Revelation and other good beginner basses

[phin]

Hi there,

I'm new to this forum, and to bass playing in general. I've wanted to learn for many years, but (yes, this is somewhat ridiculous but please save your scorn if you can bear it ) the death of Prince has for some reason given me a kick up the arse to do something about it.

So I've been doing some research into what to get. I don't have much money and I'd like to use what I can on some lessons, so am looking at cheap new basses or second hand ones.

I would like to play like a badass female Larry Graham (aiming low ) so am thinking a precision bass. I had thought about short scale but I tried a regular one in a shop today and think I'll be fine with that (I have man hands).

I had narrowed down my options to a Fender Squire Affinity (something like Bronco or Jazz) or one of the Yamaha ones, like the RBX 170 (or 174 or anything on that line I could find cheaply), but then I went into my local store (Bass Gallery in Camden, London) and the guy there wholeheartedly recommended a Revelation (I think it was the 77 model - [url="http://www.revelationguitars.co.uk/rpj77"]http://www.revelatio...ars.co.uk/rpj77[/url] ). Are they really that good? I'm not a fan of the look (the black Yamaha ones totally win that for me) but everything else seems good. I searched these forums but couldn't find much about them.

Or are there any other models you'd recommend? I read about Ibanez (GSR models maybe?!) but don't know anything about them.

Anyhow, all advice and thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

Fi

Edited May 4, 2016 by phin

[Grangur]

Hi Phin, welcome to the world of Basschat!

All the others will be along in a moment with loads of brand names for you. I can't advise on slap-bass. Try as I might, I can't do it much, but for buying a bass generally:

1 - Anything in The Bass Gallery will be good. I doubt Martin would give anything house-room if it were embarrassingly poor, he's a good guy.
2 - Real shame you didn't post 24 hours ago. I've just sold a nice P-bass copy in red, brand new condition for a song.
3 - Almost any contemporary bass you buy these days will be good. Some are better than others, but with modern factory-made basses, most are really good.
4 - Buy used - I've (almost) never bought a new bass. It saves you loads of money and if it's not the right bass for you you can sell again without losing money.

Edit: 5 - Go to all the stores around and try some basses. Denmark Street is a good place to get some good experience.

Take a look in the market place here there might be some for you.

Edit No.2 ; Take a look at Thomann's hot deals:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/hotdeals_GF_4_string_j_basses_HD_deals.html
There's a lot of love on here for Harley Benton instruments.

Edited May 4, 2016 by Grangur

[Romeo2]

Larry Graham, the inventor of slap? Then I am not sure about P, sure you can slap a P but for better, cleaner zingier effect try something with either two jazz pickups or humbuckers etc. Revelation the one you linked looks good too, p plus j pick up gives you the best of two, even three worlds! Squier Vintage Modified range is great too.

Welcome to the forum, btw bass gallery is my local too which is not that great for my bank balance

[Grangur]

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/282917-fs-nanyo-bass-collection-sb310-wh-seymour-duncan-3eq-preamp-l100/page__fromsearch__1


This one sounds good.

[Mykesbass]

Hi Phin, welcome to the forum. Revelation is a great brand, up there with the Squier Cv range (I'd avoid Squier Affinity personally). Revelation are overseen by a guy called Alan Entwistle who has a great reputation, and his bas pickups get a lot of love on here. Also as Granger said, the Gallery are not going to recommend something that isn'the great, as they too have a huge reputation to maintain.

[probablypike]

Welcome to the forum!

I thought I'd share my 2p on the Ibanez GSR since you mentioned it. I saved up and bought one of those as my first bass two years ago and I've been really pleased with it. It's light, got a thinish neck and the pick-up panning/built in EQ is useful for getting lots of different sounds. I don't intend on buying a new bass anytime soon.

That being said, if you fancy a P bass, go for a P bass. (But I don't know too much about them, the more experienced guys above will be more helpful there.)

[uk_lefty]

Hi Phin, love the ambition and hope you make it!! You certainly know a good bass player and good bass music already so now it's just about finding something comfortable for you. A PJ bass sounds like good solid advice, as you start playing with more musicians they may not always appreciate your Larry Graham repetoire so having a multi functional bass where you can just whack on the P pickup and play 90% of all rock music with a solid tone that cuts through.
Have a tickle on a few basses and see what feels best to start you off.
Best of luck

[phin]

Great - thanks for this advice.

Now, one question... what is the deal with pickups?! P ad J? I can see that some have two and some just one (IIRC the Fender Squire Bronco has just one). Do they create a different sound? One cleaner (for slapping etc) and one "dirtier" for straight up bass lines?

I will go and google what a "humbucker" is too!

Any thoughts on the Yamaha 170? Think I've found a cheap one with an amp and am quite tempted...

[TPTroll]

Anything by Yamaha will be well made. The TRBX and RBXs seem to be made from some decent woods - Alder/Mahogany, with some mango top options too, which is a nice option considering it's under £200. As a starter, try not to worry about something that ticks all the boxes and works out well on paper. If you like the look of it and you like playing it, go for it! You need to get something that you're going to enjoy playing and looks nice, as this will make you want to pick it up.

I'd also say that the P&J pickup configuration is also the best option for a beginner, as it gives the most tone options, but don't worry about that for now.

The revelation basses aren't bad, but I think they're badly positioned in the market. If you want an inexpensive, chinese made, basswood body fender copy, Harley Benton is the best option, and much cheaper, or a J&D bass (they are sold through this website here - http://www.dv247.com/guitars/bass-guitars/4-string-bass-guitars). Looking to spend more? Go for a squier vintage modified or classic vibe.

I've played some of the revelation basses and they are good, but not outstanding considering the crowded market.

The big tips for buying your first bass are -

1. Make sure you try the model before buying, and try a couple of other types to make sure you feel comfortable playing it;
2. Make sure you like how it looks, it'll make you want to pick it up and play more;
3. If you're looking to save money, buy 2nd hand. If you can, try the actual bass before buying, but if not and it's being posted to you, make sure you have at least tried the model of bass;
4. If you are buying second hand, take it to a shop to get set up properly. It'll cost around £40, but they'll get the bass playing really well for you. Nothing is going to put you off more than a badly set up bass, as even the nicest, most expensive bass is going to feel awful with a bad set-up. If you're buying new from a shop, they should do this for you as part of the purchase cost.

[keefbaker]

[quote name='phin' timestamp='1462436806' post='3042944']
Now, one question... what is the deal with pickups?! P ad J? I can see that some have two and some just one (IIRC the Fender Squire Bronco has just one). Do they create a different sound? One cleaner (for slapping etc) and one "dirtier" for straight up bass lines?
[/quote]

The "P" pickup is the one that's split in half, like the one in TP Troll's picture. That's generally a dirtier, gruntier sound. You can slap with it but people tend to prefer slapping on a J pickup (the single "bar" style pickup) or a humbucker near the bridge (ie: nearer the bottom of the bass than the neck)

[keefbaker]

In fact yeah, I just checked and Larry Graham used a Fender Jazz.

[CamdenRob]

Hi phin, you mention your local store is The Gallery, how local is that to you?

I live just round the corner from The Gallery and you'd be more than welcome to pop over for an hour and try a P and a J to see how they feel before parting with any cash.

Happy to go over the differences with the pickups, answer any questions etc.

[jezzaboy]

Any Yamaha or Ibanez will be a good bass to start out on. They tend to have an overall better reputation for decent build quality than say a Squier which can be a bit flaky sometimes.

The Yam 170 you mentioned is a good start.

[phin]

Hi all,

Just wanted to update and say thanks.

After a lot of reading I decided that there wasn't enough of a difference between the lower end Yamaha and Ibanez basses to worry a total beginner, and just bit the bullet and got what I could for a decent price on eBya. That ended up being a Yamaha RBX370 for £72. Pretty happy with that! It's in decent nick and I got some new strings and a replacement string tightening key from The Bass Gallery for another £33. I have just won a Peavey Microbass for £28 and will pick that up this week, so I feel like I'm set up with a system adequate for a beginner. When I can walk into a bass shop and play something that won't embarass myself, and (more importantly) be able to clearly identify the differences in sound, feel etc. between different basses, I shall think about getting something better. But I suspect that won't be for a while!

Spent the last week getting my head around scales, trying to figure out the best way to teach myself to read music (figure I may as well go all-in) and also try and make sense of the musical notation system and all its weirdness (like there being no E# or B#). Quite happy with my progress so far - feel reasonable confident with the Major and Minor scales, had a look at triads and printed myself out a song, all in musical notation, to have a proper look at. Any suggestions for beginner funk/jass pieces are welcome!

Will try and avoid posting stupid questions but possibly see you around in the future on here

Edited May 30, 2016 by phin

[3below]

The Yamaha is super value, it will take quite a price hike to improve on it. Even that can be avoided with improved pickups (if needed). I have a Chinese Warwick rockbass corvette and the German version, there is not much in it. When you do feel the need for a 'better' bass BC is the place to look and buy. It might be worth asking a local BCer to give the Yamaha a lookover and setup - I am sure someone will free-gratis. Youtube is your friend, search for bass lines that you like and learn from the many, many talented people on it who explain / demo how to play. In my day (old man here) you listened to the 7" single and tried to work out what was being played. Explains why I am still learning

Edited May 30, 2016 by 3below

[Fisheth]

[quote name='phin' timestamp='1464639662' post='3061091']
Hi all,

Just wanted to update and say thanks.

After a lot of reading I decided that there wasn't enough of a difference between the lower end Yamaha and Ibanez basses to worry a total beginner, and just bit the bullet and got what I could for a decent price on eBya. That ended up being a Yamaha RBX370 for £72. Pretty happy with that! It's in decent nick and I got some new strings and a replacement string tightening key from The Bass Gallery for another £33. I have just won a Peavey Microbass for £28 and will pick that up this week, so I feel like I'm set up with a system adequate for a beginner. When I can walk into a bass shop and play something that won't embarass myself, and (more importantly) be able to clearly identify the differences in sound, feel etc. between different basses, I shall think about getting something better. But I suspect that won't be for a while!

Spent the last week getting my head around scales, trying to figure out the best way to teach myself to read music (figure I may as well go all-in) and also try and make sense of the musical notation system and all its weirdness (like there being no E# or B#). Quite happy with my progress so far - feel reasonable confident with the Major and Minor scales, had a look at triads and printed myself out a song, all in musical notation, to have a proper look at. Any suggestions for beginner funk/jass pieces are welcome!

Will try and avoid posting stupid questions but possibly see you around in the future on here
[/quote]

Nice scores there, it would help to learn a little bit of theory, such as what keys are, a couple of scales. how to write music (It takes practice) and generally just take your time and have fun doing it. It won't fall into place right away and we're all still learning, but just focus on playing and making a sound!

The guys on here will answer any questions, they're pretty quick and patient.

[phin]

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1464640887' post='3061111']
It might be worth asking a local BCer to give the Yamaha a lookover and setup - I am sure someone will free-gratis.
[/quote]

I had it re-string at The Bass Gallery, and he also suggested bringing it in for a service to clean up the frets and also lower the strings slightly. Quite tempted to have a go at both myself, but possibly will end in disaster (I just replaced a plug socket, turned the power on and now have pretty grey smoke marks on my newly painted wall!).

I am in the process of learning If You Want Me to Stay, mostly for rhythm, and also Bach's Cello Suite 1. That seems like a big mission but seems like a pretty good way to drill notes and hand combination! Quite enjoying learning something new - when you're completely crap at something every day brings a nice feeling of achievement!