So who here plays bass?

brainfur · Post by **brainfur** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:03 pm

squier cv jazz bass// is prob the last bass i will buy

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:07 pm

I honestly play bass better than guitar. I was in Jazz band from Junior High on and also in Jazz Choir playing bass in High School. I only have two basses though. My Ibanez SDGR and my Fender P-Bass.

IMG_1847 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

DSC01440 by Hentai No Baka, on Flickr

Berto · Post by **Berto** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:42 pm

I play a stingray through a sunn beta bass combo. kicks fucking ass

damienblair17 · Post by **damienblair17** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:47 pm

I am also a bass player. If you want a cheap solid bass go for a classic vibe.

right now I play a Schecter P bass, an Epi Thunderbird Pro, and a Schecter Stiletto.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:51 pm

Fran wrote:Has Stoke got anything going for it, at all?

I'll get back to you on that...

I'm looking at second hand Warwick basses at the moment. I've seen a lot of German made one (which I've heard are the best) going for under Â£400 on basschat so I might try to pick one of those up. They're not exactly traditional though mind.

Concretebadger · Post by **Concretebadger** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:54 pm

I play a MIM Jazz bass through an OD-3 and a Sansamp with an RV-5 at the end. It works fine for recording because I don't need to worry about mic'ing it up and trying to soundproof it (I pile sofa cushions around my guitar amps but it doesn't seem to work on deadening the lower frequencies).

FWIW, I'd love to be able to play bass live through a proper Ampeg.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:55 pm

This is a bit 80s but they are going for good prices and are meant to be pretty solid. Have you guys ever played one?

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:20 pm

*Waits for the penis jokes*

Eric has a soft spot for them type of basses I believe.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:21 pm

Fran wrote:Eric has a soft spot for them type of basses I believe.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:33 pm

As far as basses in the "new to bass" price range go, there are much much better options out there nowadays. I would recommend a Squier classic vibe or vintage modified. Not too expensive, and will hold up against most pricier basses these days.

I started on guitar but other than my very first band, I've played bass in every band I've been in. I started playing bass because I wanted to be in a band and it seemed like every single guy in my high school played guitar, so it was hard to find a band that needed another guitar player, but every band needed a bassist. My first bass was an Epiphone p bass copy which looked just like this when I bought it:

I bought it used from a music go round which later became known for selling extremely shotty used gear, which they would fix up to work JUST barely long enough to be out of return policy. The pickup completely fell apart after about 2 weeks and I couldn't return it or get it fixed, I was also in high school and bought it on a summer's worth of lawn mowing money and had no extra money to get a new pickup. Luckily I started a band with my drummer friend and a guy we met who had a bass and decent amp i could use. I also never owned an actual bass amp for the first 2 years that I was a bassist, I used my guitarist's bass amp or my little brother's small practice bass amp. He had a yamaha bass that looked just like this except fretted. It sounded pretty decent through the Fender BXR sixty amp that he had:

I used that while I worked my first job and saved up money from paychecks, mowing lawns, and christmas and my birthday to buy my dream bass at the time, a stringray. Here it is with the first amp I actually owned, a nice sounding peavey nitrobass head with a shitty sounding peavey tvx 410 cab, which took me about another year of saving up for:

That was my setup all throughout high school and my college years. During my college years my apartment became the hangout for weekend drunkenness and often me and my musician friends would play music while incredibly intoxicated, I didn't want my drunken friends touching the stingray and I also needed a backup bass for gigs with my college band so I bought an OLP stingray copy which sounded really really nice! These also came before the classic vibe and vintage modifieds so they beat squier to the punch with nice sounding, nice feeling basses for a budget!

I sold the Peavey rig and bought an Ampeg SVT 2 Pro head and Mesa Boogie Powerhouse 1000 cab when I graduated from college and started a band. I sold the OLP to help finance recording with that band. I used the Stingray for about another year with that rig until I bought my P bass which became my favorite bass.

I've since changed the pickguard for a black one and the pickup for a Seymour Duncan quarter pound. I found the stock pickup sounded too harsh with new strings and too dead with old strings. Whereas the SD sounds awesome and well rounded no matter how old or new the strings are. When I realized how much more I liked the p bass than the stingray I modified a MIM jazz bass with an SD 1/4 pound PJ setup and badass bridge. I loved this bass, and it actually became my main gigging bass for a while:

Then I fell in love with a Rickenbacker 4003, and sold the jazz bass and the stingray to buy it:

Also somewhere along the road I bought a '78 musicmaster bass for fun. I never gig with it, I just like playing it at home and sometimes at band practice.

So that's where I am now. I have the P bass, Ric, and musicmaster, and the epiphone is in pieces. Since selling the stingray I recorded with one and really liked it and realized I missed mine, so one day when I have more money, if that ever happens, I'll buy another one. I'd also like a nice jazz bass one day. And I need something really lightweight for my 4 hour cover band gigs, so hopefully I can find an extremely rare lightweight stingray or jazz bass.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:36 pm

Also, I highly recommend a sansamp! I've found that most sound guys at venues prefer DI for bass rather than micing, and the DI on my ampeg sucked, it was pre-eq so it was just flat sounding, and it broke all the time. The sansamp actually does a pretty damn good job of mimicing the Ampeg SVT sound, and if you have a good enough PA or stage monitor you don't even need to bring an amp to small gigs! I don't ever bring my amp to cover band shows anymore.

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:40 pm

FUCKING MELTED DICK BASSES FUCKING DIIIIIEEEE

I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THESE AWFUL SHIT THINGS CAME FROM BUT IF I HAD UNLIMITED PETROL AND ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD I WOULD HUNT DOWN EVERY LAST ONE, FIND OUT WHO BOUGHT IT AND MANUFACTURED IT AND DOUSE THEM IN PETROL AND BURN THEM, THEIR FAMILY, ALL THEIR FRIENDS, THEIR HOUSE, THEIR STREET AND THE FUCKING WORLD FUFUFUCUFKCKLCKLFCKFCKC

AND THEN THE BASS. THE MELTED COCKBASS BULLSHIT

George · Post by **George** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:41 pm

Nice read Billy!

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:42 pm

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:45 pm

Its a phallic symbol. Well done Prince.

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:46 pm

The artist formerly known as a cunt.

Concretebadger · Post by **Concretebadger** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 5:55 pm

Fran wrote:Its a phallic symbol. Well done Prince.

Guitars, phallic symbols? I don't know what you people are talking about...

Dogma Hollow · Post by **Dogma Hollow** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 7:48 pm

Played bass in several bands over the years. I had a different setup in each of them. Used a 5-string Ibanez SDGR through a David Eden preamp in one. Next one was a Lakland Skyline Series 55-01 bass (which kicked ass) through the Eden. Then I was using the Lakland through an Ampeg SVP classic pre, then the Lakland through an SWR Workingman's combo, then I snagged a Tobias Toby V Pro. Out of all of that I only still have the Tobias and the SWR combo. But I hardly play it these days.

Warwick basses can sound good, but IMO they're funny lookin'. They also have 2x4s for necks. Never could get into them.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:35 pm

George wrote:Nice read Billy!

Thanks! I had a good time reminiscing while typing that up and looking at old gear pictures!

weeping_moon · Post by **weeping_moon** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 9:23 pm

You have a nice collection of basses!