What would YOU do with a spare bass?

[Mornats]

Hey basschatters,

More of a theoretical question than a plea for advice although I may act on some advice here

I've got 4 basses, 2 Bass Collections (fretless and 5 string) and an Overwater (by Tanglewood) contemporary J4. The Overwater is my main bass, I've loved bass collections for years but my 4th bass is a cheap (just under £300 new) Dean Hillsboro Single bass. I bought this is Jan this year when I first got back into playing bass after a 15 year gap so I bought it without knowing/remembering what I really wanted or needed in a bass. Anyway, it's now surplus to requirements. I love the slim neck on it, it looks quite nice (and you don't see many of them around) but I've never like the tone from it.

So I need to decide what to do with it. I don't gig so having a backup bass isn't a concern and besides, I'd use my 5 string as a backup anyway if I did. I use my basses for recording and don't have one particular style so a variance in sound is good for me. Some options are:[list]
[*]Trade it in for a 6-string guitar (as I'm mainly recording tracks and I've got a bottom of the range - yet still decent - Ibanez GRG70 so something better here could be useful but strictly, not essential).
[*]Sell it to pay for something I'd use (but I'd lose quite a bit of what I paid for it).
[*]Customise it - i.e. chuck in an EMG MM-TW and electronics, maybe try and replace some hardware too, just for practice, maybe repaint it as a project.
[*]Something else?
[/list]
So whilst I've been thinking this over I thought I'd see what you guys would do in this situation, just out of curiosity really.

Here's a pic of my basses, the Dean is the white one on the left, then it's my red fretless BC, 5 string black BC and the Overwater at the end.

[attachment=94992:338898_10150312332276555_693356554_8695370_637543308_o (1).jpg]

[LukeFRC]

sell it to pay for strings for that poor fretless!

[Mornats]

Haha, it's got strings on, they're just black nylon ones on an ebony fretboard! See below for proof

[attachment=94997:244379_10150183299621555_693356554_7585610_5936063_o.jpg]

Edited December 9, 2011 by Mornats

[edstraker123]

How about trading it for an acoustic bass/ electric drum kit/ saxophone ?
It looks really nice !

Edited December 9, 2011 by edstraker123

[Mornats]

That's one solution however I'm a bit stumped as to what to get. A replacement 6-string guitar would be nice but that Ibanez is still quite decent. I've been eyeing up one of these too [url="http://www.dv247.com/guitars/ashdown-electric-blue-eb-12-180-evo-ii-bass-amplifier-combo--73692"]http://www.dv247.com/guitars/ashdown-electric-blue-eb-12-180-evo-ii-bass-amplifier-combo--73692[/url] but I'm not gigging and won't be for a long while, if ever so it's a bit silly to get an amp without knowing my requirements for one. I'd mainly use it just to shape the bass tone to then DI it into Reaper.

It's a lovely looking bass, very good for the price and a great neck which is why it hasn't already gone but I've got 4 basses now and I'm running out of room.

[TheGreek]

Sell it and add the funds to the GAS fund...if you don't have a GAS fund (why not??), here's the perfect opportunity to start one..

[rOB]

This probably won't help much but the Ashdown EB's are a good range of combos. I used a 12-180 for gigging for about a year or so. Not sure how wonderful the DI is for recording. Would a good DI box (sansamp etc?) be more suited to your purposes?

[Mornats]

Hmm, GAS fund. I went shopping for bed linen and came back with an Overwater Contemporary J4 not so long ago so the fund could do with some love. I currently use Guitar Rig Session to record with and I'm more than happy with it so hmm, maybe a trade in for an Ashdown...

[Prime_BASS]

I wouldnt bother modding it, its sound would hardly change so youd end up wasting money and barely using it still.

Sell it and go buy a decent amp. The sound of loud bass in your ears may inspire you to get into gigging.

[Fat Rich]

How does the Dean sound when it's unplugged? If it's still lacking something it might not benefit from better electrics and you may be wasting your time...

In the past I've always enjoyed the modding process but often ended up bored with the result pretty quickly. Which results in never ending modding looking for exactly what I'm after. I now make sure any bass I buy sounds and feels right and only do a bit of fine tuning to make it perfect for me.

As for whether you should get another bass, only you can decide if you'll get enough enjoyment out of it to justify the costs.

[chris_b]

[size=4][color=#222222][font=Arial]I’d sell it. You bought the Dean when you were getting back into bass. It's served its purpose and you've moved onwards and upwards to much better instruments. You own a lot of basses for someone who doesn't gig, so I'd just sell the Dean.[/font][/color][/size][color=#222222][font=Arial][size=1][/size][/font][/color]

[Mornats]

[quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1323600674' post='1464770']
How does the Dean sound when it's unplugged?[/quote]

It sounds ok actually but truth be told I never play it. Who would when there's an Overwater sitting there?

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1323602288' post='1464802']
[font=Arial]I’d sell it. You bought the Dean when you were getting back into bass. It's served its purpose and you've moved onwards and upwards to much better instruments. You own a lot of basses for someone who doesn't gig, so I'd just sell the Dean.[/font]
[/quote]

Very true indeed, it served its purpose nicely.

So, I think selling it/trading it would be the better option here then. So my choices are either an Ashdown amp (the 12 or 15 inch version of the one I linked) or a new guitar. I'll pop into my local guitar shop and will try out their range of Ashdowns. I remember being in there trying out their Spectors and I loved the amp which they were plugged into. Hopefully I'll be able to make use of its tone when DIing it into my audio interface. I was thinking of buying VIrtual Bass Amp Pro but trading my Dean in for an Ashdown would work out the same-ish cost I reckon.

Cheers guys!

[Mornats]

Here's a thought... if I bought an amp head only, would this be useful to use when simply recording through a computer? I was thinking I could always add a cab later if I start gigging...