Worst bass you've ever played that you did not own.

[stingrayPete1977]

As a flip to the other thread what's the worst bass you've ever played? 

I'm not talking "I hate Gibson basses", I'm not thinking because of what style it was, Marcus Miller probably wouldn't want to do his thing on a Fiddle bass but might enjoy it for a few numbers playing a different style. You might be a P bass lover yet still vote for a particularity terrible version you came across. 

For me you might be surprised to find that it wasn't a Ricky as much as I hate them in general, lol, it was actually the Yamaha (which is a surprise in itself as they are normally excellent even budget ones) Billy Sheehan bass with Billy stood next to me as I played it! 

Loose pots, dodgy tuners, faulty pickups, less than perfect finish and all this on the Yamaha stand with the Yamaha rep offering it out to try, I'm  sure there must have been a set of Allen keys at the show at least. 

Thankfully if I recall rightly Nigel Clusterflip came over and deafened everyone within a mile radius and I managed to give it back without passing comment. 

What was your anti climax? 

Edited May 19, 2018 by stingrayPete1977

[Mastodon2]

It would be easy to answer this with a list of £150 instruments with terrible setups and cheap electronics, but I'll answer with choices where, based on the price, you'd expect better.

I have played a Rickenbacker and just couldn't find a single thing I liked about it. At least with a Precision or a Jazz, the retro design doesn't hold them back, they can still sound and feel excellent to me. The Rickenbacker just doesn't have a sound or feel that does anything for me and the build quality and fundamental aspects of the design don't stack up for the money they cost.

Another one that sticks in my mind is a Warwick Thumb broadneck 5 string. I love Warwick and I have a Thumb BO 5 that I love to bits, it couldn't be more different to the BN 5. Because the broadneck essentially has the neck of a 6 string Thumb but with 5 strings, the string spacing was enormous. The neck was huge but I could have lived with it expect for the fact it made the string spacing feel just too big. However, I have changed my philosophy on basses now and if a bass sounds how I want, I'll get used to how it plays, regardless of scale length, neck size, string spacing etc. However, this Thumb sounded terrible too. It had the soapbar pickups from the 6 string, as the jazz size pickups as the regular Thumb uses are too small. This had the effect of taking the pickups out of that typical Thumb sweet spot (jammed right against the bridge!) and they just sounded flat and lifeless. The whole bass just felt and sounded dead. No slight on Warwick at all, as they're one of my favourite brands and have been since I first heard Ryan Martinie playing a Thumb BO 5 in about 2001.

[gjones]

A Musicman Sterling, with a painted neck and an action like a bow and arrow. I didn't like the looks, the playability, or the sound of it. The basic tone of it was very middy, which sounded horrible on it's own but, if I'm honest, actually fitted into the mix quite well once the band started up.

[The59Sound]

Mid 00s Fender MIA Jazz. How can something cost this much and play and sound this bad?

[Bassassin]

I've played a few overpriced disasters, inckuding an MM Bongo that played & sounded worse than the bog seat it resembled.

The stand-out however was a Fender Custom Shop Jaco sig - a £3500 bass with a neck like a banana and an action you could stick your arm under, and strung with roundwounds as rough as rat-tail files. I'm sure a good setup & some more appropriate strings would've helped sort it, but it still would probably have sounded more like someone whacking a plastic bin with a 2x4 than a high-end Jazz!

[nickmew]

Bizarrely one of the worst (for me anyway) and best were stable-mates.

Tried out a full monty german Hofner 500/1 a while back. Thunk thunk thunk. Change all the settings. Same thunk thunk thunk. Twiddle knobs on amp. Thunk thunk thunk. Just didn't get it.

Tried out a fretless version last week at Bassdirect and it's bloody gorgeous. Close to a double-bass sound, on a par with a Rob Allen.

Of course my taste may have changed inbetween, but when I tried the original I also tried the HCT version and genuinely thought they'd got the price tags the wrong way around.

Edited May 19, 2018 by nickmew
edit

[TheGreek]

I think it's hard to pick anything built in the last 30 years for this title - In general, the build quality on today's basses is so much better than it was years ago.

I'd have to say that the Rick I played at a fair back in the 80s was so bad that I am still scarred from the experience today. Overweight, badly balanced, horrid tones - I couldn't find anything which endeared it to me...

[dougieb]

For me it was a Gibson EB3 I actually bought in the late 70's. I fancied being a bit of a Jack Bruce, but ended up taking it back and got a refund. Neck like a telegraph pole, badly weighted, very heavy and I could not get the tone I wanted out of it. I also had a Ricky but that was soon out the door too!

[Osiris]

Another vote for Rickenbacker. I tried a mates 4001 and much as I like the style and love the tone, the neck was horrendous. I just couldn't play it. No idea what it was exactly other than being a bit chunky for my tastes but it felt like it was the first time I'd ever picked a bass up. 

And a MusicMan Stingray. Another chunky neck and that trademark nasal sound just grated on me. No matter how I adjusted my technique and eq'd it was just that nasal rasp. Yuk. Not to mention it was really heavy too. 

[DarkHeart]

A USA Fender Jazz, action you could drive a bus under and a neck joint you could keep 1mm picks in! And it was brand new in a shop.

[SH73]

Ibanez, could have been a Roadster. It weighed a ton and the beck was like a baseball bat.

[Woodinblack]

A stingray, no idea what model, other than 4 string and two pickups. Horrible neck like a baseball bat, horrible action, sounded bad. Put me of stingrays completely. I was actually surprised when I played one recently and it turned out to be quite good.

[LukeFRC]

Two for me: 

Trace Elliot/Status T-bass - my first bass had been a Status Shark so the T bass was the top of the range GAS machine I had wanted for years. Finally got myself to the Gallery in Camden as they had two secondhand ones in stock - both of which sounded dull and lifeless  of all the basses I could have tried out in that shop...

Fender American vintage reissue series '74ri jazz bass and that era- I had tried a fair few of the previous vintage reissue series basses and they had been seriously nice instruments - I wish I had had the money to buy at least 3 of them. The old '75ri Jazz is a bass I wish I had owned but never have...   so when Fender updated the series and brought out the newer 74ri jazz I went to try one.... cheap wood covered in thick cheap finish with a dull sound and just cheap feel and finish and a worse sound plugged in... so tried another one the same. A-B comparing to a Squier and the Squier was a better instrument! 

[Pea Turgh]

My mate has a Rickenbacker which he’s very proud of.

I played it once - felt like a cheap 70’s starter bass. I just didn’t “get” it. So many do though. Strange.

I don’t like marmite either.

[Delberthot]

Anything that was in Sound Control on Jamaica Street in Glasgow when the basses were downstairs.

I went in with the intent of buying something really good but every bass that I pulled off the wall was so badly setup to make it impossible to try out properly. I can't remember what it was but I found something I liked and asked the guy about having it set up. He told me that if I bought it that they would set it up for me. The whole point was that it needed something done to it to make it playable in the first place before I even considered buying it.

[paul_5]

Rickenbacker. Sounded amazing through my old Ampeg but entirely unplayable.

[GregBass]

Back in the mid 1970s I had a 60s Hofner Violin Bass. Clubby neck, sounded like someone kicking a cardboard box. I sold it, complete with original case, for £15.

[discreet]

Kay EB100, available from Woolworth's in the 1970s. Very high action made it unplayable. Eee, you tell the kids today and they won't believe yer.

[Merton]

Played a Maruszczyk at the London Bass Show this year and didn’t get the fuss, though definitely not the worst bass I’ve ever played.

 

That would be a Warwick FNA Jazzman which was a superb bass then, when I needed to borrow it for a gig, my friend changed the strings to these horrendous thin plinky things and the bass became unplayable. So really the strings rather than the bass but it’s haunted me haha

[stingrayPete1977]

Some interesting posts folks, I like it. 

[AndyTravis]

A 1980/81 gibson Flying V bass.

Played it at a jam night.

the guy who owned it had loads of nice gear in various states of disrepair. This played like rubber bands in jelly...worst action ever.

i couldn’t tell you about the sound - I was so disgusted with the playability.

[discreet]

1 hour ago, AndyTravis said:

i couldn’t tell you about the sound - I was so disgusted with the playability.

No doubt you thanked him profusely for the loan of his bass? 

[discreet]

1 hour ago, Merton said:

Played a Maruszczyk at the London Bass Show this year and didn’t get the fuss, though definitely not the worst bass I’ve ever played.

Finally, a post not waxing lyrical about these basses. I have thought about jumping on the bandwagon, but am reluctant to buy a brand that I can't pronounce and can't spell, either. 

[AndyTravis]

20 minutes ago, discreet said:

No doubt you thanked him profusely for the loan of his bass? 

No, mine was packed up and I protested that I’d unpack it “no, try this - a REAL MANS BASS!”

🙄

[discreet]

22 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

No, mine was packed up and I protested that I’d unpack it “no, try this - a REAL MANS BASS!”

Ah. Presumably 'real men' like basses with crappy strings...