Favorite bass guitar

[Flight Feathers]

i like my tobias growler alright. it's great for "smooth" sounding bass, and can do a lot of sounds with that wierd pickup. but i'd love to own a nice p-bass for pure fatness. every fender and music man bass i've recorded has been a pure joy.

ayan

[literati]

My main bass is a Carvin mahogany neck-through 5-string, and I adore it. Usually I'll record it straight into the board, sometimes through an Ampeg preamp for a little fuzz.

I've done some stints as a session musician with it, and inevitably, someone will give me a "Damn, that thing sounds great."

Cheerio,
Literati

[stooge]

Fernandes lawsuit-model P-bass, beat about half to death but has the tone...

Just bought a Mexi Jazz bass...went through about 6 of them and this one sounded right. It's a sunburst finish, and I swear it just resonates better than any of the painted ones I tried.

As a test, I also checked out 3 or 4 American Standards and a couple of reissues while I was in the store...the sunburst Mexi sounded better to me.

I'm also "borrowing" an early Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray 5...sounds great but has been absolutely beaten to death.

[durasoundrecordingco]

When I played bass (I still do on occasion) more or less exclusively I would have to go with my Ric 4001. Love that thing.

But now I love my bass player's Travis Bean TB2000. That thing can GROWL, but still has the ability to be smoov. Dub smoov. Nice tonal range.

[dumbangel]

pre CBS Fender Precision with flatwound strings.

I prefer it to the Fender Jazz for its great wooden tone. You hear the wood much more than from any other guitar. And it's so fat.

[twitchmonitor]

I picked up this '78[?] Univox p-bass copy that kicks ass about two years ago. for $100! It's a nice sunburst with a black pickguard and maple neck. The only things that bug me are that it's neck heavy, which drives me crazy, and somebody outfitted the thing with active pickups, but they sounds great as long as you keep the volume around "7".

[kayagum]

I like the Jerry Jones stuff. Made me very happy recently when I saw an old group photo of Cream, and Ginger Baker had a Danelectro shorthorn....

[justinf]

Stingray with Thomastik flats and a Bartolini. Kinda weird I know, but this is the one that gets played. Maybe just cause it's orange.

[teleharmonium]

My main bass is a '78 Ric 4001, I also have a 5 string Ric on the way which I will string with a high C instead of a low B and probably switch out the pickups and electronics for custom made horseshoe/toaster type pickups and volume pots and a 3 way switch only, no tone pots

[littlebrothersclothes]

My main bass is a '78 Ric 4001

Me, too! Love it! Extremely playable, and sounds great to my ears.

Doug

[teleharmonium]

littlebrothersclothes - yeah, I think the late 70s were good years for the Ric basses, if I'm not mistaken they have the updated dual truss rod system and harder frets that are normally associated with the 4003 model, but with the truss rod ends accessed from the headstock instead of from the body side of the neck like the early 4003 models. They also have the high pass cap installed on the lead from the bridge pickup, which disappeared when the 4003 was introduced or thereabouts. I like that cap, although I could understand someone else not liking it; I just dial in the low end with the other pickup and let the bridge pickup give me the highs and harmonics that it excels at. It's the best of both worlds, as far as the features, and mine seems to be made from a good sounding piece of maple, it is a little louder acoustically and with more sustain than most other Ric basses I have tried. The only thing I can think of that might improve it would be to switch over to the reissue horseshoe/toaster top pickups, but I haven't felt the need to do that because it sounds good now.

[clamp]

I can't believe it took three pages for someone to mention a Stingray. Thanks motormantra.
Stingrays should never be let go of. If some nut offers you another $1000 more (than market) for your old Precision sell it. If they offer $1500 more for your Jazz, consider it only if you need the money. As far as Ric's I dont know for sure. I'd love to have one but I've seen them sell fast even when they're beat to shit. I do like their sound.
If anyone would like to buy my Stingray, it's for sale at $2800. (I'd like to sell it to buy two more.)
Stingrays have always sounded good direct. Even if a bass player you are recording is new to direct, like a lot of newb's in the studio, you just show them to the simple controls, plug them direct through almost any instrument pre or direct box, and go.
Old Ibanez Roadstar Basses are pretty cool too. They're solid and comfortable.

[loosegravel]

My brother left his Ernie Ball Sting Ray at my house when he went to college. I have never herd a better bass sound in my entire life. I laughed at him when he said "Dude, just run it direct. Nothing sounds like a sting ray right into the board." He was most definately right.

[justinf]

Yep. I almost always record my Stingray right into the outboard pre. Sometimes I use a bass pre as well for the nice EQ, but damn if it doesn't sit right where I want it direct.

It's funny though, a good bass player friend won't touch it for his jazz bass/jerry jones/Hagstrom styles. And that's cool, he sounds great through those.

I've never been a live bass player, only in the studio, so I've tried several hi-fi type basses just for sound quality alone (Alembic, Bossa, Warwick--even thought they look funny . Never really got it for me, even strictly tonally speaking. I'm just a Stingray kind of kid I guess. . .

[justinf]

Fuck yeah!
ass engineer status attained. . .