Best combination of basses you’ve owned

[Painy]

I've always liked to have a main bass for the 95% of the set that I play with fingers and then a second bass with a longer strap as I find it more comfortable for the couple of songs that I'll play with a pick. Generally I've aimed for the second to have enough similarity to the main one that it also makes a good backup in the event of a broken string or some other failure. 

Notable pairings over the years have been:

A pair of Aria Pro II Magna Series (one in black and one in blue and the last 4 strings that I've ever owned). 

Yamaha TRB5-II and Yamaha RBX765A. 

Warwick Streamer Stage 1 and Warwick Corvette Standard Active. 

More recently though I decided to take a different approach of having 3 different basses to give me a choice of sounds and put together my 'holy trinity' of a P, a J and a Ray.

As much as I loved the idea in theory though, I just ended up using the P for almost everything, the J with a longer strap for use with a pick (but never really being satisfied with the sound because I actually wanted it to sound more like the P) and the Ray just sitting there looking pretty. After all that though I did at least establish that the Precision is my favourite bass that I've owned over the years so it has stayed. 

Just the last couple of weeks I've done a couple of trades and - for now at least 😉 - am as happy as I've ever been. I now have the tried and tested matching pair once again that has always worked for me in the past but also have also kept a third bass in the equation for something more modern and completely different. 

My main bass - Squier VM P5 with added chrome covers, Nordstrand NP5V pickup and Dan Armstrong Yellow Humper active circuit. 

My pick/backup bass - Squier VM P5 with Aguilar AG5P-60. 

My modem alternative - Ibanez SRMS805-DTW.