Budget basses that are way better than their prices suggest

[JottoSW1]

12 minutes ago, gjones said:

I hadn't paid, over the years, more than about £600 secondhand for a bass, until recently.

What I found, when I did splash the cash, is that although an expensive bass (ie in the area £2000)  is nice to have, you don't get that much more for your money.

I know many bassist who play cheapish basses, who get a great sound out of them.

Edit: I'd recommend investing money on amps and cabs, before spending on expensive basses. A cheap bass through good gear, will sound better than an expensive bass through bad/cheap gear.

Thanks for the edit, I can now rationalise / justify my recent amps & cabs splurge. Seem to now have options for any conceivable occasion for sure.🤣🤣

[Barking Spiders]

8 minutes ago, JottoSW1 said:

Like with hi fis I guess the law of diminishing returns does apply.  There's a furniture aspect with the high end stuff. Sometimes I wince a bit at the endangered tropical hardwoods thing. Some of the stuff on the Kiesel FB page gets a bit grotesque.

Yep, totally agree. When I see that e.g. mahogany, ebony and rosewood have  been used for making luxury products (including basses!)  that's an immediate turn off. 

 

[JottoSW1]

1 minute ago, Barking Spiders said:

Yep, totally agree. When I see that e.g. mahogany, ebony and rosewood have  been used for making luxury products (including basses!)  that's an immediate turn off. 

 

Purpleheart seems to be a Kiesel "thing" at the moment. Saw a guitar top there that simply looked like chopped red cabbage to me. Owner was not "impressed" when I pointed this out. Do love some of the Kiesel / Carvin basses mind.

[Barking Spiders]

3 minutes ago, JottoSW1 said:

Purpleheart seems to be a Kiesel "thing" at the moment. Saw a guitar top there that simply looked like chopped red cabbage to me.

It does at that.  Had a look on the Kiesel FB and thought most of instruments had horrible finishes e.g. the natural wood look, the Buckeye Burl, the Leia and the DC127 in Hot Pink Crackle . The Buckeye Burl looks like it's been rescued from a garden bonfire. There's one guitar that looks like a crime scene from Dexter

 

[Dan Dare]

A lot of the custom/exotic stuff is aimed primarily at wealthy weekend warriors - architects, lawyers, et al - who play in bands in their spare time. Nowt wrong with that. I'd far rather the companies concerned were making instruments than a lot of other dubious stuff. However, they won't necessarily be better, viewed purely as functional tools, than a decent Squier, Cort or similar. They just look a lot nicer and give greater pride of ownership.

I played in a band with a group of professional types once. Nice guys, not bad players and being given an occasional lift to gigs in a Rolls was fun.

[JottoSW1]

13 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

A lot of the custom/exotic stuff is aimed primarily at wealthy weekend warriors - architects, lawyers, et al - who play in bands in their spare time. Nowt wrong with that. I'd far rather the companies concerned were making instruments than a lot of other dubious stuff. However, they won't necessarily be better, viewed purely as functional tools, than a decent Squier, Cort or similar. They just look a lot nicer and give greater pride of ownership.

I played in a band with a group of professional types once. Nice guys, not bad players and being given an occasional lift to gigs in a Rolls was fun.

Types often seen toddling around C London on Harley Davidsons with overloud exhausts and bolt on mean man expressions.😆😆

[tvickey]

I have a few Warwicks that I use, but I'm still surprised occasionally with the tone that I can get out of my Ibanez Soundgear SR 300E.  The Ibanez cost me £200, and I really think that was a total bargain.  

[Barking Spiders]

So a lot of us are in agreement viz that there's a lot of quality gear under £500, which begs the question. Why bother shelling out over that amount? Someone said about superior looks of pricier instruments though IMO there are quite a lot of fugly ones over £1,000 and many nice - albeit many copies of Ps, Js etc - under £500.

[stewblack]

We must always remember. Whatever we buy, however hard we work, 99% of audience members and other musicians will not notice.

I've told this sorry tale before but i'll tell it once more. Played a gig, which was going down a storm, My Eden 8x10 combo (God I loved that rig) failed with a few songs to go. When i say it failed, it began responding to the bass with horrendous farting distortion - not anything even close to resembling 'tone' . I had no back up so I looked despairingly around at my bandmates who just blithely carried on. Rather than do nothing I played on with this horrrible noise where notes should be. At least it was in time.

No one. Not a bandmate, not one person in the crowd, not even my mate who was there to watch me, no one noticed. I learned a valuable lesson that day. Whatever we do is for our amusement only. So buy basses you like, amps and cabs which please you. Nobody cares.

[WinterMute]

If you can find one the OLP Tony Levin 5 string MM is a cracking bass, paid £250 for one a few years ago, dropped a Bart in and away it went. 

[Raslee]

The Sandberg Electra's are a bit over the £500 threshold but bleddy worth it - fantastic budget Sandberg instruments

[CameronJ]

7 hours ago, NickD said:

Pretty much anything with a Yamaha badge on it. Bass, guitar, brass, drums, keys, tech. The price range is almost irrelevant, you always seem to get quality beyond the price you pay.

This.

[Bill Wy,Aye,Man]

I've got an early OLP Stingray, they were made under license from Ernie Ball, and they were that good that when the license was up EB started making their own entry level stuff with the SUB. I had to rewire the pickup from two single coils back to a bucker and the difference was amazing. I'm getting rid of all my stuff soon

Edited July 6, 2020 by Bill Wy,Aye,Man

[WAYNESWORLD]

yeh what stewblack said!

[lownote]

7 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

Yep, totally agree. When I see that e.g. mahogany, ebony and rosewood have  been used for making luxury products (including basses!)  that's an immediate turn off. 

 

Not just the high end. I recently found out my Revelation is made from Okoume,  a tropical hardwood from the Congo.  Sustainable resource - not.  Do I care?  Yes, actually. If someone could guarantee my bass could go back to growing and supporting a parrot or two I'd happily seek out a more sustainable alternative wood.   As it is I just have to live with an uncomfortable feeling and a nice bass.  

[dudewheresmybass]

The Ibanez talman pinches way above its price

also the reissue aria pro igb retailing around £250 are good. 
 

the Westfield p bass copies on amazon at around £110 were particularly of note, but they seem to have moved their production, so not too certain any more 😉

[Bassfinger]

I bought by daughter a JB Mini 3/4 sized Jazz from DV247.  Solid alder body, flawless nitro finish, superbly dressed and finished neck, and it sounds genuinely fabulous, all for £99.  I'm presuming the full sized version is as nicely finished and set up, which would make it an absolute smasher for under 140 sheets. They do a fretless too that I'm trying to think of a reason to justify buying for myself...

Edited July 6, 2020 by Bassfinger

[miles'tone]

7 hours ago, JottoSW1 said:

Purpleheart seems to be a Kiesel "thing" at the moment. Saw a guitar top there that simply looked like chopped red cabbage to me. Owner was not "impressed" when I pointed this out. Do love some of the Kiesel / Carvin basses mind.

It's a Harley Benton thing now too. The PB-20 (the cheapest P they do) has purpleheart for a fingerboard now they're not using rosewood. Although they call it Amaranth. Same wood though.

Very hard wood, so tonally in the same park as Pao Ferro. Surprising really for an 80 quid bass!

[Lozz196]

3 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

So a lot of us are in agreement viz that there's a lot of quality gear under £500, which begs the question. Why bother shelling out over that amount? Someone said about superior looks of pricier instruments though IMO there are quite a lot of fugly ones over £1,000 and many nice - albeit many copies of Ps, Js etc - under £500.

I know, I’ve found the post 2008 Mex Fenders that I’ve had, especially the Player to be more than enough for my needs, but for some reason I still have to have US Fenders. Totally irrational, especially for gigging, makes much more sense to gig with a £500 instrument than a much more costly one.

[Bill Wy,Aye,Man]

What about the Stradivarius factor, I e, the best violinists play £50,000 Strads?

[Drax]

4 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

So a lot of us are in agreement viz that there's a lot of quality gear under £500, which begs the question. Why bother shelling out over that amount? Someone said about superior looks of pricier instruments though IMO there are quite a lot of fugly ones over £1,000 and many nice - albeit many copies of Ps, Js etc - under £500.

Consumerism! We're all suckers for it in varying degress. It's a buzz buying new stuff, but the buzz fades and we start again.

[ricksterphil]

A mention for Bass Collection basses.  I have one of their P bass style power basses which cost me £95 used. The new ones are around £350 - £500 and good value at that. 

[rasher80]

I prob sound like a stuck record, and in fairness I've only played the one so far, but for the price at which they retail at, Harley Benton are hard to beat.

Sure, there are better basses to be had, but some of their stuff retails at less than 3 figures off the shelf which is ridiculous in this day and age 

[ricksterphil]

6 minutes ago, rasher80 said:

I prob sound like a stuck record, and in fairness I've only played the one so far, but for the price at which they retail at, Harley Benton are hard to beat.

Sure, there are better basses to be had, but some of their stuff retails at less than 3 figures off the shelf which is ridiculous in this day and age 

Agreed. I have my eye on one of their short-scale semi acoustic jobs if one comes up at a reasonable cost

[chris_b]

CNC machines have made even the cheapest basses very playable. IMO most of these basses fall down with the cheaper pickups and hardware they use. But that's what the upgrade parts industry is there for.