FinnDave

Reading this thread is not good for my financial stability! My favourite bass is the olympic white 2012 US Standard Precision I have had since 2013. A perfect bass that just feels like it's part of me. So why on earth did I start looking at ads for similar basses? And when I saw a lovely 2010 US Standard in sunburst, rosewood & tort, I couldn't get the damn thing out of my head. Then I noticed that the seller was open to offers, so of course I had to find out how low he'd go…and before I know it, I've paid for it and it should be here next week. I checked the specs on the Fender serial number look up and they have everything except the colours in common. That's three Precisions I've bought in the last 4 weeks or so!

I always work on the principle that bass amplification can meet two out of three of the following criteria - light, cheap & good sound. If you want light and cheap, then you have to sacrifice sound quality. If you want light & good sound - then it won't be cheap, and if you want cheap and good sound, then it won't be light. I currently have one light and good sounding rig (Orange LBT & Barefaced Super Compact) and two cheap and good sounding combos (ABM 500 - one 2x10 and one 1x15). The combos sound great, but if there are stairs involved, the lightweight gear is the only choice for me these days. I also used to have a 4x10 Trace combo, and lived on the third floor of a house converted into flats which no lift. I was 40 years younger then than I am now, and it was a struggle even then!

I played my 2022 MiM Player Precision at this afternoon's gig - felt and sounded OK but not as good as the 2012 US Standard I played at yesterday's gig. Same amps and strings for both gigs. The Player is a good back-up bass, but the US Standard retain top place in my affections.

Just back from my second gig this (long) weekend - another outing with Franklin's Tower in Oxford. Another outdoor gig, fortunately with a good canopy over us as there was intermittent light rain. Good audience, mostly locals but a good few wearing Dead T Shirts who had come from as far as South London just to get a hit of their favourite music. Three hour gig divided into two sets - second day in a row so we were feeling it by the end, but a great atmosphere. Band felt and sounded much tighter for it as well. Nothing else in the diary now until a Grateful Dead festival in Cirencester in a month's time.

After many years of using separate amps & cabs, I have recently bought a couple of Ashdown ABM combos - picked them both up for less than the price of a single second hand ABM head. On the heavy side, but sound superb. Easy to set up, too.

First gig with my ABM 500 2x10 combo last night - cost me 10% of the Evo 5 head in the post above and sounded great.

Last night's gig was mostly yesterday afternoon - played with Franklin's Tower on the patio at the back of a pub close to the centre of Oxford (The White House, for those who know the area). Start at five, had to skip a few songs we had hoped to play, finished at seven - no breaks. First proper gig this year, felt good to be back out there. After some indecision about whether to the Jazz or Precision, I took one of each and the Jazz stayed in the car. Played my 2012 US Standard P for the whole gig, through the Ashdown ABM 500 2x10 combo I bought from a fellow Basschatter recently. Sounded good where I was standing, and I am told also sound good out front. Next gig is this afternoon, same band but slightly out of the city at Iffley, close to where I spent the first ten years of my life. I expect I'll use the same equipment but probably take a second Precision as back up.

Both of the Jazz basses are strung with La Bella FX flats, two of the Precisions have LaBella FS & FL, the 50s Classic Precision has Rotosound flats, which are brighter than the LaBellas. The Rotosounds have only been on for a couple of weeks, so may loose their brightness a bit over time.

Couldn't find coin so just decided to play the Precision for the first set. Turned out we only played one set - two hours long, but only one set. The Precision was perfect - my 2012 US Standard strung with LaBella standard flats. I'll take two Precisions to tomorrow's gig. Three hours, but maybe with a set break.

I decided to string my only P bass with flats a couple of months ago, and bought a MiM P to play with rounds on. That lasted less than one day before it too was strung with flats. I then bought another P bass (50s classic series) and changed that to flats almost as soon as I had my hands on it. Same story with my Jazz basses, strung one with flats and bought another to use with rounds….both have flats on now!

I've just been packing for this afternoon's gig and decided it was a Jazz bass show, so packed both Jazzes. Then I was sitting upstairs and wanted to run through one part of a song we'll be playing and had to use a Precision as both Jazzes are cased and waiting to go into the car. Now taking one Jazz and one Precision. I'll decide which to use when I get there. I think the Jazz sounds better for this band, but the Precision is more comfortable to play. Maybe I'll just toss a coin. Now I've just got to find a coin!

Correct, but you forfeit the prize because I had already written that some hours earlier!

It's certainly a shocking thread title! Dave Smith (another one - I've played quite a few gigs with yet another local Dave Smith - gets quite confusing!)

Remember, it's not about how many Precision basses you need, it's really about how many Precision basses need you.

Fellow of the Royal Society, apparently. My band mate told me so I didn't actually need to ask. I think he's used to that! I had thought it could mean 'Fairly Reasonable Singer'.

Life's too short for rigid rules

If I could keep only one bass, it would be my 2012 US Standard Precision. It currently shares wall space with two other Precisions and a couple of Jazz basses, all of which get used, but the white Precision is definitely a keeper - I've had it nearly nine years now.

You should come to one of our gigs - the rhythm guitarist/vocalist is a professor of particle physics at Oxford. At one gig last year there was a slightly starstruck scientific type watching him play and said he couldn't believe he was in a pub garden in Oxfordshire listening to an FRS playing the Grateful Dead's songs. Of course, ignoramuses such as myself had to ask what FRS meant...

I'd agree with most of your observations, but as I have never heard an elephant fart in a train tunnel I can't comment.

I try to buy my instruments and amplifiers from shops that I can visit in person - but they are becoming increasingly hard to find. They also don't do themselves any favours when their websites show something as being in stock at your local branch, but after driving there and asking for the item, they tell you that the website hasn't been updated for weeks... My last two new basses were bought on line, and although I had problems with one of them, it was replaced without any fuss.

I didn't say I was proud of it, nor did I say I was ashamed. It is a simple statement of fact. I see no need to keep up with the current fashion.

I've heard of them, but couldn't say which decade they are from.

If you botch it, you haven't just lost a blank piece of plastic, you will also have learnt a lot about how to do it better the next time. Plan to make several, each better than the last until you have one that satisfies you. It'll still probably work out cheaper than paying someone else to do it. I used to have a work colleague in Finland who was from rural Tennessee, really good guy. I couldn't say where exactly he was from, but he used to say he was from a long line of radical rednecks. He was responsible for getting me back to listening to the Grateful Dead, for which I shall be forever thankful.

I'm in my mid 60s and couldn't name a single band from the 80s or 90s of any genre.

At last, a post I understand!