Oh bloody hell.

[maxrossell]

So following on from my supremely boring story about taking over on bass in my band, I take myself off bass window-shopping. I resolve to go to the guitar store and try everything out without looking at the price, to get a feel for what I want (conveniently in my local store you have to ask to get a price).

So I tried out:
- a US Jazz bass
- a MIM RI 70s Jazz bass
- a MIM '59 RI P-Bass
- a Squier Affinity P-Bass
- a Warwick Corvette Standard
- a Rockbass Corvette Standard
- a Rockbass Corvette Fretless
- a Jim Deacon P-Bass copy
- an Ibanez SDGR something
- an Ibanez ATK something
- an Ashton modern-looking something
- a Gibson T-Bird (yeah, right)
- a Kramer Focus 420S P-Bass copy.

All of these through an Ashdown Mag 300 with the EQ flat.

And the one that I preferred, both to play and how it sounded, out of all of them?

The bloody Kramer. What turned out to be the [i]£150, ply-body, made-in-PRC [/i]Kramer.

On the one hand it's great news for my budget - On the other hand, what exactly does that say about me, that I walk into a shop and without knowing how much anything costs I go for the second cheapest thing they have?

Well, to be fair, the Warwick did actually play better. But it's ugly as hell, so I wouldn't have it. But the Fender US Jazz, which I knew was £750 more expensive than the Kramer, didn't really make any kind of impression. And the T-Bird was rubbish, despite being the most expensive bass they had in.

So apparently I've learned two things about myself. I like Precisions more than Jazzes, and I like cheap basses more than expensive ones.

[OutToPlayJazz]

It can often go that way - When I first found my OLP HH Ray copy, it was the best playing and sounding bass in the shop. And that was up against G&L's, Warwicks, several 'proper' Stingrays & so much other stuff.

I think I mentioned in another post that a new Classic Vibe Jazz blew me away the other day. Still tempted now!

Edited April 26, 2009 by OutToPlayJazz

[martthebass]

Nothing wrong with that. I played a 1996 MIM Jazz in preference to my 1990 Stingray for about 5 years.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I was blown away by a squier VM Precision (70s telebass style) the other day.

But don't forget a expensive bass that needs a trussrod tweak is likely to play like a pig compared to a perfectly set up cheapo.

[Kiwi]

sounds like a cause for celebration to me!

[lemmywinks]

A friend of mine has a cheapy Kramer PBass. He gigs all over the country in a function band and has to use this from time to time as it's his backup. The sound engineer at a Walkabout venue asks him to use it instead of his Ray cos he prefers it!

If it wasn't so fugly and didn't have that godawful headstock i'd have probably bought one!

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='473004' date='Apr 26 2009, 11:08 PM']A friend of mine has a cheapy Kramer PBass. He gigs all over the country in a function band and has to use this from time to time as it's his backup. The sound engineer at a Walkabout venue asks him to use it instead of his Ray cos he prefers it![/quote]
Walkabout? - Do they pay bands in real money now? Last time I was asked to play one their standard deal was - house guitaramps, drumkit & PA. No bassamp 'cause it sounds better through the PA'. Five bands on, each expected to bring a thirsty following. Bands payment - f'kall but a £25 bar tab split between however many band members. I politely declined in two short words.

I expect the sound engineer in that case may have been less someone with magic ears and more someone who knew which knobs to twiddle to make a bass with a precision pickup sound like a precison.

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='472994' date='Apr 26 2009, 10:56 PM']sounds like a cause for celebration to me! [/quote]

+1

Last ace cheap bass I found was in the early '90s, Yamaha RBX thing, passive, P+J, satin neck, maple board, standard stuff but it was bloody brilliant. I bought it new and eventually sold it back to the same shop I bought it from for more than I'd originally paid for it.

If that's the one you like then buy it.

[lemmywinks]

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='473039' date='Apr 27 2009, 12:02 AM']Walkabout? - Do they pay bands in real money now? Last time I was asked to play one their standard deal was - house guitaramps, drumkit & PA. No bassamp 'cause it sounds better through the PA'. Five bands on, each expected to bring a thirsty following. Bands payment - f'kall but a £25 bar tab split between however many band members. I politely declined in two short words.

I expect the sound engineer in that case may have been less someone with magic ears and more someone who knew which knobs to twiddle to make a bass with a precision pickup sound like a precison.[/quote]


£550 in pretty much all of them IIRC (and that was a few years ago when i used to dep for my mate). All your backline and house PA. Actually quite a fun gig!

We do Brannigans (we don't like to travel that far cos we all have other commitments) and they pay £400+ too although sometimes there's no PA