Choosing my second bass

[qub]

Hey everybody, I'm new here but I have already spent quite some time in talkbass. Seems like a very nice community.

(I DID read older "help me buy a bass" threads, but either they didn't help me or they were really outdated)

Ok, so a few months back I got myself my first bass. Since my father has been in a band for a long I asked if they had any old bass I could use and he gave me some kind of custom Warwick copy. It has seen it's days - a lot of notes have fretbuzz and it sounds crap overall. Since I fell in love with bass I'm gonna have to get a new one.

I've read endless reviews and here are the few basses that I liked so far:
*Warwick Rockbass Corvette (active)
*Yamaha bb414 or 614
*Squier Classic Vibe Jazz bass
(all 4 string)

I have held bb614 in my hands and it felt pretty solid and comfy, the action was pretty high in the store tho. Some people say that they prefer 414 over 614 for some reason :O (I don't really know all the differences between active and passive but I think active is more responsive, hence better for tapping which I use quite a lot ?)

As for the rockbass - It wasn't in the store so I have no idea how it feels like, however I've watched some youtube clips and it seems to have really nice growling sound that I like.

That Squier bass seems to be rather new so I don't really know much about that, except that it looks hot and that a few people have said it also sounds great (?). I am, however, sceptical about the vintage frets since I have no experience with them whatsoever.. I've also read that some other Squier models don't have that solid body.

It would be nice if you guys could help me choose or suggest an alternative. I like to play pretty much all styles I guess, including slapping of course, oh and the bass should have at least one jazz pickup
As for the budget - I wouldn't want to go much further than the rockbass.

Thanks so much!

 

[gibsonbassist45]

hmm. the other two sound nice. but i would actually go with the 614. i heard its standards are just as high as bass that would cost 3x as much.im not positive though.its actually one i was thinking of buying myself cus i thought it was pretty nice,but then i tried the fender 70s jazz bass,now im not so sure about it.but still im thinking.but yeah thats what i would go with.what color were you looking at?? black??

 

[a_ribbon]

have you taken that warwick in to get a set up? if you've just started you might not know how to do that yourself yet. honestly, unless something drastic has happened to the truss rod getting a full set up by someone that knows what their doing will get that bass back into top working order. a lot of basses sound like crap with crap set ups.

if you decide to get the set up the bass you have and it still isn't clicking your clock then here's what i'd do:

if i wanted a second bass i'd ask myself "do i want a nicer copy of what i already have, or something totally different to give me more options?"

another thing to think about is selling the bass you have now and put that money towards something a bit nicer.

active vs passive has been debated to death. they're both good for what you're trying to do. some people rely on old school thump so a p with flats is their holy grail. other people may need the extra headroom and control over their sound that only an active pre can provide. go play a few basses of each stripe in the store. cheapos, expensive ones, everything. eventually one type will win out as "ZOMG R0X0RS" to you right now. get that one. no one will kick you in the knee if you buy another one of a different kind later. i promise.

for the options listed though, i'd have to recommend the yamaha's. the squiers are getting awesome reviews too. i've played the vm precision. it was surprisingly good for the price.

ultimately i believe everyone else that posts in this thread will tell you to go out and try as many as you can. which is great advice.

 

[troyus]

As much as I don't dig the Yamaha in the looks department, it is a great sounding and feeling bass. Especially for the money.

 

[qub]

have you taken that warwick in to get a set up? if you've just started you might not know how to do that yourself yet. honestly, unless something drastic has happened to the truss rod getting a full set up by someone that knows what their doing will get that bass back into top working order. a lot of basses sound like crap with crap set ups.

if you decide to get the set up the bass you have and it still isn't clicking your clock then here's what i'd do:

if i wanted a second bass i'd ask myself "do i want a nicer copy of what i already have, or something totally different to give me more options?"

another thing to think about is selling the bass you have now and put that money towards something a bit nicer.

active vs passive has been debated to death. they're both good for what you're trying to do. some people rely on old school thump so a p with flats is their holy grail. other people may need the extra headroom and control over their sound that only an active pre can provide. go play a few basses of each stripe in the store. cheapos, expensive ones, everything. eventually one type will win out as "ZOMG R0X0RS" to you right now. get that one. no one will kick you in the knee if you buy another one of a different kind later. i promise.

for the options listed though, i'd have to recommend the yamaha's. the squiers are getting awesome reviews too. i've played the vm precision. it was surprisingly good for the price.

ultimately i believe everyone else that posts in this thread will tell you to go out and try as many as you can. which is great advice.

Thanks for the reply!
I don't think I could get even $100 for my current bass especially in Estonia where I live, there's hardly any second hand bass market at all (and I did try setting it up, relief is perfect and all, but i have to set it up to really high action if I want no buzz at all.. and then the pickups will be really low and I couldn't raise em)
The other thing is that there are only a handful of music stores here and 90% are yamaha basses.

EDIT: there were 2 fenders that I tried but they are out of my budget ;<

 

[a_ribbon]

Thanks for the reply!
I don't think I could get even $100 for my current bass especially in Estonia where I live, there's hardly any second hand bass market at all (and I did try setting it up, relief is perfect and all, but i have to set it up to really high action if I want no buzz at all.. and then the pickups will be really low and I couldn't raise em)
The other thing is that there are only a handful of music stores here and 90% are yamaha basses.

EDIT: there were 2 fenders that I tried but they are out of my budget ;<

yamaha are really quite good for the money, or otherwise. another thing i'd look into is peavey. you get a helluva lot of bass for your money and there's enough non-expensive basses in their line up that are still really high quality that you'll be getting more bass than you're actually paying for.

do you know the difference between different types of pick ups yet? do you know if you prefer p or j, soapbar, mm style humbucker?

you're gonna have a hard time beating yammy's or peavey's for their decently priced p/j basses. awesome quality and the peavey can even come with a maple neck! at that price!

also as an fyi make sure whatever bass you get sounds killer unplugged. later on you can always shove some new pick ups in the bass if it's not quite clicking your clock; but that will make no difference if the bass sounds like rotten eggs unplugged.

also, make sure whatever bass you buy you get new strings as soon as you buy it! see if they'll throw in a free set up. there's nothing more ghetto than taking a new bass home and having someone elses [everyone elses] hand juice molesting all over your strings.

i should have asked this in the first comment; but, what bass tones do you like? which players do you appreciate the sound of? that would be a nice starting point to helping you figure out what you want to do basswise.

 

[qub]

... oh and the bass should have at least one jazz pickup ...

so yeah I'm looking for either J/J or J/P bass. I like the punchy J bridge pickup.

 

[a_ribbon]

so yeah I'm looking for either J/J or J/P bass. I like the punchy J bridge pickup.

that's what i get for having more than one window open at a time.

i still stand behind my yamaha and peavey suggestions. especially in that price range.

you don't get the wow factor of having a trendy brands name on the headstock, but who really cares?

sound > headstock