Have you ever bought a BASS and hated it

[mybass]

I swapped a Gibson EB3 tobacco sunburst for a Ricky 4001 stereo and just didn’t get on with it so I sold/px it in for a Gibson Les Paul bass and then I had Dick Knight (RIP) replace the the neck to a long/34” scale neck with bass clef inlay at the 12th fret (was I the first to have that sort of inlay done?).

[Telebass]

Not hate, but I never got on well with a Warwick Streamer Standard 5er. Neck didn't suit my hands, which were beginning to get a bit arthriticky...

[PainInTheBass]

I think it's a fair and valid question. Hate just means "intense dislike". Yes I have a bass which I hate, because I dislike it and the intensity is subjective. 

 

I own very well manufactured expensive basses which I adore, but buying a cheap squier affinity p bass for kicks was just not worth it. Maybe I should hate myself for thinking it was a good idea, and not hate the bass. How it was made and passed QC was not its fault.

 

I won't make that mistake again...

Edited January 14 by russ.c
Grammar

[Terry M.]

2 hours ago, russ.c said:

I think it's a fair and valid question. Hate just means "intense dislike". Yes I have a bass which I hate, because I dislike it and the intensity is subjective. 

 

I own very well manufactured expensive basses which I adore, but buying a cheap squier affinity p bass for kicks was just not worth it. Maybe I should hate myself for thinking it was a good idea, and not hate the bass. How it was made and passed QC was not it's fault.

 

I won't make that mistake again...

That's a shame because just before Christmas I bought a new Squier Affinity Active Jazz Bass V and can't believe how awesome it is. I tried 3 different ones believing it to be some sort of fluke but every one delivered. My other basses are German made Warwicks for reference. 

[PainInTheBass]

26 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

I tried 3 different ones believing it to be some sort of fluke but every one delivered.

Please buy me a lottery ticket, I'll send you my address 😂

[Terry M.]

1 minute ago, russ.c said:

Please buy me a lottery ticket, I'll send you my address 😂

Ha ha. I think Squier have really upped their game with regards to the entry level models. Classic Vibes have always been amazing. 

[stewblack]

I bought an overpriced piece of crap which I've attempted to make playable. Despite my non existent skills and patience. I figured it's worthless as is and I'm so cross - why not? What harm can it do?

Gave up.

Bunged it in a case and hid it in the corner.

Every now and then I remember it and think about getting it out but hate it too much.

Yesterday I weakened. Plugged it in and it didn't sound too bad. Then the jack socket stopped working. It's one of those awful barrel ones so now I need a new one of those.

 

Back into the corner. 

 

[Terry M.]

22 minutes ago, stewblack said:

I bought an overpriced piece of crap which I've attempted to make playable. Despite my non existent skills and patience. I figured it's worthless as is and I'm so cross - why not? What harm can it do?

Gave up.

Bunged it in a case and hid it in the corner.

Every now and then I remember it and think about getting it out but hate it too much.

Yesterday I weakened. Plugged it in and it didn't sound too bad. Then the jack socket stopped working. It's one of those awful barrel ones so now I need a new one of those.

 

Back into the corner. 

 

What is it?

[bassbiscuits]

Didn’t hate it, but I had a Lull PJ4 which did nothing for me. I sold after not very long. 

[Russ]

I've never bought something that I hated outright, but I have had basses that I've loved when playing them by myself, or in the shop, but then I got them into a band environment and they just didn't work in context. 

 

A bit of an expensive lesson, but every time this has happened, it was definitely a learning experience for what I look for in basses. I'm a lot better informed and better prepared these days. 

[Lozz196]

That’s a good point, although I tend to scoop mids I generally buy instruments that have them in abundance, I’ve found I can get the sound I want by reducing what’s there but can’t by increasing what isn’t, if that makes sense. 

[bassbiscuits]

12 minutes ago, Russ said:

…..but I have had basses that I've loved when playing them by myself, or in the shop, but then I got them into a band environment and they just didn't work in context.

Exactly this. I’ve bought stuff which seemed to tick the boxes in the shop or at home but onstage didn’t work for me at all.
 

I tend to find that kit which is right for me is right straightaway, while stuff I have to tinker and modify generally never hits the mark for me. 

[LukeFRC]

2 hours ago, stewblack said:

I bought an overpriced piece of crap which I've attempted to make playable. Despite my non existent skills and patience. I figured it's worthless as is and I'm so cross - why not? What harm can it do?

Gave up.

Bunged it in a case and hid it in the corner.

Every now and then I remember it and think about getting it out but hate it too much.

Yesterday I weakened. Plugged it in and it didn't sound too bad. Then the jack socket stopped working. It's one of those awful barrel ones so now I need a new one of those.

 

Back into the corner. 

 

What @Terry M. said ! 

[stewblack]

6 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

What @Terry M. said ! 

Some bits of wood and metal balanced together precariously but just able to get home before revealing their true nature.

I just soldered in the new jack and now I hate how it hangs on the strap

[GrandafatherGroove]

I bought a special edition Hofner ignition, which is just a cheapo Hofner with some better bits from what I understand. I always wanted one but it sounds rubbish, I think all Hofner do unless you play them in a very very particular way, I still have it though because sometimes you need something that sound a bit rubbish

[KingBollock]

I have an Aria Pro II MAB-20/5. It was my first five string. 
 

It plays nicely and it sounds early good. But my goodness is it ugly!

 

I hate it so much that I feel sorry for it because it really doesn’t deserve such rancor.

[12stringbassist]

I've never hated an instrument that I have bought.
I have sometimes found that they don't get to the front of the queue for being played and then have parted with them.
There's very little point in hanging on to something that you don't use.

[TeresaFR]

I once owned a BC Rich (Platinum Series) Warlock that I bought to emulate my then guitarist, and the headstock dive on that thing made me strongly dislike playing it, so I traded it in for a Crafter electro-acoustic that I also realised I very much disliked because I'm not in my heart an acoustic player, not even partially. Of the six basses I have owned (I don't buy and sell much, don't go in for collecting really and I'm a lefty), those were the two not to be given names.

[Bass4real]

On 16/01/2025 at 03:39, GrandafatherGroove said:

I bought a special edition Hofner ignition, which is just a cheapo Hofner with some better bits from what I understand. I always wanted one but it sounds rubbish, I think all Hofner do unless you play them in a very very particular way, I still have it though because sometimes you need something that sound a bit rubbish

Would that very Very particular way beeeee

Uhhh the 60s 

I agree with you, %1000

[MaartenV]

I wouldn’t say ‘hate’, but have been very disappointed with both a EBMM Stingray and an Epiphone Embassy. The Stingray was my dream bass for many years and played beautifully, but its sound lacked punch for some reason. I found it was very sensitive to different types of strings and usually not in a good way. The Epi almost played itself, it was effortless. It just drowned in the band mix. (Same thing with a Fender 50s P, the Sting Sig, and its cheaper Squier CV cousin, really.)

[Kev]

1 hour ago, MaartenV said:

I wouldn’t say ‘hate’, but have been very disappointed with both a EBMM Stingray and an Epiphone Embassy. The Stingray was my dream bass for many years and played beautifully, but its sound lacked punch for some reason. I found it was very sensitive to different types of strings and usually not in a good way. The Epi almost played itself, it was effortless. It just drowned in the band mix. (Same thing with a Fender 50s P, the Sting Sig, and its cheaper Squier CV cousin, really.)

StingRays are interesting.  I was kinda similar, I always wanted a US 4 string StingRay and when I finally owned one (2003 ish model) I was terribly underwhelmed with it.  Heavy, brittle tone, uncomfortable to play, hate would be too strong a word but just had no connection with it at all.  Yet I loved the sound of them on records and practically learned to play on an 00's SUB from the same period.  I sold it pretty quickly.  I've since owned two other US StingRays (a sold Special and a 2016 PDN I very much still have) and adored them both and were everything I hoped they would be.  I guess there are always bad ones of everything!

[MaartenV]

 

Mine was about the same age then. Underwhelmed is very accurate, if a little understated. I recently acquired an Ibanez ATK300, and it honestly gives me everything I wanted and then some. 

Edited 6 hours ago by MaartenV

[Terry M.]

45 minutes ago, MaartenV said:

 

Mine was about the same age then. Underwhelmed is very accurate, if a little understated. I recently acquired an Ibanez ATK300, and it honestly gives me everything I wanted and then some. 

Of all the "Stingray" clones I've tried the only one that actually sounded like one (to my ears) was my old Ibanez ATK305. Was pretty much a sonic carbon copy unlike other models with a bridge humbucker.