Show Us Your Basses (Part 2)

It’s got some serious funk. Gotta give it that. :+1:

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MIK instruments are usually quite good. The MIK Warwicks are sought after.

Looks like it has a Gotoh B-204 as its bridge there, those are great.

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So basically you are saying you bought a new set of strings with a bass attached? Sounds like a great deal to me.

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My second post in total since early december… Soon after my first post desater struck and my old HDD died and with it most of my music videos and mp3. My attempts to recover data from it bear meager fruits so far. Thanks to the age of streaming I haven’t been so dependend on my archives as I used to be, but some rare stuff might be lost forever! :cry:

But to make up for the lack of posts this one is a bit bigger: Here are my basses - mild symptoms of GAS included.

I started playing bass on a early model Yamaha RBX lend by a friend who had lost interest in playing during that time around '96 to '97. It had a PJ setup and I after I had saved enough money, I was looking for a late RBX with the same layout, but couldn’t find one in the local shops. Online shopping wasn’t a thing back then.

So I ended up with this one as my first owned bass: A Yamaha RBX 260 - a solid beginners bass in my opinion. Nice neck, 24 frets, passive, rock solid. Bought in the late nineties to early zero years, I don’t remember precisely but the Metallica Load-era sticker is a good indicator. :wink: But already the root for GAS was planted, as it was a compromise.

In the back is my current bass, but more on that later…

My second bass I literally inherited together with his amp and his spot in his band, for he unexpextedly passed away at the age of 30: His beloved MiJ Fender Precision Bass Lyte made in the early nineties. :pensive:

I have read postings that these basses don’t sound like a Fender Precision at all and I can’t compare it, as I propably will never own one, but beeing an active bass and having the J-pickup certainly helped getting the more “bright” tone that was desired for playing in a punk band. Think of “Pennywise - Bro Hymn”. Since I feel more comfortable to maintain my instruments myself over the years, I recently installed a D-Tuner, giving it a bit more versatility. The skunk stripe on the neck could use a luthiers attention though, having become a bit rough over the years. Despite that it used to be my mainstay for many years.

My first case of GAS struck me after I have heard “Moloko - The Time Is Now”. Although not my kind of music that acoustic bass line made me wanting to own an acoustic bass myself. (Un-)Fortunately I couldn’t afford anything expensive so I postponed buying one for many years until I ended up with this: Harley Benton HBB30NT. A testament that Harley Benton didn’t deliver as great value for money back in 2010 as they do now (usually).

Not a bad intrument per se, but the action used to be way too high to play it comfortably. I took it to a great luthier who fixed and repaired it, but the whole job costed me as much as the instrument itself did. Sound good, plays great now but is basically utterly useless in an amplified band setup or as soon as the acoustic guitar player strums with a pick, as all acoustic basses are… However the GAS itch was fixed. :grin:

Next up a five-string! (And if you haven’t watched Joshs video about them yet: spoiler “He is right!”) But having experienced the “Nu-Metal” wave, I think it was unavoidable, thank you Korn and Slipknot: The Ibanez SR305.

A good intrument for a good price. In my opinion just like Yamaha Ibanez make good intruments already at the low to mid price range. I really like its slim neck compared to the Fender and its preamp tone blend knob. But I never felt totally comfortable with the smaller spacing between the strings and more important, I didn’t use that low string as often as I thought but as thumbrest most of the time.

Until 2021 that has been it. No more new basses. Four basses and one affordable Yamaha acoustic guitar in over 20 years not too bad regarding keeping GAS in check, huh? But in 2021 I took to a new (better payed) job and on my daily route to the office there is a music shop. And one time during lunch break I payed them a visit. Since I wasn’t completely happy with my basses, the Yamaha beeing to limited in tone, the Fenders neck beeing a bit too thick for my comfort and the Ibanez’ string spacing too tight, I wanted to check out a french manufacturers Jazz bass I spotted in that shops showcase. I played it a bit but wasn’t instanly convinced so I decided to do a bit of research.

Long story short, I ended up buying a Sire V7 sec. gen. from Thomann. I asked the people of the music shop first if I they could order it too, but it turned out Thomann is the exclusive dealer in Germany.

I love that thing, despite its weight as it is my heaviest bass so far. I love the neck, satin smooth and well rounded, so comfortable to play! As well as its tonal versatility being an active/passive instrument. This will be my workhorse for a long long time to come and I cannot recommend it enough!

It has been been my most expensive bass, I have have bought so far, costing 479,- € in 2021 but totally worth it. I believe similar basses usually cost way more especially nowadays. I believe many wouldn’t even regard this bass as expensive, and I generally agree. But I have a personal limit for a reasonable justifiable price for a bass and it is below 4 digits, the rest is just paying for the brand imho. So no Musicman Stingray or MiA Fender for me ever!

But what about GAS, you ask? Well, I will continue that in an follow-up post…

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I don’t think that’s ugly at all.

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Paintjob looks a bit weird… upside-downish :sweat_smile:
Definitely not an ugly bass though :wink:

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Hey gang. I just wanted to give a shout-out to Sire basses. I haven’t touched my “studio”, bass included, since December, and I just silently watched the buzz of my favorite community on the interwebz. :blush: But today I woke up after four months and had the urge to make some music. My beloved pj Squier is in my parent’s attic, but I wanted to record some low-frequency rumble for a track. So I went for my M2 that I had stored in the back of my closet.

The bass stayed almost in tune, and it’s quite a good build for the money. The Marcus Miller amp is so sweet, and the bass is like $400.

… and, stay awesome ladies and gentlemen! Have a good one.

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So do I leave it well enough alone and just play the crap out of it?… or… put a mudbucker in the neck and a stingray humbucker in the bridge and mod the crap out of it and do a Billy Sheehan thing… conceptually. Lol

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I like it! I was gonna ask about it the other day when I saw it in your avatar.

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Great to see you @wellbi !
Hope you’re doing well.

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Hey John. Thank you. The end of the last year really sucked, but it’s getting better nowadays. I was kind of psychically out of order for some time. I wasn’t able to make myself to do absolutely anything. But by the end of the last month when we’ve got a new puppy, it’s getting quite a bit better. The fact that I switched on my pc today, opened Ableton, and didn’t close it immediately is a good sign.

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I would treat it like a rented mule, whatever that means

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It reminds me of The Cure - Wish, so I actually like it a lot!

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That could have very different connotations depending upon whereabouts in the world you are

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Welcome back @Clemens!

Nice family. :sunglasses::+1:

I remeber those posts about you having a dangerously placed music store near work.

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@Reasonably_Happy I like it and I think you should mod it till it can’t be modded anymore.

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He will.

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Permission accepted!!

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I think it’s great looking!! Keep it. Mod it. Love it. Hug it. Call it George.

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So much personality! Great story behind as well. I hope it makes you smile every time you pick it up. It definitely should.

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