Did a bass you played in a shop ever make you regret buying your main bass?

[shoulderpet]

Brought an Ibanez Mezzo bass during lockdown and modded it a fair bit (Seymour Duncan SPB-2 and series/parallel switch for the P pickup and gone fully passive), love that bass however....

 

Today I went to the local music store to get some strings, whilst I was there I thought I would try some basses so I asked if I could play some of the Thunderbird basses.

 

First bass I tried was an Ltd Thunderbird, plugged it in started playing and tonally I was floored, it was like the tone I hear in my head, unlike my P/J basses both pickups on full sounded fat and punchy and full rather than the tone getting thinner, everything that irks me about P/J basses was completely absent.

Plugged in the 2nd Thunderbird bass and same thing.

 

I brought the strings I went there for and walked out stunned and as much as I love the Mezzo bass I walked out feeling regret that when I brought my last bass I brought a P/J and not an Epiphone Thunderbird instead

Anyone has a similar experience?

[ezbass]

You bought strings locally, so you must’ve been in Rock Bottom or Martin Phelps, or did you venture to GG in Epsom?

 

In answer to your question, no, that hasn’t happened to me. However, I have had moments when I’ve played something and just have to have that tone in my life. The last time it happen was with a Ric 4003s. I eventually bought it but, after a good while being gigged, I realised that its other potential use as a boat anchor was too much for my shoulders and neck and it had to go, sadly.

[Lozz196]

Not exactly, but I did think that when I played a Fender Road Worn Precision that it was one of the most comfortable playing basses I’d ever played and that I’d be just as happy using one of those as I was with my US Standard Precision.

[chris_b]

No.

 

If I play a bass that sounds substantially better than my current bass I'd buy it.

[TheGreek]

"Main bass"???

 

That suggests you don't own enough basses....

[Newfoundfreedom]

I didn't even know they're were still shops that sold basses. 

 

I have to rely on looks, price, and reviews, order what I want, and live with it.

 

I haven't been in a real life music shop for 20 years. 

[neepheid]

1 hour ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

I didn't even know they're were still shops that sold basses. 

 

I have to rely on looks, price, and reviews, order what I want, and live with it.

 

I haven't been in a real life music shop for 20 years. 

 

You live somewhere small/rural?

[Newfoundfreedom]

3 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

You live somewhere small/rural?

Yes. Bulgaria.

 

But before that I lived in Lincolnshire for 15 years, which is even more the derrière end of nowhere. 

 

The last time I went in a well stocked music shop was Electro Music in Doncaster about 20 years ago and bought a lovely Warwick. 

 

Sadly the shop and the Warwick are now both gone. 

[Reggaebass]

The only bass I tried that I thought sounded better than my jazzes was a Yamaha attitude II , amazing tone, but unfortunately the neck was far too big , or I would have bought it 

[Tee]

9 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

The only bass I tried that I thought sounded better than my jazzes was a Yamaha attitude II , amazing tone, but unfortunately the neck was far too big , or I would have bought it 

Big in width or depth?

[Reggaebass]

Just now, Tee said:

Big in width or depth?

Both, just felt too chunky for me 

[OliverBlackman]

Trying lots of instruments is part of the journey. I’ve played much better basses than mine in shops but have often chosen to spend the money on “life essentials” instead. Luckily at 30 I have two basses I will never shift but there’s room for more.

[Lozz196]

27 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

Yes. Bulgaria.

 

But before that I lived in Lincolnshire for 15 years, which is even more the derrière end of nowhere. 

 

The last time I went in a well stocked music shop was Electro Music in Doncaster about 20 years ago and bought a lovely Warwick. 

 

Sadly the shop and the Warwick are now both gone. 

I ordered a good few items from Electro Music back in the day, they always seemed to have a good stock of 2nd hand stuff at reasonable prices.

[Newfoundfreedom]

6 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I ordered a good few items from Electro Music back in the day, they always seemed to have a good stock of 2nd hand stuff at reasonable prices.

 

Yeah they were great. I used to trade stuff in and they'd often give me more back than I paid them for it in the first place. 

 

With hindsight, probably no wonder they went out of business. 😆

 

Great shop though. Shame they went under. I used to spend hours in there in my teens. 

[nilebodgers]

Not going to happen. The last shop I went in with a good stock of tasty basses was the London Bass Centre when they were in Wapping and I lived in London. I’m in rural Norfolk now so there is jack. Might be a few Squiers and low-end Fenders in Norwich?

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, nilebodgers said:

Not going to happen. The last shop I went in with a good stock of tasty basses was the London Bass Centre when they were in Wapping and I lived in London. I’m in rural Norfolk now so there is jack. Might be a few Squiers and low-end Fenders in Norwich?

There’s jack all in Wapping these days too.

[Paulhauser]

No. But with having the small collection of basses that I own I don't expect any bass to turn up and sound better.... different maybe, that's allright. I'm fortunate enough to own basses whose quality are high so things boil down to personal preferences in the end. Again, I'm in a fortunate situation. 

[Lfalex v1.1]

Nope!

There's been a bass I wish I'd bought (a Ken Smith 6- also in the Wapping Bass Centre, btw) but that would have supplemented my Vigier Series III  not replaced it.

Everything I've bought since the Vigier has been something different, sometimes wildly different. I've seen a few instruments that I'd like to try/acquire/buy, but they're quite obscure (Fender Roscoe Beck, BassLab L-bow etc.) But I can't see them making me regret the Vigier. I've had it for 26 years (!) now.

 

[Paulhauser]

I would also add that to be able to gauge the whole potential of a bass one needs to use it, practice, rehearsal, gigs, studio etc. so i think any feeling you might have based on a shop tryout is superficial. I do understand that as a player gets more and more experience and understands more about what he/she prefers in terms of sound, ergonomics, playability and looks the less time she needs to form a opinion about a new instrument as the set of preferences and experience is already established. 
 

So I believe it can be very beneficial to go through a couple (many) of instruments, maybe even having more than one at a time so you try a lot of different things and have a selection that is hard to challenge.

This is also one of the premier reasons to come up with when you are seeking to justify any new purchases 😉

[garyt]

No.

I have only ever bought 2 ‘main’ basses in my life, and I tried loads before buying each (so am never selling).    So it would have to be something special.

[4000]

No. Playing other basses generally reinforces how much I prefer my main bass (well, all my basses really, which are cut from similar cloth). 
 

I tried loads of basses in the Gallery last week and I had my main bass with me. Nothing came remotely close. 

[chris_b]

3 hours ago, Paulhauser said:

I would also add that to be able to gauge the whole potential of a bass one needs to use it, practice, rehearsal, gigs, studio etc. so i think any feeling you might have based on a shop tryout is superficial.

 

 

I usually know if I'm going to like a bass or not when I play it unplugged. IMO the best sounding basses have always been the ones that felt good when you picked them up.

[Kiwi]

Sort of - I definitely have regrets from not buying a bass when I had a chance to.  I played a plain looking Celinder J Update 5 in the Bass Gallery back in 2009 I think it must have been.  A time when I was selling off quite a few bits and pieces in preparation to emigrate.  The asking price was 2250 quid and it was the jazz bass I had been hearing in my head.  Full, snarly, crisp and it played like liquid Jesus butter.  I've never played a jazz bass like it since.

 

The only other time I had that experience was playing a Spector NS5CR owned at the time by a BC member who no longer posts on here.  It was at a bassbash and I made a mental note to myself to grab it if it ever came up for sale.  It did come up for sale and I missed it.  Then it passed hands one more time and then came up for sale a third time and I jumped on it.  It's been with Mr Shuker for a while to get a slight neck warp sorted but that was my main bass...ironically ever since I stopped gigging.

 

The last one is Dood's Shuker 6 string headless.  We compared his and mine at the LBGS one time - maybe in 2013 or maybe 2009.  I can't recall.  I remember humming and aaaahing over the spec, wanting something like my Smith but with a little more midrange.  On paper, the spec was right but my bass never quite got there tonally.  It's a fine sounding instrument but very piano sounding rather than snarly in the mids.  I tried Dood's though and it was everything I'd been looking for.  How much simpler my life could have been if I'd just asked Jon to copy Dood's spec...but it's not for sale so not totally relevant.
 

[LukeFRC]

There’s always going to be basses better than what you’ve got. Either nicer made or the sound is something you want. But you bought your current bass for a reason. And it means there is one less bass on the “I want to try” list

 

[LukeFRC]

I went into urgh the bass shop that Molan was connected too once and picked up a Fodora …. I played it unplugged for a minute and put it back fully understanding why it was the price it was - it just sounded beautiful. Mind you more than I could justify spending at that point so no regrets