Anyone found their perfect bass?

[Dazed]

.......ever?

...........and kept and used it for eternity yet?



Topic inspired by the Dream bass thread.

[gargouill]

My perfect bass to play in my band ( rock style ) is my 65 jazz bass. I like the feeling and the sound. 45/105 round strings with pick.
To play at home acutally it is Fender Marcus Miller Japan with 40/100 with lower action. Very good for slap.
So my perfect bass is a jazz bass i guess.

[NancyJohnson]

Every bass I've owned was perfect for one reason or another, but it just seems to be my nature to change my gear out periodically.

If there's any correlation between price and perfection, I have a beaten up old Aria P-bass copy that (after hardware updates) still owes me less than £120 And it is perfect.

[Conan]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1509607706' post='3400174']
Every bass I've owned was perfect for one reason or another, but it just seems to be my nature to change my gear out periodically.

If there's any correlation between price and perfection, I have a beaten up old Aria P-bass copy that (after hardware updates) still owes me less than £120 And it is perfect.
[/quote]

I'm similar in that respect. Despite having owned several basses that retail at well over £1000, the one I keep coming back to is my modified J&D "1975" Jazz bass. It cost £119 brand new, and the mods (MIM P bass bridge, Tonerider pickups, headstock sprayed surf green to match the body, Hipshot string tree and purple tort plate) adding less than £100. It just works for me, where every other instrument has had one (or more) irritating little foible that has caused me to leave it at home, or move it on. I don't think I'm particularly difficult to please, and I am becoming less sentimental about gear (whereas I used to get quite upset about selling or trading guitars!).

I like to try as much gear as possible, but increasingly I am coming to realise that it's not about "best" once you reach a certain quality level, just what works for you

Edited November 2, 2017 by Conan

[Steve Browning]

My 66 P-bass. From the first second I picked it up in the shop (about 1986 I think) I knew I had found the best bass for me. It has the easiest neck to play and it just sounds perfect for everything I do (and want to do).

It is semi-retired now because it has a fair bit of playing wear on it and I don;t want to make it worse but it saw me through my years of touring and never fails to make me smile when I play it.

It has changed tuners (Gotoh reverse tuners) because one of the originals broke while on tour in Germany in the early 90's and it also has a Gotoh 203 bridge because I have always preferred them for the tracks in which the bridge grub screws sit. Aside from that, it's exactly as it was when I handed over the 260 quid it cost in Tiger Music in Brighton.

It is the material possession I prize above everything else.

[Skybone]

My RickenFaker's, great sound, great feel, and a third of the price of a Rickenbacker.

[franzbassist]

My two Franz basses are the best I've owned. I've had around sixty basses in my 36ish years of playing, many of which were expensive boutique instruments (e.g. lots of Wals, Smiths, Overwater, ACG etc.) but these basses are without doubt my favourites.

[chris_b]

I've always been a Fender P bass guy and I've owned a Fender Precision for 48 years. It was my only bass for about 25 of those years but it was never even close to perfect.

I don't worry about perfect. I get the best I can afford, play it the best I can and that'll sound as good as I can sound. That's as perfect as I get I'm afraid.

I'm currently using an active Sadowsky J5 and a passive Lull P5. Even they aren't perfect but they are the best so far.

[mattbass6]

My Vigier Excess 5. It was one bass that I kept coming back to in Bass Direct. For some reason I overlooked it for other instruments but eventually after much faffing, I went back, played it, got rid of all the other basses I had and took away my now, no.1. It has remained my only bass for the past 4 years and will be my primary live instrument from here on in. I love it so much, I have another on order 😉

Edited November 2, 2017 by mattbass6

[FinnDave]

Yep, the white and rosewood 2012 US Standard Precision I got 4 years ago in a swap with a basschatter for a Jazz bass is probably as close to perfect as I will ever get. Hasn't stopped me buying more basses, mind you, but is still my #1 gigging bass. If I hit a financial iceberg and had to sell everything except one bass, that's the one I'd keep.

[uk_lefty]

Not a perfect bass meaning one bass to do everything, however I got a Kramer five string fretless for my eighteenth birthday and it still gets gigged over fifteen years later. The pickups are cheap korean factory standard and could be vastly improved but it is the bass I know best. It's 80's hair metal appearance has meant it hasn't been suitable for quite a few bands I've been in though.
As for fretted basses I bought a beaten up MIM Jazz five or six years ago. The only original parts left are the body and neck, but it just feels right and I keep going back to it time and again. In its current state it's worth nothing second hand but it makes me wonder whether any bass will truly replace it in full, or whether a superb new bass means this goes to get defretted or it wears flats for the rest of it's days.

[bassbiscuits]

My 1970 Fender P i bought back in 1994. It's not perfect, but its my bass for life as the best compromise between sound, weight, vibe etc.

I briefly owned a black/maple 2008 USA Jazz bass with Aguilar Hot pickups - that was very close to being absolutely perfect for me, but I had it at a point where I'd injured my shoulder and couldn't take the 4.3kg weight, so i sold it.

[Paul S]

I found my perfect bass but now never use it. A low mileage, extremely lightweight Squier JV Precision bass in black with a maple neck that has some almost holographic-type figuring to it. I changed the pickguard to BWB, the bridge to a Schaller 3D and the tuners to lightweight ones. Then I moved to playing 5 strings

In 10 weeks +/- I should be taking delivery of a Ma-roos-chick Jake 5 that I spec'ed out to be the 5 string brother of this - hopefully it won't disappoint.

[EliasMooseblaster]

Sort of. For now...

My Thunderbird is the best bass for the music I'm currently playing. Something about the combination of our guitarist's sound and a strong female vocal has made a darker, Gibson-type bass sound the best fit. I've used quite a range of different basses in the studio, but the majority of tracks we recorded were either played on an Epiphone EB-3 or the Gibson T-bird. Ditto for most of our live appearances.

Trouble is, as you may have guessed, it's dependent on the setting. Back when I was fronting a blues-rock trio, we had a much gnarlier sound and so a Precision was the best thing for the job. Back in those days, my "dream bass" would probably have been a Fender US Std if I'd got my hands on one.

On the other hand, I may have found my dream amp/cab combination. An Ashdown valve head into a Berg 2x12 has sounded absolutely wonderful, irrespective of which bass I've plugged into it!

[dmccombe7]

To be honest my Fender Jazz Geddy signature bass is the one i tend to use most and its always my goto bass in any new roject and from there i can judge whether or not it suits the band or another might fit better.

Dave

[Machines]

I have a range of instruments that fit particular niches and don't think there is any one that could do them all, I also like the range of different styles of instrument, i'd get bored of playing the same thing all the time.

[Geek99]

a bass doc built precision of mostly japanese components,loosely based on a 73 maple 3tsb.

Notably for a yet-another-Precision, it has a Fender "no-load" tone, so fulltone means the tone pot is electrically bypassed.
It has a cheap "Blues tribute" pup from US ebay on it and it always gets complimented on looks and sound.Its a better instrument than I am at playing it.

[Guest Jecklin]

Musicman stingray fretless 4 string 3band eq.
Wanted one for years and want for nothing else.
In the long term i'd fit a status carbon neck.

[MacDaddy]

Yup, but they are custom jobs that I designed.

It was the only way

[EBS_freak]

GB Spitfires are my first love. I have two - a flash bastard one and a coffee table one. They play absolutely perfectly for what I want - low action, set up perfectly. The sound of them is something that I love... and I know the preamp inside out and know how to get all the sounds I would want to get instinctively with the controls on the preamp combined with the various techniques I draw upon when playing.

I kinda flirt with the idea of other basses... but ultimately I know I will always favour my comfortable slippers.

[TheGreek]

I'd like to say that all of my basses are perfect in their own way in a given situation. This means that I can have several.....

[Marc S]

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1509633013' post='3400472']
I'd like to say that all of my basses are perfect in their own way in a given situation. This means that I can have several.....
[/quote]

I'm going to second this sentiment

[CamdenRob]

Wals for me... tried pretty much everything out there on the journey to get here though. I no longer own anything else.

Edited November 2, 2017 by CamdenRob

[Jono Bolton]

I suppose my P Bass is my "perfect" bass, if only because I can't see how a more expensive P Bass would be an improvement. The build quality is excellent, it sounds great and plays the way I like it, and it cost me £200. If I sold it, I don't think I'd get as good a bass for the same money. Even if I spent 2 or 3 times more, I doubt I'd be getting a significantly better bass.

[JohnR]

Twenty nine years together. We have been through a few rough patches but are just as happy as the day we first met.

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