Advice on choosing a bass
 

So the Praise Band Leader of my church is taking me to get my first bass sometime next week and I was looking for some advice on how to choose what to get. The nice thing is, the church is buying the bass (technically it will be theirs, but it is for me). While he is going to help me pick one out, he isn't a bass player either (he's a guitar player) and I figured it would be better to ask some people who know their stuff.

The idea is for me too learn how to play at least some simple basslines to play in the praise band fairly soon. I have no illusions on becoming really good fast or anything like that, but as I already play guitar we are hoping I will get good enough to play some simple stuff fairly quick and then get better from there.

The type of music they play is pretty simple contemporary praise and worship stuff. My own personal tastes are pretty varied and I don't plan on limiting my playing style to just what we will be playing in the praise band.

I don't know what kind of budget we will be on yet, but I know I won't be getting any top of the line equipment.

Any advice you guys can give is highly appreciated.

For the most bang for the buck, I suggest you go with any bass in the Squier Classic Vibe series. They rival Fender MIM quality at half the price.

What brand of guitar do you play? If you like it, then maybe try basses by the same manufacturer. If not, then try the Squiers and the Ibanezes; you should find something you like from one of those brands.

The church is paying? Well, you can't go wrong with Fodera or Sadowsky, or maybe even a nice Ken Lawrence. :D

But, in all honesty, you're probably best off with a Squier, or a lower end Ibanez. Great bang for the buck.

You can always think used=maybe higher end bass. If the budget is enough, you can check out a Fender standard series Precision or Jazz.

Thank you for the replies. Gives me something to think about.

I had a Gibson and an Ibanez at one time, now I have a Fender. I liked the Gibson best.

I agree with Goldmember. I would go with a CV Jazz.

Yamaha or Squier. You cannot go wrong with these.

You will not find a Gibson bass that's worth a damn in your price range unless your price range is $1500 or better. Unless you're talking about a used one. Even then, I don't know..

try a Spector legend my .02

Yeah, I doubt our budget is going to be quite that high for this.

I would follow the general opinion of a squire or ibanez. I personally own an ibanez ATK 300 series and I picked up used for about $350 I believe it was. It's still my primary and it has a very wide tonal range. I also own a modified squire and the tone on that one is killer as well. I replaced the pups with EMG's though. Again, the ATK has a very wide tonal range and it's active as well which gives a lil more juice.

I'll put my vote in the bin for the Classic Vibe as well. Either the P or the J bass. Both are really nice, and not just for the money. The necks especially feel awesome on both basses.

And I agree with both of them. It's hard to beat that J bass for versatility and quality at that price point. Perhaps a few Ibanez basses can hang quality wise in the price range, but they are more "hit or miss".

A 5 string is fairly useful for church gigs.

Yeah, prolly would be. It would be nice to have those low, deep notes I suppose. More range.

One more vote for the Squiers.

And I'd suggest you go with your intuition. Your gut. Get the one that likes your fingers and you like her neck.

^ my thoughts too.

I'd go with an active bass too but that's just me.

Active 5 will cover a lot of P&W stuff.

You need to figure out three thing first. 1. What kind of neck do you prefer? Slim or thick. Then 2. What kind of pups work best for your desired sound? P, J, soapbar/humbucker. 3. Does passive or active work better for desired tone? Satisfy those three needs and try every bass you can that meets those till you find several that are great. Then narrow it down from there.

For low budget, ($300-$400) I think Ibanez and Esp Ltd B series aere among the best to be found. Jackson JS3 series as another though more agressive and pointier. All 3 of these are Diff better then fender squires imo.

I found there are two types of basses that have worked well for me in that setting. Fender and Musicman style basses. Both have great tone and are pretty easy to figure out. If you need a slimmer neck then I'd focus on a sterling by musicman sub ray4, ray5, or sb14 (the later being their midrange line that goes for around $450 used). For a more universally known bass tone, I'd get a squier classic vibe p bass. The reason I recommend the p and not mentioning the jazz is that personally I would take a music man sound over a jazz bass. It's not to say jazz basses are bad, quite the opposite, but when it comes to p&w music I like that sit in the sonic spaces that precisions and musicians tend to occupy. If at all possible, try before you but and used if you can.