Why do I bother?

[casapete]

I’ve fallen victim to ‘want’ over ‘need’ for many years now, and yes it’s a curse!
I’ll soon be leaving my main band and think it will be the right time to start selling

stuff that is no longer relevant to my needs. After years playing my Precision Lyte

I think that one is a keeper, although it’s identical twin ( originally bought

as a back up but never used) will be going. As will the lightweight Jazz bitsa and

some others as well as my main GK amp/cab.

I’ve recently sold my Washburn AB20 ( after owning it for 30 years) because it

just wasn’t getting used so that’s a start. I’m looking at settling on two acoustic

basses for my duo, one short scale and one medium so will need to decide on

those in the near future. 
( Then there’s only the guitars to consider, which will be much more difficult as

I rarely play any of ‘em). 🥴

Edited March 7 by casapete

[Kitsto]

15 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

My point wasn’t to criticise people with loads of basses. Perhaps you need to have loads of basses to realise what you want in one (you can see I’ve owned and sold *lots*).

 

Perhaps as I get older I’m more interested in understanding why I felt the need to own lots of stuff. It didn’t make me happier, or play better, or play more, for example.

It’s interesting to know what everyone thinks in a non-judgemental environment. 

 

This. When I was in a covers band I had 10 basses (most of them Epi Tbirds). Now I'm not, I'm down to three and rotate them, playing each in turn for several few weeks. Could easily just do with one (I play along to backing tracks) but when I switch from one to another, the 'new' one feels nicely different. I have an active Tbird Pro, a passive Goth (a surprisingly lovely and lovely sounding bass for one that could be mistaken for a novelty thing) and an ESP Viper which is a modern take on the old Jack Bruce EB0 shape and cost double the other two combined. Why did I need so many basses back then? Dunno. Maybe to convince myself I was a 'proper' bass player?

[SimonK]

...of course if you never sell anything you don't then suffer from sellers remorse and have to spend the next ten years tracking down either the instrument you sold or something as close to it as you can get...

[Obrienp]

I don’t think anybody has yet mentioned the effect of getting old on a person’s bass collection.. I would have been quite happy with the long scale basses I had until I started to develop arthritis in my hands and got a bad back. This forced me to change to much lighter, shorter scale instruments. I think of this as a forced change, rather than simple GAS (self delusion probably).

 

I think I have just about settled on the instruments that will see me to the end of my playing career. I am trying to avoid looking at the basses for sale section on BC, especially that Mensinger Cazpar medium scale fretless!

[Belka]

One thing I've noticed recently is that a lot of pros seem to also have large amounts of equipment. Back in the day you would associate pros with their 'signature basses'; Marcus with his Jazz, Bernard and his StingRay (although the first chic album was done on a Jazz and a Precision), Anthony Jackson with his career girl and then his contrabasses (ok, so that's plural, but when he received each new one he stopped playing and sold the previous ones), and of course Jaco and his bass of doom, Jamerson and his Precision, Carole Kaye, Joe Osborn, Duck Dunn, etc.

 

These days, artists and producers are so into sounds and vibes that it seems to be taken seriously as a sideman you need to have a collection of basses in order to cover a load of different vintage vibes/sounds. If you look at the likes of Sean Hurley, Tim Lefebvre, Ian Allison, Dan Hawkins, etc., you generally seen P with flats, P with rounds, active 5 string, Jazz (sometimes 2, again, rounds and flats), vintage mustang (or if money is an issue the JMJ sig), Jack Casady sig (or if money is NO issue, the '70s Gibson version), various other short scales with flats/tapes; Hofner, Wilcock Mullarkey, Serek, etc., then maybe a Rickenbacker, pre EB StingRay, perhaps Spector  - they seem very in vogue again. Plus others depending on the player.

 

Dave Swift also has a huge collection of basses, although I would guess in his case it's more of a hobby than it is Jools Holland requesting certain sounds.

 

All this is before you take into account their in some cases huge pedal/amp collections (Janek Gwizdala, Tim Lefebvre, JMJ, Juan Alderete). 

 

It might be a bit different in the Jazz world, or for people known for solo work, although Victor Wooten seems to have a huge collection of mostly Foderas, as does Anthony Wellington and Tony Grey. Hadrien Feraud has a big collection too. Andrew Gouche has a huge collection of MTDs. There are others too. These guys seem to have multiple flavors of a similar taste for want of a better expression.

 

Does that mean we mortals need a huge collection too? Not really, but it makes it easier to justify if you get accused of being a dentist/lawyer suffering a mid-life crisis. 

 

Does this mean we should encourage up-and-coming players to focus on acquiring gear over skills? Obviously not, but if someone is serious about turning pro these days, getting the right gear for the job something they have to be aware of in this day and age.

Edited March 7 by Belka

[paul_5]

On 05/03/2024 at 22:01, chris_b said:

I need to be a better bassist and owning more basses won't achieve that.

You’re kinda new in these parts, aincha? 😄

[asingardenof]

39 minutes ago, Belka said:

These days, artists and producers are so into sounds and vibes that it seems to be taken seriously as a sideman you need to have a collection of basses in order to cover a load of different vintage vibes/sounds. If you look at the likes of Sean Hurley, Tim Lefebvre, Ian Allison, Dan Hawkins, etc., you generally seen P with flats, P with rounds, active 5 string, Jazz (sometimes 2, again, rounds and flats), vintage mustang (or if money is an issue the JMJ sig), Jack Casady sig (or if money is NO issue, the '70s Gibson version), various other short scales with flats/tapes; Hofner, Wilcock Mullarkey, Serek, etc., then maybe a Rickenbacker, pre EB StingRay, perhaps Spector  - they seem very in vogue again. Plus others depending on the player.

Ian Allison also does a load of stuff on social media for SBL demonstrating how to achieve certain sounds, and I guess it becomes problematic to do that if you only have one or two basses.

[Belka]

8 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

Ian Allison also does a load of stuff on social media for SBL demonstrating how to achieve certain sounds, and I guess it becomes problematic to do that if you only have one or two basses.

True, but from what I've seen of his social media he had a large collection of vintage stuff before he started working with Scott. I remember a story he told of how he was sent home from a session after turning up with a Yamaha attitude Billy Sheehan sig and being told to check out vintage gear.

 

Strange as you would think that if he just played it on the P pickup it wouldn't sound that different to a vintage Precision, but that's another thing; I think these days a lot of producers and artists won't considering hiring someone unless their gear also looks the part (Lenny Kravitz reportedly sends 5 string players straight home at auditions). 

 

I'd hazard a guess though that a lot of his (and Scott's) recent purchases are vanity ones (Wal), as they seem to doing fairly well financially from SBL - nothing wrong with that of course - I'd certainly do that in their position. 

[asingardenof]

Just now, Belka said:

True, but from what I've seen of his social media he had a large collection of vintage stuff before he started working with Scott. I remember a story he told of how he was sent home from a session after turning up with a Yamaha attitude Billy Sheehan sig and being told to check out vintage gear.

 

Strange as you would think that if he just played it on the P pickup it wouldn't sound that different to a vintage Precision, but that's another thing; I think these days a lot of producers and artists won't considering hiring someone unless their gear also looks the part (Lenny Kravitz reportedly sends 5 string players straight home at auditions). 

 

I'd hazard a guess though that a lot of his (and Scott's) recent purchases are vanity ones (Wal), as they seem to doing fairly well financially from SBL - nothing wrong with that of course - I'd certainly do that in their position. 

Agreed, I think they're definitely on a nice little earner (I hadn't realised until I looked at his website that he's actually CXO at SBL, not just a presenter). I was amused by a recent video where they both seemed really sheepish about using boutique basses (possibly Wal) while attempting demonstrating the tone achieved by someone using a bog standard Fender. 

[chris_b]

2 minutes ago, Belka said:

I remember a story he told of how he was sent home from a session after turning up with a Yamaha attitude Billy Sheehan sig and being told to check out vintage gear.

 

A situation he should have been able to predict.

 

Sessions range from bringing your own gear and playing what you want, to playing the notes the producer wants on the instrument the producer wants. If you see interviews with US A list session guys, they bring 5 or 6 basses, from a Hofner Club to a Precision with flats. They say they usually end up playing the Precision/flats basses.

[Belka]

19 minutes ago, chris_b said:

 

A situation he should have been able to predict.

 

Sessions range from bringing your own gear and playing what you want, to playing the notes the producer wants on the instrument the producer wants. If you see interviews with US A list session guys, they bring 5 or 6 basses, from a Hofner Club to a Precision with flats. They say they usually end up playing the Precision/flats basses.

To be fair I think most pros would be able to predict this today, a lot less so in the late '90s when I presume this occurred. Sean Hurley famously tells a similar story about working for Robin Thicke with his 5 string Lakland, although he was given a P bass to redo it with rather than being sent home.

 

 

 

 

[dclaassen]

2 hours ago, Belka said:

One thing I've noticed recently is that a lot of pros seem to also have large amounts of equipment. Back in the day you would associate pros with their 'signature basses'; Marcus with his Jazz, Bernard and his StingRay (although the first chic album was done on a Jazz and a Precision), Anthony Jackson with his career girl and then his contrabasses (ok, so that's plural, but when he received each new one he stopped playing and sold the previous ones), and of course Jaco and his bass of doom, Jamerson and his Precision, Carole Kaye, Joe Osborn, Duck Dunn, etc.

 

These days, artists and producers are so into sounds and vibes that it seems to be taken seriously as a sideman you need to have a collection of basses in order to cover a load of different vintage vibes/sounds. If you look at the likes of Sean Hurley, Tim Lefebvre, Ian Allison, Dan Hawkins, etc., you generally seen P with flats, P with rounds, active 5 string, Jazz (sometimes 2, again, rounds and flats), vintage mustang (or if money is an issue the JMJ sig), Jack Casady sig (or if money is NO issue, the '70s Gibson version), various other short scales with flats/tapes; Hofner, Wilcock Mullarkey, Serek, etc., then maybe a Rickenbacker, pre EB StingRay, perhaps Spector  - they seem very in vogue again. Plus others depending on the player.

 

Dave Swift also has a huge collection of basses, although I would guess in his case it's more of a hobby than it is Jools Holland requesting certain sounds.

 

All this is before you take into account their in some cases huge pedal/amp collections (Janek Gwizdala, Tim Lefebvre, JMJ, Juan Alderete). 

 

It might be a bit different in the Jazz world, or for people known for solo work, although Victor Wooten seems to have a huge collection of mostly Foderas, as does Anthony Wellington and Tony Grey. Hadrien Feraud has a big collection too. Andrew Gouche has a huge collection of MTDs. There are others too. These guys seem to have multiple flavors of a similar taste for want of a better expression.

 

Does that mean we mortals need a huge collection too? Not really, but it makes it easier to justify if you get accused of being a dentist/lawyer suffering a mid-life crisis. 

 

Does this mean we should encourage up-and-coming players to focus on acquiring gear over skills? Obviously not, but if someone is serious about turning pro these days, getting the right gear for the job something they have to be aware of in this day and age.

You just need to install Sklar's "producer switch" onto your favorite bass.....

[Belka]

3 minutes ago, dclaassen said:

You just need to install Sklar's "producer switch" onto your favorite bass.....

That's actually a good point - I think a lot of producers/artists judge as much with their eyes as they do their ears. A variation on this is turning up with a nice reissue Fender and claiming it to be vintage - I doubt whether anyone could ever really tell the difference. 

[asingardenof]

6 minutes ago, Belka said:

That's actually a good point - I think a lot of producers/artists judge as much with their eyes as they do their ears. A variation on this is turning up with a nice reissue Fender and claiming it to be vintage - I doubt whether anyone could ever really tell the difference. 

If you count anything over 25 years old as "vintage" you can technically use anything produced last century.

Edited March 7 by asingardenof

[chris_b]

6 minutes ago, Belka said:

. . . .  I think a lot of producers/artists judge as much with their eyes as they do their ears. . . .

 

That's why Roger Sadowsky basses were always FSO's, because the NY players wanted better basses and the producers wanted Fenders.

 

 

[TimR]

According to my wife I have too many basses. 

 

One I use all the time. One I take to gigs as a spare. One that I pulled the frets from in the 90s and is up in the loft and doesn't get played.

 

So technically she is right. 🤣

 

[dmccombe7]

On 05/03/2024 at 21:15, Burns-bass said:

For the last 5 years every gig or session I’ve done I have used the same bass. We’re looking at about 100 gigs or more, possibly double the practices and thousand of hours at home.

 

If I have to choose, it’s that one. I bought it new after careful selection and it’s been a good friend to me. 
 

I’m still interested in buying new basses but I know that when it comes to gigging or practising or anything else I won’t take it or ever use it. My wife asked why I have a lot of guitars but only ever use that one, and I struggled to answer.

 

Does anyone else suffer from this strange affliction?

100%. 

I use my Sandberg VM4 for Glam covers band. Been using it for past 5-6 years now. No other bass feels as comfy and versatile for what i do. 

I use my Sandberg MarloweDK in Punk covers band and again no other bass seems to work for me and i've tried several. 

I bought both of those basses specifically for those bands and they work.

Tried Jazz, Precision, Overwater, Fender PJ and just not comfy with them.

I recently bought a Godin Shifter Classic PJ bass and i love the tone from it. Used it on a Glam rehearsal and it worked ok. Gonna try it on Sun night gig with punk band and see how it works out. I'll have the Marlowe with me in case i'm not happy.

Dave

[peteb]

2 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

A situation he should have been able to predict.

 

Sessions range from bringing your own gear and playing what you want, to playing the notes the producer wants on the instrument the producer wants. If you see interviews with US A list session guys, they bring 5 or 6 basses, from a Hofner Club to a Precision with flats. They say they usually end up playing the Precision/flats basses.

 

I believe that Sean Hurley says that he usually ends up playing the P bass with rounds, but quite often producers will go for the flats option (but its nearly always a Precision). 

 

57 minutes ago, chris_b said:

 

That's why Roger Sadowsky basses were always FSO's, because the NY players wanted better basses and the producers wanted Fenders.

 

 

 

From what I remember Sadowsky saying in an interview, producers wanted an idealised version of the Fenders they were used to working with. He started off modding Fenders for session players, but started building his own when the models he recommended started becoming scarce. 

 

 

[nilorius]

Right now i got 5, from which my most loved is Yamaha trb 5p ii, but the other ones are all with different sound. I don't think i could live with only one bass, that would be for me like a deja vu.

[Jackroadkill]

I've got two Fender Player P's and a MIK Squier Jazz (made of toneply); if it wasn't for  the fact that my band plays currently in three tunings I'd just use one P.  That said I recently played an American Vintage Jazz and it was really nice...