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Pros that use non-pro basses...


Tjhooker

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11 hours ago, Grahambythesea said:

Jack Cassidy uses his Epi, which didn’t cost a fortune. Admittedly he had a hand in the production, albeit adapting an earlier Gibson Les Paul bass. (Did LP design it or Gibson just use his name?)

I've been using my Epiphone JCB for most of this year in preference to my Fender Precision or Jazzes and my Sandberg Panther - the JCB just feels 'right' - but it cost me about 25% of what I paid for the Panther. The Panther feels too good for me - a 500 quid bass is more my level.

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1 hour ago, Beedster said:

There is nothing worse than the guitarist who has no spare strings, the drummer who only has one set of sticks with him and breaks one of them showing off during soundcheck, of the singer who's got a dodgy mic. And I had them all in the same band on the same night in Kingston (Upon Thames, not Jamaica)! But that's not professional gear, that's professional attitude. No amount of expensive gear makes up for that. 

Agreed, but I’m more talking about the amp that doesn’t always work, the guitar with the switch that goes dodgy mid gig. We’ve all had it happen at some point or other, pros learn that they can’t afford this sort of thing to happen more than once

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There is a lot to be said for a bass that you can just play without worrying that you'll damage and that is simple and reliable to use on stage.  I dropped a solder station on one of my basses smashing 4 chunks out of the finish and in a way it was a relief - I no longer have to baby it.

Edited by bloke_zero
Too clickbait
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9 hours ago, Nebadon2000 said:

Bless your Heart. My feelings/opinion are based on my Experience and how 'I' perceive the Idea. I hear you but you seem to be making an 'Assertion'.

assertion - opinion dressed up as a fact

PS; Eliminating those whom have sold a multitude of Records; I know many of the busiest Bassist Live and Studio in my area whom use Fender Americans, EBMM and Sadowsky's. So What.

Patronising - It means to talk down to someone.

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1 hour ago, bloke_zero said:

There is a lot to be said for a bass that you can just play without worrying that you'll damage and that is simple and reliable to use on stage.  I dropped a solder station on one of my basses smashing 4 chunks out of the finish and in a way it was a relief - I no longer have to baby it.

Taking this to its logical extreme: I'm sure Ritchie Blackmore won't have been the only pro guitarist who asked his tech to pass him a cheap Strat copy for the last song on various Deep Purple gigs, so that he could "Townshend" it for the finale.

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On 21/11/2020 at 13:34, bassaussie said:

The most obvious answer for me would be Paul McCartney and his Hofner bass. He's stated for years that there were two reasons he bought the bass. The first was that it was symmetrical, which helped with him being left handed. The second was that it was significantly cheaper than other options such as Fender. George and John were willing to get loans to pay for their more expensive American instruments, while McCartney wasn't willing to do that.

 

On 21/11/2020 at 13:55, Lozz196 said:

Yes, I read somewhere that for years in the early 70s he wanted a Fender Precision but that as the basses he already had were sufficient for his needs he resisted the urge, stating he’d been brought up to look  by after whatever money he had.

 

Apparently Macca wanted the Gibson EB-1, but could not afford it, so got the Hofner, which was a cheaper copy.

 

 

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35 minutes ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

Taking this to its logical extreme: I'm sure Ritchie Blackmore won't have been the only pro guitarist who asked his tech to pass him a cheap Strat copy for the last song on various Deep Purple gigs, so that he could "Townshend" it for the finale.

Agreed! Though I did repair the finish. But nothing like Jaco's bass of doom repair after he threw it down some stairs...
https://reverb.com/news/remembering-jaco-pastorius-a-tribute-to-his-favorite-gear

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11 minutes ago, bloke_zero said:

Agreed! Though I did repair the finish. But nothing like Jaco's bass of doom repair after he threw it down some stairs...
https://reverb.com/news/remembering-jaco-pastorius-a-tribute-to-his-favorite-gear

Oof!

"...and the Florida-based luthier received the famous instrument in a box slightly larger than a shoebox"

I'd heard the instrument was broken - I hadn't realised the damage was quite so extensive!

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8 hours ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

Taking this to its logical extreme: I'm sure Ritchie Blackmore won't have been the only pro guitarist who asked his tech to pass him a cheap Strat copy for the last song on various Deep Purple gigs, so that he could "Townshend" it for the finale.

Yep, Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue, a famed Thunderbird user, used to play a Squier Precision at the end of the set and smash it. To me it would have looked more authentic if he’d trashed an Epiphone bolt-on neck Tbird, after a whole set on a Tbird the Precision just looked wrong.

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3 hours ago, Bassybert said:

Yep, mick used a few different ones over the years that I’ve seen them live. A very underrated bassist too

Not to take the thread on too much of a derail, I was listening to I should Coco the other week having not listened to it for 18 years or something.

 

The bass playing and bass tones are really, really good!

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I’d hazard that most pro bassists are using  the same gear as the rest of us. There are few pro’s using F bass, Fodera, Ken Smiths et al. Firstly these luthiers have a relatively low out put and they’re very prohibitive cost wise to be playing in the sort of bars I’ve seen many ‘pro’ bands in. Yer man from Soundgarden uses Mexican made Fenders, I’ve seen touring bands with Squires, Fenders even some Ibanez but I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen a band use the high end basses we often see come up on bc for 3k+. The exception is Pat from Extreme who used Mouradian basses but he did work for him way back in the day! I guess Spector and a few other brands such as Fender Custom Shop etc are pro gear... I’m sure pro guys own some of these furniture basses and enjoy them at home!

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If it can be set up to play ok, sounds ok, won't crap out or fall apart then it's a pro-standard bass. The brand name or price-tag is irrelevant. If it's too precious, fragile or expensive for you to use then it's not really pro-standard. If it's got an old aluminium neck and goes out of tune before you reach the second chorus, it's not a pro-standard bass either.

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6 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

Conversely, some non-pros definitely use pro gear. Guess they found it in a tip.

Further research shows Tomsk wielding Ric, and I'm pretty sure I've seen them using a Ken Smith sixer, too.

wombles_1922404b.jpg

The Banana Splits were the original furry prog rockers of course - I think they were Vox endorsees back in the ‘60’s; confusingly the hippy lion bassist’s bass looked suspiciously like a guitar, but seen sporting some sort of Jazz bass in the recent movie spin off......

 

 

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43786DF7-5B19-4D8B-BEFC-F88A079000DC.jpeg

Edited by Shaggy
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I listened to an interview on SBL a while back, annoyingly I can't remember who the player was. He plays Alembics and said, quite simply, that he could play things on those that he couldn't play on other basses. Much like the violin bow above, he was good enough to feel the difference between basses and those enabled him to play better.

I am sure he  could make my £250 bass sound awesome as well, but I bet he would prefer to take his own bass on a paying gig.

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1 hour ago, Cat Burrito said:

I believe Peter Hook used a Rickenbacker copy on the Joy Division records. So when he upgraded for New Order, Basschat rules would have dictated that he wouldn't have been allowed to sell it on here!

I think it was a Hondo, and Bruce Foxton started with an Ibanez Ric-alike.

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