Where did we all start this journey from?

[NancyJohnson]

While we all love to say what gear we use right now, but where did you start off from? 

Sadly, no original pictures from that period, but I borrowed £35 off my dad and bought a CBS/Arbiter bass from a small place in Staines, called Adam Music.  It was exactly like the one below.  I do remember that the EAD were flats and the G was roundwound.  I chose Gibson plectrums because Kiss used Gibson.  Haha.

I'd borrow a WEM Dominator III from a guy who lived a street away from me - there seemed to be a lot of WEM and Watkins gear around; Charlie Watkins had an establishment in Chertsey, a kid from school had assembled a Watkins Rapier from damaged parts and the owner of the Dominator had a white Les Paul styled bass.  Ampwise, I'm not 100% certain what my first owned amp was - I bought an unbranded 1x15 locally that I distinctly remember getting it home using a wheelbarrow.  Aah, the '70s.  It's a toss up between a really nasty H:H head or a Carlsboro StingRay combo; I have a photo somewhere of the StingRay sitting on top of the 1X15, so definitely owned both at the same time.

It's all a far cry from the stuff now, but I guess when all we had was Bell Musical Instrument catalogues and monthly Beat Instrumental magazines, we probably didn't really know any better.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by NancyJohnson

[Doctor J]

I started in late 1989 with an Aria Pro II XRB-2 from Goodwins on Capel Street in Dublin and a 10W East German transistor amp whose name I cannot recall. My Dad picked it up somewhere. The Aria was a plywood body but sounded really good, to be fair.

[Teebs]

Until I got a 'proper' bass, I was playing a mate's acoustic guitar with the top 2 strings removed - horrible!

About a year later (1993), I bought a Westone 1A Thunder (the tiger stripes came later) from a different friend - it was a revelation after the acoustic guitar. Shortly afterwards, I got a Peavey TNT100 amp from someone who owed me money. This meant that I could play in my first band - we were terrible!

The horrendous noises that I was able to create endeared me to all who were lucky enough to hear!

I still have both the bass and amp...

(photo of the amp is from the web - mine is in storage)

Edited May 17, 2019 by Teebs

[bartelby]

For my 16th birthday I bought a 3 or 4 year old black Aria Pro II CSB-Deluxe and a Laney Linebacker 30. Lovely bass, horrible amp. I didn't realise the CSB was medium scale until the following year when I part ex'd it for and SB Elite and found frets weren't where they should be...

[Teebs]

20 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

I like the look of that amp!

[ribbetingfrog]

I went in my local music shop and a used Peavey Millenium AC BXP in purple called out to me. Love at first sight. I took it home there and then.

10 days later GAS had firmly taken hold and I upgraded to a Schecter Stilletto elite.

 

I have had terrible GAS very since 😀

[Grangur]

In the 70s at about 16, I wanted to learn guitar. One day saw a Vox Clubman under my brother's bed. He'd borrowed it from a mate and done nothing with it.

The body of the bass is ply. The neck was beech; as flat as a pancake and with no truss rod; made by the Ercol factory in Dartford. The "jack" socket was a co-axial socket.

My first "amp" was a broken-down reel to reel tape recorder that I wired the bass into. It did nothing but make "fart" noises. 

[NancyJohnson]

9 minutes ago, Teebs said:

I like the look of that amp!

It's funny remembering back...three of us formed a band at school and it felt like the WEM kept us together.  It was always, 'Can you get the amp?'

[Steve Browning]

My first set-up was a Columbus Jazz bass (ironically), a 50 Top amp and an Impact 2x15 cabinet.

It's behind me in this horribly embarrassing picture. Supporting local Pompey band Arms and Legs at the college ball. Arms and Legs featured one Joe Jackson on keyboards (and violin). 

 

[Mickeyboro]

15 minutes ago, Teebs said:

I like the look of that amp!

I had one of these! Bought it in 1980 with a Grantson fretless Jazz copy. Great amp. 

[Lozz196]

My first real gigging set up was a Yamaha BB1100s bass and a Laney Linebacker 1x15 combo, think it was 150 Watts. Before that it was cheapo copies of Ricks/P basses etc but never gigged with any of them.

[dmccombe7]

My first bass is the Columbas Jazz on left in this picture. I sanded down the Columbas name and put my own on it but made an derrière of it so my mate redid it after this pic was taken and did a great job of it. He still has the bass.

The Shergold 4 & 8 string was my 2nd bass.

My first amp was a Sound City amp and cab but don't have any pics of it. 

 

[Nicko]

Started playing bass on a borrowed Ibanez SG style bass and Roland Cube- probably a 120 in a large temporary building/bar on a construction camp in the desert in 2009 - having played six string for years in my bedroom.  Only played a couple of gigs before buying my own bass - a Peavey BX Cirrus from Wunjo when on home leave.  Got fed up with changing the batteries so went for a Precision, and traded the BXP for a Squier CV Precision (bought as a backup) a few years ago.  The first amp I owned was a Line 6 lowdown 15 wqtt practice, but I bought a Markbass Blackline 250 and 2x10 traveller cab for my first UK gig which I still use.

Edited May 17, 2019 by Nicko
Added a photo

[thepurpleblob]

I had a 'home made' P-bass kicking around my house for years that somebody had left there. I played drums at the time. 

One day something got into my head that I might like to learn to play the thing. Having decided it was more fun than playing drums I went into Glasgow, bought a Yamaha BB605 and signed up for lessons with some guy on the music shop notice board. The rest is history and all that...

I think the first rig I had was a Gallien-Kreuger (sp?) 400-something and a Hartke cab. Changed that loads before it all settled down.

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by thepurpleblob

[stewblack]

 Can't recall what the first bass was - it belonged to the drummer in the band. I was supposed to be auditioning for rhythm guitar! The bass player had just walked and my stumpy fingers seemed ideal for the role. 

I owned a Kay 🏏 first of all but went immediately from there to an Aria Pro ll SB. Talk about ridiculous to the sublime.

I still have it, still love it. (the Aria, not the Kay 🏏). Put it through an H&H guitar head (mmmm green lights) into a 2x15 H&H cab both long since gone I know not where.

My first real bass amp was a Carlsboro Cobra 90 and I loved it. However it had something called a 'compressor' which, when you depressed the button, produced the startling effect of making the Aria sound more like the Kay 🏏. 

[stewblack]

Found a shot from the early days. I couldn't recall my cab but I see it was a Laney 4x10.

Looks like a boss chorus pedal down there too. 

[musicbassman]

1969 - A Linear Conchord amp (15w?) and a homemade 2x12 cab.

The first 2x12 cab I made had two Fane Crescendo 12" speakers. They arrived with instructions for building a suitable cab for them.

I must have misread or misunderstood the instructions as the cab I ended up with was the size of a large wardrobe. It was made of half inch chipboard, and I painted it all black using several tins of blackboard paint... yep, and it looked ............great!

By standing on a chair, I managed to put the Linear Conchord on top of this  - now I had a proper "stack" !!!

I plugged my bass in and plucked an open E,  and both speakers blew instantly...................  😯

Anyway, this is what a Linear Conchord looked like - they were quite commonly used in bands in 1969

[Hobbayne]

First bass was a short scale Satellite I bought from a second hand shop in Hanwell, London in 1982.

It was terrible. I gave up on it and sold it back to the shop.

That was followed by a Westone thunder 1 from a mates mums' Little-woods catalogue.

Number 3 was one of the first Squiers. A 1984 JV 57 Precision in salmon pink. I later had it resprayed . (My avatar picture)

First amp was  also a Carlsboro Cobra. I was always skint and unemployed in the 80's. My mate bought it for me and I had to pay him back weekly.

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Hobbayne

[nightsun]

I bought this old thing from a music shop in Chelmsford (the name escapes me) in 1989 so I didn't deafen my family while practising, still got it in a cupboard somewhere.

  

 

First electric was a no name solid pine lefty precision copy, given to me by a family friend.  Strung upside down it did the job but weighted the same as a small car (no pictures exists). This I paired with a dodgy old PA system I found at a jumble sale...only the best gear for me.  Unfortunately I lent it to a friend who promptly disappeared and it was never seen again, still pisses me off to this day.

[BlueMoon]

This image is from around 1973 and was of a rehearsal in Maldon, Essex. School band who thought we'd all be "rock stars"....some hope!!

Bass player (with fashionable hair and shirt collars) is me and I still have the 1964 Burns Jazz you can just about see on the right of the pic. It came from a music shop in Chelmsford when I traded up from my first bass ....a Columbus Jazz copy. The Burns cost me 12 GBP if I recall correctly. Hey ho...fond memories.

 

[chris_b]

1 hour ago, Teebs said:

Until I got a 'proper' bass, I was playing a mate's acoustic guitar with the top 2 strings removed - horrible!

The action on my Spanish guitar was so high that I couldn't push all 6 strings down at once and make a chord. When a friend got a Futurama guitar I started playing bass lines on the bottom 4 strings to accompany him. That was it, I knew I was a bass player at that point. My first bass was a Framus Star bass (small body , 1 pickup) a 60 watt Nashville valve amp and a Crook 412 cab. All bought from Maurice Plaguet's in Acton. 

 

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/267778-it-was-50-years-ago-today/

 

[Owen]

1 hour ago, Steve Browning said:

My first set-up was a Columbus Jazz bass

Mine too. Just horrible.

[FinnDave]

1 hour ago, Grangur said:

In the 70s at about 16, I wanted to learn guitar. One day saw a Vox Clubman under my brother's bed. He'd borrowed it from a mate and done nothing with it.

The body of the bass is ply. The neck was beech; as flat as a pancake and with no truss rod; made by the Ercol factory in Dartford. The "jack" socket was a co-axial socket.

My first "amp" was a broken-down reel to reel tape recorder that I wired the bass into. It did nothing but make "fart" noises. 

My first bass was a short sale Vox like that, but I'm fairly sure it had just one of those pickups. I'd started playing a few months before buying the Vox from a chap down the street for an exorbitant £7.00. 

I also remember using an old valve tape recorder as an amplifier, but mostly for my mate's guitar, I honestly can't remember my first amp - I remember playing through a Wem Dominator, but can't remember if it was mine or not! 

Eventually made a 2x15 cab in the school woodwork shop, fitted a couple of Fanes I got from Wilmslow (on the bus!). Powered that with a Selmer Treble and Bass 50, had that for years.

I've never found any pictures of my early basses (cameras were for special occasions back then!) and the earliest pic of me with a bass is with a Framus Jazz Bass, I reckon it was taken about 1979, so I had been playing about five years by then.

 

[FinnDave]

7 minutes ago, owen said:

Mine too. Just horrible.

I remember lusting after Columbus Jazz basses in the local music shop (The Rhythm House, Stockport). They were a serious step up from the things I started on - and at nearly fifty quid, well out of reach!

[Grahambythesea]

I started with a Fenton Weill. I don't have a picture of the original but this is a similar one from the net. I modded mine by removing the hideous red pickguard and putting a metal bridge on it.  My first amp was some weird thing where one speaker faced forward and the other back. This was soon replaced by a Selmer Treble and Bass 50 and a Marshall 2 x 12 cabinet.