Well, we've certainly gotten away from the OP's original question.
He has a good, fairly expensive and unusual bass that is his benchmark, and asked what is "the best in the biz". The idea that Ken Smith, Dingwall, Knuckle, Lull, MTD, Roscoe, et al should have been left out of the conversation, strikes me as a kind of reverse snobbery.
It also would have severely shortened this thread: "well, that Warwick is awfull good. So are G&L's and Ernie Balls if you can afford them. There's a bunch of other stuff out there, but you don't want to know about it, because most of them aren't available from GC. Nothing more to see here, move along."
This is TB, and it's populated by bass enthusiasts. You see a lot of people in the "affordable fun" camp, but you also see a lot of people who love the rare and exotic.
When enthusiasts gather, you naturally see a higher proportion of the exotic- this is the nature of enthusiasm.
When I was involved in auto sports (driving a crappy little base-model Honda Civic and a succession of ratty restored bikes), I rarely saw exotic or unusual performance cars and bikes on the road, yet there were dozens of them at the club events I attended. It's the same when I drive a couple of hours to attend bass get togethers in Toronto.
As in auto sports, so it is in music. Most of the administrators and leaders on TB are "one percenters" in one way or another. Once again, it's the nature of obsession.
I don't think I'm alone when I express my appreciation for these encounters. The generosity of others allowed me to get my first drives and rides in and on cars and motorcycles that I might never have experienced. It allowed me to progress towards better cabs and amplification, and at least in the world of music, I've been able to acquire and enjoy at least a few real exotics.
Furthermore, it has extended my career as a bassist. When chronic back pain threatened to end my involvement as a working musician, it was TB'ers and small-volume vendors like Acme, Audio Image, AudioKinesis, Dingwall, Euphonic Audio, Flite, Genz-Benz, Karol, and SWR who allowed me to not only continue to play, but to see my enjoyment increase even in my "declining years". It's only through the efforts of these pioneers, that more affordable and obtainable lightweight gear from mass-market brands like G-K and Fender eventually became available.
Last but not least, used exotics are amazingly affordable, if you keep an eye out for them. I paid $225 for my SWR Studio 220, $275 for my Acme Low B, and I've passed up on other steals like an Accugroove for $345. Most of those were on sale at my LMS, and I've never lived in Meccas like New York or LA...
This is Talkbass, not "Talk affordable basses as it relates to my narrow definitions of local affordability and availability, or otherwise shut the heck up". If that's what you want, then my advice is to either confine your involvement to threads that are specifically in your area of interest (which still leaves you hundreds, even thousands of choices), or start your own forum.
