Hartke Basses?

[DaveO]

I'm looking for a bass just to use for recording at home, and I'd like one that's an easy transition for a guitar player. My budget is around $400 but I might be able to go up to about $500. I've been to two stores so far and right now I'm leaning toward the ESP LTD B-204, but I still want to do some more looking.

I played one Hartke, the WK-4 I think but I don't remember name or price now, but it was hard to tell how it sounded because the strings were way too low and buzzed pretty bad. Assuming you fixed that it felt pretty comfortable to play, though. I've been looking around on the web and haven't found any opinions of Hartke basses (Harmony Central was the first place I looked). Anyone have one?

[This message has been edited by DaveO (edited 06-12-2000).]

[Snowdog]

Dave, before you buy anything try an Ibanez GSR200 Bass. It has a short scale and an unbelievably thin neck for a Bass. They can be found for just over $200. I pick one up this weekend to try with a processor(I was interested in the Bass processor not the Bass) and was floored by the quality,sound and ease of fretting notes on that Bass. As
soon as I can get rid of my Washburn bass I plan to get one!

[RussP]

Dave

In your price range there are tons of choices. Going with a Jazz Bass style neck should allow for an easy trasition to a bass.
Try to get active pickups for a crisp hot signal. Fender offers the P bass Lyte and the P Bass Lyte Deluxe. Both of these guitars play and sound great and are a good value for the money.
Try to stick with the 34" scale there is less string flop and some resale value.
Happy Hunting
RussP

[DaveO]

I checked out that TalkBass site. I'll have to spend some time looking through it. Kind of has a familiar look, doesn't it.

[dabluesman]

I am also a guitar/bass player, and I went through the same thing about a month or 2 ago. I found an incredible site just for bass guitars that majorly helped me out http://www.talkbass.com/discussion_front.html (no pun intended.) Anyway I went with a Mexican Fender P-bass (passive, not active) A Hartke B-90 bass amp and the SansAmp Bass DI. I went with the Fender bass because of its versatility and its classic sound. The P-bass has a fatter neck but this didnt bother me, I have long fingers and I think P-basses have a bigger sound. Fender Jazz basses are a bit more slim and the neck is alot slimmer but I think that compromises the "bigness" of sound compared to a P-bass, but Jazz basses are known to be more versatile. I mainly play blues and classic rock type stuff so the P-bass works perfect for me, but for other types of music I would suggest the Jazz bass, especially if your new to playing bass. If you are wanting to record then you'll be better off with a SansAmp Bass DI or a bass POD, they are just tube amp emulators with mic placement emulation, but they have EQ's that you can use to shape the sound and everything sounds better through a tube amp anyway. So I think its the easiest way to get a good bass sound to the input of your recorder. Be patient and search EBay, I found my Fender P-bass for $300 on EBay from a guy who bought it new and never played it at all. And I've seen the SansAmp Bass DI for as low as $160 on the net. Hey, you cant go wrong with a Fender..

[This message has been edited by dabluesman (edited 06-14-2000).]

[This message has been edited by dabluesman (edited 06-14-2000).]

[This message has been edited by dabluesman (edited 06-14-2000).]

[DaveO]

Thanks for the input, guys.

Based on what I've played so far I think the ESP is still at the top of my list. I really liked the basic sound of the P-Bass Deluxe (a P/J pickup combo), plus I think it had a Jazz neck. But the ESP was about $70 less and had more versatile tone control.

I also liked the Ibanez SR-480 since it was a "best-of both worlds" thing for me - a P/J pickup combo like the P-Bass Deluxe and has active 3-way tone control and is comfortable to play like the ESP. The only problem it's above my target budget, about $500.

I tried the big stores near me (Mars and Sam Ash) but still want to see what a few small local stores have before I decide.

DaBluesMan - I'll get some kind of DI box evntually, but for now I'm working with another guitarist who is waiting for his POD to be delivered. I posted a question a few weeks ago about using it for bass and most people said it will work (some even posted songs they recorded this way), so I'll live with that for now. I want to check out the J-Station, which also has some bass amp and cabinet models. If it works well enough then I'll only need one unit for guitar AND bass - this is getting %&@$'ING EXPENSIVE For a hobby.

[dabluesman]

be sure to check out that talkbass.com discussion page. Ask them about the ESP bass, I've seen many posts about them, and those guys really know basses.

[dabluesman]

Yep, I try to only use BBS's that are made with Ultimate Bulletin Board. Though I cant find one for regular guitar, I figured that their would be a talkguitar.com but I cant find such a thing.

[Snowdog]

Try the forum at metal method.com. Good guitar board with very few if any flame wars.Ultimate Bulletine Board format

[DaveO]

I don't know. The flame wars have *some* entertainment value...


... at least until the topic reaches 20 posts or so. By then the entertainment is long gone.