GASsed but skint

[Rayman]

Just a little heads up really for the skint among us, and maybe some younger players who can't afford the expensive gear, but still suffer from THE FEVER that curses us all..... the need for more stuff.

 

You don't have to have a healthy bank account, all you need is a healthy love for the bass and the music.

 

I've spent the weekend playing my basses, doing some tweaking and just basically having time with them.

 

As much as I adore my Reverend for its perfect tone and playability and my Warwick for how comfortable it is, I would still argue that my two Sunn Mustangs are still my favourite basses. One of them was 50 quid, the other, I really pushed the boat out and spent a ton, Admittedly, I dropped a new loom into each at an additional cost of about £30 each, but other than that they're stock.... tuners, bridge, pickup etc are absolutely fine as they are, and these were budget basses when they were new. In my experience, of having many P basses, you won't find better ones at any price IMO. The "cheap" pickups in these (the original cream coloured ones) are really awesome, especially with a decent loom in there. Don't waste your hard earned on "upgrades" (schmupgrades)

 

My point..... you can have GAS, and you can find great and very competent instruments for affordable prices. Your Squiers, Yamahas, Ibanez' etc that cost a hundred quid on Ebay are absolutely awesome as they are. Make them your own, set them up (or get it set up) to how you like them and get going. Don't get depressed dreaming about that Dingwall, the funk's in the fingers not the lump of wood they're holding. Don't get depressed watching Scott Devine teaching his students on silly expensive instruments that many of us can't afford, just love the gear you can afford, and have fun. 

 

 

 

[miles'tone]

15 minutes ago, Rayman said:

Just a little heads up really for the skint among us, and maybe some younger players who can't afford the expensive gear, but still suffer from THE FEVER that curses us all..... the need for more stuff.

 

You don't have to have a healthy bank account, all you need is a healthy love for the bass and the music.

 

I've spent the weekend playing my basses, doing some tweaking and just basically having time with them.

 

As much as I adore my Reverend for its perfect tone and playability and my Warwick for how comfortable it is, I would still argue that my two Sunn Mustangs are still my favourite basses. One of them was 50 quid, the other, I really pushed the boat out and spent a ton, Admittedly, I dropped a new loom into each at an additional cost of about £30 each, but other than that they're stock.... tuners, bridge, pickup etc are absolutely fine as they are, and these were budget basses when they were new. In my experience, of having many P basses, you won't find better ones at any price IMO. The "cheap" pickups in these (the original cream coloured ones) are really awesome, especially with a decent loom in there. Don't waste your hard earned on "upgrades" (schmupgrades)

 

My point..... you can have GAS, and you can find great and very competent instruments for affordable prices. Your Squiers, Yamahas, Ibanez' etc that cost a hundred quid on Ebay are absolutely awesome as they are. Make them your own, set them up (or get it set up) to how you like them and get going. Don't get depressed dreaming about that Dingwall, the funk's in the fingers not the lump of wood they're holding. Don't get depressed watching Scott Devine teaching his students on silly expensive instruments that many of us can't afford, just love the gear you can afford, and have fun. 

 

 

 

Blocked 🚫 

[miles'tone]

😉🤣

[lownote]

D'accord.  I get a buzz from chancing upon or tracking down good but cheap gear.  My goto bass for some years has been a Revelation fretless that cost me less than £150.  My sax is an immaculate and very playable Sakkusu worth £550 that I got for £300.

[TheGreek]

Cheaper still - I just gave my natural finish basses a coat of Lemon Oil - brought the grain right out. They look like different instruments.

 

Changing strings can also bring life back to tired sounding basses especially if you go from, say, roundwounds to tapes or flats - whole new tonal palette to play with. 

 

The best surprise of all - playing that near forgotten about bass that you don't normally pick up - even if it is only for the one practice - can change the way you feel about your instruments and your playing.

[asingardenof]

2 hours ago, Rayman said:

Don't get depressed dreaming about that Dingwall, the funk's in the fingers not the lump of wood they're holding. Don't get depressed watching Scott Devine teaching his students on silly expensive instruments that many of us can't afford, just love the gear you can afford, and have fun. 

I did find it amusing that Ian from SBL basically had to apologise for them discussing metal basslines while playing some boutique nonsense (an F Bass and a Wal from what I remember). 

[neepheid]

Copper tape shielding is not a glamorous job but strangely satisfying and when done right can make your bass almost silent, even in the most death-trappy rehearsal rooms!  Outlay - a few quid for the slug tape, perhaps some soldering and some of your precious time.

 

Oh, and 100% learn to do your own setups.  Your basses will end up playing better, the way you know you like them to and for no cost other than your time.  If I can learn how to do setups, anyone can.

[Jackroadkill]

Agreed; my go-to guitar is a thoroughly beaten-up Telecaster that's had most of the guts ripped out of it, and one of my basses is an £80-from-EBay plywood Squier Jazz from sometime in the 1990's, cruddy pickups, electrics et al.  It sounds cool, plays nicely and I like it a lot.

 

+1 for learning to set instruments up yourself - this can transform the sound and feel of a very average bass (or guitar).

[Cato]

I think I'm done buying expensive instruments for a while, but I am starting to get the modding bug again.

 

When the new Squire Sonic range starts turning up s/h I may well crumble.

[TheGreek]

After my one and only excursion into modding I'm not convinced it is cost effective. My aim was to empty the parts drawer - if anything I added to it.

[Cato]

9 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

After my one and only excursion into modding I'm not convinced it is cost effective. My aim was to empty the parts drawer - if anything I added to it.

 

I think the answer to  'Could I just have bought a better bass for the money I've spent on this project?' is almost always 'yes'.

 

I spent considerably more modding a Squier VM 70s bass with new pickups, loom and bridge than the bass itself cost me and in all honesty it was a decent bass before the mods. I changed it but I'm not sure I improved it.

 

But I enjoyed the process immensley, which is why I'm thinking about doing it again,

[How1]

I had a 70s Fender Jazz in the 90s - sold it.

Had a Stingray - sold it.

Had a Spector Euro LX- sold it.

Had a Squier P I bought used for 70 quid - sold it. 
 

The only one I actually miss? The Squier. It was the one I expected nothing from, so felt like I got the most out of (I also really like P basses tbf).

 

If I had any of the others land in my lap I’d probably wind up selling them all over again.

 

Sometimes the hunt is better than the catch. 

[SumOne]

Earlier today I played a £4,550 Yamaha Nathan East, it is better than my £175 Yamaha RBX765A.....but not that much better! 

 

As well as the Yamaha shop I also went to the Denmark St shops and played all sorts of Basses but nothing made me think they are worth getting, none were enough of an improvement over the RBX to justify it. 

 

I might get an Ibanez EHB 1005 MS (again!) though, mostly as it is lighter and fretting is easier. I don't expect to make better sounding music from it - but it'll be more comfortable to play, and I spend a lot of time playing so I reckon that's probably a worthwhile reason. 

[AndyTravis]

[AndyTravis]

As a point - I sent the above Meme to @Machines the other day with “hahaha, this is me…”

[Rayman]

15 hours ago, asingardenof said:

I did find it amusing that Ian from SBL basically had to apologise for them discussing metal basslines while playing some boutique nonsense (an F Bass and a Wal from what I remember). 

I had a bit of a rant on SBL a few weeks ago, making exactly this point. Interesting to see that interjection by IMA, on that video.

 

You know we all love to dream and aspire to quality gear, but while trying to inspire young players, while playing very expensive kit is just not thinking things through to me. There’s a couple of other YT channels aimed at a similar audience, and I notice them using Squiers etc. BassBuzz for example. Far more realistic and relatable in my opinion.

[Rayman]

11 hours ago, SumOne said:

Earlier today I played a £4,550 Yamaha Nathan East, it is better than my £175 Yamaha RBX765A.....but not that much better! 

 

As well as the Yamaha shop I also went to the Denmark St shops and played all sorts of Basses but nothing made me think they are worth getting, none were enough of an improvement over the RBX to justify it. 

 

I might get an Ibanez EHB 1005 MS (again!) though, mostly as it is lighter and fretting is easier. I don't expect to make better sounding music from it - but it'll be more comfortable to play, and I spend a lot of time playing so I reckon that's probably a worthwhile reason. 

I keep banging on about Sunns…. But it’s a good example.

 

I had a conversation with Gregor Fris from Bass The World. He happened across his first Sunn (the white defretted one), and was blown away but it. He went to check out a Fender custom shop P bass he planned to buy….. but cancelled the order, because it wasn’t that much better than the Sunn, and would cost A LOT more, obviously. Sunn Mustangs are usually around a hundred quid ish. 
 

Of course, bought a few more of them, but none of those were quite as nice as the first one. Like any model, they vary, but sometimes it’s hard to put your finger on what’s special about a bass, or what sucks about another.

 

 I bought another Mustang, and again it was really nice, but, it doesn’t quite have the vibe of the first one.

[Rayman]

I should add….. of course…… I’m not saying that a bass made in India in the 80s is as good a quality as a custom shop US made instrument. All I’m saying is, that for skint or younger players, there are instruments out there that are really great basses at a fraction of the cost, if you know what you’re looking for.

 

Yamaha RBX170 for example. I got one for a ton, for a friends’ son to learn on. To be honest I was reluctant to let him have it! Great little bass that.

[neepheid]

I think I've said this before, but if G&L made a Tribute L-1000, I would have bought that over a USA one.  Comparing the USA ones to the Tributes, yes, they are "better" as I define it, but they are not the same order of magnitude better as the price premium.  I think that USA production will eventually price itself out of contention for all but the most ardent of gear snobs - because most folk will realise that they can get 80% of the quality for 20-25% of the cost.  The quality of the basses I have picked up recently at the lower echelons of the price scale have blown me away with their fit/finish, features and all round solid, reliable construction.  That you can get a G&L Tribute LB-100 for £300 - which in my estimation is THE Precision bass you never knew you needed - just blows my mind.  The only thing I found that they skimped on was shielding.  Oh, and a bit of swarf in the nut slots, if you want to be super picky (like it was removed with a fingernail, really the nittiest of nitpicking going on here).

[Owen]

G&L skimp on shielding full stop. This is not reserved for their Tribute models.  Strange for a company who have been doing what they have been doing for so long and BANG ON about quality product.

 

You can buy a L-1000 pickup and whack it into an LB-100 with a made up L-1000 wiring loom - job's a good'un.

[LukeFRC]

8 minutes ago, Owen said:

G&L skimp on shielding full stop. This is not reserved for their Tribute models.  Strange for a company who have been doing what they have been doing for so long and BANG ON about quality product.

 

You can buy a L-1000 pickup and whack it into an LB-100 with a made up L-1000 wiring loom - job's a good'un.

Fender typically didn't do shielding... and when he did with metal plates behind pickups etc he moved away from it, whether on tone or cost basis I don't know but the skinny string players apparently say it it attenuates the high end. 
I've had a pre EB ray on my bench and that didn't have or need shielding
And neither did my early 80's L1000 - they just didn't have or need it and it wasn't part of the design.... that's different to skimping. 


 

[LukeFRC]

Oh and GAS is a fun mistress to entertain, but it's not really linked to music and musicianship. If it's affordable and fun then great, and there's lots of fun things to try but if you feel you need to or have too then there are bigger issues. 

[LukeFRC]

20 hours ago, Rayman said:

My point..... you can have GAS, and you can find great and very competent instruments for affordable prices. Your Squiers, Yamahas, Ibanez' etc that cost a hundred quid on Ebay are absolutely awesome as they are. Make them your own, set them up (or get it set up) to how you like them and get going. Don't get depressed dreaming about that Dingwall, the funk's in the fingers not the lump of wood they're holding. Don't get depressed watching Scott Devine teaching his students on silly expensive instruments that many of us can't afford, just love the gear you can afford, and have fun. 

BTW I'm not disagreeing with this. It's good - it's just that the discipline of being happy with what you have is also good to learn. Then you do the fun things because they are fun, rather than trying to fill a Dingwall shaped hole in your soul 

[neepheid]

15 minutes ago, Owen said:

G&L skimp on shielding full stop. This is not reserved for their Tribute models.  Strange for a company who have been doing what they have been doing for so long and BANG ON about quality product.

 

You can buy a L-1000 pickup and whack it into an LB-100 with a made up L-1000 wiring loom - job's a good'un.

 

The fact that my USA G&Ls had absolutely no attempt at shielding did irk me somewhat - what am I paying for?  Then I got over myself and got going with the slug tape.

 

RE: LB-100 > L-1000 - too much like busywork to me for a frankenstein which won't look right - it'll look exactly like what it is - an LB-100 with a regular MFD jammed in there and too many pots.  At least an LB-100 has a chance to mostly resemble an SB-1...

[neepheid]

7 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Fender typically didn't do shielding... and when he did with metal plates behind pickups etc he moved away from it, whether on tone or cost basis I don't know but the skinny string players apparently say it it attenuates the high end. 
I've had a pre EB ray on my bench and that didn't have or need shielding
And neither did my early 80's L1000 - they just didn't have or need it and it wasn't part of the design.... that's different to skimping. 


 

 

They clearly never tested in our rehearsal room then...