Have you ever bought a BASS and hated it

[Bass4real]

I always wanted to have a RICKENBACKER 

that is until I bought a  black 4001 in 1980

for around 700.00 .

And then I played it .

I was the worst money I ever spent on a bass

I hated everything about it 

I sold it 2 months after I bought it.

I don't like popular brand name basses.

Fender - Gibson - RICKENBACKER - etc.

 

I do like the Ibanez bTb series 

I do like some the PEAVEY basses 

I do like the SPECTOR basses from the 90s

I do like the TOBIAS BASSES

I do like 80s KRAMER 8 stringers

I do like many of the,"cheaper basses" under 400.00 I've played

the truth is" budget Bass guitars " have come a long way .

My favorite Bass right now is a

BRICE FREAK 5 str. that I paid $399.00 for 

in 2017 . It's one of the best basses I've bought in every way .

I've not one time had to adjust anything on this bass , I know I know but that is the GODS honest truth.

 

Later 

BASS PLAYERs

 

 

 

[Lozz196]

No, I’ve been fortunate that I’ve never hated any of the basses I’ve owned. Sure there have been some that I just haven’t bonded with but all of them were perfectly fine, just things like finding out I prefer gloss finish to satin, minor stuff like that.

[Doctor J]

Hate is a very strong term, needlessly so. Many basses have been bought and sole over the years, can't say I've ever been so upset as to actually hate any.

[Mottlefeeder]

I had a s/h Warwick Corvette fretless tuned BEAD, which I loved, and decided to move on to a 5-string fretless Corvette.

What I didn't realise was that the transition from 4-string bubinga body to a wider neck 5-string and lighter swamp ash body would result in neck dive. 

I tried various remedies and eventually decided I would never be happy with it so I moved it on.

[chyc]

Not everyone can do this, but I've never bought an instrument I've not played beforehand. Does that mean I've passed up the opportunity to find my ultimate bass? Maybe, but on the flipside I've never bought a bass that's anything less than great, let alone owned a bass I've hated.

[NancyJohnson]

GAS/desire Vs Disappointment?

 

Yep.

 

Darkglass AO900

Various Fender basses

Gibson Thunderbird NR reissue (first run)

Tech 21 VT Bass (rack and stomp)

 

...probably more.

 

[NJE]

Hate is a bit of a strong feeling towards an inanimate object, but it was good click bait to get me in here 😄

 

I had an American Standard Jazz Bass for a short while, it was horrible. Heavy, lifeless, no resonance, badly built, neck felt cheap…it was just an absolute lemon. 
 

It was a real shame as I had an American Standard Precision when I was in my late teens and loved it.

[Terry M.]

Bass is too awesome an instrument for me to feel any hatred towards,even the ones I didn't bond with and had to move on.

 

 

[LeftyJ]

For me as a lefty music stores are usually a huge disappointment, so I buy most of my basses unseen through the internet (mostly used). I've taken my fair share of gambles over the years, even buying basses well outside my comfort zone just out of curiosity. Because they're used the financial risk was low, because I would always be able to resell at the same price I paid. 

 

I've been lucky enough that none of them really disappointed! I, too, bought a Rickenbacker (at the end of 2008, when the British pound dropped below the Euro) brand new, and although I didn't get on with the ergonomics of the bass, I loved the tone and those iconic looks! 

 

My biggest gambles I probably took when I bought my first Status Graphite S2 Classic based purely on looks alone, and when I traded my 1981 Ibanez MC924 for an Atelier Z Baby Z-4J with a guy in the US by mail. With those two I really didn't know what to expect: I had never played a graphite neck before, I had never played a headless, I didn't know what to expect tonewise. Ditto with the Baby Z: I didn't have much experience with shortscales, I didn't know what kind of tones to expect, and I didn't know if I would get on with the narrower string spacing - plus I traded a rare vintage lefty bass from my collection for it, with less than 250 made. But it turned out great, I love them! 

[Schnozzalee]

Yep... A Tokai Hardpuncher - Just sounded like a shoebox with elastic bands no matter what strings you put on it and it had a Fender USA pickup, so I now avoid Sen Ash. 

[Woodinblack]

Yep, dingwall combustion. But traded it for an Ibanez 1605 and that was lovely.

[JoeEvans]

I have a white fretless Tokai Jazz Sound from the early 80s which I love to pieces. Some years back I had the chance to buy a black fretted one from more or less the same year, and I snapped it up sight unseen, thinking that it would be really cool to have the pair like that - black and white, fretted and fretless. But despite being as similar as could be on paper, the black one somehow entirely lacked the charm of the white one. I couldn't even really put my finger on why -  something in the combination of neck shape, tone, weight, the feel of the finish - it just felt wrong and I didn't like it at all even though it was incredibly similar. But I sold it to someone who loved it. 

[snorkie635]

Hate is perhaps too strong a word, but I bought a Wal back in the early 80s which I thought was awful (Pro 2E). Got rid of it within a month and then, based on recommendations, bought another Wal, this time a Mk1. This was slightly better, but also had to go. Why didn't I like them? So many reasons, but mostly, I found them very finicky to use live and could never get a decent amount of 'bass' from either model. Traded last one to Overwater, and bass and sound were immediately sorted.

[Skybone]

Yes.

[chris_b]

The first "pro" bass I bought, and the only one I could afford at the time, was a very used Gibson EB0. It was awful. The tone sounded like a goose farting in a fog. I used it on 1 gig and that was 1 too many.

 

The next day I borrowed a Danelectro Long Horn and as soon as I scraped the cash together the EB0 was replaced by a fabulous Fender Precision, which I still have.

[OliverBlackman]

An epiphone Thunderbird. Bought it after seeing The bassist from The Darkness and Cliff Williams playing Gibson equivalents but with the exception of the hard case, everything about it was rubbish.

[Bass4real]

20 hours ago, Doctor J said:

Hate is a very strong term, needlessly so. Many basses have been bought and sole over the years, can't say I've ever been so upset as to actually hate any.

I know hate is a word I ( hate ) to say : )        I don't hate , But I'll say that I was more than disappointed in everything , I thought the RICKENBACKER 4001 was going to be a BASS for life. IT was a Bass for about 2 months..

Yeah well it happened a long time ago.

 

 

[Bass4real]

20 hours ago, Doctor J said:

Hate is a very strong term, needlessly so. Many basses have been bought and sole over the years, can't say I've ever been so upset as to actually hate any.

I agree hate is not the best way to describe it 

[Steve Browning]

I didn't hate it, but an early purchase of a Hondo Ric made me realise the Rickenbacker ergonomics don't work for me. 

 

I was gifted a 4000 a few years and it was just the same problem. Just didn't give me anywhere comfortable to rest my thumb. The pickup was too close to the strings and the surround was too far away. 

[Hellzero]

Yep, and there are quite a lot, but having owned luthier basses almost from the day one didn't help with what I may call mass produced "basses".

[Bass4real]

23 hours ago, chyc said:

Not everyone can do this, but I've never bought an instrument I've not played beforehand. Does that mean I've passed up the opportunity to find my ultimate bass? Maybe, but on the flipside I've never bought a bass that's anything less than great, let alone owned a bass I've hated.

I'm right there with ya

In 2025 in Reading Pa  the Guitar stores that were here for decades have completely disappeared I think there is 1 store that you can still buy a new guitar or bass but it doesn't have any selection.

I have never or would I ever buy a bass I haven't actually held in my hands , played it

heard it through an amp .

I see basses for sale on the Internet for thousands even tens of thousands.

Who would be so stupid to buy a used bass for 5 -10 - 15 thousand or more without ever even seeing it before it shows up at your door. 

HELL NO NOT ME .

As a matter of fact I wouldn't buy a bass that costs even $100.00 without seeing - playing etc etc 

A few years ago I was taught a valuable lesson 

DO NOT BELIEVE EVERY 1 OF THE SITES OR STORES ON THE INTERNET THAT SELL NEW & USED GEAR.

ARE AN HONEST BUSINESS 

THIEVES ARE EVERYWHERE ESPECIALLY ON THE INTERNET.

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 21:39 by Bass4real

[Gank Bass]

I don't know if it's because I'm so used to playing my own home brew Chinese firewood j*zz basses but I rarely play something in a store that feels "right" to me anymore! This has lead to way too many being sold on despite probably being excellent instruments.

 

Ricks are a strange beast as I've never enjoyed the ones I've tried out and yet I still have serious gas for one 🤦‍♂️

 

The lesson I take away is that if you find something that feels right, go with it 

[White Cloud]

Yes, when I bought a brand new Wal in 1985. Don't get me wrong, the sounds were sublime, however I hated everything else about it.

[asingardenof]

I was given a bass and hated it, a cheap and nasty Wesley five-string with a neck like a tree trunk.

[chris_b]

13 hours ago, White Cloud said:

Yes, when I bought a brand new Wal in 1985. Don't get me wrong, the sounds were sublime, however I hated everything else about it.

 

I bought a used Wal mk2 which sounded thin and gutless. I chopped it in for a mk3, at a local store, which sounded fat, full and punchy. Both Wals but chalk and cheese.