Bass for thousands or bass for hundreds

[Bass4real]

The Bass I paid 399.00 for in 2017 is one of the very best basses I've ever had.

A BRICE FREAK 5 SINGLE CUTAWAY 

And I've owned alot of basses (expensive)

Never again though .

How bout you ?

 

[Frank Blank]

The Fish Fingers I paid £3.99 for in 2018 have gone off, go figure.

[Schnozzalee]

You can get a good Precision for £300 if it's made of the 'right' timbers.

 

I've had over a 100 basses now and those I've kept hold of are in the £750 to £1,000 bracket.

 

My late Overwater was a bit of a luxury, but still sub £2,000.

[Burns-bass]

I played massive gigs with £400 basses. In the end, none of it matters much. 
 

Play the music you like on the instruments you love and forget all the rest.

 

[Burns-bass]

40 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

The Fish Fingers I paid £3.99 for in 2018 have gone off, go figure.

£3.99 fish fingers? Must have been some line-caught cod fish fingers from Waitrose.

 

 

Edited December 11, 2024 by Burns-bass

[Geek99]

1 hour ago, Burns-bass said:

£3.99 fish fingers? Must have been some line-caught cod fish fingers from Waitrose.

 

 

Maybe the staff were riding horses and muttering “stand and deliver”? Possibly also a flintlock pistol in there somehow ?

[jd56hawk]

I've owned quite a few good, cheap basses, I recommend them all the time, but I'd be lying if I said any of them were in the same league as either of these.

 

[Frank Blank]

8 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

£3.99 fish fingers? Must have been some line-caught cod fish fingers from Waitrose.

 

Artisanal vegan Fish Fingers woven from top notch tofu.

 

 

[Beedster]

No point buying anything but a special bass (i.e. one you can’t put together simply yourself), bitsas built from Basschat/ebay/Reverb parts win on price and quality over factory basses a lot of the time, keeping a keen eye open for used components by Warmoth, Allparts, Mighty Mite, Gotoh, means you can build some cracking instruments 👍

[Steve Browning]

I'm with Mr Burns. I have basses in both camps and pretty much use the one I fancy on the night. 

 

I stick to particular basses for tours etc but that's more about established levels and amp settings rather than which is best. 

 

They're all great basses, irrespective of their cost.

[Burns-bass]

15 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

I'm with Mr Burns. I have basses in both camps and pretty much use the one I fancy on the night. 

 

I stick to particular basses for tours etc but that's more about established levels and amp settings rather than which is best. 

 

They're all great basses, irrespective of their cost.

Agreed.

 

Despite being active in the buying and selling forums I’ve only used the same 2 basses for gigs over the last 5 years - one I’ve owned for 25 years.
 

What’s more important than cost is the time you spend getting to know your instrument I reckon.

 

It has taken me 4 months to finally get a sound I like from my new double bass, for example.

[jonnybass]

Totally agree with Mr Burns.  Its about getting a good instrument, regardless of price and spending time with that instrument. 

 

Any instrument you buy can be tweaked or modded, no matter the price.  Basses, strings, amps, effects, cables can be as expensive or as cheap as you like, the only thing that matters is does the sound fit the band/song you are working with and is it reliable.

 

Jonny

[chris_b]

I bought a bass for less than £250. It is a good bass and gigs well, but my Sadowsky and Lull are better by miles.

[Lozz196]

Our guitarist has just been given a Japanese Les Paul copy, bolt-on neck, name I`ve never heard of - think Kysugu? - but it`s a stunningly good guitar. 

[Beedster]

40 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I bought a bass for less than £250. It is a good bass and gigs well, but my Sadowsky and Lull are better by miles.

I suspect we evaluate a bass as a function of expectations of that bass, a £250 instrument that performs like one legitimately worth £500 always impresses and generates positive perceptions and emotions. But against a bass with legitimate value of £2,500 that £250 bass, no matter how good, will nearly always lose out. The key question is of course how much that intervening £2,250 means to you 👍

 

And note my deliberate use of ‘legitimately’  🙂

[stewblack]

12 hours ago, Bass4real said:

The Bass I paid 399.00 for in 2017 is one of the very best basses I've ever had.

A BRICE FREAK 5 SINGLE CUTAWAY 

And I've owned alot of basses (expensive)

Never again though .

How bout you ?

 

Yeah I hear you. I've got some high end basses and I've played some even higher, but my favourites have nothing to do with their label or their price.

Others say differently and that's their prerogative, but how a bass feels in my hands, how it balances on a strap, how it sounds and how it talks to me are the only things that matter. The label and the price are utterly irrelevant.

[Cato]

I play my £300 Squier Jazz as much as I play my Fender Deluxe Precision and I play my £400 Gretsch more than I play my Pro ii Strat.

 

Fairly recently I realised that most of my choices when it comes to basses and guitars are aesthetically driven. I will pick up a £400 guitar over £2k one purely because I prefer how it looks.

 

Does this mean I'm done spending big money on guitars?

 

Probably not. For a start I really like the look of a Stingray...

Edited December 12, 2024 by Cato

[Muzz]

On regular (often lairy) pub gigs I play a Squier Sonic P (£145, plus a rummage through my Parts Box for bridge, tuners and pickup, even though it didn't really need it, it was more my irrisistible urge to tinker) so I don't worry about drunks (and worse) around my Shukers. It's not the same as the Shukers, but I'd put it up against any P under £750 these days, and it's super-light. I gig a lot, and I have lovely works of art in wood which will get used appropriately (posh Xmas hotel gig last night I took 2 Shukers) and cheaper ones. They all earn their money and justify their existence. If they don't, they get moved on. Funnily enough, I sound like me with all of them...

 

If I had the spare money I'd get another (Superleggera) Shuker custom-made, but I don't (and I don't want to sell any of the ones I have to fund it), so that's that. The only potential purchase basses I look at these days are lighter ones (the Cheapo P is 7 3/4lbs) because my left shoulder isn't getting any younger.

[Muzz]

Just now, Cato said:

Fairly recently I realised that most of my choices when it comes to basses and guitars are aesthetically driven. I will pick up a £400 guitar over £2k one purely because I prefer how it looks.

I am on record on here as being (self-confessed) as shallow as a puddle when it comes to looks: for example, I don't care how good Foderas are, I'll never own one, because I can't stand the looks...

[snorkie635]

5 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

 

Artisanal vegan Fish Fingers woven from top notch tofu.

 

 

Ponce.

[Rosie C]

15 hours ago, Bass4real said:

The Bass I paid 399.00 for in 2017 is one of the very best basses I've ever had.

A BRICE FREAK 5 SINGLE CUTAWAY 

And I've owned alot of basses (expensive)

Never again though .

How bout you ?

 

 

I have a Squier 4-string fretless jazz bass. Sunburst with tort. Bought for around £350 just before covid lock down. It's been rebuilt by a local luthier, set up for me and I really can't see me ever buying anything else. 

 

[Bassassin]

8 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Our guitarist has just been given a Japanese Les Paul copy, bolt-on neck, name I`ve never heard of - think Kysugu? - but it`s a stunningly good guitar. 

 

Kasuga? If so, one of the best 70s/80s Japanese manufacturers by a long, long way.

 

On topic, I used to make a few quid buying old guitars & basses for pennies, tidying them up & selling them on. In 2003 or thereabouts, I picked this up for £60, thinking I'd hose it down & maybe flip it for £150 or so. Tuned it up & it was the best-playing bass I'd ever had in my hands, bar none. Still is.

 

It's had a few upgrades & a bit of bling over the years but still probably only owes me £120 or so, all in. It's the one I'd save in a fire - you can stuff your four-figure basses.

 

[Lozz196]

Yep that’s it, Kasuga! 
 

Really good guitar, I’ve had a few Gibsons and wouldn’t feel short changed by owning this one.

[dclaassen]

11 hours ago, Frank Blank said:

 

Artisanal vegan Fish Fingers woven from top notch tofu.

 

How do you tell if they’ve gone off? For me, it would be immediately 

 

[Dazed]

The only people who care what you play are you and other musicians, punters don’t know or care. 
 

I’ve realised the price tag doesn’t equate to anything other than what you might lose or gain in the future.
I’ve bonded with very expensive basses and equally £100 things. 
 

Recently took a punt on a broken bodied 6 string for a £100 and that and my £120 53 year old Hofner jazz bodied precision are currently what I pick up to play.

 

My Wal has only left it’s case for photos and a clean in the last 10 years, same with the Warwick’s.