1st Bass recommendation for 12 yo

[Rnr..........4]

Avoid Stingrays because of the weight (unless you want to shell out for the 2019 lighter MM for 2K). I'd say stick with regular scale since the resale on short scale might not be great unless you decide to take to Guitar Center to trade when she outgrows it.

I'd recommend Ibanez, Squire, Spector Performer, Jackson, Dean. Reverb is great for browsing used and checking price ranges. Might be a good deal on there. It really depends what kind of music she likes too. What does she listen to?

As for amps. Fender Rumbles or Ampeg practice amp would work fine. I use this, a Vox amPlug 2 (https://www.guitarcenter.com/Vox/amPlug-2-Bass-Headphone-Amp.gc) which are great with headphones if noise is an issue. Bear in mind tho that it's best to use a passive with it because using an active eq bass with it might damage your headphones and hearing if you turn the volume plus bass and treble up. There is a setting tho that allows you to minimize the volume (from Green, Amber and Red being lowest decibels) if you do end up with an active bass but most of those brands I listed are passive.

 

[Damien1971]

I want to thank everybody for your help. I saw her looking at the Ibanez Talman line the other day online and decided to go with that. I have read on many sites that they are one of the best "bang for your buck" basses out there. More specifically went with the TMB 100k in peach pink. Was going to get a bass in seafoam blue/green as she loves that color, but to me that pink and black combo really pops.

Also at 200.00 leaves me plenty of $$ for an amp, strap etc.

I learned a lot from everybody and I am sure she will be joining this forum herself soon. Thanks again.

 

[Jim85IROC]

Glad to hear that you got the bass picked out. Your purchase price left plenty for an amp too. Plenty have already mentioned the Fender Rumble bass amps, and I agree that they're great. I have a Fender Rumble 40 that I use and I'm quite happy with it. One thing that surprised me though, was how good the previous generation Rumble amps also sounded. I had an older Rumble 15 and I thought it sounded great. The best part is that you can find those on Craigslist for virtually nothing. I just sold mine for $50, and I always see a few listed locally for around the same.

 

[31HZ]

Follow-up: Since Sweetwater continues to be out of the Mikro (COVID problems, apparently), I would up getting a Jaguar for my 11yo son who has been playing guitar for 3-4 years. He made the switch readily and is already playing a couple of songs all the way through ("Bass is so satisfying!") but he is having trouble with the scale, and a Mikro would have been a better fit (28.6" vs. 32", a substantial difference). He's 4'11" for reference.