Top 10 Basses

1.     Fender Jazz Bass

Fender Jazz

The Fender Jazz is almost the undisputed winner, it has the same incredible quality of the Precision but it has a more versatile sound. With its more trebly tone the Jazz (or J bass) stands out from the mix, making it the choice for Jazz players and those who want to play more melodically.

2.     Fender Precision Bass

The P bass was the first bass to come from fender guitars, two pickups close to neck position gives a smooth tone that brings joy to the ears of any bassist into blues, rock or Motown. The bass has a warmer and deeper sound than the J and it is slightly less versatile.

Fender P

3.     Gibson Thunderbird

The Thunderbird is Rock ‘n’ Roll. The axe of choice for many rock players such as Nikki Sixx, John Entwistle, Gene Simmons and Josh Reedy. With its humbuckers and heavy tone this bass is a true monster (a heavy one too). The standard model has a cool sunburst finish and of course the iconic eagle on the pickguard.

4.     Musicman Stingray

The Stingray is an awesome bass with a modern sound that suits all sorts of styles from pop to funk and all the way to metal. It is a great bass for slapping and this makes it the ideal choice for players such as Louis Johnson and Flea. The bass usually features a teardrop pickguard and a single large humbucker.

5.     Rickenbacker 4001/4003

Rickenbacker 4003

The Rick is another one of those iconic rock basses. It would have been higher on the list except that I find it to be a bit uncomfortable to play. It usually costs a fair bit to buy but is still one of those basses you dream of buying. Notable players include Paul McCartney, Geddy Lee, Lemmy, Geezer Butler and Cliff Burton. If you haven’t heard of any of those players then you’re on the wrong site!

6.     Ritter Bass

The Ritter, as seen in one of my previous blog posts, is a really really incredibly good looking bass guitar. Expect high prices and crazy designs (not a bad thing!).

                                                                       

Warwick Corvette

7.     Fender Jaguar

I’m probably a bit biased because I own one but this is a cool bass. You can read about it in my first blog post. Awesome Japanese electronics make this bass more versatile than Johnny Depp. Notable players include me, JMJ and that guy from The All-American Rejects.

8.     Warwick Corvette

This is what the Warwick website says about the Corvette “If the entire line of Warwick basses is like a family at a party, then the Corvette  is the latest in-law who ate all the food, drank all the booze and is now in the coat closet with not one, but two of the wait staff!”.  Not sure if that’s true but the bass does look, sound and feel pretty snazzy.

Hofner Beatle Bass

9.     Hofner Beatle Bass

You’ve seen this bass, you’ve heard this bass and you probably know that 

Paul McCartney plays this bass. If you didn’t, well now you do.

10. Gibson SG Bass

Also known as the EB-3 this bass isn’t as popular as its birdlike cousin, which might be because it’s not quite as heavy and tough. Anyway Jack Bruce from Cream plays it, isn’t that enough?

Jens Ritter

Ritter Platinum Concept

In the previous post I featured a bass made by Jens Ritter ( a platinum concept bass) and it received some attention so I decided to write a piece about him.

Jens Ritter is a German luthier, widely recognised for is extreme and cutting edge bass designs. His basses are works of art! He grew up in a small German town crafting with his Dad and learned many of his skills from a young age. He is often referred to as the "Stradivarius" of the Bass Guitar.

The man himself, Jens Ritter looking professional.

After studying at an academy of technical arts, Jens opened his company he also studied Stradivarius Violin-making and engineering which he employs in his designs.


In other words, the guy was pretty much born to make basses!

His creations are of the highest quality and hang on the walls of famous musicians like Prince and Mary J Blige as well as the walls of galleries.

So if you just won the lottery or you just make an honest living, you can probably get one! I would be to scared to play one.... But they look great on wall hangers.

http://www.ritter-instruments.com/

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Elegant wood grainage!

Fancy....

Classy.

An incredibly large piece of bling.

Crazy and Wacky Basses

This is gonna be fun!

Lets start with this one, its owned by Basdyret from the Talkbass forums, check it out if you haven't already!

Its a Ritter platinum fretless with blue strings. The guy who makes these wacky groove machines is a German dude named Jens Ritter, his basses usually fetch a high price. I'm talking $5000+.

This bass is a Conklin Pacman Bass, with 9 strings! Its owned by a solo bass player by the name of Jean Baudin (you may know him as the guy who plays Super Mario with a 12 string bass on YouTube) He has done all sorts of cool stuff and has some truly amazing basses so check him out here.

jeanbaudin.com

This one seems to be a Dean explorer type bass, a ZZ Top signature. It kinda looks like a mad scientist from an 80's hairband fused a poodle and a bass together, i cant say I'm a big fan. It probably doesn't sound that great with all that fur but if being flamboyant is your thing then I'm not gonna judge.

http://www.deanguitars.com/zztop/images/zz3_jpg.jpg

Aah the classic washtub bass, not that wacky considering it was once extremely popular but i still think it deserves a mention here.

Snake Bass, pretty self explanatory huh?

Wait! it seems to have eaten a small foot....

A backwards 2 string bass, now this is creative! It belongs to Stig Pedersen from Danish rock band D-A-D. Stig designs his own basses with only 2 or 3 strings because he only ever used the E and the A strings anyway.

Suggested by kenfxj on the TB forums this is a pretty interesting bass. I think its just a cheap Ibanez with a whole lot of stickers on it but hey, it sure is creative. I really like what people do in modding and converting basses into completely different things!

Koi bass and skull bass. Don't know anything about these basses but they were suggested by Ursus Tyrannus from the TB forums.

Now this is really groovy, made by Washburn, its a replica of Bootsy Collins space bass. While it looks cool, I'm not sure how comfy it'd be to play this sitting down :p








washburn.com

And this is the most insane bass collection I've ever seen. Belonging to John Turner from the TB forums, this is a multi stringed force to be reckoned with.

jeanbaudin.com

Here's another Jean Baudin, with 11 strings and incredible tone woods this one is simply stunning, its probably a little heavy though.

I know there are heaps more insane basses out there but these are just a few of my personal favourites. Happy Bassing Everyone!!!