Basses you like that everyone else said sucks.

[Rocker949]

64 Gibson EB-0

Plays so fast and easy - really good deep bluesy sound. One trick pony, but what a trick!

+1

 

[Maxdusty]

That's cheap! I was curious about Dr Tech.

Actually pretty good. lol. No it's not an Ernie Ball or a Sterling, but it's better than my Squier. Quality wise, I would compare it to a Dean or a budget line Ibanez just cheaper in price. Closer to the olp model actually. There's a thread here on TB about these Dr. Tech basses. Pretty much everyone is surprised at the quality of it. Way to get it even cheaper than the $99 price is look for coupons/discount codes on Overstock and Amazon. I could have gotten the black one for under $80 but I really wanted the red color.
For that price, you can mod it to death and not feel all that bad about it. I'm just having fun with it as it is.

 

[Dbt25677]

My 2001 Mexican Jazz.
Honestly, people tell me that Mexicans aren't professional but I get the same sound out of it and even more than some Americans that I've played. I love my Mexe

 

[Super Iridium]

Washburn. I picked mine up on the cheap (as in $225) although it turned out to be a Custom Shop model which would have gone for $1200-$1400).

Washburn has been around forever with acoustic instruments and while they do make some pretty cheap models, my Washburn is one of the best basses I've played on a par that includes vintage American P-basses, Rics, Alembic, Music Man, etc.

The only thing I didn't like about it was the preamp (it was an active bass) that I simply rewired as a passive bass that now sounds so much fuller.

Great feel and tone and it's one of the lightest basses I've played.

Yet do a search...while people may not come right out and say it sucks, just the fact that no one talks about it much, if at all, pretty much says the same thing.

Exactly the same -- mine is a Washburn XB-900 and it is an American made beauty with a fantastic quartersawn neck, Seymour Duncan Basslines pickup and preamp and weighs in the 7 pound range. Yet these basses get no love at all here!

 

[Batmensch]

My neighbor came over to hang out, and mentioned that his son (great kid) wanted to get an inexpensive 5-string bass (to replace his recently-gotten 4-string) and was looking for some advice. My first thought was to hook him up with (as in give him) my Squier Jazz V, but then he said “but it can’t be anything Fender-like”…

Oh well.

Do you suppose it was the kid or the Dad that made that exception? I ask that because I remember reading on the Fender forums once a post from a father who said he had tried "Hundreds" eyebrow of Squiers and they all sucked, and that he would not allow his daughter to get any bass that cost less than $500 because they were all cheap garbage. Sounds like the same type of father.

 

[Lee H]

^this.
I worked at a GC, and even among employees there is gear snobbery. A few years back I bought a Traben, got a great deal on it cuz it had been in the store so long it was covered in dust. Great bass, nobody ever touched it cuz the headstock didn't say Fender.

If you can find any of the very early made in USA ones they are excellent instruments. The made in Korea ones are not too bad, although quality faded with time even on those.
The current crop of made in Vietnam and China offerings are the cheap BC Rich leftovers.
Only look at models with silver serial numbers, beginning with the letter T, on the back of the headstock. USA made, very early models and prototypes have no serial numbers at all.
Some of the very early ones come with SD pups and aguilar preamps.


One bass I have found that pleasantly surprised me was a Peavy Millennium. It was a cheap swap meet find. It is light, balances well, and sounds good.

 

[Snakeman1066]

ESP
Traben
B.C. Rich

 

[punkjazzben]

Not much love for lower-end Yamahas around here, but my RBX270 is a workhorse. I play the heck out of it, and it's beginning to develop some real mojo.

 

[Hevy T]

I am just loving my squier VM P bass. All that maple and the added high mass bridge makes that thing sing

 

[gsquare]

Gretsch Committee, cool vibe, way better construction than the Gibsons of the same era (ripper, grabber) and more comfortable to play given the bridge position.

 

[tabdog]

When the Peavey Fury came out,, most
folks seemed to hate them. I wasn't too
impressed with it either.

But it grew on me and now there lots of
Fury lovers out there,

Tabdog

 

[Rip Topaz]

I generally like ALL basses. To me, every bass has a usable tone. It's up to me to find it.

 

[6stringpanda]

Ibanez-started out on Ibanez-owned over 50 different high end models and somehow still come back to my Ibbys-of course I am a 6 string player so that might have something to do with my love of 6 string soundgears and the new high end stuff and GVB sig are really nice.

Still rock my old musicians and studios too-love the tone and feel of the old Japanese stuff.

 

[BigDanT]

If you didn't think the bass you play "sucked" before, just read enough TB and you'll find out that every bass "sucks" in some person's opinion. So play what you like, find a tone you like and rock it.

 

[el murdoque]

Is there such a thing as a bass where really everyone says it's crap?
Maybe these $100 models that sell on ebay, but i'm pretty sure there's people here that dig even these things. If a bass is usable - i.e. it produces sound and the intonation's good enough to play with it, someone will like it.

I made it a habit whenever i get into a music store and browse through their basses to pick the two or three basses that would be the bottom of my list and play them - basses i judged by the information available at first glance (price, name, looks and brand reputation).
And guess what - quite often i'm surprised.
Last time, i laid hands on an epiphone Thunderbird 5 in clear wood finish. I'm not into Gibson (i like the Les Paul Guitar but never digged their basses) so i never even considered epiphone. Well, this bass was a killer. So i put it back and took the 'real thing' - the Gibson version of that bass. It sucked (in my humble opinion and for my needs). Back to the epiphone - well i nearly bought it for €450,-. My funds were somewhat limited back then with a custom bass on order and a freshly aquired set of cabs, so i put it back.

 

[BawanaRik]

Do you suppose it was the kid or the Dad that made that exception? I ask that because I remember reading on the Fender forums once a post from a father who said he had tried "Hundreds" eyebrow of Squiers and they all sucked, and that he would not allow his daughter to get any bass that cost less than $500 because they were all cheap garbage. Sounds like the same type of father.

Narrow minded people abound. They are all over.

I'll be quite sure that anyone of us could go on Ebay and find a great bass, Ibanez Roadstar, 500 series maybe even a Peavey Cirrus in that range which would be a more than suitable bass for anyone.

 

[Dave Curran]

Exactly what the title says, mines the squier affinity jazz V

Yep, mine too. Shimmed the neck, threw some chromes on it, and got the action Oh so low!!! All stock.

Oh yeah, and the stock bridge is so much better quality, than my VM 5 I just got. That one is half as thick, and has a really weird angle on the intonation screws which make the saddle screws lean forward... Also it is warped, because it's so damn thin..

 

[E.J. T.N.T.]

My custom P. All the people I have played with just hate it. I have done a lot of recordings with it and the same people say they love it Exactly same settings, minimal post production, it is really beyond me why this is the case. On the other hand everybody loves it when I load it with flats.

 

[experimental bassist]

Back to the epiphone - well i nearly bought it for €450,-. My funds were somewhat limited back then with a custom bass on order and a freshly aquired set of cabs, so i put it back.

There's a saying popular with the guitarists in my neck of the woods, "Epiphone is the new Gibson".

 

[old mark]

2 very different basses...EB3 is the SG shape long scale neck with a huge humbucker at the neck and a small one at the bridge. GREAT, late 60's thump, heavy bass sound...Cream!

Zenith is a real oddity, no longer made, that gives me a near upright bass sound, good for very different types of music - early rock & roll, jazzy stuff and some blues, plus a few just odd little songs.

I love new Epiphones, bass and acoustic and electric guitars.

mark