I forget to mention that I'm a guitar player too.. So, in guitar world, fender has some reputation of salling her "brand tag "Fender" ". I don't know if I express well.
Still not sure what you mean.
Do you mean Fender is putting their name on anything they can get away with?
If that's the case, that's not fair, their stuff is pretty decent right from the bottom to the top and relatively competitive with other stuff at the same price point (ie if you buy a Squier, you're not paying a lot for the Fender association).
You also get the best trade in value from Fender associated stuff, so if you get to the point of wanting to upgrade again, you get some of your money back.
If you have like $500 you can get a pretty nice Fender MIM or if you look maybe even a MIJ.
Anyone who says they are not good basses are either huge snobs with underdeveloped "egos" who need to probe themselves by owning American, or are simply mis-informed. I would say behind the times, but right from the beginning of Fender's importing they have bought decent stuff, some of it was not stellar (but that usuall reflected the price point it was at) but rarely has it been sub-par quality.
If you want non-Fender for another reason, Yamaha, Ibanez, etc all make basses that are essentially "PBasses" (ie one PBass Pickup in the right spot and passive) for well under $500. ESP too.
Or if you don't need something so obviously "PBASS" you can get an awfully nice bass from almost any reputable brand at that price point. If you want it to "do the PBass thing" just make sure it has a passive PBass pickup and the option of passive operation.
