Sell Me Your Unmodified Bass

[shoebox22]

Like most newbies, I'm constantly going to the music stores and goggling at all the new basses, studying the lines, the features, picking them up, getting a feel of the necks, the weight, listening to the tones, grabbing a catalogue, going on-line, and then, when its all said and done, where am I?

OVERWHELMED.

Here's your chance, Mr. Bassman. Sell me on your favorite bass. You're not allowed to modify it other than maybe change the strings. Cost is no object and forget that I'm brand new to the sport of kings. Oh, and whatever you recommend, you HAVE to have at least owned and played in your lifetime. No wishlists, please.

Why should I buy your bass? Speak, oh guru of the deep end.

[Motojunkie]

I'm not a very long winded guy, so this will be short and sweet.....

I have played many out there, and own the model that I'm recommending. It's a Lakland Skyline 44-02 Deluxe. Street price around $1200 +/- even cheaper through the Dude.

I haven't played every model of every manufacturer, so my recommendation comes based on my limited experience.

This bass is truly one of the nicest quality instruments I have tried. Fit and finish is spot on - no blemishes or issues whatsoever.

Playability is perfect, the neck is just silky smooth, and the frets are dressed by hand to perfection. In fact, my bass instructor (who is a Fender endorsee) raved about it....he loved the neck. It balances great, and due to the shape, everything is well within reach (no huge stretch to get to the first position stuff).

Tone, this is where the bass really shines. It uses the same electronics that are used in the USA Lakland series (which cost way more $$). The versatility of the electronics is downright scary....you can get anything out of this thing. It's deep and rich, can be switched from active to passive, you can use any coil combination that you want. Truly "Swiss Army Knife functionality".

All in all, I think that the sum is greater than that of the parts. This bass just works. For me, and many others...try one to see if it works for you.

[Dave TV]

This one.....


SX SJB-75C




Why?

Because I've changed my ways, and now I don't think you should spend more than $200 on a guitar. :lol

[shoebox22]

Ah, but Dave I see through you. In another thread, they want to mod the hell out of that bass.

I'm a simple girl. I pick my cars, men, and guitars and play with them as is.

[Motojunkie]

I'm a simple girl. I pick my cars, men, and guitars and play with them as is.

I like the way you think...... :yay

[shoebox22]

If you don't like what you drive, you can always get another model. Ahhh, but if you find a really good one, and that's the point of this whole thread, that's a keeper for life! ;)

[skywriter900]

yes but most people go through life and try several things before they find exactly what they like, and some like several different cars and guitars in their stable.Variety is the spice of life!

[Winston]

Shoe,

I make my living and support my family as a sales professional. I could certainly post some convincing and persuading features of MY favorite bass, but what would be the benefit to you? Ethically and professionally, I need some information before I can recommend a bass for you. :)

In general, what are you looking for in a bass?

Do you prefer a short scale bass? Would you consider a standard (or long) scale instrument?

Do you prefer active or passive electronics?

What's your price range?

Do you play primarily with a pick, fingerstyle, or slap?

What type of amplification are you using (or planning to use)?

Do you prefer traditional classic looks or more modern styling?

Can you give an example of a bass track that has the type of tone you seek?

Who is your favorite bassist?

These questions would help me point you to a bass you may enjoy. From as sales perspective, if I sold you what I would want, you probably wouldn't be happy in the long run. And the next time you are looking for a bass, you probably wouldn't come to me for suggestions. :)

"People hate to be sold, but they love to buy."

[shoebox22]

Winston - Don't hit me with the saleman stuff. I hate salemen. Tell me why you love your bass. The benefit to me, and hopefully anyone else that reads this, is in the research and the knowledge. This doesn't mean I'll run out and buy your bass.

Pretend I know nothing about basses. (You wouldn't be far off.)

Here's your chance to brag about your baby.

[Winston]

Winston - Don't hit me with the saleman stuff.

That's exactly what I was trying to do. :dead

I love my Spector today but that might not be your bag, baby. Six months ago it was my Lakand. I've sold 2 other basses in the meantime.

That 44-01 that Motojunkie recommended is a killer bass - some people don't dig 'em. Just depends on your personal taste.

It's hard to recommend something without knowing what your looking for. It's like asking "Which color is best?".

Try answering those questions and lets see where that goes. :)

[shoebox22]

Winston, if you don't want to play the game, then don't. No biggie. But don't try changing the rules, ok?

[Winston]

Shoe, I didn't know there was a game going on. I thought as a self described newbie you were looking for suggestions on finding the right bass. I was trying to narrow the options down to help with that overwhelming feeling - Just trying to help. I must have misread. Have fun.

[shoebox22]

That's ok, Winston, although I'd still like to hear about YOUR favorate bass, just like Motojunkie, and what makes it your favorite.

[DanTheBluesMan]

Shoebox22, I"ve got a sweet little ole' made in mexico Fender Precision bass that is just not getting used. On the very few occasion when I'm going to be the 3rd guitarist, I'll bring that, but it has been like more than a year. It was only 295 new about 5 years ago. If you want, I'll post a pic of it.

[stonetone]

How about my stock 1999 Hotrod P Bass? Ash body, maple cap fretboard, transparent sunset orange with tortoise pickguard.

Solid, solid instrument. Big and heavy, get a wide strap. But last time I was gigging a lot, I could go through a week's worth of shows and rehearsals without needing to tune it. The neck is big and wide, yet oddly easy to fret. It vibrates under my left hand in a way that I haven't come across elsewhere, especially on the E string. Playing it is akin to putting your hand on a railroad track as a train approaches.

The Hotrod P comes with a standard P pickup and a J bridge pickup, passive, with volume controls for each so it can do the straight up P sound AND a Jazz bridge sound, though it's not the typical Jazz bridge sound. I usually keep the P pickup full on with the J pickup between 80 and 90 percent, tone anywhere from 50 to 100 percent depending. To my ears this yields a dense P thump with a bit of upper midrange bite, great rock, blues or R&B tone.

Pretty sure they're not making them anymore. No idea how hard they might be to find, or whether they'd more or less expensive used than the $800 I paid for mine new in 2002.

I mean, can you believe this? Mankind produced such a wonder, it boggles!

:bwa

[shoebox22]

Dan - I guess I made the mistake of using the word "sell" in the title and confused some people. The whole point here is for you to TELL me about your favorite bass and WHY its such a winner. Thanks for the offer, though.

Stonetone - Do you have a pic?

[Gravity Jim]

I love my 1997 MIA Precision Deluxe.

I make a living as studio guy, writing music for commercials and events. I play almost all the guitar and bass parts on my own productions, for speed and cost efficiency. There is no great pop music without a great bass sound, and for the first seven years of the existence of Gravity Music, we did alright, but I was never truly happy with the bass sound or feel.

See, I had been taught to imagine that, as a guitar player coming to bass, I had to have a "Jazz Bass" kind of thing... a slim neck with two single coil pups. I tried Fenders (even a stunning '66 that belongs to a friend)... trying to get more "modern" I owned a slick Yamaha and a hyper-tech Spector. I just KNEW I had to have a Jazz configuration wtih a rosewood board, but I was never happy.

And then, a long-distance friend had this Precision for sale, and insisted I try it, no obligation. It was everything I knew I didn't want... a Precision, with a MAPLE board and an active preamp, and in a real stupid color (a faded Shoreline Gold). I knew it would suck, but I let him ship it to me anyway.

Within five minutes of my first session with this bass, I was completely, utterly in love. The wider, flatter Precision neck was actually EASIER to play than a Jazz, and made me feel and think more like a bass player. The snap of the maple board felt and sounded great. But most imporant was the sound of the Precision pickup. This, at long last, was the mythical pop record sound I'd been missing. I suddenly wanted to stop playing with a pick and get into fingerstyle (which is allI play anymore), and that opened up whole new vistas for me. The versatility of the electronics is breathtaking... from Precision to Jazz, so many cool tones in between, and with the added versatility of being able to dial out the mids for that Nathan-East-modern sound... there's nothing it won't do. The Jazz pickup isn't the standard single coil, and with the Blend pot set midway between the two pups, it produces what I have found to be the Ultimate Studio Sound... smooth and present, with plenty of low-end P-Bass thump. The slightly scaled down body of the MIA Deluxe feels slick and space age, not loggy and thick like I expected a Precision to feel.

Quiet, versatile, fun and inspiring to play, and capable of producing what is, to my ear, the most important of all bass sounds (the straight up Fender Precision). It was a complete revelation, and it transformed my approach to bass playing and made everything I do in my work sound better. I cannot find enough words to praise this wonderful instrument. I only paid $650 for it used, and it was worth twice as much to me. If I ever replace it, it will be with another MIA Precision Deluxe.

To be fair, I did mod it recently, but only because the factory Precision-style pickup died. I replaced it with a Fender brand "Original" Precision pickup (the one they use one the AV basses), and it is even more awesome than before. But I would have happily left it unmodified for the life of the instrument.

[doc540]

I suggest you get a 1969 Jazz Bass. You can snag a nice one on eBay for..ohh...somewhere around $3K-$4K.

I like the way the neck feels in my hand. I like the tone(s). I like how well it's crafted, how it curves around me, how my thumb rests naturally on it.

Of course, just any run-of-the-mill '69 Jbass might not be the same since mine was around when as a wild, long-haired kid I threw it in the case and ran out the back door just minutes ahead of the cops kicking drunk surfer ass and making mass arrests while empty beer bottles and molotov cocktails whooshed in the streets. It lay against me gig after gig after gig for 30 years through surf contests, smokey blues joints full of cads and dress-hiking rump shakers, packed-house concert halls, in Lauren Canyon living room jams, and all night rock parties, hours and hours of practice with a turntable.

Faithfully, no matter where my head was at or what I tried to play, it responded every single time with the best it had to offer, never failing to sing out rich rumbles of air pumping bass crisp as a bell, full as a rutting bull.

Didn't matter if it was assaulted with beer, wine, smoke, beach salt spray, late night fog, swamp land steam, mountain dry frost, bounced in the back of a pickup, hot trunk of a car, laid under the bed for weeks at a time, didn't matter. It cranked right up and sounded like the day it came down off the wall. It even endured being hacked on and router out only to settle back to the way it was the day someone in California sanded and soldered it together.

I hope you find a good one like it.

[shoebox22]

Geez, Doc. That's not a bass. It's a shrine. :bwa Do you still have it?

[Richard Hayes]

The Bass Gods are shining down. Click on the Hoboken link at the bottom of the page for this '69 - as Doc predicted $3600.

[doc540]

Well, there ya go. Looks like a nice '69 there for sale.


Mine used to be sunburst, but I was young, stoned, bored, and needed a project. Here it is today:

[doc540]

Here's one I saw in Rockin' Robin Guitars when I was in Houston a while back.

[Richard Hayes]

Three nice '69s in a row. What are the odds? I'm telling ya, the bass gods are shining today.

[Bolero]

I'd get a G&L.

extremely well built, top notch parts, US made. and some LEO mojo, to boot.


if you like jazz basses, I'd check out the JB-2:





also the SB-2:





& L-2000:






are real nice too, IMO

[shoebox22]

Guys, remember the rules. You have to have at least owned and played it in your lifetime. No wishlists.

[Bolero]

well, EXCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE me!!!

[VibroCount]

Okay, here's my band with me playing my #1:



It's a recent American-made Fender '62 reissue Jazz Bass.

I did make one mod, which I did for me, but doesn't affect tone or playability -- I changed the stock mint green pickguard for a WD black one. I didn't care for the mint green against the Dakota Red color.

The reason I play a Jazz Bass rather than others is that I like a thinner neck, and the '62 has a thin profile and a more rounded fretboard radius, which are the things my playing is used to. I like the tone on a Precision Bass, but the Jazz does not lack in that area. Both will produce the basic flatwound string thump I look for in my playing.

Before I got this Jazz Bass, I played a Fender Performer Bass (before that, it was a Mustang Bass), and it had the sweetest, thinest, neck of any bass I've ever played. The problem with it was, as I played it at many many gigs and reheasals, the thinness of the neck (as well as its 24-fret length) seemed to cause it to go out of straightness more and more often. I was constantly adjusting it, and trying thinner strings and other things to help stabilize the neck, to little avail.

The Jazz Bass nut width is as narrow as the Performer, but the bridge is as wide as a Precision, so the neck gets wider (than the Performer) at the end away from the nut. Plus, in that there are fewer frets on the Jazz Bass than on the Performer, the actual neck is shorter and thus more resistant to bending out of shape.

My hands readily adjusted to the '62 RI Jazz Bass, and I prefer its tone to either the Performer or the Mustang. I use flatwound strings for two reasons: I prefer the way they feel and sound to roundwounds.

It is a good bass, with good tone, which sounds and plays like a vintage bass, at both a lower cost and a more recent manufacture, so it hasn't been through the stress of 43 years of playing.

[doc540]

But you seem to have held up well through it.

[shoebox22]

Good stuff, guys, and I'm learning. Some of these I had never considered before.

Keep 'em coming!

[VibroCount]

But you seem to have held up well through it.

I wish that were true... just wish it was so...

[davey]

Hopefully this won't count as modified...

I'd hit the G&L L2000. I got mine with the #6 neck width- pretty much a Jazz Bass feel- it's not standard for the model, but it is stock to my instrument.

I picked mine up in spring of 98 just to back up my 65 Jazz and my 79 T-Bird, but it's become my main bass. Although there is a certain level of "I'm afraid to take out my 40 year old bass" thing going on, the G&L owns live situations. The onboard preamp really kicks, (I've never been a fan of active electronics prior to owning this bass) and it cuts through and never sounds wussy. The bass itself is solid as anything. It does have a 3 bolt neck, but it's never slipped (unlike my old 3 bolt 72 Tele Custom) and completely solid. It's been dropped, cigarette ashed on, beers of many different origins have been spilled upon it, it has been sweat upon in gallons, it's gone coast to coast in the luggage compartment of commercial airliners several times and it's come out in tune.

I've always looked at the L2000 as more of a live bass, as my Jazz just records so well. The last time my band recorded the G&L played a pretty big part.

I love this bass!

[shoebox22]

I'd like to thank everyone who has responded so far. You have no idea how much you have helped me broaden my outlook, ie, pick up instruments I'd never heard of before, and narrow the field by giving me information beforehand that I didn't know I needed until I needed it.

I hope this thread does the same for others looking for a new bass. If more bassaholics would like to add to and brag about their favorites, please do.

Stay tuned to this Bat Channel this week for further developments. There's a new addition that may be on her way. The only hint I will share is....

She's not a short scale this time. I've been doing my excercises. ;)

[Motojunkie]

Great! Let us know what you get, and make sure to include pictures!

[Dave TV]

Great! Let us know what you get, and make sure to include pictures.........

............of the bass, also! .......{insert rim-shot here}

[shoebox22]

Well, it IS my anniversary weekend. We're taking a slight break for the Super Bowl.