1 high end bass or 3 good basses for same dough?

[ziggydolphinboy]

Hi all ,
i will soon be having a great chance to buy /order a high end bass

but also realised that for the same dough i could get a 4,5 and a 6 string set of basses that i could tinker with and get eveything on them right.

obviouly i have two nice seis a wood and tronics 5 and a jazz custom 5 ,
but at pub gigs im increasinly getting worried about them being damaged .

so if i had a single bass worth alot i was thinking it may pay to get 3 basses for less value but still great instruments and use them as workhorses in the pub gigs that i do.

whata rekon all?
kindest regards
ziggy.

[son of frog]

I would say get a High end instrument and youll hopefully never need / want anything else...

But... Spend some extra dosh and get it insured, against damage theft etc.



After all you cant play all the other 3 basses at once...

[Happy Jack]

You don't need three pub basses!

No one in the pub (except you) will know the difference between a Sei and an Encore, so buy a cheap modern P-bass for pub gigs and then focus on what you really want for home and studio.

Any modern P-bass with decent strings, a proper set-up and an after-market pickup (SD 1/4 lb would get my vote) would have been adequate for the great majority of gigs I've played in the last few years. I choose to play high-end basses because ... well .. I can.

Doesn't make me a better player, of course.

[risingson]

If those are your basses in that pic then I would look objectively at why you'd need a new bass at all. I understand that it's nice to buy a new instrument but will another £2000-3000 bass do more than the basses that you've already got? If you're worrying about taking a knock to one of your Seis at pub gigs then I'd personally go out and buy something like a Lakland Skyline or a Fender, and save the rest of the money. That's just me though.

[mcnach]

if you saw my signature (and I don't list all of them) you would guess, correctly, that I'll say 3.

Unless that one high end bass is The One that truly seems like it belongs to you and feels like an extra limb that you just happen to plug into an amplifier... I'd go for three.

I mostly play one particular bass: a 4 string MM Stingray, fretted, with roundwound strings, and with a Hipshot D-tuner.

But I love to be able to have other sounds at my disposal. Not merely different string numbers... I have two 5ers, a MM and a G&L. Very different beasts. Then there is the Jazz. And the Precisions! Take your pick: fretless with rounds, fretless with nylon tapewounds, fretted with rounds, fretted with flats...

do I *need* them? No. And live it's the Stingray 90% of the time with the bands I play in.

But if my choice was between a Stingray alone, or an OLP copy (I have one in particular that was my main bass and it's really good, not as good, obviously, but very good nevertheless) plus a Squier CV Precision and a Squier CV Jazz, or maybe two Precisions... I would look at the Stingray and say "snif, I love you but... I have to let you go".

And that's considering a Stingray new is maybe around £1300.
If you're talking "high end" I suspect you may be easily talking about twice that. In that case, the three "other" basses can be much better than the Squiers I put in my example, making the decision even simpler: three!

Edited May 20, 2011 by mcnach

[thisnameistaken]

It doesn't look like you *need* any more basses, so just get whatever you want.

[mcnach]

[quote name='son of frog' post='1238624' date='May 20 2011, 07:41 PM']I would say get a High end instrument and youll hopefully never need / want anything else...[/quote]

come on, that NEVER happens!!!


[quote name='son of frog' post='1238624' date='May 20 2011, 07:41 PM']After all you cant play all the other 3 basses at once... [/quote]


hey, you talk like my girlfriend!

[4 Strings]

Why would your bass get damaged at a pub gig? Of course any use puts it at risk and so regular gigs means lots of use/risk. Depends how much you like playing your fancy bass and how important getting a dig on the bass you use is.

I must admit I don't risk my fave bass for a lot of rehearsal and practice etc but I always use it for performance (even pubs) coz I love it so much. If it gets a little nick, well its there to serve me not the other way round.

[BB3000S]

One high end bass now, and two more eventually.
Half seriously though, I've very rarely been happy with stuff I got for the main reason that it was "cost effective". That's not at all to say higher price equals better (rather quite the opposite sometimes), but I try to factor out the price part as much as possible in decisions like these. I's just not a good long-term indicator of satisfaction to me. Short term yes, long term nope.

Hop this makes a little bit of sense.

[ZMech]

OR spend it on a double bass instead

[Bassman Sam]

Get a Fender P bass and an Overwater by Tanglewood Jazz, that will cover you for any gigging situation. Keep the high end gear for home and studio if you are worried about them.

Edited May 20, 2011 by Bassman Sam

[Fat Rich]

Sometimes a high end bass arrives eventually (they usually take ages to build) but it doesn't quite hit the spot... you need to understand very clearly what you like in a bass before you order. A highly personalized bass might not resell for as much as you paid if you decide you really don't like it.

But if you get it right it might be the only bass you ever play.

Buying a few cheaper basses and tinkering might be more fun in the long run, plus I've never found just one bass that covers everything I want to play.

[chris_b]

[quote name='ziggydolphinboy' post='1238620' date='May 20 2011, 07:36 PM']....i will soon be having a great chance to buy /order a high end bass....[/quote]
Your bass line up looks pretty good already, but if you've got money to burn.... I'd replace that TE gear with something "high-end"!

[geoffbassist]

I would just focus on a getting a bass you are really happy with.
I play one decent 5 string bass for everything. I think there's real value in knowing your instrument inside out. On any gig (even pub gigs) I never have to think about my bass as I'm so familiar with it. There's so many other variables/distractions on gigs that it means I can focus more on the music I'm playing.

Only you know if the sound/feel of the bass you want comes from a high end maker. If it does great, if it's a fender great. As long as you are getting your sound and enjoy playing it buy it, insure it, use it.

[JTUK]

Basses should be played, IMO, so there is no point one sitting in a box all day, every day.

If I can't take them to a gig, what do I want them for...? and a ding here and there can always be refurbed
if it really really needs it.

[Truckstop]

Get three.
What's the point in forking out for another bass you won't want to use at the pub?
If we're talking £3,000 or thereabouts, get a second hand Sandberg or Warwick or something and spend the other £2,000 buying your missus something nice.

Truckstop

[4000]

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='1238985' date='May 21 2011, 09:02 AM']Sometimes a high end bass arrives eventually (they usually take ages to build) but it doesn't quite hit the spot... you need to understand very clearly what you like in a bass before you order. A highly personalized bass might not resell for as much as you paid if you decide you really don't like it.

But if you get it right it might be the only bass you ever play.[/quote]

+1 to both points. I've had a few customs that haven't quite hit the spot once built. However I've also had off the shelf that haven't either, and one or two that have.

What I will say is I always thought I couldn't afford a custom Alembic and went through all sorts of other stuff over the years "making do". When I eventually went for the Alembic, 23 years on, I wished I'd done it 23 years earlier as by then I had a chronic back problems and eventually had to sell it for that reason - it was simply too heavy - but I absolutely loved the bass and would never have sold it for any other reason.

Ultimately it's a tough question, but I'd be tempted to go for the custom. One plus with that is if you get it right you might not be as worried about gigging your other basses anymore. If you are, well, buy something cheap for gigging with.

[robdowall]

if your mainly doing the pub gig thing, then maybe occasionally recording.
why spend alot of money to sound like 1 of the 3 "most recorded" basses
jazz, P or Ray.

Thats my only thoughts, no offense to anybody on here though!

[RhysP]

I'd buy three secondhand high end basses.

[ziggydolphinboy]

hi all
situation so far...
yup im gonna put my custom jazz 5 in for repair /upgrade and my spector usa is going,
and may look into getting rid of my cabs only and changing them .9keep my trace heads.
the wood and tronics is a keeper lots of sounds , the two seis are keepers .. just lovely and the custom jazz 5 is weird as it feels and seems quite special to me , gresat sound too once its sorted..


but i could also buy with my moneis any second hand high end bass on here or ...... a 4 and 5 string erou spector as well as a yamha john myung 6 string !!!!!


lets see what happens.

[JTUK]

A very decent repray/re-fin on a £2000 plus bass makes a lot more sense than it would on a £500 bass seeing as the re-fin would cost almost all of that anyway.

[ziggydolphinboy]

[quote name='JTUK' post='1239157' date='May 21 2011, 11:31 AM']A very decent repray/re-fin on a £2000 plus bass makes a lot more sense than it would on a £500 bass seeing as the re-fin would cost almost all of that anyway.[/quote]

dude whio on earth is that in youre profile picy?

Jazz 5 needs work on .. nut, brigde saddles9mayb change to individual, neck bolts and little noisey on the electrics.

was thinking of getting the sei 6 re-finished.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='ziggydolphinboy' post='1239149' date='May 21 2011, 11:27 AM']and may look into getting rid of my cabs only and changing them[/quote]

I just played an open air gig in the park (shared with LowEndBee). I had my Barefaced Midget on top of my Barefaced Big One, not because the venue needed it (less than a thousand people in less than an acre) but just because it made it much easier to hear myself play. No PA support was used.

I was playing a 1966 Precision, no FX.

After the gig, a pro bass player came and asked me about my rig. He's not a Basschatter so didn't know about Barefaced, but said that my rig comfortably out-performed his TE cabs. He has recently ditched his TE head in favour of a GK and was looking around for cabs to match.

When he helped me lift the rig down from the stage (so that he could feel the weight) he was simply blown away.

Had Alex Claber been there, this guy would have placed an order on the spot.

If you have a budget in the region of £3k available then I'm with chris_b ... syphon off a chunk of that and upgrade your rig. Few people can tell the difference between a £3k bass and a £2k bass, but most can hear the difference when your rig takes a step up in quality.

[JTUK]

[quote name='ziggydolphinboy' post='1239178' date='May 21 2011, 11:50 AM']dude whio on earth is that in youre profile picy?

Jazz 5 needs work on .. nut, brigde saddles9mayb change to individual, neck bolts and little noisey on the electrics.

was thinking of getting the sei 6 re-finished.[/quote]


Her name is Esperanza

[Rayman]

Esperanza who? She's going to be my next wife.