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Can't decide between those basses

Which one ?

  • Total voters
    60
Scavel

Scavel

Guest
Jul 25, 2016
15
9
Antalya, Turkey
#1
I had a SX jazz, now selling it because it is not comfortable to play and i dislike it's sound,
I have 3 options:

Ibanez GSR200
Squier Affinity Jazz bass
Cort Curbow 4

Which one is the best, I mostly play blues, can you help me decide ?
 
#2
Scavel said:
I had a SX jazz, now selling it because it is not comfortable to play and i dislike it's sound,
I have 3 options:

Ibanez GSR200
Squier Affinity Jazz bass
Cort Curbow 4

Which one is the best, I mostly play blues, can you help me decide ?
Click to expand...

I've had all 3- one thing I've got to mention is that if you have the SX Jazz, you probably won't like the Affinity Jazz bass either. What about it is not comfortable or don't like about the sound?

Out of those 3 options, I would say the GSR200 - the P/J pickup should give you more variety in tones, be lighter, slim neck etc.
The Cort Curbow 4 (I'm assuming this is the older luthite body ones with one pickup) are very underwhelming in terms of sound-it's primarily a slap kind of bass more than anything, no deep lows. It's got the active preamp unlike your two other options but even then, it's somewhat limited. I've had five of these, loved the size (full scale but with the smaller body, fits in a regular guitar gig bag), the look but couldn't get over the lack of sound. I slap a lot but even then, it couldn't give me a better variety in tones- I've tried to like them..lol. Necks are a little suspect too and not quite as stable- it needed adjusting frequently.

I don't know if these are your only options or it's within the price range- but I would probably opt for these two other basses - Squier VM Jaguar or an Ibanez TMB100 like the one I have in my user pic. These can be had for under $200 used - mine was $134 as a scratch and dent special.
Reason why I'm recommending these basses are that they have the P bass pickup and Jazz bass pickup - (the GSR200 also has this configuration). For blues, a bass with a P bass pickup is perfect with a jazz bass pickup to vary up the tones.
 
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#3
Maxdusty said:
I've had all 3- one thing I've got to mention is that if you have the SX Jazz, you probably won't like the Affinity Jazz bass either. What about it is not comfortable or don't like about the sound?

Out of those 3 options, I would say the GSR200 - the P/J pickup should give you more variety in tones, be lighter, slim neck etc.
The Cort Curbow 4 (I'm assuming this is the older luthite body ones with one pickup) are very underwhelming in terms of sound-it's primarily a slap kind of bass more than anything, no deep lows. It's got the active preamp unlike your two other options but even then, it's somewhat limited. I've had five of these, loved the size (full scale but with the smaller body, fits in a regular guitar gig bag), the look but couldn't get over the lack of sound. I slap a lot but even then, it couldn't give me a better variety in tones- I've tried to like them..lol. Necks are a little suspect too and not quite as stable- it needed adjusting frequently.

I don't know if these are your only options or it's within the price range- but I would probably opt for these two other basses - Squier VM Jaguar or an Ibanez TMB100 like the one I have in my user pic. These can be had for under $200 used - mine was $134 as a scratch and dent special.
Reason why I'm recommending these basses are that they have the P bass pickup and Jazz bass pickup - (the GSR200 also has this configuration). For blues, a bass with a P bass pickup is perfect with a jazz bass pickup to vary up the tones.
Click to expand...

I don't know why my sx keybord doesn't feel right maybe the problem is my bass, i have played squier which felt a lot more easy to play rather than my sx, the reason I have these 3 options are I will buy second hand these are the basses in my city in my price range. Don't you think squier would be better for blues? Thank you for the reply
 
#4
I can't think of a more comfortable bass than a jazz, and a Squier Affinity is a step down from an SX (IMO). If you don't like the tone of the stock pups, (and I don't, either), you can always install better ones (and I always do).
 
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#6
Scavel said:
I don't know why my sx keybord doesn't feel right maybe the problem is my bass, i have played squier which felt a lot more easy to play rather than my sx, the reason I have these 3 options are I will buy second hand these are the basses in my city in my price range. Don't you think squier would be better for blues? Thank you for the reply
Click to expand...

Ah.....I suspect your SX bass just needs an adjustment? If the neck action feels a little high, the truss rod and string height can be adjusted- it should be somewhat similar in feel to the Squier.

Squier Affinities can be a crapshoot, it's either good or a lemon, so I would recommend trying it out if you can. If you have a music store near you, you can probably try out an Ibanez and Squier side by side to compare them.
I really don't recommend the Curbow for blues - I think your best options are either the Squier or the Ibanez.
 
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#10
Scavel said:
Even If I get my SX fixed, The sound of it feels unstable, I also have my friends ESP LTD B-50 which sounds a lot better than my SX for some reason, do you think the problem is my bass ?
Click to expand...

The B-50 has a P/J pickup configuration - perhaps you're looking for the kind of sound having that p bass pickup provides? The Ibanez has that same configuration.
Jazz bass pickups have a hum to them if the volume of both pickups aren't similar - single coil pickups have that 60 hz hum if not at the same level. I'm assuming this is what you're probably referring to?
 
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#11
Maxdusty said:
The B-50 has a P/J pickup configuration - perhaps you're looking for the kind of sound having that p bass pickup provides? The Ibanez has that same configuration.
Jazz bass pickups have a hum to them if the volume of both pickups aren't similar - single coil pickups have that 60 hz hum if not at the same level. I'm assuming this is what you're probably referring to?
Click to expand...
Maybe that's it, but If these options are not better than SX, I will get my bass fixed what do you think ?
 
#13
Scavel said:
Maybe that's it, but If these options are not better than SX, I will get my bass fixed what do you think ?
Click to expand...

I would go to a music store and try a few out - including a Squier and an Ibanez GSR amongst others. Check and compare the sound quality of basses with different pickup configurations. It sounds like ultimately, you're really after that P-Bass pickup sound. :)
 
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#20
Scavel said:
You guys actually made me love my SX again, I thought It was awful but after giving it a time I started to like it, the strings are very high, I will give it to luthier If he can make the fretboard feel easy, I will keep it and save money for Fender basses because those basses won't make any difference IMO. Thanks for the information :)
Click to expand...

That is a great idea! In the future, learn how to do your own setups on bass guitars and you can truly customize the instrument to what works best for you! Youtube videos are perfect for this. A new setup can make a bass sound and feel like a completely new instrument.
 
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