but 90's saw the revival of string instruments including bass. At the same time, this was an age of innovation in boutique and production manufacturers with exotic woods, graphite, ERB's and ergonomic designs. Tobias, Ken Smith, Fodera, Modulus, Yamaha, Lakland, ... to name a few. Fender and Music man were putting out quality instruments too at the time.
This is interesting to me...
I bought a 1992 bass (new) along with a Fender Dual Showman amp, through a couple of 15s. I really liked the sound until I sold the amp. Then I no longer liked the bass and eventually sold it for a song. I replaced it with an active BB615 from Yamaha and moved on.
I bought a 1992 bass (new) along with a Fender Dual Showman amp, through a couple of 15s. I really liked the sound until I sold the amp. Then I no longer liked the bass and eventually sold it for a song. I replaced it with an active BB615 from Yamaha and moved on.
I have 6 basses - an 80s pre-Ernie StingRay, a 2013 Sterling SUB 4 (defretted), a 2012 Ergo EUB, and saving the best for last, a 90s MIM Precision that used all American made parts and was just assembled in Mexico (rare), a 90s all Koa Carvin fretless 4 (the sweetest sounding bass I have ever heard), and my main bass, a 90s Carvin LB75 fretless.
The Precision sounds so much like the original 'Ray that it is eerie. After the original preamp failed, I replaced the Carvin Koa 4 with an Audere. Wonderful choice. Not loving the preamp in the LB75, I changed the mag pickup preamp to a DarkGlass Tone Capsule (OMG!!!) along with a GraphTech preamp to mix the piezos with the mag pickups. The sustain is ridiculous, and the tone, for the first time in over 40 years of playing I can truly say I can get any tone that is in my head to come out the speaker.
I have to say that the sound is certainly the result of a combination of the quality of the bass(es) along with the high fidelity output of the Trickfish Bullhead 1K running into a Schroeder 1210PL. I run the amp absolutely flat, and do all the tone adjustments on the 5 string itself.
Like other people who have posted on this thread, I can hardly judge based on such a tiny sample size, but I can say this - if I could find a 90s Carvin fretless 6 string that was configured similarly to my LB75, I would snap it up in a hot second.
The Precision sounds so much like the original 'Ray that it is eerie. After the original preamp failed, I replaced the Carvin Koa 4 with an Audere. Wonderful choice. Not loving the preamp in the LB75, I changed the mag pickup preamp to a DarkGlass Tone Capsule (OMG!!!) along with a GraphTech preamp to mix the piezos with the mag pickups. The sustain is ridiculous, and the tone, for the first time in over 40 years of playing I can truly say I can get any tone that is in my head to come out the speaker.
I have to say that the sound is certainly the result of a combination of the quality of the bass(es) along with the high fidelity output of the Trickfish Bullhead 1K running into a Schroeder 1210PL. I run the amp absolutely flat, and do all the tone adjustments on the 5 string itself.
Like other people who have posted on this thread, I can hardly judge based on such a tiny sample size, but I can say this - if I could find a 90s Carvin fretless 6 string that was configured similarly to my LB75, I would snap it up in a hot second.
As a luthier, I have seen my share of 90's Fenders. 80's and 90's Fenders in many cases are trouble. Fender was using the old equipment and jigs from many years prior, and they were worn out, sloppy, and led to neck issues. The truss rods from that period do not work well, and it is often impossible to straighten a neck fully due to bad design, tolerances, and construction. In 2010, Fender underwent a major production change, and since then, the neck issues have been solved, and they work well. Fender also experimented with a lot of things in the 90's which ended up being dead ends. That is not to say you can't have a nice bass from that era, but from the standpoint of a working luthier, I would say there is at least a 70% failure rate from that era for neck adjustability.
There's several basses I wish I still had from the 90's. An Alvarez 4-string with P/J pickups, a Spector NS-2 and an Ibanez ATK300FL... fretless.
I miss my 90s Thumb BO and Hot Rod P Bass. Kinda weird to generalize an entire decade after one bad experience.
The year made means what ? Unless a true relic or ….. If it’s a good playing and sounding bass who knows what year it is ? You.
Do the audience know or care ? The one or two bass players in the crowd might be interested in your tone, style, or….. but the last thing on anyone’s mind is the year the bass was made I’d guess. Just pick it up and play like it’s worth a fortune
Do the audience know or care ? The one or two bass players in the crowd might be interested in your tone, style, or….. but the last thing on anyone’s mind is the year the bass was made I’d guess. Just pick it up and play like it’s worth a fortune
I don't care about '90s basses; any more - or less - than I care about basses from any other decade. I have instruments made in every decade from the 60's through this one. When I decided I needed a "Long Scale Set Neck" to fill that spot in my herd, that's all the criteria it had to meet. Well... aside from being left handed; playable; and worth the money... The bass I wound up with was a '95 Alembic Epic. But, it could just as easily been any other lefty, long scale set neck - from any decade. As it happens, I have other '90s basses; they play and sound just fine. They just are what they are, and I've no plans to get rid of any of them. As for the OP's dissatisfaction with that '92 Fender Jazz Bass? I have a sneaky suspicion that it's more to do with not being a Jazz Bass kind of guy, than it is the bass. I can say - with certainty - that if that bass was mine? I wouldn't like it, either. And it would have nothing to do with when it was made...
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I had a 78 Precision bought used in '80 for $375 in beautiful condition. Black on black, rosewood and full ashtrays. Had it for maybe 5 years and never loved it so sold it. Neck was unstable and weak electronics. I wish I had kept it for display purposes.
My 1999 Yamaha BBN5L II has the perfect neck profile, nut width, and string spacing for me, and made me a convert to tiny frets. It also has the most stable neck of any bass I’ve ever owned - no seasonal truss rod adjustments at all. The oddball pickup configuration (split coils in J positions) makes it my go to bass for pick playing.
It cost me $1500 to get a lefty J with most of the same specs, and the neck still isn’t as nice. Not that I’m complaining about my Kiesel at all. It’s a near perfect fit, and it sounds and looks great, but my 90s Taiwanese Yamaha is no slouch.
As far as prices go, I hope Made in Taiwan Yamahas will remain valued based on their original price, and reputation as a budget line, rather than their quality, for as long as I’m buying instruments.
It cost me $1500 to get a lefty J with most of the same specs, and the neck still isn’t as nice. Not that I’m complaining about my Kiesel at all. It’s a near perfect fit, and it sounds and looks great, but my 90s Taiwanese Yamaha is no slouch.
As far as prices go, I hope Made in Taiwan Yamahas will remain valued based on their original price, and reputation as a budget line, rather than their quality, for as long as I’m buying instruments.
I have two 90's basses, A heartfield and a stingray. I would sell the heartfield if I could find a buyer, tried a few times but no luck. I am keeping the stingray until I die, can no longer play or my son actually starts to play it regularly. If my son actually becomes a bass player he can keep it since he asked if he could have it when I die.
I have a defretted MB-5 I bought from a pawn shop in Tacoma. The mwah on it is epic.
I'll bet! I always wished they had made a factory fretless version!
