One bass to rule them all

[thebassist]

I've been in the same boat and I've bought and sold loads of basses over the years - all the major brands as well as custom stuff - now I’ve whittled my collection down to two basses, a '64 Jazz Bass and a '78 Jazz Bass. To be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that the '78 has a lot of personal value to me, I'd quite happily stick with just the '64... mind you, I do have a hankering for a 6-string right now...

[scalpy]

G&L with l series preamp or the new m series. Unbeatable value and tone, far from the most expensive and pennies left over to spend on your flavour of amp hopefully.

[Doddy]

It's not easy to say if one bass would suit you because I don't know how,or what, play.
The thing is, you could spend a fortune on a fancy instrument that has all the bells and whistles, but then you get
a call that requires a Precision, or a fretless or something, and all of a sudden your one bass to rule them all isn't
ruling anymore.

[gsgbass]

[quote name='tom1946' timestamp='1413266636' post='2576417']
I now know exactly what I want, an American Precision in red with a maple board and rolled edges (do they all come with rolled edges?)

I would just keep my mex for a backup and sell everything else.

But that's just me...
[/quote]

Am. Std. have rolled edges. A nice touch.

[Guinness21]

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1413228471' post='2576166']
I'd invest in a top spec rig over a ridiculously over-priced bass any day of the week.

Essentially a £300 bass does the same things as a £3000 bass. A £3000 bass will not make you sound better if you're a sh*tty musician too.

Truckstop
[/quote]

+1.

[zero9]

Interesting concept. There are bassists who are known for using one particular bass for most of their career, but not exclusively as far as I'm aware. The only person I can think of who's only ever used one guitar exclusively (although I may be proved wrong) is Brian May.

[lojo]

My issue or endless chase is not so much as to what bass covers all the basses, its that you can only have flats or rounds (please don't mention 1/2 rounds )

[4000]

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1413203244' post='2575763']
The thing is.. your ideal bass tone is subjective, so whilst it may be possible to find a bass that 'Rules them all' for your own personal tastes to others it wil be anathema...

I still think you could get near any core tone if you owned a J, a P, a Ray and a fretless, but it depends what your looking for. I love the tone of a Wal, that's the pinnacle for me, for others it will be the ric tone... which I personally can't stand.
[/quote]

Would that be the Squire tone, the Macca tone or the many points in between? ;-)

I've had various customs and a good number of high-end basses and my favourite bass ever is indeed a Ric (albeit a singular one). A word of warning re customs; I've had around 5 Sei basses, 2 of which were made for me, and my favourites were ones that were made for someone else. FWIW, I'd also put my Korean Squier P up against anything I've ever owned as an all-rounder, and that cost me under £150.

[Cameronj279]

I think there are certain things certain basses just won't be able to do. A precision is never going to sound like a Warwick Thumb etc. If I were in a financial position to do so I'd have a look at everything I play and find out what exactly I need/want and buy/sell accordingly.

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='4000' timestamp='1422822997' post='2677248']
Would that be the Squire tone, the Macca tone or the many points in between? ;-)
[/quote]

To be entirly honest I couldnt give a monkeys what they made theirs basses sound like, its inconsequential... I like how mine sounds when I'm playing it

Also rics aren't terrible basses... they just sound terrible when I play them.. totally the opposite of the sound I want from a bass.

Edited February 2, 2015 by CamdenRob

[4000]

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1422878974' post='2677756']
To be entirly honest I couldnt give a monkeys what they made theirs basses sound like, its inconsequential... I like how mine sounds when I'm playing it

Also rics aren't terrible basses... they just sound terrible when I play them.. totally the opposite of the sound I want from a bass.
[/quote]

Well considering you said "THE Ric tone - which I personally can't stand", I thought it seemed pretty specific. Thanks for the clarification.

FWIW that's how I feel about Jazzes and, to a lesser extent, Stingrays. Other people can sound great on them. Me, not so much.

I like the sound of Wals in isolation - I've had 2 - but have never managed to get one to work in a band situation. Their sound is just not what I'm hearing. Again, that's with me playing them; Leigh Gorman has one of my all-time favourite sounds, although a bit up front for most situations outside Bow Wow Wow.

Edited February 2, 2015 by 4000

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='4000' timestamp='1422880253' post='2677775']
Well considering you said "THE Ric tone - which I personally can't stand", I thought it seemed pretty specific.
[/quote]

I say lots of things... It's usually best to ignore me....

[4000]

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1422880422' post='2677779']
I say lots of things... It's usually best to ignore me....
[/quote]

I know the feeling.

[blue]

[quote name='andybassdoyle' timestamp='1413202636' post='2575747']
Very interested to hear the BC thoughts on this, I'm sure many of you are in or have been in this boat.

Simply put, is it worth selling up the collection in order to fund one high quality instrument? I find myself with the dilema of trying lot's of different basses all with their own qualities but never finding that one bass that hits the 8 or 9 out of 10 mark consistently on all fronts. Some of the sorts of choices that need to be made are:[/quote]

I would have to answer "No". I would not sell my collection.

If I look at my personal gig performances more than my basses, I never hit the 8 or 9 out of 10 where my performance is consistent on all fronts. All I look for out of a bass is good action.

Blue

Edited February 17, 2015 by blue

[fretmeister]

I've got 2 that I would happily play forever - a Sandberg TM5 and a Marleaux Consat Custom.

They are very different in feel and tone. I'd be hard pushed to pick between them.

[Norris]

Nothing else sounds like a Ric. Most basses can't sound like a Thunderbird. Neither of them can sound like a Precision. IMHO there is no one bass to rule them all.

Having said that, you may find a bass that ticks all of *your* personal boxes (although as you're a basschat member I find that hard to believe !)

[Black Coffee]

I tried this sell all approach. It crashed and burned for me.

I sold a 25th anniv Musicman HSS, a fender custom shop Jazz, and a warwick thumb BO4 and bought a dingwall ABII in a beautiful transparent red finish. It was the most exquisite instrument I've ever played but I couldn't relax and enjoy it for fear of me or some other individual knocking a ding in it. It went on until I parted with it at some loss and regret but better off for the experience. Now I'm sure I know one bass won't do all for me, personally at that price because it took away my relaxed enjoyment.
When I wanted a solid E and B string the dingwall is the mutts nuts, but I couldn't chord as easily up above 12th fret, not so good.

I wished I hadn't sold the instruments I sold due to the financial hit but I'm now more chilled and am now loving a yamaha 425x that cost me buttons comparatively speaking. This bass is currently the one for all for me for what I'm playing at 10% of the dingwall. I should say that a genzbenz 12.2 shuttle max does the proclaiming through a 4x10 but nevertheless.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Black Coffee

[cammymaxwellbass]

interesting thread, been doing a lot of the same thinking myself, my 2 cents:
- ultimately it depends what you're needs are. if you're a session player who needs to nail specific tones then you're requirements are very different to someone who plays in an original material band and needs to have a more 'signature' tone. my thoughts are that if you have a instrument that does 'old school', one that does 'modern', and a fretless then you'll be able to cover most tones fairly well.
- some people just like having more basses, and thats totally cool and also a very personal thing. marcus miller says that back in the day he didn't want to carry 3 basses around, just concentrate on 1 instrument because most of the players he admired just played 1 instrument. some of the session guys have a warehouse somewhere full of basses.

ultimately whatever makes you happy, and being happy to be in a permanent state limbo is cool too. for me, it's what i do for a living, i love playing my main bass (which has 6 year old flats on it), it feels like me and i'm happy. there's a lot to be said for knowing one instrument warts an all.
check out the 'rig rundown' things on youtube, particularly the will lee, jimmy earl and other american tv guys - their takes on it are all varied and very interesting.
all the best!
C

[gsgbass]

A Rickenbacker 4003 Jetglo.

Edited November 14, 2015 by gsgbass

[Dregg]

When thinking about this topic, all I can think of is Marcus Miller who said that he owned upwards to 50 basses but still only played the same over and over again, because it had pretty much become his signature bass/sound and that was all he needed.

That goes pretty much in line with what I'm waiting for now: A Sandberg Jazz that I figure will be my main bass for the foreseeable future. It has all that I need in overall sound and playability and fits all styles. Doesn't cost a fortune, but does it need to?

I do have several other basses which are more suited for other styles specifically, but that's only because I'm a bass whore
If anything, I'd probably only keep my Stingray which is the only 4-string I own, because I sometimes love playing in drop tuning.