Do you tend to own basses with a similar price/quality range, or a wider spread?

[Stub Mandrel]

On 23/02/2022 at 11:20, Jack said:

All over, and the prices don't always reflect the quality.

 

This, my basses have a 10:1 value ratio. The correlation between quality and value is weak. Between what I paid and quality is no existent,  my most valuable bass was the on I paid the second smsllwst amount for,  thd build quality is excellent but I have better sounding cheaper basses.

[Jack]

The amount of people who have quoted me in this thread proves that there is, at best, a very loose correlation between cost and quality. Is a £6k Fodera noticeably better than a £100 Gear4Music own-brand p bass? Absolutely! Do all the basses in between follow that logic in perfect cost order? Not at all. 

 

I really belive that, if you'd never heard of any of the brands, you'd say my MIA and MI Fenders was near the bottom of my pile. Certainly below my Sire V7, which cost half as much. 

[Ander87]

Hm…! I’ve always liked pricey basses. Of course I am all gassed up and coming from guitars playing them for a while I knew I wouldn’t settle with mediocre basses. 
 

I had a long time in the 1700-to-3000£ range but there was a point where I couldn’t justify that much invested in just a hobby. 
 

Fast forward into 2 gigging bands I realised that a decent £1k bass is more than enough and I needed the variety… I had 3 basses in this range and loved them so very much. 
 

Throughout all that time I’ve been a warrior of ‘all basses above £1500 are pointless’ whilst also saying ‘the two basses I regret selling are my MM SR5 Special and my Alpher Mako5’… I had a recent change to scramble my gear budget and get a SR4 Special (I play 4 strings exclusively and just one band now) and I feel more at home than ever… like reuniting with an old friend. So much that I took the chance to own a second Special in a different setup. 
 

I bought them second hand and know I wouldn’t pay the retail price they ask for them new these days… but after having contradicted myself ever so often, I feel the budget for gear is something that is SO relative and so hard to justify…

 

… I’ve had people with collections of basses that do play quite limited, same as an absolute bass wizard that played a billion times better than me whilst playing a Squier bass. 

 

… End of the line, play what makes you happy and you can afford without compromising other areas of your life. 
 

Ander. 

[Ander87]

6 minutes ago, Ander87 said:

had a long time in the 1700-to-3000£ range but there was a point where I couldn’t justify that much invested in just a hobby. 

For the record I have played basses from £100 to 3k£ plus. 
 

Been a fool anytime I buy new, especially on the higher end basses. Thanks to that I own basses that I would not buy nor recommend buying new… because I personally can’t justify that expense. Loving every perfect bit of them though lol, honeymoon period, there is no better 😁 

 

to answer the question, I would often have a top end bass and others a bit cheaper as backups, that would end up being the primary as my #1 would end up being a case queen. 
 

Since playing more often live and having a more reasonable budget, I have both my basses in the same price range and plan to use both of them evenly. 

Edited March 7, 2022 by Ander87

[Linus27]

My main bass is usually medium to high quality, so an American Fender Jazz/Precision, standard or Vintage Reissue, Music Man Stingray, German Warwick Streamer etc. Then my backup's or others tend to be something that's playable but cheaper, so a nice Mexican or Japanese Fender etc. They are not necessarily poorer in there ability, just financially less but still good enough to be played if I fancy playing something now and again rather than my main bass.

 

My current line up is a Music Man Stingray SR4 Fretless as my main bass and then I have a Mexican Fender Precision 70's Reissue and an Japanese ESP 400 Series Jazz. The Stingray is worth about £2k and he backup's are worth about £700 each. All perfect and all very playable. However, I have been thinking about getting a much cheaper backup bass, something like a Squire Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz as most of the time I play my Stingray and the backup just sits on the side looking pretty. Seems silly dragging a half decent bass out to sit on the side rarely to be played.

Edited March 7, 2022 by Linus27

[dclaassen]

I have only bought one new bass in 50 years of playing…that was a Gibson RD Artist, which is long gone now. I tend to buy and use one main bass, and maybe one backup. Back in the day it was the Gibson, later a Jazz with an Electra as a spare ( the one with the effects modules in the back….it was a hoot) 

 

now it’s the fiver with a MIM P as the spare. Guess I’m not a collector.