Cheap Bass Reality Check

[Cutter8]

For me, its all about the feel of the bass. Everything else is easy enough to fix. Forget about the branding. You like the feel of the neck on your Squire Vintage Modified Jazz, which has a nice looking rosewood fretboard, and you have already upgraded the pickups, wiring, pots, jack, and bridge to your liking. The only issue is weight. Just find yourself a lighter weight jazz body and you should be good to go.

FWIW, I have owned 70-80 basses over the past 3 years ranging from $200 to $5,000 plus. None of them bring me more pleasure than the cheap mongrels that I upgrade and tweak for a few hundred dollars that feel and sound as good as those that cost 10 times more...

 

[CallMeAl]

I see what you’re getting at. My main is a MIM neck, Squier body and a Duncan pickup. I can’t seem to replace it and I’ve stopped looking to.

Part of it is feeling the law of diminishing returns thing (eg, really liking an MIA Am Pro, but not feeling like it would net me anything, musically.) Part getting so used to that bass (eg, buying a “nicer” G&L which I liked but never felt like “home.”) Part was having a preference that was hard to come by (J neck on a P bass.) Part was doing all the work myself, and feeling really connected to this instrument.

Oh yeah, no pic…

 

[TyBo]

Yeah, I'm happiest with home grown parts instruments or modded cheapies. Regular off the rack don't measure up, and I'm not into spending megabucks on high end stuff that I may or may not like better. (Maybe if I hit the Megabucks lottery ... )

 

[shnapper]

I like inexpensive bass guitars as a platform. Mods are bridges and pots to keep things at a minimum investment. I like the way they all sound, a good amp can dial in pretty much any sound to an extent. I see zero reason to spend high dollar amounts on this sort of thing. I’ll stick with CV’s and a few others

 

[lethargytartare]

It's mostly about the neck for me. I've never had good luck with necks on lower end basses -- never stable enough over time. They play great when everything is set up, but I'd always find them needing constant attention. I remember loving my first MIM jazzer, but later when I was able to get a used MIA, it was night and day. Knowing how to do all he the setup and tweaking makes it easier to avoid get punched by the NEW price, of course. I keep getting lured by bargains, but after pouring work into the necks I inevitably let them go. I like to look for older basses used -- if the neck is 20-30 years old, it's going to stay pretty predictable. And everything else is easy to swap in and out (the body is just eye candy).

And when I feel the urge to build something, I start by hunting for used MIA jazz necks lol.

My current player is a Sterling that I swapped in an 80s era Stingray pickup. It took some time and tracing to figure out how to map it into the sterling preamp (because I was too cheap to buy completely new electronics) but now it's perfect.

 

[Whale guy]

Thanks to all for the quick feedback.

Agreed, learning to setup & having the tools is huge. Can't imagine not being able to do that.

Strings choice is also huge, though the original pickups and pots were still pretty lifeless.

I currently use & love D'addario EXL160 100-50 medium gauge nickel wounds.

Surprised no one's mentioned pairing up with the right amp.

I guess this thing's excessive weight isn't such a big deal, despite past shoulder injury, and it may actually help its lower midrange punch. FWIW, I use a Comfort Strapp (tm), which gets me through 4-hour bar gigs pretty easily.

Will prolly hang with what I've got til I can justify a more high-end upgrade.

In the time honored tradition of Talkbass, I highly recommend that you keep your Jazz AND go buy another bass or two as quickly as possible.

 

[Leigh Semmens]

this bass cost me $550 and was in really rough shape. was probably made in 1994 i think, I got it in 2021.

with tons of little tweaks and repairs, and full gutting of the electronics (including routing for new pickup case shapes) my goal was to achieve "fodera" tone. Really it's that boutique sound from aguilar electronics.

this bass nails the vibe so well i literally put a little butterfly sticker on the headstock. it's a bit of a joke, but it's also true that with careful selecting of bass/parts, you can do a lot. the problem is that it takes a certain level of knowledge and experience to plan and execute such a mod that will achieve such a result in tone and playability.

it can absolutely be done. obviously certain terds cant be polished, but good bones can be utilized to their fullest potential, for sure.

Love it! Now I need to practice a whole lot more to be half as good, and, of course, go out and buy a 6er.

 

[tb-player]

I modded a Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar bass about 6-7 years ago. Tuners, pickups and bridge. The neck kind of went away on me after a couple of years so I took it all apart and sold the bass, tuners, pickups and bridge individually. Didn’t get all my money out of it, but I made more than had I sold it as a modded Jaguar.

It was a cool bass but not nearly as nice as a plain ol’ US Fender. And it was many, many miles away from my Sadowsky or my Lull. That being said, the dude in the 3rd row of wherever I was playing couldn’t tell the difference, even if he was sober.

 

[Iristone]

I often do it with guitars and snare drums; for basses my favourite designs have unfortunately no cheap models to begin with.

 

[tpaul]

The VM and CV Squiers are good instruments. The only surprise in the OP's story is the nut. The VMs I've tried tended to have high nuts that needed shaving to get the strings to a reasonable playing height.

If it plays well and sounds good, keep playing it.

 

[J Wilson]

I've bought three Squiers over the last several years, and would not hesitate to buy a few more.

I think for experienced players who know a bass with solid 'bones', buying these or any of the $500 ballpark basses that are out there either as pieces to upgrade the few things to make them rock solid, or to use as a launching pad for more extensive remodeling is a solid option.

IF I were gigging steadily as I once did, I'd make sure they were 'hurricane ready'. Look under the hood, and the price cutting shows, the no-name pots, sometimes iffy soldering joints, cheap wire, etc. Of course rewiring these with CTS or other better pots with better wiring and a better jack is not an expensive retrofit. The keys and bridge are good enough, and all of mine have tight neck pocket fits. I've always gone through most any bass to make sure I wasn't tripped up in the middle of a set, regardless of the price, and these would be no different.

Mine get in tune, stay in tune, are ordinarily very quiet, and sound fine, and hold a setup. Can't ask for any more than that, and it's been an eye-opener after years of playing far more expensive basses that this much axe can be had for that price range.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Who else has taken a cheaper bass and invested time, effort and $ into making them sound like better instruments to the point where buying a more expensive bass feels like a step backwards?

I've never been a big spender, in fact I'm just plain old "cheap" according to my friends. After I restored my Fender Musicmaster from the "two steps above firewood" condition it was in when I got it, I was hooked. And I knew how prolific Fender basses were and just thought they were the holy grail for a bassist to have. And all I ever heard about Squier was they were the economy models, nothing special. But my reissue Squier Musicmaster proved all that wrong to me. It's still a great bass other than the weight. At almost 9 lbs it's a stressor after cervical spine surgery.

The biggest hurdle is getting over the fear of modding your instruments, IMO.

Also my opinion. I had a very skilled luthier who I had do all my work for me. But he's retired and was smart enough to flee our crummy, long, WI winters. So I thought maybe I could learn. And aside from a few "difficult" people on TB that just can't believe I asked such a "dumb question", I did find lots of useful information here. Now I have 2 parts-basses with custom paint by my kids, both with Sentell pickups, both with Squier Bronco necks, both about 7 lbs, that I researched parts, assembled, setup, wired, shielded, and tinkered with.

If a $3k boutique bass is what you're living for than rock on, we all have opinions and things we want. My basses are more special to me because I did the work and got the weight (both hovering around 7 lbs), tone, and something personalized that I love to play.

 

[arbiterusa]

Who else has taken a cheaper bass and invested time, effort and $ into making them sound like better instruments to the point where buying a more expensive bass feels like a step backwards?

Not one of my current stable, world class basses all, started off awesome. Or cost more than $300.

As a former builder, I have put a lot of time into these and they are all refinished and customized by me. So yeah, I could spend a LOT more per instrument and still have no guarantee of getting what I like. I like what I have.

All Cort B4FL basses, used. Active electronics pulled (fully passive) and holes patched.

My latest addition, one of those cheap Indonesian Sterling basses, post refinish. This has cost a bit more than average as I put TI flats on it. Those are not cheap!

That Squier Affinity in the background is next with an electronics and pickup swap.

 

[M.R. Ogle]

To the OP: Keep the bass that works for you. Don't gamble.

Here's an analogy: In auto racing, there is a HUGE advantage for the two-car teams. They find a baseline setup that works, and set up both cars that way. THEN, they experiment on ONE of the cars with different components. If they find something that works better, they put it on the other car, too. Back and forth. They make progress and get faster, but they always have the fallback setup that WORKS.

You need a second bass. Just dont let the one that works for you get away, you might regret your "upgrade."

 

[prndltech]

I’ve had inexpensive basses that were great, I regret selling them. Only ever swapped out pickups for maybe $150ish or so.

I know a couple pro players that currently use fender player series p or j basses cuz they just work and haven’t modded them. They say they get asked about em all the time… but they’re easily replaceable and they play well.

The first bass I bought over $600 was a fender American pro precision 5 string. It was my only bass for a couple years and I thought I was done, it was the ultimate bass! but after playing active 5 strings for years I guess that couldn’t be true, even though I loved the simplicity. I got a ridiculously good deal on a brand new stingray special 5 HH and it’s been king for the last 3-4 years.

I have a natural swamp ash sire p7 5 string on order to play around with because ive never had a sire bass, an active/passive bass, or a PJ configuration… it will be the most inexpensive bass I currently own, but only time will tell. Of course I’ll have to spend time with it and play out with it after setting it up to form my own opinion on it, but we’ll see if it or the fender stays…

 

[Nebula24]

After years/decades of rarely playing my full scale wasn't sure if I would stick with it after finding a used shorty epi eb0. Not sure as a kid if I knew short scales existed and variety was less back then.

Love my epi eb0s neck. Play it all the time. Not sure if it's just now I want to play or then it was wrong neck. But epi has neck Iove.

Cheap used bass and have now added reissue guild bisonic, hipshot bridge and recently novak h22 gold foil.

If I had known it would respark my playing I could have probably justified a pricier bass if one locally sparked my playing. Knew buying it, if I stayed interested, I wanted new bridge and bisonic. H22 was bonus after a few years and wanting to try middle position without routing. Easier to mod it over time.

Still my fav neck. So still worth it. Too customized to want to sell it. It fits me.

I still need to swap for lighter tuners.

 

[Oluolugbenga]

I would 1 million percent keep a bass that felt great rather than starting again with a new one, even a supposedly 'better' one.

I started on a Squier PJ and moved onto an Ibanez SRX500 which I thought was such a huge upgrade - active, longer neck, cooler look, etc.

Whenever I picked up the Squier it just felt weak and weedy. But I kept it for sentimental value.

One day my flatmate borrowed it for some recording and played the hell out of it. I couldn't believe my ears!

Moral of the story, he was a great player with great feel. And he'd given my old bass a little setup too.

The name on the headstock was much, much less important than his hands, eyes and ears.

 

[GTHintz]

Who else has taken a cheaper bass and invested time, effort and $ into making them sound like better instruments to the point where buying a more expensive bass feels like a step backwards?

Take this with a grain of salt please - I'm a meat-and-potatoes bassist who's recently gotten back into bass-as-primary instrument after gigging guitar for decades. Bass gigs I've been picking up have been mostly simple fare bar blues, soul, rock deals ranging from SRV to Marvin Gaye to Otis Redding to Tom Petty.

10 years ago I snagged a Squire Vintage Modified Jazz bass Guitar Center was blowing out for $200, took it home, set it up, and immediately started using it on a weekly guitar gig for 3-4 songs. The nut was cut perfectly, and the neck felt great, and now it seems that its rosewood fretboard isn't something you find on cheap basses anymore.

OTOH, it's a heavy bass, even for a jazz (or P-bass) style body, and all the electronics were pretty not-great. The electronics were an easy fix - I pulled out the soldering iron and replaced wiring, pots, jack and pickups about a year into owning it.

The bridge was last - I found a Gotoh hi-mass one in a local tech's used-parts drawer for $5 plus my old bridge.

Next at bat, if I keep it, will probably be a higher-ratio tuner key upgrade.

Now, there's been some interest from other bassists who've used it at jams I've hosted, and I might have an opportunity to upgrade to a slightly more expensive, and lighter weight bass.

Problem is "slightly more expensive" will still probably mean a pickup upgrade at least - not a fan of stock pickups on anything I've tried. And I'm not sure anything I've tried outside of one feels better - most feel worse, so I'd have to trust that a setup will get it done. Then there's the whole unknown-to-me-newer-fretboard-material thing (and while I love J basses, I don't love maple neck J basses).

So has anyone else had a similar experience? Am I making too much of a thing out of this? What did you end up doing and was it a good choice?

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I have 2 basses I've done up. Both really sound like they are well above the price. If you look at my profile picture you'll see a blue Rogue bass. I have a preamp, fender jazz pickup, and custom built p pickup that was a gift from a friend who knows where to get lots of good stuff. Basically it can cop a Spector like tone and sounds great on Pantera, queensryche or anything old school metal. New those go for 100$ roughly. I got it for 60$ years and years ago. The natural color in there is a fretless gstyle from China. It was about $250. I made it passive and put Spector soapbars in it. Definitely made this thing pop! It's got a vibe all its own so I don't know what to compare it to. Maybe an Ibanez SR but heavier? The body is kinda unique and comfy on a strap. It's neck through which is nice. The others are stock. I haven't felt a need to really mess with them. I guess my point is to prove that you can be happy without spending big money and every bass has something unique to offer. If you really like the jazz bass it only makes sense to check out a squire. Aside from the obvious headstock sticker, electronics that may or may not sound good, and hardware/ finish craftsmanship it's litterally a jazz bass. Same thing as fender, Sadowsky, Sandberg, etc ... The thing that you pay the premium for is that name and being able to have that extra attention to detail as well as getting the electronics built to whatever you want. If a master builder like Roger Sadowsky does it then that costs. If you do it yourself or have a good buddy to help you can get a very similar outcome. When it comes to these industry standard basses you really don't have to break the bank to get something good that you can make awesome with very little effort. Boutique instruments are definitely lovely and I have some favorites but those are inherently unique due to the special body shapes, necks, fret material, woods, electronics and that translates to the unique tones you get. Ken Smith, Warwick, Wal, Carl Thompson etc all have their own sound and it's not a fender. Likewise fender doesn't sound like them either.

 

[BAG]

I made a thread about my recent dirt-cheap bass and parts build here.
It really does play better and sound better than just about any Stirling bas I've played at sports recently, and here in NZ they start at around $700

 

[swink]

Who else has taken a cheaper bass and invested time, effort and $ into making them sound like better instruments to the point where buying a more expensive bass feels like a step backwards?

Take this with a grain of salt please - I'm a meat-and-potatoes bassist who's recently gotten back into bass-as-primary instrument after gigging guitar for decades. Bass gigs I've been picking up have been mostly simple fare bar blues, soul, rock deals ranging from SRV to Marvin Gaye to Otis Redding to Tom Petty.

10 years ago I snagged a Squire Vintage Modified Jazz bass Guitar Center was blowing out for $200, took it home, set it up, and immediately started using it on a weekly guitar gig for 3-4 songs. The nut was cut perfectly, and the neck felt great, and now it seems that its rosewood fretboard isn't something you find on cheap basses anymore.

OTOH, it's a heavy bass, even for a jazz (or P-bass) style body, and all the electronics were pretty not-great. The electronics were an easy fix - I pulled out the soldering iron and replaced wiring, pots, jack and pickups about a year into owning it.

The bridge was last - I found a Gotoh hi-mass one in a local tech's used-parts drawer for $5 plus my old bridge.

Next at bat, if I keep it, will probably be a higher-ratio tuner key upgrade.

Now, there's been some interest from other bassists who've used it at jams I've hosted, and I might have an opportunity to upgrade to a slightly more expensive, and lighter weight bass.

Problem is "slightly more expensive" will still probably mean a pickup upgrade at least - not a fan of stock pickups on anything I've tried. And I'm not sure anything I've tried outside of one feels better - most feel worse, so I'd have to trust that a setup will get it done. Then there's the whole unknown-to-me-newer-fretboard-material thing (and while I love J basses, I don't love maple neck J basses).

So has anyone else had a similar experience? Am I making too much of a thing out of this? What did you end up doing and was it a good choice?

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I read too many "ifs," stick with yours.

Bought for 100$ ,250$ upgrades (for now), fabulous Bass... will not be replaced by a "real" more expensive P.