Buying a bass guitar (and maybe an electric guitar?) on a budget

Boeing77W

New member
Hi all,

I've been playing bass since last year using a school-owned bass, and I think it is about time that I get myself a bass. I'm hoping to spend around $200-300 CAD for a decent P-bass or P/J bass that will last a while, however I cannot make up my mind between buying a cheaper used bass that's decent, buying a bass that fits exactly in my budget, or spending a bit more and getting a Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar P/J bass ($339 CAD).

On the used side I've been eyeing a Yamaha RBX270 in good condition going for only $120 CAD. I figured that if I bought a cheaper used bass I could re-purpose the money saved to purchase a cheap electric guitar (used Squier Strats can be found for $100 CAD give or take). I'm a bit of a multi-instrumentalist myself and I've been interested in trying electric guitar.

For buying new, the Yamaha TRBX174 and the Squier Affinity P/J bass both fit in my budget. However I'm hearing that Squier Vintage Modified guitars are much better than the Affinity series, and I'm unsure if the premium cost will be worth it in the long run.

Any help, insight, or experience will be greatly appreciated!
 
I bought the Yamaha RBX170 a gazillion years ago and to this day, I still say it is one of the best purchases I ever made. Definitely got my money's worth out of it. It plays great. Configured with P/J pickups so you can get a lot of different tones out of it. In the case of Yamaha, just because it is inexpensive, doesn't make it cheap.

So my opinion, get the Yamaha and look at getting another guitar too. Can't have enough.
 
I got a used Squire Affinity J bass for $99 (shipped), so you can find some bargains out there. The Affinity Strats don't sound very good, upgrading pickups would be mandatory.
 
I guess I'll try to get a hold of the RBX270 or another similarly priced bass, and an electric guitar.

Also, does anyone know if Vantage P-Basses are good? I've played one before and it felt solid but the action was a bit too high for my liking.

The Affinity Strats don't sound very good, upgrading pickups would be mandatory.

I'm an absolute newb when it comes to electric guitar, so it probably wouldn't matter to me right now. But later down the line I'll definitely consider upgrading pickups if it becomes an issue. Thanks.

And, what are your thoughts regarding amplification for them both?

Dave.

For now I've got an audio interface which I can plug into to practice on headphones so I'll be fine. I also have some amp simulators on my computer which I could play around with. For playing live, the only places I would be playing live right now would be at my school or my church. My school has bass and electric amps and my church only has a bass amp, but I probably won't be playing the electric guitar live any time soon.
 
My most recent bass purchase was a Squier Affinity Jazz. You have to look them over well, it's not hard to find flaws in some of them (including mine). The one I got has a neck that I really like which in the end is why I bought it. Tried a couple others including a PJ and they weren't the same. The pickups were really anemic. Didn't sound bad per se, sat in the mix well but a pretty boring sound. I ended up changing all the electronics & put Nordstrand pickups in it and a set of TI Jazz Flats. So it's kind of a "stealth bass" now, I guess. The strings are worth almost as much as the bass!

I've tried a few Yamaha RBX 170's, and for an entry level bass I think these are hard to beat. Nice, solid little bass for a great price. I'd expect the quality to be a lot more consistant than with the Squiers. Yamaha is usually good that way.
 
I do t have any experience with them but I've heard and read great things about the vintage modified series of basses and guitars.
 
Good score! How do you like the bass?

Very comfortable and versatile. The last owner said it was barely played, and I could tell because some parts of the guitar still had protective plastic film on them! The P/J configuration really contributes to the wide range of tones that you can get out of this bass. The intonation is good but could use a bit of tweaking at the bridge. The tone knob is slightly noisy when turned but that's about the only flaw I could find. Overall, you can feel the Yamaha quality all around. It's much better than the Samick Artist bass that I tried out but didn't buy a while ago, and that was double the price!
 
Good deal. $75 is a great price. I bought mine for $150 :mad: :D

So now you're on to looking at guitars. Allow me to recommend the guitar fetish website. Great guitars for a great price. Despite being chinese made, the quality is very good.

Welcome to Guitarfetish
 
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