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Your first bass vs. what you play now

spade2you

spade2you

Jan 11, 2007
19,287
2,806
somewhere in middle America
#1
After seeing countless threads of my first bass was a Fender and I've been playing 'em for 30 years, how if any did your first bass influence your later basses?

My first bass was a Peavey Cirrus and it set the bar really high in a few areas, the big one was ultra low action. I had no idea the Cirrus was special, just that the action was really low. The only downside was that I struggled to find stuff that was capable of playing like a Cirrus without breaking the bank. I also developed a taste for ramps or radiused pickups. The balance and comfort was also very nice.

To this day, whenever I order a bass, I try to get it to feel like a Cirrus.


Now your turn!
 
#3
My first bass was a Sekova, a POS Korean copy of a Hofner 500/1 Beatle bass. For the year or so before I got that I borrowed a Fender Mustang, and then a Vox Apollo IV. All were 30" scale instruments strung with flatwounds.

So I guess the only way my early basses influenced what I play now is, none of my current basses are 30" scale instruments strung with flatwounds.
 
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#5
My first bass was a Peavey Dynabass that was donated to the Church and they let me borrow so I could fill in the bass role. Up until then, I played electric guitar.

A few months later I put in an order for a Jack Reed custom, but that didn't work out so my second bass was actually a Lakland 55-94. This was back in '98 I guess.

Today I pretty much bounce between my Sadowsky NYC J5 and new Alleva Coppolo LG-5.
 
#7
i started on an Ibanez GSR200, with ridiculously high action and a truss rod that needed to be adjusted like crazy, but i was so clueless about it that i just assumed that's how basses were.

When i eventually got a new bass (G&L ASAT), i was amazed by the low action. but thats not the point. i've gone through MANY basses now, and at the moment i've got a Pedulla MVP 5 and a Lakland 55-02 Deluxe. Both amazing basses.
 
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#9
My first bass was a purchase from a high school friend,it was a sunburst hollowbody,I remember the points on the top of the body were pointed and not rounded like the gibson.It was a japanese bass,I just switched to bass from guitar and at my first gig an all night party(the seventies equivalent t o a rave)I took a break and leaned my bass against a looy column(guitar stands were either not invented yet or a luxury for the rich and famous.Well the bass tipped over and the headstock broke off thus crippling my bass career for the short term.I now play a Hofner a Fender Jazz and a LTD #EC404E
 
#13
My first bass was a POS Fender Power Jazz Bass Special - it sounded BAD!, even when my teacher played it (so it wasn't JUST me sounding bad).

I'm now rotating between some good basses:
Alleva Coppolo KPB5 and LG-5
Ken Lawrence Brase 5
Lakland 55-94
Warmoth Deluxe 5 fretless

Similarly - amps
Yamaha 40 watt combo that farted out above "3."
Now - Glockenklang HeartCore or Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 into either a Bergantino HT/EX stack or an Accugroove Tri115.

Quite a change in 9 years.

Dan K.
 
#14
A Kay bass. Action so high that it was tough to play - which I thought was normal. The good thing about that is the finger strength I got made it very easy to play the BC Rich that I bought to replace it. I still have it - too much sentimental value. But it only has one string on it now and I have no idea what happened to the electronics.
http://wallybill.com/Basses.html
It's the one in the middle of the top picture (Not the Alembic, the other one)
 
#16
My first bass was a no-name, plywood body, Japanese made P Bass copy with a really wimpy single coil pu. That only lasted a few months before it broke. Its replacement was my first "real" bass, purchased new in 1983; a Hondo Deluxe Series P Bass copy. Banana yellow with a black pickguard and maple neck. Over the course of a couple of years I modded it with a Warmoth rosewood board neck and a DiMarzio Model P pu. It had a very cool factory bridge that was chrome with brass saddles ... the identical bridge to this similar model pictured here:

Link Removed

Now, 26 years and 21 basses later, I have two RI Fender Precisions and what I got from my first bass that I still carry with me is the appreciation for simple equipment that works well and sounds good.

Pax,

Paddy
 
#17
My first bass was a custom made pawn shop bass. It was short scale, and the electronics were blown. I got it for 50 bucks. At that point in time, most basses felt the same to me. A year or two later, I got a Memphis P-Bass clone which I still have. This was the bass I continued on until a few years ago.

It set the bar really low, and was very difficult to play...heavy as hell too. The neck was far too wide for me to play how I wanted. This took me a few years to figure out, and really only came out to me as my skill progressed.

Today, my basses accommodate my small hands. My go-to basses are my Fender Jazz and my Fender Jaguar.
 
#18
my first bass was an '80s Fender Power Jazz Special that my parents bought me in '94, i guess it was duff mckagen's model???...i don't know, but i see people posting that often. it was decent and more than enough for when i first started out. i actually just sold it last weekend, along with all my other basses, and picked up a american standard precision. i'm set for a long time with this one...but i still want another ric 4003!
 
#19
My first bass was a black/black/maple Peavey T-40 I bought new around 1982. I didn't know anything about differences between basses then, and the same was true when I bought a used Peavey Patriot in 1988. (The T-40 was stolen in '86.) I still knew nothing about them when I returned to playing in 2002, after nine years off.

But I think the T-40 may have influenced me in two ways. First, I continue to like basses with powerful, aggressive tone. Second, for some reason I feel most "at home" on my Precision -- which is black/black/maple. Maybe that's coincidence, but who knows?
 

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