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XoSo

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4 strings has always been enough for me and never been interested in fretless. 2 basses, 1 an Ibanez Talman short scale in black and a backup of the same make and model in green, job done. I use an effects pedal, but only when really needed, to achieve particular and distinctive sounds. The basses were both set up by a local luthier and with the strings of my choice give me all the sounds I need. Cheap as chips, reliable and with the added bonus of looking wonderful, to me at least .I have tried exotic and expensive instruments, active circuits etc but just find the extra controls a distraction. A good bassist mate of mine has a 1980s active Status. I dont believe he has touched the tone shaping controls for decades. Use what you need, what you like and my maxim is, keep it simple.

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I currently just have two basses, and I get by fine playing with a mixture of different bands live.  If I recorded more I would like a few others I think, to offer some variety in terms of sound, precision basses with different strings etc. Currently I have a precision with flats and a 5 string active lakland.

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it depends what you mean by flexibility...

I can get pretty much all the sounds I need from my five string Warwick Stage 1 with coil tappable passive $$ pickups with active eq, and by varying my playing technique.  If the bass doesn't do it then a pedal probably can, although I do have exactly the set up for "my" sound and I don;t often feel the need for something that sounds any different.  Not fretless so if that's a requirement I'd get a five string fretless of some description, but personally that's not on my radar.

I do, however, have a five string fretted Wal on order, as that sound is pretty much unique...and once I get that (in about a year) I may find that my Warwick is of less use...

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16 hours ago, leschirons said:

One of these should cover it😂

80fc4bb07c42c9581f56a6c37f597e2e--guitar-neck-guitar-art.jpg

A few less strings & some cheat lines and it might!

Reminds me quite a lot of the "One Bass To Rule Them All" design idea I knocked up about 10 years back:

twinneck.jpg.28097b11398691578366b6d1498d762e.jpg

Having since owned a twin-neck in real life, I'd scale down the body a lot to reduce weight. Done right it could be quite manageable...

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I think if I were looking at 2 basses to have maximum flexibility it would be a five string Precision and a five string HH Stingray. Precision, well that covers that sound, and the flexibility of a dual humbucker Stingray pretty much covers most others. Nearly went for a Jazz in my choice but think the Ray edges it.

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22 hours ago, Rich said:

I'd have fretted and fretless 5s too. A matching pair of Wals would do nicely. :)

What, kinda like this?

368B19C3-C37B-477F-87D8-9E22909EC8BB.thumb.jpeg.86d46073e660a544b6a60463ab9b0a22.jpeg

Since I don’t play 5 strings or fretless these two would do me quite nicely. And have done since 1993 and 2001 respectively! ;)

 

 

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I remember when Billy Sheehan was asked why he doesn't play a 5 string, he said something along the lines of that he's still learning how to play 4 strings.  😀

I've been playing the same 4 string Ibby since 1990, though I find I could now use a 5.  So it's on the cards (has been for some time, but keeps getting delayed).
I'd like a fretless as well.

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On 16/01/2019 at 22:43, XoSo said:

…….two basses, but you need to have maximum flexibility. As someone fairly new to bass I'm thinking you'd want a four string, a five string, a fretted bass and a fretless so I'd maybe go fretted four string and fretless five string. I haven't a clue whether they'd be active or passive - I've only ever played passive basses so I have no idea what active basses bring to the table. Which way would you go, and I'm particularly interested to hear your reasoning. Hopefully goes without saying I'm not asking what make or model you'd go for.

 

Two 5-string Stingray basses, with two humbuckers. One fretted and one fretless. That's for maximum versatility.

Do I need maximum versatility, 'though? Nah. I just need something that sounds good in many situations. A Precision and a single humbucker Stingray for me, both fretted, then ;)

I'll sneak in a fretless Precision when you're not looking.

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I'm going to be the voice of reason and say that unless you've been called to a gig specifically to play a fretless or a particular bass then you need whatever bass you have at the time. Very few people in the audience will be able to tell or actually give a monkey's toss what you have unless you are either really bad or it sounds dreadful.

Over the past 20 years I have played the following in wedding/function bands:

Yamaha TRB6 II fretless

Epiphone Thunderbirds

Many Stingrays

More Rickenbackers

Various Precisions

Jazz Basses, fretted and fretless

Modulus Flea

Warwick Thumb NT5

Various pieces of sh!t

Loads of Bass Collections

Trace T-Bass 5 string

Assorted 4, 5, 6 & even an 8 string (I used a 12ver with a rock band)

 

Well, you get the idea. my current 2 do everything I need and the Rick can get surprisingly funky. I take whatever bass I fancy using to the gig

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On 17/01/2019 at 10:20, zranyard said:

I currently just have two basses, and I get by fine playing with a mixture of different bands live.  If I recorded more I would like a few others I think, to offer some variety in terms of sound, precision basses with different strings etc. Currently I have a precision with flats and a 5 string active lakland.

If you want to cover all basses (as it were) then a passive 4 string P bass and an active 5 string jazz would cover it... 

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52 minutes ago, leschirons said:

But they're both the same aren't they?😉

Oh but in so many ways, no. They aren’t. But just in case I’ll throw this one in as a backup. Owned it for 37 years (in fact exactly as long as I’ve been playing bass) so it also probably counts as a “keeper” ;)

88039689-B153-40BE-A0A7-87EA28200828.thumb.jpeg.9ad3c2a781a7ce9066e55d68d7580964.jpeg

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