Does it really matter what gear you have??

[Dad3353]

For me, reliability is a factor, if playing professionally, or aspiring to. I bought my drums in the early 70s; they cost a lot of money back then. I've played 'em ever since, in most styles, and they sound as fine now as they did back then. I have no hankering for any other drums, as I've already the best (for me, although the review that this self-same kit got in the drum mags of the day rated them as the 'Rolls-Royce of the drum world', too...). For practical reasons, I'd like a good electronic kit, but the expense, nowadays, prevents this. Other than that, I'm done, and have been for nearly fifty years. Spendthrift, me..? Nah, ta very much...

[discreet]

34 minutes ago, thebigyin said:

I remember many moons ago I was gigging with a  beat up old 90w Carlsboro Combo and an old Encore P Bass which was surprisingly nice to play cost me £100 for both amp and bass....a good friend and fellow bassist was gigging with his band with a £1000 Ampeg stack and a Musicman Bass of about a grand and he would often compliment me on my sound and say he had all this expensive gear and mine was cheapo budget second hand crap but sounded better than him lol.....I would say its all in the fingers....feel is everything.

You were most likely a better player than him. Some seem to think that expensive gear will make them play better. It won't.

22 minutes ago, chris_b said:

If you want an "extreme" bass sound then you have made a very small target for yourself. For a more traditional bass sound just focus on not sounding bad and you'll sound great in a band. You'll get more gigs by being a good player. So what you play is always more important than how you sound.

Yes, my point entirely. In a live band setting a bass largely sounds like a bass. If it doesn't, you're doing it wrong. Or you're Chris Squire. Totally agree that being a good player gets you more gigs. And I would also say that doing gigs makes you good at doing gigs. Rehearsing endlessly does not.

Edited November 8, 2018 by discreet

[discreet]

7 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

For me, reliability is a factor, if playing professionally, or aspiring to. I bought my drums in the early 70s; they cost a lot of money back then. I've played 'em ever since, in most styles, and they sound as fine now as they did back then. I have no hankering for any other drums, as I've already the best (for me, although the review that this self-same kit got in the drum mags of the day rated them as the 'Rolls-Royce of the drum world', too...). For practical reasons, I'd like a good electronic kit, but the expense, nowadays, prevents this. Other than that, I'm done, and have been for nearly fifty years. Spendthrift, me..? Nah, ta very much...

That's fantastic. For myself, the sweet spot was in 1976 when I bought a new P Bass. I also had an Orange 120W valve amp and a 2X15 cab. OK, the amp and cab were way heavy, but I've not owned or played anything that sounds better than that particular combination of gear. It all went downhill after that, especially so when I joined Basschat in 2010. 

[Conan]

1 hour ago, kyuuga said:

I play much much better when I actually enjoy my tone and I like hearing the sounds I make. It may be a psychological issue but if I'm enjoying the sound I put out then I'm more likely to play better and enjoy the experience. 

This. Totally and utterly THIS!!! 

[Conan]

1 hour ago, Low End Bee said:

Songs are the important thing.

Oh, and this too 

[bassbiscuits]

As long as you enjoy playing the particular gear you use, then it doesnt really matter what the cost of it is.

I've got some modestly-priced bit of kit which play and sound great. It's taken me a good few years to realise there's no secret talent or magic locked up in expensive instruments that you acquire if you buy them.

[Conan]

1 hour ago, Dad3353 said:

A lot of it is, it seems, to me, the 'grass is greener' effect, and emperor's new clothes.

Keeping up with the Phil Joneses? 

[4000]

1 hour ago, discreet said:

Yes, this. It's what your audience hears, after all.

Not necessarily. We're an originals band and the sound I/we're trying to achieve, in terms of both material and sonics, is more important to me than anything else. I don't really consider what the audience (and I'm not just talking live) will think too much. Luckily most of our audiences seem to like what we do, but it wouldn't matter a great deal to me if they didn't. We'd just get less gigs, which to be honest wouldn't bother me much.;-) If I'm really honest I could do it in isolation and enjoy everything just as much as I already do.

Also, in terms of bass itself, in my current band I use a pretty specific kind of sound and style, that isn't achievable using just anything (I know, I've tried). Again, what the listener perceives doesn't really matter to me; I know what I want to hear. What I'm trying to create is always far more important to me than how it's perceived. I'm sure most people who have ever created any sort of art (I come from a fine art background), and that includes music, are more concerned with what they think of it than what anyone else does.  

 

[Telebass]

I think the premise is largely true. The endless gear hunt stops when you realise what it is you want from gear, then get the gear that will achieve that. If it's pricey, so be it, but as you won't be buying any more, what does it matter? I've got a good rig, which I like. It will go soon to be downsized (age/need). My bass is a Fender hybrid I put together myself, and it all just works. I plug in and go, no pedals except a tuner. These days, I could probably halve the size of my car...

[Lozz196]

Pretty much any Precision works for me. My faves are the US Standards, 2012 - 2016 Series, but I’ve gigged with Squiers and been fine. I’ve been through the journey - ahhh, X-Factor speak - of replacement pickups/bridges, high-end cabs etc only to realise that a stock Fender Precision and my Tech21 Para Driver are all I really need for me to be happy (along with fresh steel roundwound strings). Amp-wise I’ve been through many makes and realised that Ashdown are the brand for me, they’re a lot more affordable than many others but are great sounding, hard wearing, a good company to deal with, and an hours drive if I need something repaired. I’m glad I’ve bought/sold loads of gear, it was great fun, but I don’t need to go looking anymore, my current gear is what works for me. 

Additionally I have been surprised to see that many pros are happy with much lesser instruments than we would expect. A good deal on the Punk/Oi circuit seem happy with Mex Fenders or Squiers, Epiphone guitars etc and a great many are happy to use any amp that is provided, confident that they’ll get a sound that works for their band.

Edited November 8, 2018 by Lozz196

[Paul S]

For me - and I am sure an awful lot of us on this forum - the words 'need' and 'want' are very different things.  The way I look at it - if I want something nice, have the money to spend on it and the space to keep it, then I will get it.   The fact that I might not actually need it is largely irrelevant.

[Rayman]

For me... the bottom line is this...

If you're comfortable with your gear..... if you're comfortable with how it sounds, feels and looks, that's it, period. Chris (Ped) is right, you should feel inspired to pick it up and use it..... but..... to me.... cost and origin of manufacture are irrelevant. If you dig it, it works, regardless of the fact that it might be a Squier or a Fodera...... a Behringer or a Markbass.... it doesn't matter at all.... If it works for you, sorted #justplay

[PaulWarning]

one problem with relativity cheap gear, until you've tried the expensive stuff you never know how much better it will be or whether it's worth the extra, I've just bought a Vintage V4 that I'm perfectly happy to play, but if I'd never had a MIA Precision I'd never know how good the Vintage was

[Tubster]

Matters to me but audience don’t give a rat’s.....!

[Osiris]

After more than 30 years of playing and gigging I'm starting to come to the conclusion that all the many thousands of pounds I have spent on bass gear in that time (I daredn't even begin to total it up  ) has largely been akin to chasing rainbows. As has already been pointed out, there is a lot of very good, cheap gear about these days, far removed from my first bass with a body made from a soggy bit of bread that I started on in the mid 80's. I'm currently happily gigging a short scale Ibanez Talman, cost me £150 used (yes you can get them for that new but this has had the pickups, bridge, jack and pots upgraded) alongside a couple of other basses that I paid 10 times as much for. And the diddy Ibanez holds its own against them. That's not to say that it as well built, indeed if you care to scrutinise it you can see where costs have been saved - but that does not automatically make is a pile of 💩. It plays well, it is comfortable - and most of all it sounds great. It sounds like me. As do its considerably more expensive peers. And it also means that I don't get too precious about it when the walking dead take to the stage at about 11.30 each gig. 

There isn't much gear that I've played over the years that I haven't been able to get a good, usable sound out of. Yes, sure I could name a couple of names but that's not the point. The point is getting a solid, usable sound. As someone said earlier the key factor is getting a sound that locks in and compliments the other sounds going on around you, whatever they are. That often means a sound that isn't particularly pleasing in isolation, but works as part of the whole.

The cost of, and the badge on your bass/amp/cab/pedals is utterly irrelevant. If it works for you then it's the right tool for your job regardless of the RRP. 

[FinnDave]

All I ask of my gear is that it is reliable, easy to set up and sounds like a bass. Nothing else really matters. I've got far too many basses - Fenders, Gibson and Alembic - but the only one I've been gigging with lately has been my 500 quid Ibanez.

[bassbiscuits]

I still love the excitement of aspiring to cool, new, expensive, dream gear, but these days I'm in no position to buy anything that i don't really need.

I'm satisfied with my stuff. It's all good, solid, enjoyable stuff, from the most expensive bit to the cheapest one.

[bassjim]

Some old saying goes......When one has tasted good champagne one doesn't care for the cheep wine unless one is already an alcoholic.

I'd say it does matter what gear you have but there is a tolerance between usable and oh my flipping god this is cosmic.

 

 

 

 

[discreet]

3 minutes ago, bassjim said:

When one has tasted good champagne one doesn't care for the cheep wine unless one is already an alcoholic.

Would you say that GAS has parallels with alcoholism? Or is it akin to a hankering for champagne, possibly by those with more of a beer income?

[jezzaboy]

To be honest, I`m not really looking for "a sound" when I buy a bass. I usually just go "ooohhh shiny thing!" and it`s done usually. 

 

[lownote]

At the recent of being flamed I have to say I think gear makes a huge difference to the sound.  It depends on the music , obviously. But my choice of bass, strings, cab and head has a much bigger influence on what I sound like than how  I twang the strings - and the EQ too.  But then I like to play higher up , where the sound is more clearly defined than playing below fret 5 all the time.  I have gone through 35+ basses and 10+ rigs to find 'my sound' and now I know exactly what will give me what sound.  I am totally accepting if I was Jaco Devine or any of 100 members on here I could probably do it with my fingers.  But I'm a kaka player so I lean on my kit to do as much for me as possible. 

[discreet]

6 minutes ago, lownote12 said:

...my choice of bass, strings, cab and head has a much bigger influence on what I sound like than how  I twang the strings...

I'd agree about the strings - often overlooked - string type and gauge have the single most profound bearing on what a bass can sound like, IMHO. More so than body wood, pickups or electrics. They can even make amps sound different.

Many is the time I've moved a bass on when I could simply have tried changing the strings, first. And buying lots of different strings is of course way cheaper than buying basses...

[Low End Bee]

Top quality gear. Exquisite technique. Songs that move the very soul.

Then the person on the desk makes you sound like an elastic band on a shoe box.

[bassbiscuits]

40 minutes ago, discreet said:

Would you say that GAS has parallels with alcoholism? Or is it akin to a hankering for champagne, possibly by those with more of a beer income?

I started off with just one bass when I was 12. A couple of my friends were doing it, and I thought I could enjoy bass in moderation. 

But over the years it spiralled into gigging, recording blah blah and costing me thousands etc etc....

[Muzz]

Playing bass in a band makes me happy, bottom line. If I don't like how I sound, I'm not happy, and that leaks into how I play. When I use backline, the amp and cab are a practical compromise between how I want to sound and what is practical for me to gig with (I'm never gonna own another 810 or 70lb all-valve head, for example) and yeah, I've bought lots of gear to get to this point, but then again I've sold anything which didn't work.

Basses are a completely different thing to me: they're things of beauty in the eye of the beholder, and I'll pay whatever I can afford for something I consider beautiful in look and feel. Like Shukers.

Everyone else can, in the words of Bungedit Din: Fakir. Off. 😀