Being the bass player for less than 200 quid.

[Les]

Although I'm fortunate enough to have nice things to fall back on my current live rig stands me at £197.50.

I'm strangely proud of that for some weird reason and I'm quite satisfied with it's performance too.

Admittedly that doesn't include leads, mics, stands, tuners etc, but my s/h Mag 300 combo cost me £135 and my s/h Epi EB 0 cost me £62.50.

Anyone else happily budget bassing ???


Les

[Rubbersoul]

Not quite as good value as yours but my MAG 300H and 410T Deep cab paired with an Ibanez GSR200 cost £390 all in. Oh, and a Bad Monkey OD that cost £30. Not bad methinks.

[oggiesnr]

Antoria EB-3 copy - £45
Carlsboro Cobra - £50.

Steve

[thisnameistaken]

I've used MAG 300 combos in rehearsal rooms and I'm not a fan, but I would have always gigged a cheap rig if I hadn't discovered Schroeder cabs through BC - so portable and loud and nice-sounding, I couldn't resist.

I still played a standard Squier Jazz through it though.

[Les]

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1379975162' post='2219126']
Antoria EB-3 copy - £45
Carlsboro Cobra - £50.

Steve
[/quote]

Can't see anyone bettering that Steve, Is that your actual gigging set up ?

Les

[alyctes]

Laney BC120 combo, £110.
No-name CAR Jazz, £80 from Mr Foxen.
Not much in the way of gigs though...

[JamesXP]

My first gigging rig was:

Squier Affinity Jazz £60
Trace Elliot GP7 130 1x15 Combo £60

[oggiesnr]

[quote name='Les' timestamp='1379976368' post='2219149']
Can't see anyone bettering that Steve, Is that your actual gigging set up ?

Les
[/quote]

When I gig with a four string, yes. I've got a fretless five string which I use through an Ashdown but the Antoria doesn't sound as good through it as through the Carlsboro.

Steve

[stingrayPete1977]

As they say on Dragons Den "I'm out"

[casapete]

Did have a couple of years ago - P.Bass no name copy (£15 s/h in local paper) coupled with a Harke head and Carlsboro 1x15 cab also bought locally for £75, so £90 total. Gigged it a few times in dodgy pubs and was fine.
Love cheap gear me! (Obvious as I also love Danelectros....)

Edited September 24, 2013 by casapete

[thebigyin]

Believe it or not first gigging Rig/Set up was a 90w Carlsbro Viper Amp and a Battered up 70s Encore P Bass which I stripped down to the wood because it was a horrible bright red....but it served me well in a 50s/60s covers band.....at a total cost of £90.
Had several budget set ups since.....always Squier Jazz basses and a few different Combo's (a Trace Elliot Commando and a Hartke Combo.
Not gigging at mo' just started up again with a Jap Fender Jazz and a Marshall Bass State Combo (£399)....still budget but doesn't beat some of the above.

[AnalogBomb]

I'm always budget bassing! Currently rocking a Squier VM 70's Jazz or Yamaha BB424 through Hartke 3500 and MAG 410 cab. I wouldn't really feel comfortable having a really uber expensive rig for 2 reasons: 1) The gigs I play can be somewhat 'rowdy' and our singer is about 8 feet tall and has the coordination of a drunk 8 feet tall person and 2) If it broke or failed, I'd be gutted. Maybe that's 3 reasons?! I'm pretty attached to my rig, I mean it sounds great, but I always know that it'd be relatively cheap to repair and to replace.....

[AnalogBomb]

Plus, IMO, the Squier VM or CV series are some of the best basses available in that price range. I personally wouldn't call them budget either, more affordable. I mean everybody's got a budget - if you're loaded, you might consider a £1500 bass to be budget.... if you know what I mean? It's all relative.

[SpaceChick]

I'm weeping!!

I've been looking for gig insurance for my kit.... whilst I haven't paid full price for them all as I have bought a lot second hand, I know that if the van was broken into there is NO WAY I could replace my kit.

Ah for the simple days of using a £50 bass and a cheapo Peavy combo

[Vinny]

At the risk of this becoming the 'Four Yorkshiremen' sketch, I'm still known to gig this every once in a while (mostly because of having to turn up on me bike!)

Musima P-copy £20. (with free gigbag)
Lead to plug it in the desk £4
Pick 50p

Live rig on a motorbike...priceless!

[Dave Vader]

I use my Sunn Mustang P-bass copy (constantly) which I repossessed off my mate for £30 beer money owed in 1996. I also have his old peavey TNT which he gave me for nothing a couple of years ago. Sadly can't gig it, as the amp needs a bit of work. But once I've bought £2.50s worth of pots it will.
So that's 32.50 in total.

[Roger2611]

The bass player in the band I used to play guitar in was very proud of the fact that his gigging rig cost him all of £60 it consisted of a formally active Hohner Jack bass and a Laney DP150 head and a 4x10 cab (guitar cost £60amp and cab free because they were knackered) the bass worked most of the time and was always in tune as the strings had never been changed, some of the bass head worked occasionally and the cab made some very concerning noises nearly all the time...the earth had gone in his extension cable and he needed to borrow a guitar lead for every gig....I wonder why I now play bass in the band!

[lefrash]

I think you could get a perfectly giggable set up for under £150 these days. An old 15" combo might not be the 'cool' thing to have but it will be loud enough for most applications and could easily get one for £75. Some budget basses are pretty nasty, but I reckon if I really looked hard enough I'd get a giggable one for £75!

[rogerstodge]

A mate of mine gave me an acoustic 360 head and a (massive) peavey 2x18 cab for nothing, he had nowhere to store it, does this make me the winner?
Although it was 20 odd years ago and i offloaded it 10 yrs ago.

Edited September 24, 2013 by rogerstodge

[Spike Vincent]

My current live gear cost me £320, although the second hand 1978 Fender Precision would likely cost a bit more now than the £200 I paid for it in 1980..

[BassTractor]

Laughable thread!
ANYbody can find a rig for less than 200k quid!




Oh!
Seriously though, I've had and still have some cheap used stuff, but never a complete rig for less than 200.
Impressive and, first and foremost, very, very cool.
.

Edited September 25, 2013 by BassTractor

[Guest bassman7755]

A few more perspectives on gear cost ...

A £1000 bass that you get 10 years use out of works out at costing about £2 a week. And even that is discounting any residual value - if the bass is still worth £500 after 10 years then its only actually "cost" you £1 a week.

So is it really rational to use gear costing a couple of hundred quid and use it for years on end, such that you probably spend more on your cars tyre wear getting to gigs over the long term than you do on the actual gear you play with ?.

Anything that holds its value effectively costs you [b]nothing[/b] to own and use. So the actual cost of owning and using a £500 and a £5K setup is the same if neither depreciate, its just a different allocations of ones capital.

Edited September 25, 2013 by bassman7755

[Dave Vader]

Let me reiterate, my main bass cost me £30 nearly 20 years ago. I could probably get £100 for it now at the very least.
It is not and never has been an investment instrument.
This has therefore cost me less than nothing, hooray!

Holding value does not make something cost nothing, you have to sell it for that, and you can't use it if you sell it.

[Les]

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1380100520' post='2220677']
Impressive and, first and foremost, very, very cool.
.
[/quote]

Yes, it is impressive and that I think is my main point. I'm astounded by what you can achieve these days for very little money, as per the title of the post, for 197 and a half of your earth pounds (plus the cost of a lead I suppose) you can be the bass player in a gigging band and be paid for your services.

And, yes, I too think it's quite cool.

The audience in reality doesn't have a clue what your playing and my girlfriend would certainly pick the EB-0 out as being the prettiest of my basses . But more importantly I'm happy with the performance and so is my band.

If either of these items didn't cut it they wouldn't get stage space. But they do.

[TimR]

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1380104249' post='2220739']
A few more perspectives on gear cost ...

...
[/quote]

Good to know my house cost me nothing...