Machines History

[Machines]

PART 1

Following from homers thread - the idea of posting my entire bass history seems pretty cool - so here we go:

I picked up my first bass in late 2003, had been playing guitar a few months and fancied some low end too. I knew nothing
about basses, just they they all seemed more expensive than guitars. I went for this Squier Bronco, cost me £110..



It was ok - made bassy noises and all that, but didn't give me the sound I was really after. 6 months later came this 5 string Stagg, in some vein attempt to make me sound better and play more heavy stuff.



This bass again was 'ok', had flaws in fretwork and neck, but I didn't notice when I bought it. It was around this time I sold the Bronco.

About a year later on a trip to PMT with my Dad, saw this Stingray copy and gave it a whirl. A/B'd it with a proper Stingray, and to my ears (at the time) sounded just as good ! £150 later it was at home, the scratchplate I made myself as the standard black bored me (and I wanted to emulate the SUBs).

[Machines]

PART 2

Coming up to my 21st Birthday - my parents said I could choose a bass up to £500 as a present. I spent months deciding - originally i'd wanted an Ibanez EDA905, until that is I tried it and hated it. I was going through a Dream Theater stage at the time (I think I still am) and this bass looked great, so I got this Yamaha RBX775 from GAK (£415). I sold the Stagg the week after.



I consider this my first 'proper' bass, that being one of a good construction and sounding good also. I still have this now, albeit in a somewhat defretted mode ! It makes a great fretless instrument and I play it most days.

Of course it wasn't always fretless - I did get myself this rather handsome and well priced Vintage V940FL (well the missus bought it as a Christmas present). Fantastic piece of wood, sounded great and looked the part too. Only sold this about 6 months ago as I found my self becoming dissassociated with fretless (unlined didn't help me either).



Several months later I found myself getting more obsessed with Dream Theater & John Myung, and was GASing for a 6 string of some type. PMT In Salford had this rather striking Spector Q6 for £350, I got them to £330 and was a very happy bunny. It's a superb bass, extremely clean sounding and very defined. The EMG pickups were very trebley and lended well to a hi-fi sound.

The only downfall of this bass was it's number of strings, I couldn't find a use for the C other than doing John Myung impressions, I sold this bass about 9 months ago for £30 shy of what I bought it for.



So around this time I had just the RBX775 and V940FL, I was having GAS for the new Yamaha BB series. My Dad picked up on this and bought me a BB614 from PMT Birmingham new for £250, it had been on a few shows but was in mint condition. For the price I still maintain that there is nothing that can touch these Yamaha BB's, they are versatile and sound amazing. Used it at a gig and it was all I could ask for.



Late last year - was in PMT and spotted an Ibanez Musician marked up for £250, pretty cheap ! Plugged it in and it everything worked, sounded pretty good too. For that price I couldn't ignore it - took it home and gave it a mega-clean. It had green frets and a filthy bridge. An hour or so later and it looked almost new. Not bad for a 27 year old instrument. Looked up on the internet all about it and the specs, later discovering they are highly revered and worth significantly more than £250 (more like £500). I decided to keep it as it looks great and sounds good.

[Machines]

PART 3

I was finding that the Musician was getting more played than the BB614, and the Yamaha was being wasted sat around. I traded it with longfingerz for a MIM Fender Jazz (2000) in great condition. Had always fancied a Jazz and this was a case of right place at right time. I believe longfingerz is very happy with the swap. It'd been a few years since i'd had a passive bass, so it was a bit strange at first, but I found it gave the classic Jazz tone and did pretty much what I wanted it to do.



2 months ago, I was sent a message on myspace by someone offering to trade the Ibanez Musician for a Musicman Stingray, I thought he was having me on, "who'd offer that !?" I thought. It felt like swapping a 1980 Ford Capri for an Aston Martin DB9. It turns out that the chap had a Musician in the 80's, sold it and regretted it since. He'd been looking for the 'right one' for a few months, saw mine and thought he'd pop the question. I met him on my terms (with 'backup') and he was 100% genuine. He was happy with the Ibanez, I was astounded by this beautiful (although slightly different) natural ash Stingray.

I snapped his hand off.

The Stingray has had professional routing to have the pickup moved towards the neck, pretty much in the Precision spot. This gave a slightly modified sound (not as much as I expected) and did make it sound like a perfect hybrid between the two.

Whilst this position was all well and good, I wanted it where it should be. Got a pickguard from wdmusic and moved the pickup back, that's more like it ! Sounded exactly like I expected from a Stingray, something i'd not thought i'd get my hands on for a long time.



I've never been as fussy about my rig as my basses, i've always thought of amps as just something that makes it louder, rather than an integral part of my sound.

My first amp was a 25w box, utter rubbish. I soon moved up to an Ashdown 5:15 65w combo. It was bloody heavy but did sound pretty decent (a major upgrade anyway). I sold that when I lived in Manchester as I wasn't in a band and lived in an apartment (whingy neighbours).

Since moving back to Birmingham I got an Ashdown Electric Blue 12-180. More than enough for practise/rehearsal. I did find however it wasn't enough for gigs, and have been after upgrading it. Got a MAG210T on Saturday - my Dad bought it me as an early Birthday present, yay Dad ! This should do me plenty for the type of gigs we play (PA support).



So basically, that's the story of me getting a Stingray for £250 .

[mr pablo]

[quote name='Machines' post='23093' date='Jun 25 2007, 04:50 PM']So basically, that's the story of me getting a Stingray for £250 .[/quote]

Aye and its a good one at that. I love the ray and the jazz, seams to be a popular combo of basses.

[niceguyhomer]

Lovely stuff Matt - I love the look of that Squier Bronco and the Ray is very nice.

[Paul Cooke]

[quote name='Machines' post='23092' date='Jun 25 2007, 04:49 PM']I consider this my first 'proper' bass, that being one of a good construction and sounding good also. I still have this now, albeit in a somewhat defretted mode ! It makes a great fretless instrument and I play it most days.

Of course it wasn't always fretless - I did get myself this rather handsome and well priced Vintage V940FL (well the missus bought it as a Christmas present). Fantastic piece of wood, sounded great and looked the part too. Only sold this about 6 months ago as I found my self becoming dissassociated with fretless (unlined didn't help me either).

[/quote]

Pity, such a nice Bass... I'd have paid to get it fretted rather than sell it.

[Machines]

[quote name='Paul Cooke' post='23354' date='Jun 26 2007, 07:50 AM']Pity, such a nice Bass... I'd have paid to get it fretted rather than sell it.[/quote]

Yeah - it was good just I think I couldn't find a use for it. Sold it just before Christmas for about £130 I think - paid for a few presents so I don't mind too much. It wasn't entirely flawless however - the neck pocket wasn't the tightest fit (saw alot of V940's with same problem) and the electronics were a bit shabby (looked thrown in), other than that it was a fine bass.

[Machines]

Update time ! It's only been 3 years since the original post... Lots of movement here.

Stingray swapped for Lakland 55-02.. cracking bass, just a little too polite


55-02 swapped for Warwick Corvette $$ 5... certainly not polite ! Awesome tone but couldn't get on with the neck


And Corvette swapped for Bacchus Venus 5... Milleresque sound with top craftsmanship - slab body a slight annoyance.


And Bacchus swapped for Overwater Progress III Deluxe ! This one is easily the best bit of kit i've ever had, not sure what else could top this really.

[MikanHannille]

Nice Bacchus! too bad it isn't for you.

[GarethFlatlands]

[quote name='Machines' post='23465' date='Jun 26 2007, 11:00 AM']Yeah - it was good just I think I couldn't find a use for it. Sold it just before Christmas for about £130 I think - paid for a few presents so I don't mind too much. It wasn't entirely flawless however - the neck pocket wasn't the tightest fit (saw alot of V940's with same problem) and the electronics were a bit shabby (looked thrown in), other than that it was a fine bass.[/quote]

I have the 5 string fretted version sat gathering dust. I've got some mini 2k pots waiting to be installed to breathe some new life back into it after I ripped the cheap electronics out.

Was yours heavy? I don't think I've tried a heavier bass than mine.

[Machines]

Not that I remember..

[niceguyhomer]

Loving the Overwater Matt

[Rayman]

I remember that holoflash Spector Matt, at that mini bash we had in Manchester some years back, I thought it was a great bass that.

[Machines]

[quote name='Rayman' post='1064160' date='Dec 19 2010, 11:14 PM']I remember that holoflash Spector Matt, at that mini bash we had in Manchester some years back, I thought it was a great bass that.[/quote]
Oh you mean this one ? To be fair I regret selling it - I could do so much more with it now than back then (2006 by the way).

[Chris2112]

Ah, I've seen that collection grow all the way from the Yamaha to the Overwater...everyone seems to end up playing top shelf handmade stuff in the end!

[Machines]

Yeah - a few years ago I thought coffee table basses were ostentatious and didn't offer anything really different to production instruments. There's still plenty of production basses I like and wouldn't rule one out, but I don't think i'd have one in place of the Progress, only to compliment it.

[Rayman]

[quote name='Machines' post='1064336' date='Dec 20 2010, 10:18 AM']Oh you mean this one ? To be fair I regret selling it - I could do so much more with it now than back then (2006 by the way).

[/quote]

Bloody hell that's a blast from the past, yeah that's the one. Me with my lovely BB3000S, wish I still had that, and Alan with that stunning Spector, the bass that forced me to get the one I have now. Two nice Marcus Millers there too, I ended up owning the 4 string that Mike is holding for a while, and the 5er that Gary's got was a [i]really beautiful[/i] bass, I still want one of those before I die.

[Machines]

Let's add this one in too.. purchased yesterday as a result of GAS.