80's brands that tried to kill your bass playing.

[discreet]

Audition amps, from Woolworths. Terrible, but all I could afford at 14.

Another vote for Kay guitars. My first 'proper' bass was a short scale EB copy by Avon, not much better!

[kodiakblair]

Going from this everything was an improvment.
[attachment=239608:Kay EB100.JPG][attachment=239609:Sound Fashion.jpg]

Round our way we were jealous of lads with Satellite guitars. One fella had a CSL Les Paul copy, that was top notch stuff for us.
I dreamed about getting a Westone like Henry Thomas.

[casapete]

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1488629539' post='3250583']
Going from this everything was an improvment.
[attachment=239608:Kay EB100.JPG][attachment=239609:Sound Fashion.jpg]

Round our way we were jealous of lads with Satellite guitars. One fella had a CSL Les Paul copy, that was top notch stuff for us.
I dreamed about getting a Westone like Henry Thomas.
[/quote]

Can't believe the prices these go for on ebay recently. Must be a lot of nostalgic people out there who will
be very disappointed when they realise how naff they are.

[kodiakblair]

Can't see it being any of us who owned them,mine really did go on the fire

This is £11.49 too much.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KAY-BASS-GUITAR-SPARES-ONLY-REFURB-/311813335902?hash=item489985eb5e:g:kSsAAOSw32lYtszi

[TrevorR]

[quote name='bassbiscuits' timestamp='1488616106' post='3250434']


I still have an Arion tuner and it still works perfectly well after 30 years!

i also had a book by a bloke called Jim Gregory that had a floppy 7" record in it for tuning and backing tracks.
[/quote]

I learned using that Jim Gregory book too...

[Beer of the Bass]

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1488637340' post='3250677']


I learned using that Jim Gregory book too...
[/quote]

I had that book too, or it might have been my brother.

[kodiakblair]

I'm another who had the Gregory book.
Remember thinking " who the hell is Felix Pappalardi ? " and where can I get the half moon Fender Entwistle was pictured with.

[bazzbass]

D'Addario Copper coated bass strings.

they kept breaking, and my sweat turned my fingers green !

I love all the other strings D'Addario sell, but these were rubbish

[lojo]

In the 80s as a teen I was playing a homemade cricket bat , I'd have smiled forever if I'd have been able to get my hands on a bass like those in the OP

[solo4652]

Carlsbro Stingray on Ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Carlsbro-Stingray-Bass-Amp-Head-/182471442739?hash=item2a7c254133:g:NCYAAOSw2gxYtZTU

[stingrayPete1977]

I started on an Avon SG copy bass, awful tone, played terribly, terrible neck dive, susceptible head stock joint, horrid neck profile, body was too heavy but still had the neck dive, no where for a strap to attach properly and topped of with a thick red globby varnish, it was just like a real one!

[julesb]

[quote name='solo4652' timestamp='1488718172' post='3251220']
Carlsbro Stingray on Ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Carlsbro-Stingray-Bass-Amp-Head-/182471442739?hash=item2a7c254133:g:NCYAAOSw2gxYtZTU
[/quote]

If I remember rightly the red button on these was a 'compressor' which actually acted like an extreme limiter.

[RhysP]

[quote name='julesb' timestamp='1488719358' post='3251231']
If I remember rightly the red button on these was a 'compressor' which actually acted like an extreme limiter.
[/quote]

The red button was a bass boost, no compressor on these.

[julesb]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1488721378' post='3251248']


The red button was a bass boost, no compressor on these.
[/quote]

Might have been the cobra

Edited March 5, 2017 by julesb

[RhysP]

[quote name='julesb' timestamp='1488721931' post='3251254']
Might have been the cobra
[/quote]

The later models had a compressor with a red button, but the 80s ones didn't as far as I can remember.

[kodiakblair]

The Red button is marked "Deep"
Just been up the stairs to check. You can see it on the eBay picture too.

[NancyJohnson]

Harsh on Carlsboro. I ran a Stingray Bass Combo (like the one below) for a long time and it was pretty damn epic considering I was only 14 or 15 years old; the guitarist in my band at the time used a Carlsboro Scorpion combo and I'd honestly have zero qualms about using either now.

I think in these days, when gear is relatively affordable, it's too easy for people to say that 30 years ago Hondo guitars wrecked this, that, or another, but we all had to start somewhere and unless daddy works in the city, it's quite unlikely that you were going to start out on a Rickenbacker through an Ampeg SVT. I have very fond memories of the stuff I started out on; it was perfectly acceptable to me to be playing a paper round funded CBS/Arbiter bass through whatever my first amplifier was...that I'd paid for it myself made me cherish it even more. If I'd wanted Fender bass in the 70s, the Bell Catalogue price for a Jazz was likely 10-15 times what I paid for my Arbiter.

The only thing that playing these cheap basses and amplifiers was to make the hunger for a better, more playable instrument all the more evident.

[kodiakblair]

Damn straight NJ. Growing up I knew 1 fella with a Fender. had wealthy folks and it was his 18th birthday present.

You just played what you had and since everybody had FA fancy nobody cared.

[julesb]

It's just supposed to be a bit of fun. We all played this gear back then so of course there are fond memories associated with the times when we started playing but I was trying to make the point of how universally good the cheap gear seems to be at the moment. Got to go, I have to call Daddy to see if he landed that '62 Jazz for me. Shall I add some smileys?

[NancyJohnson]

[quote name='julesb' timestamp='1488727243' post='3251321']
It's just supposed to be a bit of fun. We all played this gear back then so of course there are fond memories associated with the times when we started playing but I was trying to make the point of how universally good the cheap gear seems to be at the moment. Got to go, I have to call Daddy to see if he landed that '62 Jazz for me. Shall I add some smileys?
[/quote]

No need for smileys, no!

I think as kids we all watched Top of the Pops and analysed the gear bands were using...as part of Team Bass Player, we all collectively aspired to one of three major brands, but in all probability moved through Columbus, Shaftesbury and Ibanez gear before landing the metaphorical big one, only to discover the anticipation and expectation of ownership outweighed ownership itself.

Kids nowadays don't realise how good cheap gear actually is either.

[TimR]

There's a 'vintage' Marlin Sidewinder for sale in Hobgoblin music. £249!

[Beer of the Bass]

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1488724454' post='3251285']
The Red button is marked "Deep"
Just been up the stairs to check. You can see it on the eBay picture too.
[/quote]

The fart button! Or at least that's what it did on the one my school had, which had the same controls as the one pictured but a 12" speaker without the flared port. I never did entirely figure out what those filter buttons did either - it seemed to sound best if I didn't mess with them.

[Woodinblack]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1488802162' post='3251829']
There's a 'vintage' Marlin Sidewinder for sale in Hobgoblin music. £249!
[/quote]

Facebook and ebay are full of 'classic' instruments at very amusing prices. Yes, they are rare, because people took great pleasure in burning them!