Who got you hooked on MM basses?

[Tony Renaud SR5]

I'm curious if other players have an experience seeing and/or hearing a Stingray, Sabre, or other that really got you jonesing for a Music Man bass of your own.

My story is a two - decade saga. When I was around 15 or 16, Louis Johnson released a Hot Licks instructional video where he played a natural/maple neck 'Ray. I already loved The Brothers Johnson and Louis' playing and sound really impressed me. I honestly couldn't find a Stingray in CT at the time to try or buy, so I moved on.

Sade came out with "Smooth Operator" later and I thought that stuff was the bomb, but still couldn't find a 'Ray anywhere. This was pre-EB times.

When I was 20 or 21, I saw REO Speedwagon play at Toad's Place, which is a big premiere club in New Haven, CT. The Rolling Stones played there once, just before Bill Wyman quit. Anyway, I can't remember the guy's name - he played a blue SR5 through a Trace-Elliot rig and sounded like a million damn dollars. Still one of the best live bass sounds I've ever heard. I didn't buy a SR5 because my ego wanted me to buy a much more expensive, custom bass. So, I did. About 10 times

In my thirties, I saw Tony Levin back up the California Guitar Trio at a tiny little punk rock club in New Haven, 2 miles down the street from Toad's. Tony played so well and sounded so good, that I almost forgot about the lingering urine smell in the place. I had to have that sound. I was happy with the bass I was playing at the moment, but seeing Tony play, along with hearing him years before on all that Peter Gabriel stuff really grabbed me by the throat. The next day I called Bass Central and got my first Stingray 5.

Your inspiring moments don't have to involve famous guys - who or what roped you in to the MM fold?

 

[Randracula]

Flea and Louis Johnson

 

[Psycho Ward]

Great story!

Tom Phillion, CEO of the Eastern Music Festival, good friend of mine actually hipped me to EBMM's... I think I'll buy him a beer for that.

 

[Oldtoe]

Jack was going on and on about how good the Bongo was, and I bought one to see what all the fuss was about. He was right.

 

[shamus63]

Tom Hamilton and his just-unleashed Stingray back in '77. I thought it was the coolest bass I had ever seen, and I was two years away from getting my first bass! Unfortunately, I couldn't afford a MM bass at the time, so it would be a few years before I'd get my first one.

Then it was Jack's tireless propaganda, coupled with playing BP's (now Jack's) single-H Bongo at the Open House that got me hooked on the Bongo.

Being a full-time member here definitely keeps the motivation high!

 

[Steve Dude Barr]

Big Poppa

 

[koogie2k]

No one got me addicted.....except for the first JP6 I purchased. It was all downhill from there and it is still going.......

 

[maddog]

Tony Levin turned me on to SR's. I tried a few at my LMS and wanted to walk home with one but they just didn't feel right. Bided my time trying other basses waiting for that moment I found one I liked. Then I heard thru the grapevine about the Bongo. Tried one with reservations due to the SR. Couldn't believe how it felt. And the sound, that MM sound. I'm hooked for life.

 

[TheAntMan]

I always wanted a Music Man Stingray ever since I first saw one back in the early 80's. I had a Fender Jazz bass and could not afford another bass. So I live without a SR and just played the JBass. I saw the Bongo in a bass mag and thought "What the hell is that thing!". I was at GC looking at the Fender Aerodyne JBass and was really liking the combo J/p pickups when I saw a Bongo on the wall across from me. My wife was with me at the time and she was loving the Aerodyne's tone. Anyway I said "What the hell" and picked up the Bongo -- should have seem my wife's face -- and plugged it in. Needless to say the rest is history! We both flipped out over the Bongo tone and I loved the feel of it.

i started looking online for Bongo pics and saw Lord Bongo's pic of his Sapphire Black Bongo at some website. I went to Bovinehosts site and checked out the bass pics and then I somehow stumbled onto this forum. I soon after ordered a Sapphire Black Bongo 4HH. While waiting I picked up a SR4 from Disquieter in Burnt Apple -- LOVE that color! Then I saw Bassmonkee's Fretless "White Whale" Bongo. After that I ordered a Fretless 4HHP in Lava Pearl and love it!!!!

So, thank you Big Pappa, Bovinehost, Disquieter, and Bassmonkee

-- Ant

 

[Psychicpet]

Michael Balzary and Tony Levin

 

[tkarter]

I was listening to Kenny Chesney and found out Steve Marshall was playing a SR5. The sound I had been hearing in my head for a couple of years was in the video.

Then I walked into the local shop and the SR5 in my avatar was hanging there. My wife and I looked at it and said wow what a bass. My wife bought that for my birthday some time later. Didn't take long playing it to know that there wasn't any need for me to be playing anything else.

Now Steve Marshall is sporting a Bongo. Haven't heard too much of his playing since he went to that Bongo.

tk

 

[82Daion]

Well, it wasn't a "who," but a "what." The Bongo itself did it for me; I played it, loved it, and can't put it down.

 

[Steve Dude Barr]

Well, it wasn't a "who," but a "what." The Bongo itself did it for me; I played it, loved it, and can't put it down.

Then that would be Dudley.

 

[Butterbass]

I am a guitar player, who does home recordings. My band split up, and my bass player played a 20th anv ray. I always loved the ray tone, and i got so used to hearing the tunes I wrote with a ray behind them, that i just had to get one! Once I saw the HH model in Dec, played it and fell in love! (always loved wals), I saw my butterbass on ebay, brand new for less than a regular HH goes for I jumped! So glad I did, now I just have to learn how to play this thing better!


Also I am a big Cure fan , and they used a ray on every album from the Top through Disintegration (I bet one of the highest selling albums around the world that is straight up ray tone the whole way!, Check out fascination street for proof!.

 

[Steve Dude Barr]

Michael Balzary

PM me if you want to hear the story of how I found him his pink '63 Jazz.

 

[Randracula]

Michael Balzary and Tony Levin

This Guy?

 

[MCBTunes]

Then that would be Dudley.

and the teamm @ bmw

 

[Steve Dude Barr]

This Guy?

That would be the one and that would be the bass....hooked him up with Brody who forgot to kick me a commish for the sale.

 

[Randracula]

That would be the one and that would be the bass....hooked him up with Brody who forgot to kick me a commish for the sale.

So has he left Modulus now too? Is he becoming the bass equivalent of EVH?

 

[Steve Dude Barr]

So has he left Modulus now too? Is he becoming the bass equivalent of EVH?

Dunno, don't care as his agent had me searching for that bass (with the help of Aussie Bill Bolton) for the better end of a month and we got stiffed. He paid $8,500 for it about 5 years ago IIRC. I personally hopes he trips over it and bends his sock.