Bass for a new guy

[thedbldilema]

I'm gonna throw my vote on the Squier VM. They are just a good solid Jazz Bass. And as it has been said before they are a great platform for modifications.

Man I love the neck on a Jazz Bass.

If you are considering just a small low wattage amp let me recommend the Ibanez Promethean. Its a killer sounding little thing for a really decent price.

 

[Kylo88]

Hi again folks,
I know I set my sights on the Jazz bass, but, plans change, as of today I’m the owner of a rather worn SR500.

It’s a 2004 Korean model, going by the serial number, and to be honest it looks like a 14 year old guitar that’s seen some action. The finish is pretty worn out, the strap button was taped on and it has a loose volume pot, but it was £50, the neck was straight and I wanted a bass today, time will tell if jumping the gun was a bad decision or not but I’m pretty happy for now, plus who can complain when it was that cheap right?
Here’s what it looks like straight out the case (which was in a worse state than the thing itself)

All in all I’m happy, I can’t get over how light and comfortable it is, plugged it into bias fx on my laptop and it sounds really good.
As I said I plan to use it to learn bass as it’s own entity rather than just being a guitar player playing bass as a necessity. The issues with the strap button and volume pot seem like 2 minute fixes. Down the line I’ll either add to the wear marks in the finish (apparently the finish on these is famously thin) or I’ll get sick of it and sand it to the bare wood, all in all I’m pretty stoked I have a bass

 

[Kylo88]

Oh, and ignore the Scar Symmetry sticker, I swear to god that wasn’t my doing

 

[Reedt2000]

Nice, that's a lot of bass for the buck. As long as the neck is not screwed up and the electronics are working you're golden, cosmetics don't matter.

 

[Kylo88]

Nice, that's a lot of bass for the buck. As long as the neck is not screwed up and the electronics are working you're golden, cosmetics don't matter.

I recon the price I got it from I robbed the guy.
The neck is as straight as you like, it needed a new battery but after that everything seems to work on the electronic side of things.
It might not be the pretty, but I bought it to play it, not look at. Plus people pay Fender thousands to have a guitar with half its paint chipped off, I got a bargain

 

[Reedt2000]

I recon the price I got it from I robbed the guy.
The neck is as straight as you like, it needed a new battery but after that everything seems to work on the electronic side of things.
It might not be the pretty, but I bought it to play it, not look at. Plus people pay Fender thousands to have a guitar with half its paint chipped off, I got a bargain

Ibanez build quality was great in that era, those cosmetic blemishes may be easy to fix. I don't know what Ibanez was using but it might be that some tongue oil or rub-in wood stain could blend those bare spots back into the brown finish. Might be worth posting a question in luthier's corner. Even if you leave it you did good, congrats

 

[Kylo88]

Thanks for the tip man, might check out luthiers corner for a few ideas on some things to spruce it up a bit

 

[mark61]

I have the same bass and love it. I put flat wound strings on it and love it. It's light too , so it's not hard to play for extended period of time. I keep waxing mine and slowly but surely some of the scars start to disappear. There still there just not as obvious. Paid $300 for mine used but I'm very happy with it
Best
Mark
Think the battle scars give it some personality

 

[Heavy Blue]

I recon the price I got it from I robbed the guy.
The neck is as straight as you like, it needed a new battery but after that everything seems to work on the electronic side of things.
It might not be the pretty, but I bought it to play it, not look at. Plus people pay Fender thousands to have a guitar with half its paint chipped off, I got a bargain

Great score mate! The finish adds some character and should be not so hard to improve on if need be. The jack and strap button are easy fixes.

I'm usually not a big Ibby fan but I've always had a soft spot for the SR500/05/06 series. I would've bought an lefty SR505 a few years ago but the Canadian distributor refuses to bring them in.

 

[Resonance129]

Kudos on the new VM Jazz. I played a white VM Jazz in a guitar store a while back (had some DR Black Beauties on it) and that thing sang. I was tempted to walk out of there with it, but was dealing with car troubles at the time. That's the only reason I didn't lol.

Regardless, enjoy that thing.
And welcome to TB

Edit: Guess I didn't read far enough (whoops lol). Congrats on the Ibby SR500 instead. Ibanez makes some really comfortable, nice-sounding stuff.

 

[Eon Sky]

Oh, and ignore the Scar Symmetry sticker, I swear to god that wasn’t my doing

Thank you for translating it, I couldn't even read it with the font!

Congratulations on the Ibby. I've got a couple of my own and love the necks. And kudos for scoring a bass with some mojo built in. At least you won't have to worry about the first 'ding'.

Now go rock that thing!

 

[SmokinJoe992]

If everything works properly, that is a great bass for that price. I paid $250 for my used SR505 and still consider it a bargain.