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Why Not Just One Bass?

#143
I have 4. An old Ric, a fretless Warwick 4, A 5 string Jazz and a 6 string Brice fretless.

I only gig the fretless 6 and the Jazz and only ever practice at home with the 6. I could play both my bands entire setlist on the 6 and leave the Jazz at home but bring it because it does work a little better for some tunes and makes a good backup.

The Ric was my first bass and I'll not part with it for sentimental reasons. I like the tone of the Warwick and it would be my go to bass for everything if it was a 6 - I'm addicted to the extra strings (especially the low B). Thinking of selling that and the Brice and getting fretless Warwick 6.

So I could get away with one bass though I would like to add an upright one day.
 
#144
Dr. Cheese said:
I currently have just one bass, a Peavey TL-5, and it works just fine for what I do. Prior to getting the Peavey, I had a Yamaha TRB5II, and it worked just fine for me too. The bottom line is that I love basses, but I am not a working musician, I just volunteer at a church. Seriously, I don't even practice that much lately. Work and family keeps me pretty busy, and I barely have time to play at all.

Realistically, the collector in me will always want multiple basses, but I am becoming much more comfortable with just owning one bass. I think I am also just getting cheaper. Yesterday, I was checking out the Skyline 55AJ, which is a really nice bass for $1,300, but the more I think about it, I keep thinking why not find another Yamaha or Peavey for $700 or less, and put the extra money to something else?

I know I'm just rambling, but the longer I read TB, the more I feel a need to put my love of bass in its true place: a hobby. When I read here about actual working musicians, I realize that I just am not doing what they are doing, and there is no need for me to have the amount or type of gear that many of them are rocking (I know a bunch of guys who work would be pretty happy with my Peavey and Eden.)

I'm not saying I'm over GAS, or done buying basses. I just feel much less of a need to own expensive gear compared to how I felt years ago. I think TB and age have really made me see things differently.
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One bass will work if it's versatile to do all that you need a bass to do. I have a G&L L2000 Tribute that I've modified for a number of coil-tapping options. I now have all the tones I think I could need, so I'm good with one bass.
 
#145
Good question and one that I have thought about myself. I own 6 basses but nothing high end and have thought of possibly selling some off and purchasing one really good one but I always change my mind; I really like have a few basses and putting one away and coming back to it and it is like new bass day all over again. My entire collection is worth less than 2 grand so I do not feel I am being over indulgent.
 
#146
I'm a mechanic. I have lot's of wrenches and other cool stuff to do my job. I also have different guns for different targets and a wide variety of fishing tackle for the same reason. I also own more than one bass. If you can afford the stuff you want, why not have it?
 
#148
I currently own 10 myself. My boyfriend, who's been playing bass for years and years and in a band,only owns one. I told him that when we move in together he would have access to all my basses. He has had to swing by my house to borrow a bass before when getting a last min gig since he keeps his bass at the club he plays in the house band at.
Maybe one day I will sell one. But right now I am just not ready to. Most of them have meanings to me.
 
#149
Not sure why I keep posting but this thread is an issue I know I deal with all the time. The fiscal side of me wants to "get by" with one bass. For what I do that would/should really be enough. I also like to have something to give me a more "legit" tone for jazz. That's how I justify 2 basses. I'd still like - for no reason other than simple greed or lust - a Geddy Lee jazz.
 
#151
I have two basses: one fretted and one fretless. That covers all the ground I need. I wouldn't mind having a five-string bass, and I used to have a six-string bass, but I like the simplicity of just having these two four-string basses. If the song calls for fretted, I play that. If the song calls for fretless, I play that.

If money were no object, I'd have a room full of them, but they're not art objects for me: they're tools for getting sounds out of head and into Ableton Live.

James
jamesnotjim.com
 
#152
I have four basses, but they are all very different from each other. Four string cheapie (for my punk band - you should see some of the shady places we play at), six string active (for being obnoxious), five string fretless (for being even more obnoxious), and a four string ABG (for showing girls just how sensitive I am). Each bass suits certain situations better than any other in the group, and there really isn't much overlap amongst them. That's my reason for having four basses - they're all basses, but they're also very different animals. And if you have three of the exact same bass, more power to you! I won't tell you you can't do it - it's not my business.
 
#153
Today I saw a nice used MIM Fender Jazz V at a local GC. It was a tad overpriced for a used bass, but it was very clean.
If it weren't holiday season, I would have bought it.

I also saw a really nice used Ibanez SR406, I love the flat neck profiles of Ibanez sixes that make them comfortable even with such narrow spacing. I would have loved to have
bought it too.

The number of basses you own says very little about you as a player, and not really that much about what sort of person you are either. It may say something about your gigs and it may not. Some of us just have one, some of us have more than one.
 
#154
I regularly gig my Fender Jazz fretless and Rick 4001 - VERY different sounds. I play a variety of music, and there are a lot of songs where one of these is perfect and the other just would not work.

I'd like to have a classic Fender Precision (flatwounds, never changed) and a nice modern 5 string because they both could do things my current instruments can't. ... but I'm not in a hurry to acquire either.
 
#155
I have owned several really nice instruments, and I found that when I own more than one really nice one at a time a problem arises; there is no truly compelling reason to pick one over the other. As a result I play the one that happens to be out of the case, or closest in the stand, for weeks or months on end. Then I have the other $1000, $1500, or $2000 bass just collecting dust, which feels like a waste.

Although I would consider myself a gear freak and love all sorts of different basses, at this point I am pretty sure that I want to consolidate all of mine in to just one. One that has it all, naturally.
 
#156
FilCo said:
I have owned several really nice instruments, and I found that when I own more than one really nice one at a time a problem arises; there is no truly compelling reason to pick one over the other. As a result I play the one that happens to be out of the case, or closest in the stand, for weeks or months on end. Then I have the other $1000, $1500, or $2000 bass just collecting dust, which feels like a waste.
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This is my problem with more than one "nice" bass. I will use my Sadowsky for a majority of my gigs, and for a majority of the time where I have both basses at the gig - jazz gigs mostly. It's really hard to have a $1,600 bass just sitting. This is why I have it for sale. Fortunately or not, it isn't selling, so until it does, I'll enjoy playing it. When it sells, I'll miss it, but I'll get by fine.

FilCo said:
Although I would consider myself a gear freak and love all sorts of different basses, at this point I am pretty sure that I want to consolidate all of mine in to just one. One that has it all, naturally.
Click to expand...

I am also a gear freak, or at least a bass freak. I have had all kinds of basses over the years and really, each of them were very nice. As I get older I find I enjoy as easy a load in/out as possible. One bass along with my little combo amp makes for a sweet load in/out. I'm hoping my Sadowsky MV5 will be the bass for me.
 
#158
Great question Dr. Cheese,

and frankly one I have been struggling with as well. I am in the same position as you. I volunteer for my church and play 4-5 times a month there during services, as well as rehearse occasionally. I also occasionally jam with friends. Right now I have two basses, an American Deluxe Jazz in sunburst I use for church strung with rounds and any gigging I get, and a Squier P strung with flats that I primarily keep as a back up and as a travel bass (I travel a lot for work, don't mind bringing cheapie bass, worried about taking nice bass). I will quibble with you on the P vs J thing. The congregation at my church can tell the difference, but they would not be able to tell you why, only that they hear me with the j and "feel" my playing with the P.

Been thinking hard about an acoustic to practice quietly and use as my travel bass instead or for church living room jams, but worried about when does it end. Also thinking about the do I really need these.

I dream of getting a j bass, a sterling, or a g&l sb-1 bass finished in Olympic white (very hard to find as a lefty most likely need a custom job) , but love my j bass's playability too much to let it go. At the same time, I don't NEED two high end basses, nor really desire it. In fact, I would not need or desire a second bass if it was not for the fact that I travel a lot, and use down time in the hotel to practice. My wife push back when I bought the deluxe, but relented when she realised I was going to stick with the bass.
I feel very blessed to have both of them.

Living with that tension is not very satisfying. It bugs me like no other, for a lot of the reasons mentioned here. I hope you can keep satisfied with one. Fending off GAS as a lefty is a little easier because there are so few choices, outside of a company like Carvin or G&l's USA line. I hope to keep satisfied with what I have, even though GAS is tough. And if not, I hope to keep the ratio to one high end bass, one beater bass, and a fretless or acoustic.
 
#159
velalv said:
Great question Dr. Cheese,

and frankly one I have been struggling with as well. I am in the same position as you. I volunteer for my church and play 4-5 times a month there during services, as well as rehearse occasionally. I also occasionally jam with friends. Right now I have two basses, an American Deluxe Jazz in sunburst I use for church strung with rounds and any gigging I get, and a Squier P strung with flats that I primarily keep as a back up and as a travel bass (I travel a lot for work, don't mind bringing cheapie bass, worried about taking nice bass). I will quibble with you on the P vs J thing. The congregation at my church can tell the difference, but they would not be able to tell you why, only that they hear me with the j and "feel" my playing with the P.

Been thinking hard about an acoustic to practice quietly and use as my travel bass instead or for church living room jams, but worried about when does it end. Also thinking about the do I really need these.

I dream of getting a j bass, a sterling, or a g&l sb-1 bass finished in Olympic white (very hard to find as a lefty most likely need a custom job) , but love my j bass's playability too much to let it go. At the same time, I don't NEED two high end basses, nor really desire it. In fact, I would not need or desire a second bass if it was not for the fact that I travel a lot, and use down time in the hotel to practice. My wife push back when I bought the deluxe, but relented when she realised I was going to stick with the bass.
I feel very blessed to have both of them.

Living with that tension is not very satisfying. It bugs me like no other, for a lot of the reasons mentioned here. I hope you can keep satisfied with one. Fending off GAS as a lefty is a little easier because there are so few choices, outside of a company like Carvin or G&l's USA line. I hope to keep satisfied with what I have, even though GAS is tough. And if not, I hope to keep the ratio to one high end bass, one beater bass, and a fretless or acoustic.
Click to expand...

I'm not really trying to fend off GAS. I just think that the one bass I have is really nice, and I don't need anything else. I will probably buy another bass next year simply because I want to. A back up is nice, but it isn't necessary for many players.
 

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