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Cheapest bass you just LOVE

#41
gjbassist said:
My SX Jazz has been my main bass for a while now. Probably my favorite Jazz I have owned. Sounds great. Plays great. Comfortable neck. Cost me about $150 with shipping. I've got probably another $120 in upgrades in it and IMO I can't imagine a better bass at twice the price.
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Hey man, what's that bridge on the SX??
I have a very similar SX Jazz (the SJB-75) and it could do with a better bridge.
 
#43
scottfeldstein said:
A year ago when I decided to pick up music again, I bought an Ibanez SR300 for $250, new from GC.

Technically it's a piece of &@^#. But it plays like a dream. Low action, light weight. Plus it's stone cold sexy. I have a video of me playing it if anyone's curious.
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Yep, always interested in checking out others play.
Especially a bass he refers to as a POS but still loves to play anyway.

Post a link :-)
 
#47
First of all, let me start out by admitting that I am a bass snob! I have never liked Squiers or MIM basses. However, I also have to admit that if I was just starting out, I would probably buy one. They are much better than anything I played when I started in the 1970's. Back then, you could buy a 1970's Fender for under $300 which was a lot of money at the time. About 12 years ago I bought an Ibanez EDB600 at Guitar Center for $299 and it is still one of the best sounding and best playing basses I have ever owned. I currently own several 1970's Fenders, Alembics, 2008 American Standard Precision and a 2011 American Jazz Deluxe. I have to admit that there are times when I miss the Ibanez.
 
#48
My SX '62 SJB. $119 new. I love this thing.

Photo62_zps006b0250.jpg
 
#52
My Ibanez GSR100EXBKL. Left handed poor man's Music Man copy. It has the one dual humbucker pickup that produces that awesome growly Music Man tone, and the bass cost me $230 on eBay. It's left handed, and that makes it a real catch for me. Most lefty economy basses are either Ibanez GSR P/J series or Squier P or P/J copies. This one stands out on its own.

Sometimes I don't play it for a month and it still stays in tune so well. Neck is straight. I can't wait until it ages a bit and the wood gets harder. I have an Ibanez SR500 active mahogany I love, but I love this one as much -- One pickup, one volume, one tone. And excellent punchy clear tone at that! You can still get these on eBay too. Great little bass.

I also had a Cort Mahogany lefty with the P/J configuration but for some really stupid reason I sold it. Now I wish I hadn't. Loved that one two. I love good passive basses, especially of the Ibanez flavor. When I received the Cort bass, it came in exactly the same box as my Ibanez! Every detail of how they packed it was identical..?? Go figure...:bassist:
 

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#58
diegobxr said:
Hey man, what's that bridge on the SX??
I have a very similar SX Jazz (the SJB-75) and it could do with a better bridge.
Click to expand...

Can't quite see what that one is, but if you want a truly great bridge that you don't have to pry on to get things lined up like the original factory SX bridges, get one of these:

Link Removed

Do you see the prices on those babies? I bought a sack full of 5ers for my SX collection! Only downside is that the SX ashtrays won't fit over the wider MM style bridge.
 
#60
scottfeldstein said:
A year ago when I decided to pick up music again, I bought an Ibanez SR300 for $250, new from GC.

Technically it's a piece of &@^#. But it plays like a dream. Low action, light weight. Plus it's stone cold sexy. I have a video of me playing it if anyone's curious.
Click to expand...

Another vote for Ibanez. I've got a SR206 and an SR 506. Got both used. The first was about $200 and the second about $300. The 506 has 24 frets the 206 does not. The 206 needs some EQ to get volume balanced across all strings but both play like dreams and have tone to die for!

And another vote for Squire, I got a Squier special P fiver (the one with the two jazz pickups!) for about $200 and put in a Dimarzio bridge J and and real NOS Fender P-bass neck pickup. Absolutely NOTHING comes close to it. (Fender doesn't even sell a 5er PJ model!).

And I'll add my Fender MIM Jazz deluxe V. Plays like a dream and got it in like new condition for $300. I always hated the tone though. And THEN I bought a set of Fender (now discontinued!) SCN pickups for it! SAY NO MORE!

And then there is my SX collection! Seven SX basses in fretted and fretless in 5 and 6 strings. Each a little gem unto itself. I just bought them to be cheap bar basses and ended up loving them. (Just like the same thing that happened with my Ibanez bar bass 6ers)

But my cheap bass buy of the century was when I bought a pair of Bartolini split coil soap bars for $80 from a TBer and he threw in the bass they were in (an SX) for $10! The bass was an electronic disaster and the fingerboard was chewed (fretless) but with some sanding and rewiring it with "Leo's last passive circuit" (which is a G&L L2X00 circuit without the active preamp), that $10 bass is just amazing beyond belief! I love Barts anyway, but this combo is really special.

And that's my "cheap bass" story.
 

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