What is your favorite bass guitar that you have ever played?

I have been playing bass for about 10 years, playing nearly every day the whole duration, so I have played quite a few types of basses as well as various styles.

Of course, I prefer certain basses over others because of their unique sounds. I have a particular tone that I like to use when I play jazz and I have a particular tone I like to use when I play with a pick (usually progressive rock), so my favorite basses are those that enhance my two 'tones.'

So share with us what basses are your favorite, and be sure to say why. You don't need to own the bass, but as long as you actually have played it, that is cool. I'll do a 'rating' out of 10 for some basses I have played.

Remember: This isn't a topic for what is the OBJECTIVE best bass guitar, but simply which ones PERSONALLY match your tone ideally.

Out of 10 (in no order):

- Fender Jazz Bass (Made In Mexico): 6/10 - sounds too weak to me in terms of bass, although the treble and mid-range is very good- the neck is weird IMO and the pickups on the MIM are cheap.

- Fender Precision Bass (Made In Mexico): 7.5/10 - the MIM P-Bass is much more solid than the Jazz IMO- I love the sound of a Precision bass as it really matches my ideal fingerstyle tone exemplified by the likes of James Jamerson in Motown recordings. I like to turn the tone knob about halfway up and set my amp with 100% bass, 60% mids, 35% treble.

- Fender Mustang Bass: 7/10 - this is a weird 'small scale' bass with a tiny neck- but I absolutely LOVE the tone out of the thing- I can get my ideal P-bass fingerstyle sound AND some good prog-rock pick sound.

- Rickenbacker 4003 Bass (American only): 8/10 - this is my ideal bass for using a pick and playing prog rock where it excels are the absolute best- I turn the bass pickup all the way up with tone down combined with the treble pickup half-way up with tone UP all the way. It is a hard bass to figure the tone out on (it took me about 3 months to get it straight), but it is worth it- it is one of the most solidly built basses out there.

- Warwick Corvette Bass (German): 8/10 - this is my go-to bass for now for anything fingerstyle- it has two Jazz Bass pickups (like the Fender Jazz) but they are of MUCH higher quality and show off the bass tones better- I use it to play jazz and it sounds great in that aspect- the MOST solid bass I own.

- Cort Curbow Bass: 4/10 - this was one of my first basses I owned and I hated almost everything about it- it has some of the worst tonal capacities of any bass I have played (worse than Squier IMO)- the neck is really good though and it looks very nice- I still have it!

- Fender Telecaster Bass (American): 8/10 - my Dad's 'antique' bass from the 70s- it has one neck humb-cancelling pickup and offers the most booming lows of any bass I know of- it lacks some definition in the highs though and is bad for prog rock IMO.

- Musicman Bongo (American): 5/10 - a supposedly fancy bass that my Dad owns- I can't get a good solid tone out of it no matter what I do- it always sounds clicky and clanky which I HATE on a bass- it looks nice though.

- Sterling by Musicman (non-American): 7.5/10 - I have played this a few times and it is extremely well built for a non-USA bass- I love the sound for fingerstyle but being active it carries a little too much clank and click- but I plan on buying it eventually.

- Warwick Thumb Bolt On (German): 9/10 - what can I say, I love everything about this bass in every way- I will buy on in November when the Great American Guitar Show rolls around to my area again- they have great deals on used Thumb Bolt Ons- I highly suggest this bass for ALL styles.

 

so hard to rate since I try to judge each instrument individually.
Rickenbackers seem to be steady, if thats what the player wants than the rick delivers. It sounds best with a pick so thats kind of a plus and a minus - i much prefer to play with my fingers but the picked sound on it is so crisp.

Fender - generally speaking all the classic fenders I have played are the same. I dont go near mexican fenders, all my experience is on american made so I just dont even pick one up if it isnt. The Precision Jazz is fun to play and a great blend of the two neck styles, but i dont mind using a Jazz neck or a fender precision for recording purposes. The Fender Mustang bass I played was nice, easy to handle and with a good sound for funky riffs that included slap-pop and thumbs.

Gibson bass, i have enjoyed an SG bass for its classic gibby sound. Explorer have a similar feel and sound, love em for heavy rock riffs.

i once had a guy show up with a Hohner bass, we joked that since it was made by a harmonica company you had to blow into the back of it to get it to play!

Hammer bass was an 80s metal option, and I plunked around on a few that were in music shops. They had good action but never overwhelmed me as a versatile instrument, so I just dont suggest them unless you are doing hair band covers or something.

Im sure I will think of more, every time i see a stringed instrument i try to pick it up!

 

BC Rich for the last decade or so.

Only can be bothered practicing with distortion pedal on and volume up loud. So dont really get a stiffy about tonal quality. And only really brought my first BC Rich cos of the look

Thinking of buying a Widow soon, its a very cool looking bass

 

Good to hear from another Rickenbacker fan. They really are versitile basses. Most people think that they only have a 'crunchy' tone, but honestly, I rarely employ that tone when playing. It can go from (if you use just the neck pickup with tone mid-way up) a sound similar to a Fender P-Bass but even more 'deep' due to how close to the neck the pickup is, to an extremely piano-like tone if you use both pickups about equally and turn the bass tone up and the treble tone about 1/4 the way up. And of course the 'crunchy' tone.

I found that it is good for fingerstyle if you play really close to the bridge, but I still prefer Fender and Warwick for fingerstyle.

Lately I have experimented in raising and lowering pickup heights on my Warwick Corvette (it is basically a fancy jazz-bass). I lowered the neck pickup all the way towards the E string while leaving it middle-of-the road at the G string. Then for the (extremely close to the bridge) bridge pickup, I have the E string side really high (close to the string), but the G string side is even closer to the string (like maybe 3 mm away!). I can get the most crisp, thumpy, tight tone possible with that setup. I also use flatwound strings and it is fretless, so that helps.

 

The single one I liked the most was probably a 90's Ibanez ATK Can't recall what model exactly, but it was the single most comfortable bass I've ever played. Sounded nice (to my ears) too, almost no matter what I did with the preamp settings.
Only reason I didn't buy it was the price tag and the simple fact that I have no use for it.

 

An Ibanez bass was what I first picked up, I started picking Duran Duran basslines and then moved on..

 

Perhaps I should mention that what I really liked about that bass is the simple fact that absolutely nothing about it irked me. Not even the fact that it had active electronics.

 

In 1971 I bought a 1968 Fender Telecaster Bass for a hundred bucks, it's the only bass I've ever owned or played. Still have it.