First Bass

[Bass-ic]

I'd welcome suggestions on this, say around the £200 mark. Ive looked at shecktor and Ibanez and Yamaha. .
this sounds sad but every shop tells me something different. Some one also was a little disparaging about sound c*****l, whats with that?
Matt AB

[Buzz]

£200 mark?

Squire Vintage Modified Jazz.

Will come in about £220ish.

[kdphysio]

[quote name='Buzz' post='130376' date='Jan 29 2008, 11:33 PM']£200 mark?

Squire Vintage Modified Jazz.

Will come in about £220ish.[/quote]

i've just picked one of these up from soundlive website for £209.00.......very impressed with it.........the reviews weren't wrong!

[Musky]

My first thought was a Squire VM as well - either the Precision or Jazz. But I'm afraid you're probably going to get a lot of different suggestions from here as well, as everyone has their own priorities of what to look for in a bass. For what it's worth, there have been plenty of people on here that have recommended Yamahas and Ibanezs as a first bass and the odd suggestion for Schecter as well, besides a whole bunch more (Peavey and SX spring to mind).

In the past my default answer has been, go with one like your favourite bassists use. Besides looking the part (which let's face it is pretty important), it's also likely to get you on the way to achieving the same tone.

So the next questions have to be, what kind of music do you like and who are your favourite bands?

[Jester]

I bought a Yamaha RBX374 just before Christmas and I'm very pleased with it. It wasn't what I was looking for though - I was after something with more of a vintage look, but of all the ones I tried, the Yamaha felt the nicest. Have you been trying them out in the shop or just asking for advice? If play them, you will eventually find one that just feels 'right' in your hands.

Edited January 30, 2008 by Jester

[Bass-ic]

I have hugely varied tastes in music, and have tried to play as many in shops as i can, but i dont play so well yet , so am basing my research on look/reveiw etc.Not many reveiws in this price bracket tho. In reality, anything is better than what i have now, which was made by someone about 40 years ago.It sounds sort of ok, but it needs alot of sorting out, as the intonation is not great, and there is no adjustment at all. I asked here on this site yesterday about action height as a sort of default, mine measured 6mm at the 12th fret, which seemed a little high. again there is no adjustment. I just need something, which i know i will change fairly soon, to restart this whole process!
cheers
AB

[Rich]

Try everything you can lay your hands on. If a shop is reluctant to let you try stuff, walk and take your cash elsewhere.
For a classic look, the Squier VMJ as mentioned before.
For a more contemporary vibe, the Yamahas are IMHO unbeatable value for money.

A 6mm action is more than a little high... you can drive a truck under it! Definitely needs to come down. Looks like your best option is to spend your 200 sovs immediately.

[Hamster]

A lot of members are speaking very well of these - [url="http://www.rondomusic.com/bassguitars4.html"]http://www.rondomusic.com/bassguitars4.html[/url] AND as cheap as chips

Hamster

[Bass-ic]

[quote name='Rich' post='130536' date='Jan 30 2008, 11:21 AM']Try everything you can lay your hands on. If a shop is reluctant to let you try stuff, walk and take your cash elsewhere.
For a classic look, the Squier VMJ as mentioned before.
For a more contemporary vibe, the Yamahas are IMHO unbeatable value for money.

A 6mm action is more than a little high... you can drive a truck under it! Definitely needs to come down. Looks like your best option is to spend your 200 sovs immediately.[/quote]
Hey Rich, who would you recommend as a bass shop in bristol?
Cheers
Matt (AB)

Edited January 30, 2008 by Absolute-beginner

[Leowasright]

I really cannot add more than say get a Squier Standard at least (not the chinese "affinity") Precision or Jazz.
But I would go for a Jazz........

I nearly bought a Squire VMJ this week, but realised that a USA Fender will be £900-1000 by the time I WAS going to buy one at the end of 2008, so I bought one of the last of the current models. Also, it would seem the colour I wanted was discontinued as well. by the by....

David H

[Tait]

cheap ibanez soundgear or squier vinatge modified. i love my soundgear, id get the best one you can get in that price range. about the squiers, you wanna play both the precision and the jazz, and tell us what music you like so we can recommend which one would be best for you.

[Bass-ic]

[quote name='lwtait' post='130860' date='Jan 30 2008, 06:32 PM']cheap ibanez soundgear or squier vinatge modified. i love my soundgear, id get the best one you can get in that price range. about the squiers, you wanna play both the precision and the jazz, and tell us what music you like so we can recommend which one would be best for you.[/quote]
i like the Ibanez, it looks good and i did play a GSR200, which felt really nice. Am not sure about whether to get a passive or active, but so far its a front runner. I havent played teh Squier, bu t i think the Ibanez looks better. Sad way to decide i know.
Which ever one i go for itll be difficult to tell as im just starting to learn. I expect that after a year or so, ill have a better idea.
Matt (AB)

[Tait]

as a starter bass id reccomend going for a passive, you'll be less worried about tone and concentrating more on getting good, which IMHO is more important. if you feel the need for an active bass later on you can save up and definatly go for the SR500, more expensive but it is a BRILLIANT bass!

[mike257]

I've got a couple of old 'first basses' lying about, I went through a load of cheapo stuff before I took the plunge into Stingray-heaven. My Squier P-Bass Special still holds it's own though. It's the one with P/J pickups and the Jazz neck. It plays brilliantly, and I've never had to adjust a thing on it, although the electrics have needed work now and again.

I've got a GSR200 in the cupboard too, that hasn't lasted quite as well, the neck has needed adjustment plenty of times, and I've pretty much given up on it now. It's nice and slim to get around though, if you like that kind of thing.

Stuff at that price range can be really inconsistent though, so it's best (in my opinion) to get one in your hands, and if it feels right, take [b]that one[/b] home. Unless it's a Yamaha, they're always ace!


P.S. I'm currently buying bits to upgrade the Squier, I miss it on stage! Any suggestions for killer mods, or shall I just go the nice easy Seymours and Badass route?

[neepheid]

[quote name='mike257' post='131359' date='Jan 31 2008, 04:02 PM']P.S. I'm currently buying bits to upgrade the Squier, I miss it on stage! Any suggestions for killer mods, or shall I just go the nice easy Seymours and Badass route?[/quote]

Depends on how daring you want to be, and how much drilling/routing you're prepared to do!

How about upgraded machine heads and a Hipshot Bass Xtender?
How about converting it to thru body stringing if it isn't already?
How about adding active electronics?
How about changing the bridge to something not directly compatible (like a Hipshot A-style?)

Nothing wrong with a bit of quarter pound SD action, but for alternatives - Wizard pickups seem to held in high regard by some BCers: [url="http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/shop.asp?category=Bass"]http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/shop.asp?category=Bass[/url]

[mike257]

[quote name='neepheid' post='131379' date='Jan 31 2008, 04:30 PM']Depends on how daring you want to be, and how much drilling/routing you're prepared to do![/quote]

Haha, I'm erring more on the side of lazy than anything else... I was going to try and aviod any dramatic drilling for the time being, I'm only really dipping my toes into modding here, so I'm starting small!!

The tuners are a good call, I'd been considering the Hipshot, i do find myself up and down for drop-D quite often. Think i'm going to stay passive though, I'm tooled up with active basses so a change might be nice!! I'll check those Wizards out, I've seen them mentioned plenty around here, so they must be tasty!!

[Rich]

Said it before & will say it again... the Hipshot detuner thingy is the single most useful mod you can make to a 4-string bass.

[Tait]

[quote name='mike257' post='131359' date='Jan 31 2008, 04:02 PM']P.S. I'm currently buying bits to upgrade the Squier, I miss it on stage! Any suggestions for killer mods, or shall I just go the nice easy Seymours and Badass route?[/quote]

I've taken that route, if you wanna be safe it makes a great bass. I've also added a precision neck to mine, I can't stand the jazz neck.

[ARGH]

[quote name='Rich' post='131779' date='Feb 1 2008, 10:19 AM']Said it before & will say it again... the Hipshot detuner thingy is the single most useful mod you can make to a 4-string bass.[/quote]

Better still buy a 5 and see what your missing.

[tauzero]

[quote name='Rich' post='131779' date='Feb 1 2008, 10:19 AM']Said it before & will say it again... the Hipshot detuner thingy is the single most useful mod you can make to a 4-string bass.[/quote]
So much easier to just use a Digitech BP-200 (or similar) whammy to drop the entire bass by a tone. None of this arseing around with different relative tunings, and you get lots of free effects too.

[tauzero]

[quote name='Absolute-beginner' post='130339' date='Jan 29 2008, 10:38 PM']I'd welcome suggestions on this, say around the £200 mark. Ive looked at shecktor and Ibanez and Yamaha. .[/quote]
Precision and Jazz variants make perfectly adequate instruments until you get to the point where you can work out what you're looking for.

There's so many reasonable budget basses out there that you're really spoilt for choice. As long as they seem reasonable without going through an amp, you should be able to get a good noise from them with an amp (any Precision-type bass will sound like there's a pillow over the speaker but that's normal). Find one you're really comfortable playing and get that. After a year or two, make sure you've got a few quid spare, then every time you walk past a shop with a bass in, go in and try it out. If you find one which is a significant improvement over what you have, buy it if you can. If you find one which is beyond all your previous experience (as long as you have got quite a lot of previous experience by now), buy it. You may even find that your ideal bass is a Precision or Jazz variant - many have, but whether that's simply down to bassists' innate conservatism, I don't know.