Budget Electric Basses - Your Thoughts

[Texsunburst59]

Why not be smart and try to find a good quality used bass for cheap.

Just put in the time and effort in pawnshops and CL.

Eventually the hard work will pay off.

Here are some of the basses I've bought in the last few years.

$64.64 - '74 USA Fender Jazz Bass
$180 - '79 USA Fender P-Bass
$315 - '89 USA Fender "Longhorn" Jazz Bass
$125 - '90 MIJ Fender '57RI P-Bass
$225 - '94 USA Fender Jazz V Plus Bass ( just picked this one up last week)

 

[DavesnothereCA]

....my mother had an old family upright piano that would go out of tune with in a week of being tuned.

A good player could make that thing sound fair, but a week later no one could.

~
Yes, there ARE limits to what can be wrung out of an instrument.

Whether it can be intonated and tuned, and stay in tune long enough to be useful in a performance - that WOULD be a large factor in whether I would choose an instrument, or how long I would keep it if I had already chosen it without expecting such problems.

Even a high end model of bass would not be worthwhile, if it turned out to be unfixable for those issues.

One other concern of mine would be how much hum gets into my signal, which mostly would be pickup design.

And recently, I have been thinking about getting a bass of lighter weight and shorter scale length.

But none of the above-mentioned factors will make any entire brand or product series a good or bad choice.

Of course the higher price of some individual models could make those alone unaffordable for some of us.
~

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

I’ve owned a lot of basses and guitars , some cost almost 4K others around $200.
I’ve sold off everything and now have 2 basses that do everything I need them to do. They both play great , feel great , sound great , and have excellent build quality .
My MusicMan Caprice and Squier Classic Vibe 60’s Precision are it as far as I’m concerned.

 

[NetRngr]

Vega.

Dude. I had a 73 Vega wagon with the wood grain side panels as my first car. I would pay cash money to have that thing back lol. The "Passion Wagon" was AWESOME!

 

[BadExample]

Dude. I had a 73 Vega wagon with the wood grain side panels as my first car. I would pay cash money to have that thing back lol. The "Passion Wagon" was AWESOME!

Mine was a 73 or 74 GT "millionth vega."

 

[Lionel Albert]

A bass sounds the way you play it but I agree that people want to find a sound they want.
Do you want to treat it well ? The most expensive instruments are made to be mistreated like a medieval sword (no matter if there are gold, pearls and precious stones on it).
Maybe I'm kidding, maybe I'm not.