My early bass rig

[davebrownbass]

In the arsenal thread, Greenboy posted this:

 

Just a heads-up on my comments above: all respect to the great people here who have beautiful collections -- and WORKING ones at that. But I think it's important for beginners and newbies to realize it all starts with one instrument and rig, and you don't need to attempt to cover all basses {!} right off the bat {!!}

 

I did a search, and didn't find any threads dealing with the topic:

 

What blessed rig was your first, that got you started, nurtured you and so on, before you were "a playa" in the best sense of the phrase.

 

Here's mine:

 

'60's Montgomery Ward Bass. The beast had 4 p/u and was metallic blue, with giant flakes. I got it from a guy for $15 in the dorm, he was later killed by drilling a well and letting his pole touch an electric wire.

 

'70's Heathkit guitar amp, 2x12. Borrowed from a guy so I could start playing immediately with a college touring chorale.

 

I actually recorded with above rig! UHG!

 

When they guy needed the Heathkit back, I used:

 

Unknown vintage tube practice amp 10 watts, with a blown speaker, found in the trash at the dorm. I snatched this amp, and borrowed a giant Leslie speaker that was (at one time) attached to a church organ. Imagine the leslie cab, as big as a Barcolounger, being driven by a teeny tube amp which fit inside one corner.

 

I actually took this on the road to several churches in Texas.

 

Then I bought my first "real Bass Amp" It was a Silvertone, with the original 2x15 pulled out and replaced by Radio Shack 15's. It had been spray painted black and sounded like you would expect it to. $75 dollars in 1975.

 

Then I bought my first "real Bass" A '71 Fender Musicmaster. God I miss it...it was also the first bass I had stolen. $150 at a Pawn Shop.

 

I went on several nation-wide college tours with the Fender and Silvertone amp. It worked okay.

 

For all the newbies to bass...I feel your pain when you read some of the other guys equipment posts. We've all been there.

 

Anybody else started with junk?

[61Pbass]

Dave, your first "real bass" was Musicmaster? My first bass was a brand spankin' new (at the time) white 1970 Fender Musicmaster bass which I ran through a Bassman 50 head and a Fender 2x15 cab. I had the luxury of growing up in a family of professional musicians so I got some halfway decent stuff right off the bat. Dad didn't want us starting out on junk gear.

[MattC]

Well, every now and again you read a post that is actually very good, and I think that subject that started this thread is just such a post.

 

Just to let the newbies know: most of us who have played for a while take great pride in our gear, and in gear in general. No one here, I hope I can safely assume, though, takes greater pride in the gear than in the performance.

So, no matter what you play, realize that people will be more impressed by a great performance on less than great gear than by a shoddy performance of top-of-the-line gear.

 

So, here's what I started on:

The first bass I bought was a washburn p-bass which I still own and love. It had a tobacco-burst finish which was later covered with stickers and then refinished in a white and gold cracked finish. When I bought the bass I only owned a 50 watt gorilla guitar amp (which I still have, too). I was smart enough not to plug my bass into it so I played acoustic for a few months. When a few hundred dollars came my way, I bought the loudest amp I could afford, a Crate BX100 (which I still own and use). That served me for the first dozen or so gigs, although several years passed before I had any gigs. Later I bought my Ibanez SR405, all of my outboard gear, and my speakers.

 

Now there's a good reason why I kept saying that I still use my old gear. Just because it didn't cost a fortune doesn't mean that it doesn't have a good use. My Crate is an excellent practice amp that I can keep at my singer's house. My Washburn has a great tone that is very hard to capture on more expensive gear.

 

In the hands of a good musician, any piece of gear can sound great. A great musician has to be able to bring the best out of any gear he uses.

[sywot]

First bass rig was a Gibson EBO and a Fender Bandmaster with 2 12"s Pure Mud Tone!!!

but I was playing something and gettin girls! I was a happy young man.

[jeremy c]

My first bass was a no name red bass. I suppose we could say it was a Fender copy but that would be too kind. I bought it for $60 at the Ann Arbor Music Mart in 1966.

 

Then I bought a Kent amp. Useful only to practice with.

Recently I saw another Kent amp so I bought it for sentimental reasons. No other reason, because it is completely useless.

 

My first real amp was an Ampeg B-15 which I bought in 1967 used. Eventually I sold it in 1970 because it wasn't loud enough and upgraded to an Acoustic 150B which is still sitting in my dining room and used every day for practicing and lessons.

 

The no name bass stopped working one day on a gig and I traded it in for a Yamaha--one of the first ones, no model number, no serial number. I sold that to someone who was blind so they couldn't see what a dog it was.

 

Finally I got my Fender Jazz in 1971. With the Jazz bass and the Acoustic amp I had a real "professional" rig and that brought me to where I am today, with way too much gear.

[dcr]

My first bass was a strange, ugly, and chipped beast that I picked up for $40 at a swap meet--& that included the broken down acoustic guitar case it sort of fit into, bucko! Funky thing: a "Cameo" brand (never heard of one before or since), tobacco sunburst, shell pickguard, tapewound strings probably from the Nixon years, funky chrome-&-foam bridge cover, odd knobs & switches, pickups that looked like the business end of a harmonica. Always smelled of cigarettes. And its pure tone was being pumped through a tiny, no-name, essence-of-cardboard amp with about an 8" speaker & maybe 5 or 10 ten watts. It would rattle like it was coming apart every time I'd hit an open D. Got it all when I was just a kid. That was my "rig" until about 1994, when I started playing again.

 

Fortunately, my folks had at one time bought me a new hardshell Fender case (I was a bit disappointed not to find a Fender inside it, though!). I took the lot to a dealer & traded it for a used Yamaha RBX200 fretless. The dealer really liked the case...

[Wickerman]

Mine was a red Squire Affinity Bronco into a Hartke B30. Total spent, $280. I saved forever for it too! (15 years old at the time)

[Wally Malone]

Mid 60's, first bass was a Kent and amplifier was a Sears Silvertone. Actually started playing bass on a guitar first. There were three of us living on the same block that all played guitars. I ended up becoming a bass player and one of the others became a keyboard player.

 

Wally

[Tom Capasso]

My first (late 60s) was the now famous Princeton (Japanese P copy) inherited from my cousin when he got his EB-3 (and when the family was done making it dive from second floor windows into the pool). What horrible action it had !!

 

I can't remember the amp, but I probably used a homemade 12 (my Dad and I built the box) and some random amp chassis we had. Practice only...

 

70-71 - Bought a used Fender bassman head and cab (2 x12 ??) - white, with bad tone and no guts at all.

 

72 - bought my own used EB-3. Also got an old Bogen 35 PA amp that I used with the 1x12 for practice - had that until about '85...

 

73 - bought Acoustic 175 - traded to keyboard in '79 for Earth 4x12 cab and Kustom 100 head. Split the cab in two - eventually the entire amp rig was killed by a brother-in-law while I was on hiatus having kids.

 

90 - old multivox amp (probably guitar amp) came from someone in the family - put the remaining Earth 12 in it, and it is now my practice amp.

 

91 - bought Carvin guitar head and Kustom 2x12 that I have now...

 

Both in the early days and now, money is an issue (then I had none, now I have too many things (read: kids and college) to spend it on. But things are starting to loosen up. I don't figure on having the stable of basses that some of our mates have, but I see a bit more equip in my future...

 

Tom

[57pbass]

My first bass was a Hagstrom - double cut away with two f holes, a very slim neck with a Fender type headstock. I still have this bass.

 

My first amp was an old Gibson amp that my father used tubed with a brown covering.

[JazzBassMan]

My first bass was (is) a Rickenbacker 3001. I mention this only because I've never seen another one, and wondered if anyone else has played one.

 

I got the bass in college from a guitar playing friend of mine. He lent it to me so I could fill in for a gig with his 50's/60's band. I was asked about five days before the gig, and given a setlist of around 40-45 songs. Mind you, I'd never even picked up a bass before (I was a guitar player up till that time). This was before the internet, so no downloads of tunes -- instead, off to the library, or borrowing tapes, etc. To be fair, 50's /60's stuff is pretty easy material to deal with.

 

Anyway, I still have the bass.... I'm waiting for a little extra coin so I can refret it.

[_Sweet Willie_]

My first amp was a Gorilla 30W. It really sucked, but did the job for me when I was just learning how to play.

 

My first bass was an Ibanez Roadstar II p-bass copy. It was okay.

[g.]

Hagstom tre coolio : }...

 

My first bass was a baritone sax.

 

... Many years later, when I got a stringed instrument finally (must have been '98), I briefly owned a Series 10 4-string with P-J pickup config that I got for $75 complete with gig bag, just to tide me over while I shopped for a 5 string (ended up with a Carvin, which I am only happier with all the time).

 

Anyway, this Series 10 played well but had a paint job that looked like fluorescent molten lava with a heavy crust forming on top. Kinda eye-catching, but a bit Hair Band guitaristic for my taste. I gave it to a junior high kid that was trying to get into bass when I ordered my Carvin.

 

At that time I instantly went for a real component rig with an Ampeg Extreme 1832 from Bass Northwest (still my big rig) and a power amp I already had from PA, and a Peavey TranstubeFEX I also already had, which is finding its way back into my setup in the effects loop. It is so flexible and easy to use live that I can't resist carrying the extra 8 or 9 pounds. But don't worry, I'm still at 3 rack spaces and nothing too heavy.

 

Not long after I added a Carvin 210 used for $180 including shipping, and that's my little rig. It sounds pretty good and handles anything I dish out. When I am in a band that meets at someone else's house it and a custom sub I built, stay over there. And it goes to jams with me.

[JES]

My first bass was a brand new 1984 Ibanez Roadstar II. Was my main bass until 1997, when I went off for 3 years to dabble in the 5-string world. It's still a damn fine bass (except for a dead spot). We just got lucky that the guy working at the music store happened to know what he was doing.

 

My first amp was a Crate 20 watt thing. But when I started playing electric bass with people in 1986, I picked up a brand new Peavey TNT 130 amp. Now, nobody's going to say that Peavey's the best sounding bass amp -- at least not that particular combo. But I used it WAY long after I should have moved up to something else. Why, you ask? Because it always cut through (no low end but TONS of mids and low mids), sounded alright, and was completely reliable. More than once, someone with an all-tube head had to borrow my Peavey for the night.

 

That Ibanez-Peavey combo was MY sound, so much so that I insisted on micing the amp for recording rather than going direct.

 

So, the moral of the story is that you can be a recognized as a serious bassist with cheapo gear.

 

Best,

--JES

[dcr]

OK, so no fair your first bass being something really cool! Hagstrom, Rickenbacker, Roadstar...NO FAIR! But good on ya anyway.

 

JazzBassMan, head on over to the "Rickenbacker Registration Page" and do some research on the 3001; if the info is out there, they'll have it, & I'll bet they do. Be sure to see their large & very searchable forums (esp. the bass forum & appraisal forum).

[tarsia]

My first bass was a "Maya" jazz bass copy - anybody else heard of these ? sunburst with a tortise shell pickguard - rosewood? fingerboard w/block inlays - actually not a bad playing bass!

wish I still had it, I traded it in on my 1st good bass, a black and white rickenbacker 4001

I had to have that Geddy Lee bass ! anyway my

first amp was a fender musicmaster bass amp ?

it was tube with a single 10" or 12" open back

absolutely no low end - I had to set it on a chair pointed at me to even hear with drums playing lol ! - A guitar playing friend bought it

I guess it worked overdriven for guitar, my 1st

good amp was a Peavey Bass series 400 & 2-15"

cab.(many gigs many miles on that !!!)- still have the head & use occasionally.

[Datsame]

sweet_loop: My first amp was a Gorilla 30W. It really sucked, but did the job for me when I was just learning how to play.

Me too. It was a bass/keyboard amp. I had it for the first 18 months of playing bass and I hated it the whole time. If the school offered to let me use there amp I jumped at it.

I also used a 80's or early 90's Yamaha Bass. It had the same strings on it from the day I got it to the day I traded it in.

[John M. Cote]

My first bass (c. 1967) was an abominable short scale Orbit brand bass. I sold the Orbit and got a Vox hollowbody (c. 1969) - a step up. I then sold the Vox and got a used 65 P (c. 1972) that I still own.

 

As for amps, my first was playing with the guitar player through a guitar amp - yup, it sounded awful !

 

I then got a Fender Bassmman and later a Traynor YBA-3 Custom Special with a YC-810 cab. A great rig. I sold it in 1974 and last played on an Acoustic 370 w/ 2x15 cab. I sold that in 1976 and was out of a band untill 1997, but that's a different thread, isn't it !

 

John

[music-man]

First bass: Dixon P-bass copy.

First amp: 15W Gorilla combo.

Price: $50.

(Mostly just played along with John Lee Hooker, Zeppelin, and Suzanne Vega albums on this one).

 

Second bass: Peavey Foundation fretless

Amp: Fender Bassman. No - not THAT Bassman, I mean the 90W solid state combo amp ...

Price: $200.

(After unsuccessful attempts at playing Chili Peppers stuff with these fine items, I began to understand why frets aren't a bad thing after all.)

 

Third bass: Ibanez SR800 (BRIGHT RED)

Amp: Fender Bassman - yes, THAT one, with an original 2x15 Fender cabinet.

Price: GIFT from parents of a cello student of mine.

(aaaaagh - before I moved West I was convinced to trade the Fender to a friend who swore he'd build me an exact copy of a MesaBoogie 400+ in return. Nine months later he shipped me an ugly, vile-sounding thing fashioned out of a hacked-up Sun Coliseum. DOH!)

[...]

The first bass I ever played/practiced with was a school owned instrument that my father brought home for me (he was a band teacher). It was a white Washburn POS I believe... I can't even remember the model, it was a very, very cheap P-bass knockoff.

 

The first bass I actually bought for myself was an Ibanez SR500.

[Mike H.]

My first rig was a Yamaha RBX340 and hardshell case that I spent all my money on when I had saved enough. I think my dad felt sorry for me, because I spent all my money on the bass and didn't have an amp(I used my small guitar practice amp). So when I came home from work the next night, he'd gone to the local store and bought me a used Fender Kickback/Bassman 65 bass amp for $100 and had it waiting downstairs in my room. A single 15" with 50 watts.

[zzzzz]

My first bass was neck-thru charvel i still have.My first gigging amp was an ampeg b2 combo amp that was my graduation from high-school present.I still have that as well.

[davebrownbass]

Originally posted by 61Pbass:

Dave, your first "real bass" was Musicmaster? My first bass was a brand spankin' new (at the time) white 1970 Fender Musicmaster bass which I ran through a Bassman 50 head and a Fender 2x15 cab.

Wow, mine was white too. I strung it up with "black nylon tapewound strings that looked like they were from the Nixon era" because it was during the Nixon era and I was set. I was looking around the web, and those old vintage Musicmasters are going for $400-$500 these days!.

 

Did you ever open it up and look at the P/U's? in mine, at least, it had a 6 pole pickup obviously scarfed from a tele.

 

I had the luxury of growing up in a family of professional musicians so I got some halfway decent stuff right off the bat. Dad didn't want us starting out on junk gear.

Wow! that's right on base. I often talk with other first generation musicians regretting not having parents who were players. I'da been so much better.

 

The post was designed to demonstrate to newer players that starting out on cheap stuff doesn't mean you can't make it. When I was a teenager, I started out on guitar, and had real "dog crap" before my aunt got me a better guitar.

 

At that time, age 14, I vowed that if I was ever a music teacher I'd recommend to parents that they get the best instrument they could afford. I had no idea I'd actually become a music teacher, but I've kept my vow.

 

You can make it if you start out on junk, but I was kinda hoping somebody had junkier stuff than I did! Wow, now I feel really low. Time for a new signature.

[61Pbass]

There is a lot to be said for starting out on decent gear. It does make learning a bit easier, and surely more fun.

 

I do know plenty of people who started out on less than stellar equipment (electric basses with standup action and microphonic pickups, cheesy low-wattage amps, etc.) and turned out to be incredible players. In the end desire, dedication and raw talent are a lot more important than the tools one uses.

 

That being said, I'd still never trade learning on my all Fender kit for a mystery brand knockoff and a 10 watt guitar amp!

[g.]

Fortunately gear of recent issue in the cheap seats gives a better view than it used to ; }

[Sylver]

A black Hondo and a Peavey TNT 130.

[Tom Capasso]

Originally posted by greenboy:

Fortunately gear of recent issue in the cheap seats gives a better view than it used to ; }

I'm with greenboy - that Jap P copy I had required a C clamp to hold the strings down !!!

 

Dave - I think there's a level of "competent" gear that new players should have, but there is something to be said for not having the best at first. It's OK to grow into / earn money for the gear you want.

 

Tom

[The Fonz]

my first bass was a red charvel with a p pickup that i got for $200 on closeout at sam ash. they were stacked up next to the front door. it was pretty good for a first. i didn't get that earth rumbling tone, but it was more than playable.

 

my first amp? a mini-marshal practice amp that i got for $20. it had no tone what so ever but it had a headphone jack that could be used to punch into a stereo for really loud crappy tone.

 

beat THAT gorilla fans.

[music-man]

Originally posted by Bastid E:

beat THAT gorilla fans.

Okay - I'll top that:

 

When I was trying to work out parts for my first band, I didn't have a multitracker. So ... I'd record a bass groove (using my Gorilla amp) on the "outgoing message" tape on my phone-answering machine. (Back in the days when there were two tapes).

 

Then I'd play back the part (phone beep and all), and play along with my acoustic guitar, while recording it all on my boombox. Then I'd listen back to the boombox tape to see if the parts worked ...

 

I really did this.

 

And man, it sounded like shit.

[Jason Hoyt]

You know, I only started playing Bass about 6 years ago when I was 21. I was in the U.S.M.C. and my Uncle had given me this Bass guitar he built because I thought it was cool, and his son (my cousin) broke my Dad's rollerblades.

He said he was experimenting with woods, but looking back on it, it was a really cool bass and it even had EMG's!

My buddy needed a bass player for his Metallica cover band, and I told him he could borrow it, if he knew someone who knew how to play. He asked me to if I wanted to learn, and I havent put it down since.

My first amp was a yorkville 1x15combo. Man! It really sucked!