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GAS - Yes, But Why..?


discreet

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Lots of common sense and sensible advice in this thread.

I'm a 'one' player -

One bass

One amp

-and err, one pedal (comp).

Bass is early '80's PJ.  Just about b****y perfect for me. Combining the tone range of this and playing in different styles (both fingers and pick) means I can get most of the way to whatever 'that' sound I want for a particular song is, and no one else except me is going to notice that last little bit of difference.

Mind you, I must admit that looking at any quality pics of well worn '60's Fender basses is pure gear porn for me..........*blushes*

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18 hours ago, discreet said:

GAS - Yes, But Why..?

Plenty of threads about GAS on this here board, but what I want to know is...

WHY? Let's see... you already have a really great bass, one that you lusted after and planned to get. You like it a lot, it suits the kind of work you're doing, it plays really well, it sounds really great, it looks really good, it's really comfortable to play, it suits the band, it sounds great recorded, it's well cool and everybody you meet says they love it, other bands compliment you on your great sound. It even photographs well! And of course, it's a 'keeper' and you'd never sell it! 9_9

I can understand (for example) wanting a couple of basses to cover all bases (ahem), such as a P and a J for sonic variation, or a P with flats and a P with rounds...

But why are you constantly looking for something else beyond this? Just exactly what is driving you to become a bass collector of sorts? You can only play one bass at a time. Is it fear of missing out? Do you really think after all this time and all your experience of playing basses that 'the one' is still out there waiting for you to discover it?? :D Why would you risk moving on your 'perfect' bass and  buy what turns out to be a lesser bass, only to regret it later..?

Enquiring and obviously not-occupied-enough minds need to know!

 

Lust.

That's why.

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Guest Jecklin

I can only talk from my own perspective.

 

I rarely get GAS.

However I have some now and I'm aware it stems from frustrations with pushing my music forward. A Creative block seems to create an urge to get new equipment which will "allow me to do x and y" etc.

Because I'm not spending my time constructively composing, it feels constructive to think about new equipment. A fallacy.

Edited by Jecklin
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1 hour ago, Jecklin said:

I can only talk from my own perspective.

 

I rarely get GAS.

However I have some now and I'm aware it stems from frustrations with pushing my music forward. A Creative block seems to create an urge to get new equipment which will "allow me to do x and y" etc.

Because I'm not spending my time constructively composing, it feels constructive to think about new equipment. A fallacy.

Yup.

Deny it all you want.  You get it just the same as we all do.

Heeheehee

Edited by SpondonBassed
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Some very interesting replies, thanks. I'm no stranger to the merry-go-round myself. One mistake I made was thinking that every purchase would result in a better instrument/amp than I had before - and logically would be an upgrade. Of course this is not true and results in huge (sometimes overwhelming) buyers' remorse, particularly if you've had to move on a current instrument/amp to fund a newer one.

Yes! There is a point at which you have the perfect bass and the perfect amp (for YOU and YOUR purposes). it's just not always completely obvious where that point lies.

For myself it was a Fender Road Worn Precision and a Fender Rumble 500 V3 combo. Fairly humble and relatively inexpensive, but absolutely 100% perfect for me and what I do.

I have neither. :D

Edited by discreet
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Guest Jecklin
6 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

Yup.

Deny it all you want.  You get it just the same as we all do.

Heeheehee

Ha :D

I have it BADLY now.

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I try to reassure myself that I'm going through the other side of an oscillation. For the first half of my bass-playing life, I had no money. I was doing everything as cheaply as possible: getting a new bass meant selling a cheap one to fund the purchase of a slightly less cheap one, or scouring eBay for the parts to assemble one myself.

Then in the second half, I had disposable income, and it all started to go downhill. 

I'm now at the point where the two halves are equal in length. I hope the GAS will settle down, and I won't keep itching for something different...

 

...unfortunately, I did try a Sandberg a few weeks ago, and I'm struggling to get it off my mind. I also quite fancy an upright. And a piano. God help me...

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9 minutes ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

I try to reassure myself that I'm going through the other side of an oscillation. For the first half of my bass-playing life, I had no money. I was doing everything as cheaply as possible: getting a new bass meant selling a cheap one to fund the purchase of a slightly less cheap one, or scouring eBay for the parts to assemble one myself.

Then in the second half, I had disposable income, and it all started to go downhill. 

I'm now at the point where the two halves are equal in length. I hope the GAS will settle down, and I won't keep itching for something different...

 

...unfortunately, I did try a Sandberg a few weeks ago, and I'm struggling to get it off my mind. I also quite fancy an upright. And a piano. God help me...

Get an upright piano then.  Learn Mouldy Old Dough, tour it, make a million.  Heeheehee

I left my house one morning and started off on an oscillation.  By the time I returned home it had become an undulation.  Isn't life convoluted?

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38 minutes ago, discreet said:

Some very interesting replies, thanks. I'm no stranger to the merry-go-round myself. One mistake I made was thinking that every purchase would result in a better instrument/amp than I had before - and logically would be an upgrade. Of course this is not true and results in huge (sometimes overwhelming) buyers' remorse, particularly if you've had to move on a current instrument/amp to fund a newer one.

Yes! There is a point at which you have the perfect bass and the perfect amp (for YOU and YOUR purposes). it's just not always completely obvious where that point lies.

For myself it was a Fender Road Worn Precision and a Fender Rumble 500 V3 combo. Fairly humble and relatively inexpensive, but absolutely 100% perfect for me and what I do.

I have neither. :D

That was depressingly sensible and well argued..........until the very last point :)

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I would say it was a pseudo-religious facet of Hyperconsumerism. In lives so devoid of meaning we apply almost spiritual value to manifestly temporal items. Mind you one could argue that the physical components that go to make up a musical instrument can, when played, move one (and an audience) into a spiritual dimension. Instruments are coarse temporal tools that can, through utilization, create high art, perhaps they deserve the almost fanatical devotion we give them? But if that were the case we'd be happy with an instrument that simply did that job yet we do seem overly concerned with very subtle nuances and variations in how they sound and look. Perhaps, again, this is a bast***isation of spiritual devotion, to believe these subtle nuances really can add up a higher musical (and therefore possibly spiritual) experience, otherwise we'd be happy with the first tuneable bass we could play.

Just as an aside the iPod chose One Nation Under A Groove this morning so I stuck it on repeat for the drive to work. This might be why this rumination has such a holy slant..

Edited by Frank Blank
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3 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

I would say it was a pseudo-religious facet of Hyperconsumerism.

Why not? Who goes to church? Most people prefer the supermarket of a Sunday.

4 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

 Instruments are coarse temporal tools that can through utilization create high art, perhaps they deserve the almost fanatical devotion we give them?

Understandable, but more likely clever marketing and branding. After many decades I'm coming to realise that the best bass (for me) could well be one that cost £100 (with £100-worth of mods). :)

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4 minutes ago, discreet said:

Why not? Who goes to church? Most people prefer the supermarket of a Sunday.

Understandable, but more likely clever marketing and branding. After many decades I'm coming to realise that the best bass (for me) could well be one that cost £100 (with £100-worth of mods). :)

I wasn't doing the bass devotion down, I too prefer the supermarket to church.

I agree wholly with your last statement. I have a very strong feeling I'm going to end up with a slightly modified Squier Jaguar as my main electric bass.

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18 hours ago, bertbass said:

I've always found that the degree of GAS is proportionally related to the number of gigs, i.e., 2 or more gigs a week, no GAS. No gigs, enormous GAS!

This. Absolutely. I'd pretty much cured it last year when we were gigging constantly. Come January, always quiet (even more so as we were preparing to record an album so didn't have anything immediate booked), lo and behold....tremendous GAS.

What is nice now though, having owned about 50 basses of all types over the past 37 years and having played literally thousands of basses in that time, is I now know there are only a handful work for me; even better, there are only a very few that I'm actually interested in. The majority of basses on the market don't interest me at all anymore.

However what's currently haunting me is there are 2 basses I desperately want, using money saved over a very long period of time, but I can only afford one and I can't decide which one I want most. I also know that I won't be able to afford another for another couple of years at least, so I have to make my decision count.

One thing I will admit is that my GAS, when it strikes, is generally visually driven more than anything.

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3 minutes ago, 4000 said:

I'd pretty much cured it last year when we were gigging constantly. Come January, always quiet (even more so as we were preparing to record an album so didn't have anything immediate booked), lo and behold....tremendous GAS.

So you'd say it's about having too much spare time? The devil makes work for idle hands, and all that. It's true that when I'm playing, I'm not thinking about buying gear...

So logically, we should probably play a lot more and spend less time on the bloody internet. Which could be condensed into 'More Carousing, Less Browsing'. Or something. :D 

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17 minutes ago, discreet said:

Understandable, but more likely clever marketing and branding. After many decades I'm coming to realise that the best bass (for me) could well be one that cost £100 (with £100-worth of mods). :)

Couldn’t agree more with this statement!! I have serious GAS but I can’t afford to buy what I desire so I’ve decided to either make my own version for a fraction of the price or upgrade a bass that I like playing :D

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Just now, Jimothey said:

Couldn’t agree more with this statement!! I have serious GAS but I can’t afford to buy what I desire so I’ve decided to either make my own version for a fraction of the price or upgrade a bass that I like playing :D

The end result can be the same - or better, as you're effectively customising a bass to your specific needs. HOWEVER, my cheap-yet-modded bass isn't enough! I have terrible GAS - for ANOTHER cheap-yet-modded bass, but with better and more expensive mods!! IS THERE NO END TO IT?? :swoon:

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15 minutes ago, discreet said:

The end result can be the same - or better, as you're effectively customising a bass to your specific needs. HOWEVER, my cheap-yet-modded bass isn't enough! I have terrible GAS - for ANOTHER cheap-yet-modded bass, but with better and more expensive mods!! IS THERE NO END TO IT?? :swoon:

I'm getting you a My Little Pony for Christmas.  It's got a range of accessories and 'friends' that'll keep you occupied for a loooooong time.

I'm so glad little Ruby is past that phase.  She wants to be a drummer though.  That's a whole different kettle of GAS!

(Scribbles a hasty prescription) Take two Alka Seltzer and lie down in a darkened room 'till the burping subsides.

 

Edited by SpondonBassed
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3 hours ago, Muppet said:

Basschat. It's all the fault of Basschat.  And you lot.  On Basschat.

I agree. Before Basschat, or Bassworld as it was then, I'd been playing the same Maison (Bass Collection clone) through an ancient Custom Sound combo for years and was as happy as a pig in the proverbial. Post BC and I've gone through more basses and amps than I can recollect

Edited by MoJo
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53 minutes ago, discreet said:

Understandable, but more likely clever marketing and branding. After many decades I'm coming to realise that the best bass (for me) could well be one that cost £100 (with £100-worth of mods). :)

I agree but I think the one of the reasons that we are so susceptible to such marketing and branding is because it appeals to the spiritual gene so to speak. 

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