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

[lemmywinks]

16 hours ago, Pea Turgh said:

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.

Same here, pal of mine has a Ric he adores and thinks is a legendary classic bass. It sounds terrible and is an absolute chore to play though. If it didn't have the iconic look he wouldn't give it a second glance.

Joint first position for worst bass however is a Hofner violin bass (one of the more pricey ones) I used the last time I was persuaded to go to a jam night. Just as clunky as the Ric with a similar amount of useless cosmetic adornments which hamper playing only this time it sounded like mud being played through more mud rather than a choice selection of honky farts like the Ric. I can only assume all the controls on the bass and amp were broken because it sounded the same no matter what. Again the owner was really proud of it and I have no idea why, I've seen his band a few times and the bass guitar and kick drum are indistinguishable from each other in the mix.

[corndog]

A Fender Flea RW Jazz for me. Lose pots, thin anemic tone and too road worn. The sales guy was hyping it quite a bit, as soon as the pot spun in my hand, I hung it back on the wall. I don't expect that on a $300 bass, never mind a $1400 bass. The thing was just unboxed that day too.

[Old Man Riva]

On 19/05/2018 at 14:00, Bassassin said:

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!

For basses where you’re paying a premium and expecting top quality in return I’ve played a few Fender CS basses that've been properly horrible.

They've tended to be NOS ones, strangely enough, rather than the relic jobs. A mixture of rotten set-ups, poorly finished frets, necks like bananas (as referenced above) have all been present on expensive instruments. 

In the spirit of fairness I’ve also (mostly) played some lovely Fender CS basses but when they get it wrong they really get it wrong. 

[ezbass]

Outside of the nasty, cheap instruments we started out with in the 70s, I'd say the worst bass I've ever tried is a Rickenbacker, many years ago at a guitar show. The action and relief were so high, you could've got your hand, or even arm, underneath without causing any pain to yourself. I didn't even bother to plug it in.

[OliverBlackman]

A 1979 Fender precision that was wrong in every way. The only two original bits were the body and neck. The body weighed close to an anchor and the neck was chunky with holes in it. The pickups were as plain Jane as you’ve ever heard, and the foam underneath them had disintegrated so the pickups had effectively sunk into the body. The bridge had rusted as had the strings which might actually have been original but they would have been better used as a saw blade. The case wasn’t original and only had one working hinge and no latches. At £500 I thought it was worth a try... it wasn’t.

Also those Hofner violin basses are horrible to hold. 

[bubinga5]

My sisters husbands Rickenbacker. It was awful.. Horrible to hold/play, tone wasn't for me (personally), it was like a boat anchor, neck was like a bass ball bat.. He played what I had at the time, which was a Maruszczyk Elwood Jazz 5 and didn't like it. Each there own. 

Edited May 20, 2018 by bubinga5

[Linus27]

Another no love for Rickenbacker here. Horrid sounding and felt terrible to play. I am biased though, I think they look fugly as well.

 

[ezbass]

Full disclosure here. Many, many years later, I tried a 4003s to check if my initial Ric experience still held true, it did not and I bought that one I tried and liked. It is heavy, to be sure, but it was well set up (even better now) and sounded great. It’s weird, had that first one not been so awful, I would have probably never tried one again.

[bassbiscuits]

I tried a Fender Custom Shop 1955 Precision Bass - i loved the really vintage look, the stunning relicing and the whole vibe of it.

Then i sat down to play it, and just couldn't get on with it - totally underwhelmed. Especially when I A/Bd it against my own 1970 P that i'd brought for comparison, which just blew it away.

I loved the idea of having two super cool vintage style basses, but the '55 just wasn't for me and I left it there. Bummer tho.

[EliasMooseblaster]

I don't know whether this first one counts, as I do own one of these basses, just not the specific, offending items: I quite like my Epi EB-3, despite their divisive nature. I bought it from Macari's, where in hindsight, they'd obviously taken five minutes to make sure their stock was at least playable.

Going out to bigger shops to test amps and pedals, it's not been difficult to find an EB-3 to test them with...only for me to get a horrible shock as the assistant passes me a bass with wobbly pots and a crackling pickup switch. And the action. Oh, the action. I don't know how it's possible to have the strings high enough to limbo under, and yet still have the bottom couple of notes choked off when they rattle against the frets.

The other one, which definitely counts, is the Hofner Violin. I couldn't vouch for its origins, or its authenticity - it was clearly an old instrument, and it looked an awful lot like a Hofner, so I assume that it was Hofner themselves who put the logo on the head.

In any case, it felt like I was playing a toy. It's not the guitar's fault I'm a big chap, but that fiddly little neck was completely unworkable. It sounded...fine, I guess. For a couple of combinations of settings. I was initially quite excited to test the array of knobs and switches,  but none of the tones they produced jumped out and made me think "yes, I will learn to tolerate the neck as long as I can get this sound."

[Daz39]

A Squier Jazz - don't think it was a special edition or anything, but it was light blue, looked nice but played awfully - the neck pickup crackled, the action was far too high, the strings were dead, and it was too heavy.

At the same visit (Guitar Guitar in Brum) I tried the Peavey Millennium that I now own - for the same sort of price it was ridiculously better. Even though the action was still too high for me, I deemed this as acceptable (I mean, if we turned down every instrument the store hadn't set up properly, we'd have very little to choose from) - and comparably it was far superior in feel and sound.

 

[Guest MoJo]

B.C.Rich Eagle. The headstock was attracted to the floor like it was being dragged there by a powerful electromagnet. A real PITA to play 

[EBS_freak]

@stingrayPete1977- The Mottram bass. Of course.

[Marvin]

Encore P4 Blaster, not a single redeemable feature, complete junk.

The only other bad bass was a Harley Benton 6 string bass. But this was the fault of the owner not the bass itself. The strings had never been changed and had visible lumps of gunk on them. Also, it had been tuned to standard guitar tuning. The B was therefore now an E etc, and the tension pulled the neck around so much it was now effectively a multi string bow!

Otherwise, I don't play other people's basses or wonder into music shops and play basses, so limited experience ☺

[Mykesbass]

Played an F Bass in Bass Gear when I bought my Carvin amp there. £4000+ and was very ordinary.  Amp was great though, and still use it.

[bubinga5]

3 hours ago, Mykesbass said:

Played an F Bass in Bass Gear when I bought my Carvin amp there. £4000+ and was very ordinary.  Amp was great though, and still use it.

An ordinary F Bass..?  is that even possible.  Maybe dead strings.?

[casapete]

Someone brought a Taylor AB2 acoustic electric in to my weekly pub gig for me to try. Really expensive when new, but it completely underwhelmed me. Maybe due to a poor setup and old strings, but I just couldn’t see the attraction at all, despite usually liking Taylor stuff. My Washburn AB20 played and sounded so much better, to me anyway.

Tried a friend’s vintage 1960’s Epiphone Rivoli a while ago, which he’d just acquired. Couldn’t believe how it played and sounded - muddy doesn’t even begin to describe it, and then there was a bass boost switch too which made it more or less unusable to these ears. Add in some serious neck dive and dodgy intonation and you have an expensive ornament really - it did look the business though in faded tobacco sunburst. 

[bigsmokebass]

Been mentioned and I’m not a hater.... but the Rickenbacker Basses are punching above their weight for ‘nothing special’ for £2000+, when you can consider what else is out there for less or equal price... some nice boutique builds out there.

Taylor GS Mini..... 

[Mykesbass]

9 hours ago, bubinga5 said:

An ordinary F Bass..?  is that even possible.  Maybe dead strings.?

No, strings were OK, just for me, a completely uninspiring instrument. I'm sure someone else would have loved it, but it didn't do it for me even before I knew how much it was selling for!!

[casapete]

5 hours ago, bigsmokebass said:

Been mentioned and I’m not a hater.... but the Rickenbacker Basses are punching above their weight for ‘nothing special’ for £2000+, when you can consider what else is out there for less or equal price... some nice boutique builds out there.

Taylor GS Mini..... 

I’ve tried a couple of Taylor GS Mini basses and loved them! One man’s meat etc.....

[Floyd Pepper]

Never forget picking up a friends Line 6 Variax bass (I think that’s what it’s called). The modelling bass thingy.

The thing was so heavy, I felt my central nervous system shutting down instantly with the weight of this thing on my shoulder/back. In case that wasn’t enough, they managed to design a nice thick slab body with no contours. When he suggested we went through the models, it was just too much.

Respect to anyone who can get though a gig with that strapped on them:)

[Rich]

Way back in early '86 I spent a wonderful day at the much-missed Wapping Bass Centre, trying a whole load of fabulous exotica. Out of curiosity, I had a quick go on a Steinberger L2... It turned out to be a very quick go. What a ghastly instrument. No redeeming features aesthetically, ergonomically or sonically. Just utterly dreadful.

[bigsmokebass]

16 hours ago, casapete said:

I’ve tried a couple of Taylor GS Mini basses and loved them! One man’s meat etc.....

I appreciate it's good for a travel bass, it does what it's functioned to do if full scale and oversized basses aren't practical in some situations...  But ~£700 for something that sounds boxy, intonation issues, no string tension and the hefty price tag. I'd consider an Ashbory or Kala. 

Also, seen the price of strings? Last time I checked there were ~£45-50 

[EliasMooseblaster]

12 hours ago, Floyd Pepper said:

Never forget picking up a friends Line 6 Variax bass (I think that’s what it’s called). The modelling bass thingy.

The thing was so heavy, I felt my central nervous system shutting down instantly with the weight of this thing on my shoulder/back. In case that wasn’t enough, they managed to design a nice thick slab body with no contours. When he suggested we went through the models, it was just too much.

Respect to anyone who can get though a gig with that strapped on them:)

My friend tried one of their guitars in Anderton's a while ago. His damned-by-faint-praise verdict was that it "didn't sound as bad as those Spider amps."

He passed it to me and I had to admit that it was alright to play - heavy, yes, but the neck was nice enough. The only problem came when you had to plug the thing in...

[stingrayPete1977]

On 21/05/2018 at 17:18, EBS_freak said:

@stingrayPete1977- The Mottram bass. Of course.

Any of them!