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Are bass players the most expensive members of a band?


bassthumpintwin

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Guitar gear trumps bass gear for cost. Easily.

 

 

Well, I guess it depends on what you are comparing.

 

If you're talking perceived loudness, a guitard could spend less than 500 bucks on a 100w half stack and blow the roof off the venue.

 

a bassist would have to have much more wattage with a much better cab. good luck beating 500 bucks and sounding good.

 

Heck, even comparing combos, you're hurting find something as good for the watts AND money.

 

NOW, if you're talking what's available for guitarists and bassists today, a guitarist could easily spend 1000's too.

 

But I think that typically, to get started, a guitarist has a much easier time buying low cost gear that's still somewhat giggable.

 

Towards the higher end of the spectrum, it probably is rather comparable.

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Well, I guess it depends on what you are comparing.


If you're talking perceived loudness, a guitard could spend less than 500 bucks on a 100w half stack and blow the roof off the venue.


a bassist would have to have much more wattage with a much better cab. good luck beating 500 bucks and sounding good.


Heck, even comparing combos, you're hurting find something as good for the watts AND money.


NOW, if you're talking what's available for guitarists and bassists today, a guitarist could easily spend 1000's too.


But I think that typically, to get started, a guitarist has a much easier time buying low cost gear that's still somewhat giggable.


Towards the higher end of the spectrum, it probably is rather comparable.

 

 

I disagree. I don't care about loudness, but to find a quality tone from an instrument, amp and cab, and effects, a bassist can spend MUCH less than a guitarists. The low end of bass these days is very good as far as tone is concerned, whereas the equivelent low end of guitars is crap. To get a quality guitar tone, in a reliable, gigable package will cost more than a good gigable bass package.

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Certainly in my band, but I think we're the exception.

 

 

another good point.

 

Lets talk strictly unplugged.

 

Try to find an acoustic guitar for less than 500 bucks.... EASY. A lot of them even sound pretty good these days.

 

To get a professional quality acoustic for less than a grand, ALSO easy. Heck, most of them are even good enough to record with.

 

Find an upright bass for less than 5? impossible.

less than grand? very very hard. And even then, you're usually talking needing new strings, a set up, etc...

 

and that's another thing guitards have easy.

 

they dont have to pay anywhere from 40 to 200 bucks for a pack of strings. Of course, ours generally last a lot longer.

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It all depends. You can get a decent electric guitar or electric bass instrument & rig setup for FAR cheaper than you could ever get a professional level orchestral instrument. As far as rock bands go, again it depends. I gigged for two years straight with a $150 rig and a Rogue 5 string bass.

 

My vote goes for drummers. Again, you can go on craigslist and find a used kit with decent enough cymbals for $500. Still, top level drum stuff is insanely expensive. A friend of mine plays in a metal band. He has a huge double bass Pearl Masters Series kit with a Gibraltar rack setup and a full array of high end Sabian cymbals. He's probably got $15k into that set if I'm guessing correctly.

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I disagree. I don't care about loudness, but to find a quality tone from an instrument, amp and cab, and effects, a bassist can spend MUCH less than a guitarists. The low end of bass these days is very good as far as tone is concerned, whereas the equivelent low end of guitars is crap. To get a quality guitar tone, in a reliable, gigable package will cost more than a good gigable bass package.

 

examples?

 

And I think you should definitely factor in loudness, as a 50W bass amp with a million dollar tone doesnt mean squat against a 20W guitar amp with the worlds crappiest tone ;)

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It all depends. You can get a decent electric guitar or electric bass instrument & rig setup for FAR cheaper than you could ever get a professional level orchestral instrument. As far as rock bands go, again it depends. I gigged for two years straight with a $150 rig and a Rogue 5 string bass.


My vote goes for drummers. Again, you can go on craigslist and find a used kit with decent enough cymbals for $500. Still, top level drum stuff is insanely expensive. A friend of mine plays in a metal band. He has a huge double bass Pearl Masters Series kit with a Gibraltar rack setup and a full array of high end Sabian cymbals. He's probably got $15k into that set if I'm guessing correctly.

 

Okay, the drummer wins ;)

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examples?


And I think you should definitely factor in loudness, as a 50W bass amp with a million dollar tone doesnt mean squat against a 20W guitar amp with the worlds crappiest tone
;)

 

Try to find a good sounding, gigable 1x12 tube guitar combo and you will almost always be able to put a gigable bass rig together for less, not even counting the effects and instruments. The HCBF budget rig, in whatever form that's taking these days, is always a good example.

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Yeah drummers have it pretty rough. Their maintenance is a lot harder than us stringed folks too. Damned singers! Lets pick on those cheap bastards :mad:

 

My guitarist and I are pretty neck and neck with gear. I have a new setup at least every other month and frequently bring in new basses. He gets new stuff often enough, is always bring a new guitar to practice. We both constantly swap pedals.

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I've spent more on PA and studio gear than I have on any instrument setup. By FAR. :) My bass rig and my guitar rig both ran a bit under a grand each - GBE600 on the closeout sale with an old used Peavey 2x15 or a 210TX or an Avatar 212 Neo. Pick any two cabs and it's right around a grand. Then the guitar rig is an Orange Tiny Terror through an Avatar 2x12 cab. Right around a grand, again.

 

On the other hand, I've spent around $25,000 on PA and studio gear over the past three years.

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A drummer that I play with a bit has spent over $30k on his kit. The guitarist has three times as much as my entire setup in his rack alone. Heck, I'm homeless by comparison.

 

 

I guess I should have prefaced this argument with "minimum gig worthy requirements".

 

I.E., the least amount of gear you would need to sound decent, be heard, and play a show.

 

This also assumed that you would have at least twice the wattage of a guitarist, and comparable tone.

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I disagree. I don't care about loudness, but to find a quality tone from an instrument, amp and cab, and effects, a bassist can spend MUCH less than a guitarists. The low end of bass these days is very good as far as tone is concerned, whereas the equivelent low end of guitars is crap. To get a quality guitar tone, in a reliable, gigable package will cost more than a good gigable bass package.

 

 

IME I wholeheartedly disagree. Instrument costs are basically the same. Amp costs are in the favor of guitarists.

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Try to find a good sounding, gigable 1x12 tube guitar combo and you will almost always be able to put a gigable bass rig together for less, not even counting the effects and instruments. The HCBF budget rig, in whatever form that's taking these days, is always a good example.

 

 

I can get a used Peavey Classic 30 (the most underrated guitar amp in the world IMO) for about $200-250. Assuming I don't want to play metal or hard rock (which I don't), I wouldn't need another amp, ever. I would have a very hard time putting together a giggable bass rig for that price (I'd venture to say that it might be impossible if it weren't for our usually present option of going straight DI).

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