I am an acoustic guitar player and I want to start playing bass so that I can do my own bass tracks. I am trying to wade through thousands of basses to try to find one that sounds and feels good but doesn't cost a year's wages. If I end up liking bass I'll blow the year's wages later on. I was hoping that someone out there could help me narrow my search down by telling me the makes that are tough to go wrong with. I am looking to spend a maximum of $500. Please help this poor little acoustic guitarist break into the realm of bass coolness. Thank you.
Bass Ideas?
- Thread starter Quinus
- Start date
My search for a new bass has just ended, so while all the brands are fresh in my head, I'll give you a few suggestions.
Fender P and Jazz basses: don't like them personally, but they are good
Ibabez: if you like skinny necks, the SR series is perfect (avoid SR400 though)
Carvin: good bass, but you gotta mail order it
ESP: very quiet basses, god for recording
All of those have a variety of models with a varity of pricetags, but they all have something in your pricerange
Fender P and Jazz basses: don't like them personally, but they are good
Ibabez: if you like skinny necks, the SR series is perfect (avoid SR400 though)
Carvin: good bass, but you gotta mail order it
ESP: very quiet basses, god for recording
All of those have a variety of models with a varity of pricetags, but they all have something in your pricerange
deadly don
New member
i friend of mine bought a fender p bass. mexican or japanese, i can't remember which. they go for around $500 and sound great.
Col_Forbin
New member
the new fender P and Jazz basses go from around $500 to a bit over a thousand LOL
but you can get a good one in your price range new or used....
the P bass has a bit of a wider neck, and it has a real good rock sound...depending on how you play you could get a fairly clean sound, or more of a raw-unrefined sound...u just have to dig in more with your fingers...and boost the treble like a quarter up or halfway...
the Jazz bass has a skinnier neck, and the pickups are farther apart...one near the neck and one near the bridge...you can have more coming from one or the other whereas on the p bass you control both at the same time...the jazz bass has less midrange...and a completely different sound altogether...
play both and see what ya think
but you can get a good one in your price range new or used....
the P bass has a bit of a wider neck, and it has a real good rock sound...depending on how you play you could get a fairly clean sound, or more of a raw-unrefined sound...u just have to dig in more with your fingers...and boost the treble like a quarter up or halfway...
the Jazz bass has a skinnier neck, and the pickups are farther apart...one near the neck and one near the bridge...you can have more coming from one or the other whereas on the p bass you control both at the same time...the jazz bass has less midrange...and a completely different sound altogether...
play both and see what ya think
fendermustang
New member
Hello Quinus
For what it's worth my vote goes for the Fender P-bass. They sound great! You might like what you find with the Fender squire bass also.
Happy Hunting
For what it's worth my vote goes for the Fender P-bass. They sound great! You might like what you find with the Fender squire bass also.
Happy Hunting
GT
New member
Dear Quinus,
I found a Rickenbacker 4002 bass in the clasified in the paper. I got it, and a small practice amp, for three hundred dollars. So my advice is to buy used. I believe any bass with a good name, fender, etc, will do fine. My recomondations include, two pickups, (to help balance tone, bass to treble), if you play with your fingers, (make sure that when your arm is resting on the guitar body, that your fingers are not directly over a pickup), this will allow you to strike the string nice and hard without anything in the way. You would be surprised at how many basses Iv'e tried, that the pickups are right under your fingers. Also it is my opinion that if you buy a bass at a music store, you should set the action much higher. The factories set it really low to make it play easy, but this causes neck buzz, and a great loss of sustain, so if you don't want to make the adjustment, make sure the music store will, this will make it sound much better and play much louder naturally. Well good luck. I hope this will help.
I found a Rickenbacker 4002 bass in the clasified in the paper. I got it, and a small practice amp, for three hundred dollars. So my advice is to buy used. I believe any bass with a good name, fender, etc, will do fine. My recomondations include, two pickups, (to help balance tone, bass to treble), if you play with your fingers, (make sure that when your arm is resting on the guitar body, that your fingers are not directly over a pickup), this will allow you to strike the string nice and hard without anything in the way. You would be surprised at how many basses Iv'e tried, that the pickups are right under your fingers. Also it is my opinion that if you buy a bass at a music store, you should set the action much higher. The factories set it really low to make it play easy, but this causes neck buzz, and a great loss of sustain, so if you don't want to make the adjustment, make sure the music store will, this will make it sound much better and play much louder naturally. Well good luck. I hope this will help.
Metaphysicist
New member
I know I may get some negative feedback, but I would go for a Peavey T-40 bass. It was the only bass that I played for over 14 years. I played so much that I wore the frets down. I'd still have it today if it wasn't stolen a few years ago. Today I use a Peavey Cyberbass [it's a MIDI bass & regular bass]. I love it just as much [well, almost].
Jim Marquard
New member
Hey Meta,
I had a bass player in a band way back that used a T-40. I loved to play that thing when he was sick. I would to get my hands on that thing. Do you know if Peavey still makes them?
Peace, Jim
I had a bass player in a band way back that used a T-40. I loved to play that thing when he was sick. I would to get my hands on that thing. Do you know if Peavey still makes them?
Peace, Jim
Col_Forbin
New member
i'm re posting this message because it didn't post yesterday when i wrote it...
yeah i'll agree that the T-40 is a good bass and i'm pretty sure you can get one at a decent price...a friend of mine bought one as his first bass like 2 years ago...for like under $200 and like...traded it a month later for some cheap shiny purple one because it was fretless...ohhhhh well...
hey meta, how much was your synth bass (cyberbass, whatever)and how does it work? do you use it with a midi keyboard? inquiring minds (or MIND) want to know!
yeah i'll agree that the T-40 is a good bass and i'm pretty sure you can get one at a decent price...a friend of mine bought one as his first bass like 2 years ago...for like under $200 and like...traded it a month later for some cheap shiny purple one because it was fretless...ohhhhh well...
hey meta, how much was your synth bass (cyberbass, whatever)and how does it work? do you use it with a midi keyboard? inquiring minds (or MIND) want to know!
DaveO
New member
I'm also thinking about an inexpensive bass to use for home recording. I just bought an ART Tube MP and am wondering if it would do a good job as a direct box for recording a bass (I use a Tascam Portastudio 414 4-track). They advertise that it can do the job but I was wondering if anyone has tried it. If it works well enough then I wouldn't have to buy an amp right away. Any ideas?
Supersonic
New member
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Quinus:
I am an acoustic guitar player and I want to start playing bass so that I can do my own bass tracks. I am trying to wade through thousands of basses to try to find one that sounds and feels good but doesn't cost a year's wages. If I end up liking bass I'll blow the year's wages later on. I was hoping that someone out there could help me narrow my search down by telling me the makes that are tough to go wrong with. I am looking to spend a maximum of $500. Please help this poor little acoustic guitarist break into the realm of bass coolness. Thank you.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I am an acoustic guitar player and I want to start playing bass so that I can do my own bass tracks. I am trying to wade through thousands of basses to try to find one that sounds and feels good but doesn't cost a year's wages. If I end up liking bass I'll blow the year's wages later on. I was hoping that someone out there could help me narrow my search down by telling me the makes that are tough to go wrong with. I am looking to spend a maximum of $500. Please help this poor little acoustic guitarist break into the realm of bass coolness. Thank you.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Supersonic,
I have a home studio, and use an Ibanez sr405
bass with active electronics. It has all kinds of tonal abilities, as well as good balance, and tone. I've played live with it for three and a half years with no trouble. I'll also tell you, a friend brought over a (dare I say?) Rogue 4 string bass for some tweeking, and it had a killer tone - very fat, and punchy. Too bad they are made like junk - frets are very soft, cheap woods, etc. but killer tone! All in all, you can't go wrong with either Ibanez sr405 and up, Fender P bass, or ESP mid range basses. They all will deliver for your application.
I have a home studio, and use an Ibanez sr405
bass with active electronics. It has all kinds of tonal abilities, as well as good balance, and tone. I've played live with it for three and a half years with no trouble. I'll also tell you, a friend brought over a (dare I say?) Rogue 4 string bass for some tweeking, and it had a killer tone - very fat, and punchy. Too bad they are made like junk - frets are very soft, cheap woods, etc. but killer tone! All in all, you can't go wrong with either Ibanez sr405 and up, Fender P bass, or ESP mid range basses. They all will deliver for your application.
I've been doing a lot of studio work and the best engineer I know told me that for the best all around tone without a lot of tweaking is the Fender Jazz bass. Will cover everything from Rock to Country to funk.
Angus Chan
New member
I use Ibanez SR600 for 7 years, still cant find anything for substitute. It offer you different kind of sound at a very affordable price!
Angus
Angus
Bass Ninja
New member
For the price, the Ibanez TR500 is my pick. I'll look through my old issues of Bass Player for a shootout they did on basses under $500 and see what they picked. Fender Jazz's are good, only if you buy the American models. The others sound like crap.
[This message has been edited by Bass Ninja (edited 02-17-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Bass Ninja (edited 02-17-2000).]