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Basses To Look At

C

Chickadee

Apr 23, 2011
3
0
#1
I started playing electric bass (after playing upright for a few months) last year just after school got out. I wasn't really sure what to buy, so I just got one of those Squier P-Bass starter kits that comes with the Rumble 15 amp. Now I'm ready to upgrade. I'm looking for something in the $600-800 price range. I'm fine with buying used, that's no issue with me.

The problem is, I have no clue where to start looking. Fender is really all I know. I think Fenders are great basses, but I'd like to try more than that before I go out and buy a bass (money ain't easy to get for us teenagers).

I like to play jazz, funk, stuff like that. I listen to guys like Jaco Pastorius, Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke, and Adam Nitti. I like all of their tone too.

Can anyone suggest some basses that I check out? Thank you. :)
 
#3
From Fender:

Used American Standard Jazz Bass
Used American Standard Precision Bass
Used Jaguar Bass

Judging by what you listen to I would say try the Jazz Bass first

also look into a used Musicman Stingray , they are hard to find under 800 bucks but if you look hard enough they are out there too

BTW I would keep the Squier P bass as backup and you can use it as a platform for modding if you want or sell it for something else
 
#4
If, your comfortable with your bass, maybe you should upgrade it directly? You could switch out the pickups, add a jazz pickup at the bridge, switch out the bridge, switch out the neck, or change the tuners. I would feel much more comfortable investing heavily in a Squier I already own then going out and buying a Fender.
 
#5
AntAir267 said:
If, your comfortable with your bass, maybe you should upgrade it directly? You could switch out the pickups, add a jazz pickup at the bridge, switch out the bridge, switch out the neck, or change the tuners. I would feel much more comfortable investing heavily in a Squier I already own then going out and buying a Fender.
Click to expand...

Advice appreciated, I'm not sure if it's "I suck at bass" or "The bass feels awful". Probably the first, but I'd like to confirm that on some other basses first. I'll take your advice into consideration. :)
 
#6
There a million threads like this one on TB and everyone gives you their advice, which is fine. But I think the best thing you can do is go to a local music store and try all the basses they have in your price range. See which ones you like in terms of looks, feel, tone, etc. Rather than just looking at Fender or MusicMan, or whatever, try whats available. You might like something you never thought you would.
 
#7
Chickadee said:
Advice appreciated, I'm not sure if it's "I suck at bass" or "The bass feels awful". Probably the first, but I'd like to confirm that on some other basses first. I'll take your advice into consideration. :)
Click to expand...

I think you are right to look at new basses first. I've had an Affinity Squier Precision and it was just not very good at all. It didn't feel very tight. Heck, for the price of upgrading the neck on your Squier you could get a used Classic Vibe or Vintage Modified Jazz, which are far superior to the low end Squiers. I get what you're saying and agree, my $90 used Squier Affinity Precision was awful.

There are times that it'd be appropriate to modify a cheap bass but upgrading to something nicer is often the best solution. You could dump a few hundred dollars into your cheap Squier and end up with a really expensive Squier that still has very low resale value. The alternative would be to get a nice used Fender that would hold its value and not need such extreme modification. However, if you are happy with certain aspects of a bass, there's nothing wrong with upgrading certain components.

Definitely go to a shop and try basses. I'm a Jazz bass man so I'll suggest that. They typically sound and feel better (much nicer necks) than Precisions, in my opinion.
 
#9
I think a GREAT used Lakland Skyline 44-60 (Joe Osborn) or DJ would do the trick!

you should be able to find one in your price range. IMHO...a Skyline (for the most part) is as nice as many US produced basses by several other companies....

good luck!
 
#11
Get to any Guitar Center you can. They'll have Ibanez, ESP Ltd, Schecter, sometimes BC Rich, Jackson, Peavey and others. So you can try lotsa diff basses. Decide what kind of pups you like the sound of best. Based on others including touring bands, sounds you really like. P, J, Soapbar, Humbucker mm style. Stanley Clark would of course be more in the soapbar with active preamp type basses. As are a whole lot of peeps in the jazz to fusion touring world. From that point, its simply matter of trying basses by diff mfg that use the preferred pup type on models you like the feel, sound, etc of. Of course pup replacement is easiest way to alter ones sound to advantage. So again you need bass with the pref type of pups so that if you do upgrade the pups you'll be putting soapbars into a soapbar pup bass instead of trying to get them in a P pup bass. Lol.

In your price range Id look as the brands I allready mentioned along with fender since you loike those. And used warwicks which also use J pups. Washburn taurus t24 I think its called, also uses J type pups and is very nice J pup bass for fairly low cost even new.
 
#12
As mentioned, try out as many things as you can; you might find a real gem, or at least something that's currently under your radar that might suit you.

Definitely sounds like a Jazz Bass style is what you're looking for, so try out some Fenders and other basses in the J style (there's quite a few, I hear...).

If you can get a hold of one to try out, I can safely recommend the G&L Tribute series. I just got an L-2000 and it's a lovely bass. For $700 brand new it's hard to beat. The construction, feel, and sound are all pretty top notch. The G&L JB-2 Tributes run about $550-$600, and they easily hold their own against anything Fender has been putting out (barring Custom Shop models, of course).

Also, in case you don't know the history behind all of it, G&L was founded by Leo Fender and was his final company he worked for until his death. So a G&L bass is as much a "Fender" bass as anything else, if not more so.
 
#15
DeanT said:
There a million threads like this one on TB and everyone gives you their advice, which is fine. But I think the best thing you can do is go to a local music store and try all the basses they have in your price range. See which ones you like in terms of looks, feel, tone, etc. Rather than just looking at Fender or MusicMan, or whatever, try whats available. You might like something you never thought you would.
Click to expand...

Yes, this. Go to the local big box and play basses. Everybody and their brother can give you advice, but until you have a bass in your own hands, you're not really going to know if it is the right one for you.

Also, when you have some time, use the search function and pull up some threads similar to this one. You might be surprised at what you read.


arsie said:
At least half of that $600-$800 should go to an amp.
Click to expand...

Amps often get overlooked by beginners. I remember when I upgraded to an Acoustic mini-stack (100 watts! 3 band EQ!) from a practice amp. The difference in the quality of the sound was amazing. Even if the OP spent $300 on a decent combo amp, her new bass would sound much better than it would pumping through the Rumble 15.
 
#18
OP - If you don't know what direction you want to move or why you want to move in that direction, then why move at all? What's the point of an "upgrade" if you don't have a specific purpose or intended goal in mind?

The truth is you can play anything you want with what you have now. The only reason to make a switch is if you are lacking and you've spotted a need for change. That doesn't seem to be the case because you've listed no criteria at all for what you want to move into. You haven't named a particular problem. If you don't even know where you're going, why do it?

Have you started playing gigs and your rig isn't powerful enough? Do you feel the need for a 5-string? A bass with different specs or dimensions and, if so, which ones? Do you just want something that looks flashier? You have to give us something to go on or else you're just talking about an upgrade for its own sake and that's just a waste of money, anyway. I can tell you what I would want to change if I had your rig but you and I have different priorities and tastes so what would that accomplish?
 
#19
^^I agree with nocontrols as per bass info...

Simply asking us what basses would be considered an upgrade from a Squier.....um, holy crap that's a mighty big list.

You'd be better asking us what basses are worse and stay away from them.
 

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