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Are there any bad basses anymore?

#41
tlite said:
One of the best players I know went with me to GC the other day. He swears by American P's and American J's.

He nearly walked out of GC with a new fluorescent green Chinese Dean bass that he initially picked up as a joke figuring it would be awful. He is still talking about it.
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I think I saw that one-LOL! Was that the one at the Daytona Beach store?
 
#43
thehindteet said:
I never played a bad bass. some of them are harder to make sound good than others, but its the thought that counts. they could all have a home with me.
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This is sort of the thing. Yeah, sonny, I remember back when all those "vintage" Fender basses going for 20 grand today were considered cheapie bad basses by me. (I played upright at the time...hey even my Upright was a problem with wood cracking all the time) But as time goes by, like the Borg you adapt. And the fads and opinions of rosy yesterday slide into focus. Truth is Fenders WERE cheap basses just like my SX collection is today. So the bridge is a bent piece of metal, it works and with luck the wood gives some decent tone. And that does not even take decent wood. Consider the Danelectro made of masonite!. You can't get lower than that but the tone is very special and unique. Since I still collect all those 60's junkers I'm not speaking through a rosy glow. I mean take my Italian Welson. A neck like a noodle and body of some kind of crate wood, Yet a hoot to play in spite of it all. Lets face it the ultimate record for crappy bass is the old Soviet era basses and they are still something I still would not kick out of my "vintage" crap bass collection. Ever hear "it's just so bad it's good"?
 
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#46
tlite said:
Squier is good. SX is good. Epiphone is good. People are even digging Rogues.

What the heck? Is anyone making crap basses anymore like in the good old days?

I'm talking horrible action, intonation issues, sharp frets, terrible or misaligned parts and woods, electronics shorting out, parts breaking, etc. Something that really makes your fretting hand hurt, that kind of thing.

While this thread may wind up having a brand or model bashing aspect to it (which is to be expected), this is overall a positive statement on the gear we have available now. Just saying, I went to my local shop the other day and played some expensive and cheap basses and while some were better than others, not a bad apple in the bunch!

Anybody still making bad basses these days?
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Walmart sells some pretty bad ones. You can also get some really bad ones online for like 40 bucks brand new.
 
#47
Davbassdude said:
I literally work less than 5 minutes from our local GC and spend at least 2 to 3 lunch hours per week playing their guitars and basses (kid in a candy shop)! I can tell you that as long as the setup is decent, Some of the $250 instruments sound and play as good or better than the $1500 instruments!!!
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It's true - and as already noted, whatever is lacking can be easily tweaked with an assortment of readily available components. "bad" is subjective - to me, regardless of quality, sound or worth, a bass that excessively neck-dives or weighs 13lbs is my "bad". (design) YOMV
 
#49
Turnaround said:
The junk is prettier these days than it was in the past. And critical judgement seems to have waned.
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True enough - but it, as it always has depends on what one spends. There were fewer choices "then" but there were price range basses. As a player who started in '66 I can tell you as a fact that my $40 MIJ bass then wasn't anywhere as playable as a Squier Bronco or Jag bass, and if you adjust for time - the Squier would still come in more affordable, most especially for a new player. I feel a standard for acceptance of "good" is how well a cheap instrument can deliver the necessaries of its purpose for a new player. On top of that, go directly to "what you can afford". There's too many choices out there, that's the main issue.

"Critical judgement" is a straw man - it all comes down to what one can afford. Unless you mean that people have lowered their critical judgement because they can't afford more - if so I agree with you and blame our economy as a contributing factor. Unjustified expectations related follows just behind.

Before anyone jumps down my throat - I identify with both sides and have 'been there' so I speak with experience. The rush to buy pretty junk has never been greater. It's reality now - and as bass players we always make things work, regardless of handycaps. It's our nature.
 
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#50
I recently Marie Kondo'd myself into a trade @ Music Go Round. Of the roughly 25 basses they had, there were only 5 or 6 that were potential keepers, and half of those needed work. I don't consider myself a gear snob, but there were plenty of basses that were unbalanced, uncomfortable to play, or just sounded bad.

They plugged me into a sweet Eden rig. The Lakland I came home with is a gem, probably the best value I've ever scored as far as quality for the price. But there were far more thin-sounding basses, buzzy fretboards, necks with torticollis, others with uneven frets, dead pickups, and finish issues that detract from their quality. Most were basses that I would have been disappointed to bring home. Sure, some of them would have been ok with a setup, new pickups, and new strings. But there were more than a few crappy basses, lots more than there were keepers.

Of course, Music Go Round is definitely a different sample set than GC and higher end shops. But yeah, bad basses are still a thing.
 
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#53
I bought a Spector Legend Neck-Thru a few years ago.. one of those really nice looking Blue Burst ones. When it came in, the "brass nut" looked like a bunch of pieces of scrap brass welded together and it was too small for the neck, so I could see the corners of the fretboard from the top. The truss rod cavity was filled with a white powder I can only assume was sawdust? And the pickups were wired out of phase. This was a $1300 dollar bass, mind you. It's the only bass I've ever returned.
 
#54
mazdah said:
My advice - ALWAYS try the instrument in a band context.

I've witnessed the situation when cheaper instrument sounded almost identical as more expensive one - blindfolded you wouldn't be able to tell which is which.
When played with a song you could easily tell which one is a cheap, crappy copy.
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I have to ask, how can two basses that sound identical suddenly take on different qualities when played in the presence of another instrument? add 2 guitars, vocals and drums and what exactly happens then to change the tone? Logically speaking, it should be the other way around.
 
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#56
instrument quality build:
kinda depends when you bought an instrument
1964: first guitar, Kent, from a pawn shop
Japanese:
bad build, weak sound, play action sucked (in 1964 what's a set up?)
the defining common factor from that time, everyone my age (14-15 yrs) had the same suck choices unless your rich parents could buy you that expensive Fender or Gibson.
forward present:
entry level instrument buyers now have many choices that are well made, playable and reasonably priced
the present is better than the past
 
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#59
tlite said:
One of the best players I know went with me to GC the other day. He swears by American P's and American J's.

He nearly walked out of GC with a new fluorescent green Chinese Dean bass that he initially picked up as a joke figuring it would be awful. He is still talking about it.
Click to expand...

That was my first bass. Drop your favorite P pickups into that sucker and you've got s player!
 
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#60
tlite said:
Squier is good. SX is good. Epiphone is good. People are even digging Rogues.

What the heck? Is anyone making crap basses anymore like in the good old days?

I'm talking horrible action, intonation issues, sharp frets, terrible or misaligned parts and woods, electronics shorting out, parts breaking, etc. Something that really makes your fretting hand hurt, that kind of thing.

While this thread may wind up having a brand or model bashing aspect to it (which is to be expected), this is overall a positive statement on the gear we have available now. Just saying, I went to my local shop the other day and played some expensive and cheap basses and while some were better than others, not a bad apple in the bunch!

Anybody still making bad basses these days?
Click to expand...
Samick's Greg Bennett series weren't bad. I took home a split-coil bass that sounded great, but it ended up going back for other reasons. Pawnshops may sell for upwards of $150.
 
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