Is there any really bad new gear out there?

[Chris2112]

The starter pack guitars these days are often hopeless. You know, the crap made-for-kids stuff. Some of them might be okay (I started 15 years ago on a Hartke B-15 starter pack, and both the bass and amp worked well) but there are plenty out there that are still awful.

My brother used to teach guitar and he hated those cheap starter guitars. It was always easier to get someone off the ground when the instrument wasn't working against them. Difficult to tune, impossible to set up to play cleanly.

[Wolverinebass]

I suppose it depends what you mean by bad. I kind of think that stuff that's bad per se is underpowered amps that have totally juked the wattage output. TC Electronic, Hartke, you know who you are.

[blue]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1509487332' post='3399425']
Are Rickenbacker still in business?
[/quote]

I'd buy a used Rick, just for it's killer looks alone.

Blue

[blue]

Please, someone explain to me what your getting when you buy a new Harley Benton Jazz Bass for $135.00.

They look cool, but again what are you getting?

Blue

[Cato]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1509575999' post='3400098']
Please, someone explain to me what your getting when you buy a new Harley Benton Jazz Bass for $135.00.

They look cool, but again what are you getting?

Blue
[/quote]

My brother in law has one.

The worst thing I can say about is that it weighs as much as a small planet.

Other than that it"d a perfectly decent jazz bass, I'd put it at least on a par with an entry level Squier or Epiphone.

[peteb]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1509575678' post='3400092']
I'd buy a used Rick, just for it's killer looks alone.

Blue
[/quote]
A mate of mine has a Rick (a 4004 i think - I've just googled it and it would cost nearly £3k new). It is his pride and joy.

Unfortunately it is without doubt the worst 'expensive' bass I have ever played...!

Edited November 1, 2017 by peteb

[goblin]

I'm gunna say it and it'll probably make me unpopular... But be aware that this is just my opinion. I really can't see the hype about Sire. Yet to play one I like, they feel cheap, look cheap, and I don't particularly like the sound either.

For the money, I'd rather get a Squier Vintage Modified, drop a John East in - it'll be a much finer bass.

[darkandrew]

My local music shop doesn't stock anything with a price tag of over £500 and some of those guitars and basses are astonishingly good - I was particularly impressed with their Michael Kelly guitars.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1509575999' post='3400098']
Please, someone explain to me what your getting when you buy a new Harley Benton Jazz Bass for $135.00.

They look cool, but again what are you getting?

Blue
[/quote]

You are getting a copy of a tried and tested design made in a country where labour is cheap, but with a decent degree of quality control.

These days there's nothing magical about having the Fender logo on the headstock. There's no R&D cost for the factory producing the copy. Besides one of the main features of all the original Fender instruments was that they were capable of being made by relatively unskilled labour using technology that was cheaply available at the end of the 1940s. Manufacturing technology has improved massively since then and now if anything it is even easier than it was back when the first Fender instruments were being made. TBH any company that isn't capable of making a decent version of Jazz bass nowadays probably shouldn't be making musical instruments in the first place.

[mikel]

Simple. If something looks too good (or cheap) to be true (or any good) it probably is. Vintage guitars are a snip at the prices they retail at. Not very, very cheap but superb value. I started with a guitar, from Bell Musical Instruments, that had an action so high you could have played it as a harp. Nurse.

[uk_lefty]

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1509555963' post='3399895']


I have one that works well...yellow finish. From what I've read they're good pedals, reasonably priced..
[/quote]

Yep, am sure the ones that work are suitable. I bought one in 2006, died immediately and the shop couldn't replace it so I took a refund. Bought one just over a year ago, it died immediately and it was better for the shop to send me another (postage cost more than the pedal) but that died too! I got a refund and had two duff pedals. Settled on a hartke, cheap and effective.

[blue]

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1509576604' post='3400106']

A mate of mine has a Rick (a 4004 i think - I've just googled it and it would cost nearly £3k new). It is his pride and joy.

Unfortunately it is without doubt the worst 'expensive' bass I have ever played...!
[/quote]

Hi Pete,

That's what I hear, not a very player friendly instrument.

Blue

Edited November 2, 2017 by blue

[blue]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1509619088' post='3400288']


You are getting a copy of a tried and tested design made in a country where labour is cheap, but with a decent degree of quality control.

These days there's nothing magical about having the Fender logo on the headstock. There's no R&D cost for the factory producing the copy. Besides one of the main features of all the original Fender instruments was that they were capable of being made by relatively unskilled labour using technology that was cheaply available at the end of the 1940s. Manufacturing technology has improved massively since then and now if anything it is even easier than it was back when the first Fender instruments were being made. TBH any company that isn't capable of making a decent version of Jazz bass nowadays probably shouldn't be making musical instruments in the first place.
[/quote]

Thanks,

If I was in the market for a new bass you would have sold me.

Blue

[blue]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1509540965' post='3399737']
I'm sure that there still is crap new gear being made and sold, but these days you'd have to specifically search it out, and even then it will still be better than what those of us who started out in the 70s and earlier had to put up with[/quote]

Agreed,

I go back to the mid 60s. All we had for amps we're the Fender Bassman and the Ampeg B-12/15. None of these amp could handle much volume.

You guys might disagree, but I contend there was no decent bass amp until the SVT was released.

Blue

[chris_b]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1509641310' post='3400551']
You guys might disagree, but I contend there was no decent bass amp until the SVT was released.
[/quote]

Well over here from the mid 60's on, we had Marshall, Sound City, Hiwatt and Orange amps and cabs. I'd say the sound of those amps and the bands that used them created and defined the sound of Rock.

[mikel]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1509642332' post='3400560']
Well over here from the mid 60's on, we had Marshall, Sound City, Hiwatt and Orange amps and cabs. I'd say the sound of those amps and the bands that used them created and defined the sound of Rock.
[/quote]

They did indeed. I had an Orange graphic 100 watt guitar amp and never got it above 5 on the master. That was one loud amp, pity it weighed the same as our transit van at the time but we had roadies so I didnt mind.

Edited November 2, 2017 by mikel

[blue]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1509642332' post='3400560']


Well over here from the mid 60's on, we had Marshall, Sound City, Hiwatt and Orange amps and cabs. I'd say the sound of those amps and the bands that used them created and defined the sound of Rock.
[/quote]

I could be wrong, but one could argue those were primarily guitar amps. But I'll give in a little on the Orange bass amps.

Blue

[Deedee]

I think the main difference is that years ago a really cheap bass felt cheap and played even worse (impossible to correctly adjust intonation, action etc).

Nowadays a very cheap bass may still ‘feel’ budget but it will be playable and functional.

EDIT - Am i the only person who had an Encore P in the early nineties that played fine? Did loads of gigs with it 😳

Edited November 2, 2017 by Deedee

[Beer of the Bass]

[quote name='Deedee' timestamp='1509666319' post='3400791']
Am i the only person who had an Encore P in the early nineties that played fine? Did loads of gigs with it 😳
[/quote]

I think Encores have come from a few different factories over the years. An old bandmate had one which was really not bad and played nicely but I've seen others which were horrible.

[chris_b]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1509665448' post='3400786']
I could be wrong, but one could argue those were primarily guitar amps.
[/quote]

I'm afraid you are.

All those makes had a variety of bass, guitar, PA and keyboard amps which were used by all the UK bands. Check out the early days of The Who, Hendrix, The Jeff Beck Group, Cream, Clapton, Free, Deep Purple etc.

[Cato]

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1509666784' post='3400796']


I think Encores have come from a few different factories over the years. An old bandmate had one which was really not bad and played nicely but I've seen others which were horrible.
[/quote]

I think there might also be an element that if a bass came out of the factory with a bad set up when I was starting out, in the pre internet days, most of us had no idea to fix it.

The information just wasn't widely available.

I used to fiddle around with the action and intonation screws on my Axe bass, but I had no idea what I was trying to achieve, other than trying to make it 'feel a bit nicer'.

[bazzbass]

[quote name='musicbassman' timestamp='1509522693' post='3399548']
Hard? Call that hard?
We used to rehearse in t'paper bag in middle of road.....................
[/quote]

LUXURY !

we used to DREAM of a paper bag to play out of

Me dad would wake me up half an hour before bedtime and make me lick the road clean

IF WE WERE LUCKY !

[obbm]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1509642332' post='3400560']


Well over here from the mid 60's on, we had Marshall, Sound City, Hiwatt and Orange amps and cabs. I'd say the sound of those amps and the bands that used them created and defined the sound of Rock.
[/quote]

..... and Watkins, Vox T60, Vox Foundation Bass, Vox AC30B, Selmer Goliath, etc.

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='musicbassman' timestamp='1509522693' post='3399548']
Hard? Call that hard?
We used to rehearse in t'paper bag in middle of road.....................
[/quote]

...AND... that bag would be one of Ringo's [i]hand-me-downs[/i] after he had farted in it.

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1509487865' post='3399429']
The worst bass I've owned was a Tuscany 'Bird' bass. The Bird bass was the absolute pits. A junk Chinese 'Rickenfaker' with badly voiced and badly mis-matched pickups. Soft, junk wood, a terrible rippled finish with no clear coat, cheap hardware and crap fretwork. Absolute junk from top to bottom.



[/quote]


All in all a pretty accurate copy then - except they missed the colour bleed into the binding.









This is a joke by the way - I've never played a Rickenbacker (though I did hold one once).

Edited November 3, 2017 by Count Bassy