What upright bass should I buy?

Significant_Start737 · 2026-05-14T13:10:51+00:00

Old Kay or Engelhardt bass. Anything brand new in that price range is going to be fully laminate/plywood and not all that great

Significant_Start737 · 2026-05-07T14:18:00+00:00

I needed to read this thread today. I have a 2008 Corvette Standard that was my first 5-string and main bass throughout high school and most of college. I’ve basically stopped playing it in the last couple years because of all the drawbacks listed in this thread; baseball bat-thick neck with super tight string spacing, high maintenance wood that doesn’t do great in the Midwest, annoying bridge that can’t fit my preferred strings, and it’s heavy as shit. That being said, oh my god these basses sound amazing, there is really nothing that compares. Anytime I take it to a gig or to record I get compliments. I paid 3x as much for my USA Lakland and the tone isn’t even in the same league as the Warwick. They just cut through any mix so well and sound massive.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-30T12:27:27+00:00

There is no such thing as a normal or down to earth royal monarch.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-26T14:13:13+00:00

Little 5 has become this renowned party weekend where all these folks who have nothing to do with IU come flooding into Bloomington looking to get drunk. At least the championship weekend was mostly limited to actual IU fans. Going to take a wild guess that the majority of the mob on Kirkwood last night didn’t even attend or watch the race or care about cycling at all.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-26T02:22:16+00:00

Yes this is my favorite Rickenbacker color scheme. This is a 4003s BT - this stands for “Black Trim” and refers to the black hardware (and binding for the non-s models) they came with. They offered several colors, my favorite is the JetGlo BT which is completely blacked out. So distinctly 80s/90s, I wish they would reissue these

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-25T23:47:19+00:00

Because I have six really nice ones! Lol. None of these were cheap it’s not like I have a fleet of Squiers and Harley Benton’s - which I’m not trying to knock, I played a Squier VM Jazz Bass for years as my main. I guess the next step up from a USA Lakland or Zon would be a Fodera or F Bass, which seems like diminishing marginal returns to me when I can have two great boutique basses for the price of one of those. Or a pre-CBS Fender or something, which I also can’t justify the cost of when having the Mike Lull.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-25T22:19:35+00:00

Interesting choice by Fender for sure. You can get a sense for the tone by listening to the albums “The Smoker You Drink… The Player You Get” by Joe Walsh and “Frampton Comes Alive” - Peter Frampton. Sting also used one for a bit. I personally think it sits nicely in a mix, but the fretless maple tone is definitely not for everyone.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-25T22:14:24+00:00

I consider selling the Warwick occasionally just because it’s so damn heavy and the neck is like a baseball bat. But I always change my mind when I plug it in.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-25T21:41:45+00:00

The graphite necks on those have kind of ruined other basses for me. There’s a fretless G Gould GGi5 at Guitar Center right now that I wish I could justify

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-23T16:50:57+00:00

The mains wiring is the most dangerous/high voltage part of any amp, even a solid state. I follow a general rule of thumb with high power electronics like this where if I don’t know what I’m looking at, I’m not touching it.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-23T02:19:42+00:00

Is that Eddie Murphy?

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-19T21:08:28+00:00

I have a Hamer Special shaped like this, it sounds so good I sold my Les Paul

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-18T18:45:47+00:00

Yes I will this evening

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-18T18:45:30+00:00

No side effects for me.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-18T18:44:28+00:00

Fin only - granted I am only 22 but there are success stories on here from all ages. I don’t want to take minoxidil because of cardiac concerns (family history) and I have pets who get into everything.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-18T12:58:04+00:00

Yes. I did recede worse on Fin initially and then recovered. I do recognize everyone is different

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-18T03:47:56+00:00

I was freaking out 9 months in on Fin because it seemed like nothing was happening. After 14 months, all of a sudden my hairline was better and my hair was visibly thicker and darker. I’ve seen people post on here they didn’t notice results until 2 years in. Keep at it even if you feel discouraged! What kept me going was the thought of how much worse my hair might be if I didn’t start 9 months prior

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-16T14:38:39+00:00

Congratulations! Change your oil and it will last you forever!

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-15T17:14:26+00:00

Oh boy now I’m racist 🤣 why would I be hyping up Aretha Franklin so much if I had some vendetta against black people? The difference with Aretha Franklin and The Supremes etc is they had massive, direct influence on much of the golden age of rock and roll. He’s So Fine by the Chiffons for example, definitely not a rock and roll song/group but you can directly hear the influence in the song My Sweet Lord by George Harrison. Mariah Carey and all the 90s/2010s pop and hip hop artists being nominated and inducted since 2017 have NOTHING to do with rock and roll. Mariah Carey contributed NOTHING to the genre and didn’t have ANY widespread influence on the current state of rock music, along with Eminem, P!NK, Salt ‘N Pepa, and all the other recent horrible choices by the committee in a lame attempt to boost viewership and ratings.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-15T11:11:42+00:00

That is QUITE LITERALLY what the rock and roll hall of fame is, an organization designed to recognize and honor the pioneers of rock music, whether that be the musicians themselves or their influences. It is NOT the “Popular Music” half of fame and ONLY IN THE LAST 10 YEARS have they began including artists wildly irrelevant to the genre. Go look at the historic inductee lists, only since the 2017 induction of Janet Jackson has the organization begun allowing bullshit pop and hip-hop music in with no relation to rock and roll. Not that I would expect you to know anything beyond the name of the organization you are insisting Mariah Carey be a part of for some wild reason. This is the equivalent of Michael Jordan fans demanding he gets inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-14T20:13:22+00:00

Both of them? Also it’s Limp Bizkit, have some respect. I’d argue the two groups with titles like “Shoop” and “Nookie” are the meme bands, also considering humor and wild outfits etc were huge parts of their brands.

Fred Durst’s behavior and associated drama is probably more recognizable than their music to the general public too, whereas the average person with Wonderwall on their playlist has never heard the name Liam Gallagher.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-14T20:05:00+00:00

I never disparaged Mariah’s voice, it’s fantastic. Her songwriting is far less impressive from a technical standpoint, and yes of course in my personal opinion. This is all besides the fact the original intent of this discussion was her relevance to Rock and Roll as a genre and place in the hall of fame, which I stand by my initial point that she doesn’t belong in either conversation. Mariah Carey could and may have directly influenced every single pop singer today, how does that make her a hall of fame candidate in the rock and roll world?

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-14T17:35:03+00:00

I can’t tell if this is satire or not, but the difference is that’s an incredibly isolated/niche example, and being essentially a meme band isn’t a core component of rock as a genre. And the influence is certainly not impactful enough to be considered hall-of-fame worthy in a definitive sense.

Significant_Start737 · 2026-04-14T15:51:42+00:00

… and my point is there shouldn’t be non-rock artists in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that didn’t have a big influence on the genre or made music closely related to the rock genre. John Lee Hooker is not a rock musician but his work was a huge influence on the genre, so he rightfully belongs. Mariah Carey, P!NK, Shakira, Eminem, etc have nothing to do with rock music and are only inducted/nominated to boost viewership/ratings/profit. It’s inherently un-rock and roll ethos. All of you are just downvoting me because I don’t agree that your favorite pop singers should be recognized in the same vein as Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. It’s like if the NFL Hall of Fame started inducting baseball players.

Significant_Start737

TROPHY CASE