Mog Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Carrying on from an older thread that popped up recently regarding an old Jap Vox bass..... Anyways I got to thinking about instruments that sound really great but cost next to nothing when compared to some of the major brands. As an example, I've a really cheap acoustic that I bought on a whim about ten years ago. It's a Lorenzo F1 and cost about 90 euro at the time. This thing sounds great, certainly better than a lot of the lower spec Tak's, Yamahas etc. The construction is flawless and theres some quality woods used. A big plus for me was that it wasn't caked in lacquer and is getting better with age as the top starts to open up, The only downside was the bridge which was a bit too high for my liking. Easily sorted though. Another example would be my first bass, a Hohner LX90B. IMO, afine instrument that was punching well above its IR£180ish pricetag. The newer Squier basses and guitars usually get good reviews and theres always a few old reliable brands like Samick and Washburn to choose from. The recent Sue Ryder Pbass thread is another indication of what can be achieved on a budget. Anyone else have any hidden gems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conan Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I have a no-name J copy which I believe was made in China. It plays great!! Pretty much on par with my Jap-crafted Geddy Lee but with a much fatter neck of course. Now that it has decent pickups in it sounds great too. The original ones were very high output but microphonic and clanky. A real gem of a bass that I paid £100 for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Even the best guitars and basses cost peanuts when compared to the best orchestral instruments (for example). It's all relative, YMMV, IMHO and so on and so forth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mog Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1333024180' post='1596299'] Even the best guitars and basses cost peanuts when compared to the best orchestral instruments (for example). It's all relative, YMMV, IMHO and so on and so forth. [/quote] Aye that is true lad. Theres also the fact that most of the punters cant tell the difference between most of them but thats really another topic aint it. I recently asked a couple who booked me to play at they're wedding ceremony if they had a preference between the Lorenzo I mentioned earlier and my Ramirez. Of course they preferred the Lorenzo. Sods law I suppose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 [quote name='Mog' timestamp='1333024576' post='1596307'] ...Sods law I suppose [/quote] You know it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec 'Aleb' Mills Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1333024180' post='1596299'] Even the best guitars and basses cost peanuts when compared to the best orchestral instruments (for example). It's all relative, YMMV, IMHO and so on and so forth. [/quote] Thats why I'm glad I'm not a string player! wait... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I bought a bog-standard 70's Japcrap Maya Precision from PsychoAndy a while back. It had the usual rubbish tuners, plus someone had retro-fitted (a long time ago) an after-market mudbucker to replace the original even-worse mudbucker it would have come with. The bass is a sensible weight, the wood is really nice, the neck is highly playable and pretty much J-width at the nut, so it was clear that there was something rather tasty waiting to be unearthed. I installed decent elephant ear tuners, ditched the mudbucker in favour of a Lollar P/J set I got from Beedster, and replaced the butchered torty pickguard with an anodised '57 type I had lying around. It's now an excellent DIY Duck Dunn bass (the original type in 3TS, rather than the current CAR version) only with an extra J pickup as an added bonus. I've left the Maya headstock alone. This is my bass for jam sessions, open mics, and rough pubs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomE Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 You've already mentioned Squire and i got one for £75 off of the bay on a total whim. Its an early 80s model - very ugly and weighs a ton. When i plugged it in i was expecting to chuckle at is inferiority compared to my "expensive" basses. And chuckle i did as it sounds stunning! I'd bought a load of hardware to customise it but ended up having to use the hardware on another project as everything on the 30 year old Squire worked perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Yamaha. My bass tutor uses a simple RBX170 in his band and it works great for him. I have a BB614 that I picked up for buttons (although it had some issues to iron out) and I would say that a BB414 would be a great, inexpensive bass (I have heard some people say they preferred it to the active 614). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1333025205' post='1596327'] I bought a bog-standard 70's Japcrap Maya Precision ....[/quote] I'll look out for one of those as a backup. Maya is my little girl's name, and she'd be made up if it had her name on it. I even have a Fender vintage reissue pup lying around. Must be fate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razze06 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Take a pick from my signature Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudewheresmybass Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 My fecker pretender is really an old Westfield p bass. All I have done is change the logo, replaced the white pg for black and pop an sd spb3 in it. All in all a total of £110 I've recorded with it ( the engineer said he'd never heard so much bass frequency from a bass before!), and I regularly gig it hearing people who are convinced it's a 70s fender Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 The peavey millenium BXP 4 I had sounded great. Shame I didn't get on with the skinny neck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 My Blazer cost me £160!! Truckstop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Townes1992 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) I have had a Westfield for about 3 years which sounds pretty cool to me. The tuners are a little loose, but it feels fine. (I sometimes use strings which are around 3 years old too!!) And it cost about £100..... Edited: added price Edited March 29, 2012 by Townes1992 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 My Peavey International 4 string. First bass I ever owned and its still the best! Soundwise, it's like a Stingray with a top end rollof, and its passive! Only cost me £50 too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nottswarwick Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 [quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1333028505' post='1596400'] Yamaha. My bass tutor uses a simple RBX170 in his band and it works great for him. I have a BB614 that I picked up for buttons (although it had some issues to iron out) and I would say that a BB414 would be a great, inexpensive bass (I have heard some people say they preferred it to the active 614). [/quote] Yep. Yamaha. Job done. Always my recommend to student of bass and guitar. Can not simply go wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) I'm quite amused by the posts that say "I got a brand X cheapy bass I put a hand wound plutonium core gold plated water cooled mega pick up in it and it sounds great" - surely at this point it's no longer a low cost instrument? What about the cheap stuff that sounds great out of the box? +1 on Westfield P BTW, also my current fretless is a bitza with jazz pickups from a Lindo bass that I got for £10 (just the pickups I think the whole bass is about £120 new , Red Tiger model) EDIT : Having read the thread more carefuly it would seem that the bass I was thinking of still only cost £110, I take it all back. Still it's less surprising that this bass sounds as good as it does. Edited March 29, 2012 by Dom in Somerset Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I'm quite impressed with the AXL Badwater tele-ish guitar that I'm using with the band I play guitar in. It was all of £99, and the only thing that really needed changing was the nut. The neck and frets are decent and the pickups are proper alnico magnet jobs which I can't find a reason to upgrade. It's miles ahead of the Korean Squier I started on in the 90s. It'd be interesting to see if the basses are similarly good for the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I've got a Kalamazoo made (according to some Gibson site or other) Epiphone thing somewhere in my spare room. It's like a strat with jazz pickups and pointy headstock. Was the first bass I really loved. Was the only bass I owned for 10 years or so. Only cost me £70 from a music shop in Stoke, which I later found out to have been flooded. Nice bass, but I snapped the neck with the truss rod trying to straighten the neck 20 years later. Water damage. Neck has been glued and straightened using a jig and submersion in a bath for 48 hours. The frets need crowning though, and a tuner needs replacing... should really do some more with it's refurb... It the only bass of mine with a name. "Harry Dagger" - suits the pointy headstock and is scratched in the body under the scratch plate, by no other than "Harry Dagger" himself, who bought the bass new from Carlsboro (whatever that is now, and / or was) in Hanley and traded it. I found him on the internet and emailed him to ask if it was his bass. It was him who told me of the flooding in the shop he traded it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatEric Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 [quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1333043568' post='1596713'] My Blazer cost me £160!! Truckstop [/quote] See, I told you $$$$ doesn't always make tone! For anyone who knows me, knows I have some unusual gear and some great stuff but on the other hand, I have learned, over the last 35 odd years that sometime you just come across something that works for you. Some very surprising basses!!!! I may draw up a list! Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_B Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 [quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1333028505' post='1596400'] Yamaha. My bass tutor uses a simple RBX170 in his band and it works great for him. I have a BB614 that I picked up for buttons (although it had some issues to iron out) and I would say that a BB414 would be a great, inexpensive bass (I have heard some people say they preferred it to the active 614). [/quote] BB414s are just brilliant for the money - great sound and very very good build quality! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mog Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Aye Yamaha make great instruments. Really top notch at every price point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Bought a Vintage 4+1 for £200..... better than any Fender I've tried Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monckyman Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Hohner 82 Jap P £80+Mim Jazz neck £40+Wizard thumpers £35 £155 and it`s my preferred gigging bass over my very nice 05 MIM Jazz fitted with Nordstrands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.