Sorry for jumping on this before Mike, but here's my 2 cents....
Myself personally I started out with Fender, even though I really hated it. I quickly developed "finer" tastes and wouldn't touch something unless it had a good name on it. My main 2 basses were a Warwick 5 string Corvette and an Alembic 8 string. I played these and many other "high end" basses (Pedulla, Modulus Graphite, etc) for quite a few years before settling down and just appreciating a bass for how it sounds and how it plays. Currently I am playing an Epiphone (yes, a cheap $300 Gibson product) Les Paul bass. True it is an "artist" model, the "Vinnie" (from Sevendust), but it's still a Korean (or was it Chinese? Like there's a difference in quality) bass. The only thing I have done to it to change it is load it with Bartolini pickups. I learned a little while ago that those pickups can make just about any bass sound good, so stop worrying about how much it costs, and instead focus on how well it plays and how cool you look with it.
Well, that's my theory on the matter anyway. That being said, I would kill to get my hands on a Lakland bass though. I have had the pleasure of playing a few of them, and they are quite amazing. I don't know what they cost, but I don't think they are too over priced.
