did a show a while back where the guy before us was playing a Roscoe 3005. He totally blew. He sure looked good sucking though...I also found it kinda funny that he was plugging his $3000 bass into a $200 ampeg combo (that sounded like a turd).
The point is that it's not about a CHEAP bass (as in how much it cost) it's about how GOOD the bass is (as in how it plays and sounds).
All of this stems from a widely promoted lie. You see it everywhere. Online. music mags. Instrument maker literature and ads. And it's especially aimed at noobs. It goes like this:
If you have a player hero that you admire and would like to play "just like" him/her, then the way to do that is to spend a pile of cash to get an instrument just like Joe Blow plays. This is exactly the point of "endorsements". And obviously it's a total or nearly total lie. Yes, Joe's gear is part of his sound but the real "secret" of his talent isn't the gear but the "dues" he put in and the talent he brought to the instrument. I've never seen a case where a name guy like Joe did not STILL sound like Joe when playing any other instrument!
So the idea flourishes egged on by a host of manufacturers with gear to sell to noobs that somehow your skill as a musician is related to the brand of your gear. Now it is true that most skilled players DO take the sound of their instruments seriously. They DO obsess over minor details of sound and feel. But the key word here is "minor".
So the bottom line is that if your bass feels great to play and gives a tone you want, the price tag/brand/model are all irrelevant. One of the best bass players in this town has two main axes. A Squirer and an Ibanez. Two different sounds for two different kinds of music and both play and sound like boutique instruments costing thousands. So he just got lucky and had the ear to know when a "keeper" was in his hands. He'd be just as cool had he paid for boutique basses. The bass is the thing, not the brand.
Oddly enough, I've caught more flack playing my Alembic 6 string than my SX Fender clone. Again it's just a matter of people judging sound by what they see rather than what they hear. People are funny that way. And yes, music is ALSO "showbiz" so how you look onstage is a factor. Whether it's an sold school Fender sunburst tort guard 4 string look or avant garde 7 string, quilted maple top, boutique is making an image statement. And people will notice that. But any experienced player will know that your music comes first and image is a separate issue. Hey, blues players often like to play some old guitar that LOOKS like it's been laying in the swamp for a few years. But LOOKS is the operative word. If that instrument didn't give the tone and playability they want, looks would be irrelevant. They wouldn't play it. They only want the IMAGE of a backwoods player. They don't really want to play junk!
I didn't even realize he was talking to me and then didn't bother to correct him. He then proceeded to tell me about a fender "jazzman" bass in the pawn shop up the road that I needed to check out. 
