The irony, however, is once you master the instrument, you can play a "whatever" bass in a way that makes people not care what is on the headstock.
In fact, the only people in the audience who ever care what's on the headstock are... bassists.
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The irony, however, is once you master the instrument, you can play a "whatever" bass in a way that makes people not care what is on the headstock.
In fact, the only people in the audience who ever care what's on the headstock are... bassists.
Disagree.
A beginner needs all the help they can get.
A experienced player can coax a workable sound out of nearly anything within reason. Which is one reason why those off the wall Italian and Japanese basses from the 60s are snatched up by so many experienced players who go on to get some great and unusual vibes going by playing them. You have to be a really good player to to make less than ideal and junk instruments work well for you. Virtually anybody can sound good with a flagship bass going through a top notch amp. Even a straight root-5 sounds impressive when played on a MAI Jazz plugged into a B-15N.
One way to guarantee many players will chuck it all in is for them to purchase or be given an instrument that fights back or gives an unsatisfying feel or tone. Beginners need the best quality (not necessarily most expensive) instrument they can get their hands on far more than a more experienced player ever will.
Perhaps an adjustment of your personal interpretation of "entry level" is in order. Virtually every company selling vertically stratified product will have an entry level product. It is a means to capture the widest possible customer base. As such, Alembic has an entry level bass, but I'm fairly sure it's base price exceeds what many might spend on a premium instrument; nonetheless, that is the entry level for that particular product. Similarly, Porsche has an entry level car in the form of the Cayman, but with a starting price of $55K it is likely economically out of reach for some. In short, the term "entry level" can be interpreted to mean the point of entry for that particular product or brand. There are many fine entry level bases, and as many have noted earlier, entry level bases from some of the least expensive instrument providers of today are a far cry better than many of the basses available in the '50s, '60s and '70s, and that includes some of the premium instruments of that era. The term need not have a negative connotation.
I had an OLP many of you guys might know what that is, I think "Officially Licensed Product" a copyright to MusicMan,something like that ?A few years ago it was around $250.00, at GC. It was a very good bass, for the price point. They are out there.
Another GASquisition for my son. A 5-string advertized for $65 by a really nice bloke in CA who agreed to ship it over to me in England (shipping + taxes cost more). The price was because of completely dud electronics - perfect. I installed a Warman pickup that a friend was endorsing and an EMG BTC in my parts box. Absoutely wonderful bass. The body and neck of those OLPs were great.
Squier was specifically instituted to compete with cheap knock-off imports in a race-to-the-bottom price war. Fender happened to own the brand name already due to the acquisition of a company that made strings under that name. Fender did not want their main brand to be diluted by participating directly in that market. At the time there was no consideration to the psychological factors you describe. It was a product of market forces.
Consider if you will that maybe discussions like this thread may be beneficial for somebody who has been given pitcher after pitcher of the kool-aid that says you absolutely have to get an ABC or an XYZ or you might as well hang it up. Because it's really the instrument rather than the player. Go to any high school jazz band and you'll hear a constant litany from the kiddies with the good stuff snarking at the kids with the Rumbles and the Squiers.
As far as analogies go, the car thing doesn't really work. Basses aren't cars - the models of which are designed for specific purposes. Every electric bass is designed to do the same thing. Produce notes within a certain audible frequency range for use in the performance of music. Basses share far more design goals and physical similarities than they do differences.
It's been said that if you're a scotch drinker (such as I am) that it's only the first two glasses that make a difference. By the time you get to your third glass, it can be any brand and it won't be noticeable. And by the fourth or fifth glass you won't care at all.
I find that to be pretty much true.
With bass, the great leveler is stage volume combined with the acoustics in the average performance space. Fancy way of saying the room you're in will probably suck, and the volume you'll be playing at will only make it worse. And once you add in the FOH variables (and the current trend of a lot of house sound guys to put everything you play through the subs along with the kick) it doesn't really matter that much what you play in most situations from a practical viewpoint. In the studio it makes a huge difference. Last time I recorded something for a friend's project I packed along most of what I own. And we used about half of it. And you could hear the difference. Cool beans!
But live is not the same as studio. They're two entirely different things. What works for one doesn't work for the other - and vice-versa, as Meshell Ndegeocello so succinctly put it. And since about 80% of the players out there won't ever do studio, it seems unnecessarily burdensome beyond a certain point to put so much emphasis on instruments when it won't carry forward into the real world most players will be doing their thing in. In the past I've brought an Alembic, and more recently a Gretsch Junior Jet to a short gig. Guess what? Other than to admire the wood and workmanship on the Alembic, virtually nobody noticed or cared. I got just as many compliments on my playing both times.
I dunno. I guess your bass is like your money. Because in the larger scheme of things, nothing could be more important - or paradoxically less important.
That's the problem with discussions like this. Everything needs to be qualified a dozen times over. And more often than not, no matter what gets said, its exact opposite is also equally true.
That's one reason I've stopped over analyzing these things and put the time that freed up into more practice.
At least that will get me something.
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Walked into a local mom and pop music store and tried an Indonesian Squier Jazz 5. It was way better than the MIA Pro Jazz and P bass they were selling. If not for its weight (9.5 lbs... my back demands nothing over 9) I would have purchased it right then and there.
Which probably explains why I liked both a post of yours and someone who said almost the exact opposite; because both were true. Someone who wants to give up probably will (and blame the tools) but a shockingly bad piece of kit to start out on is extremely disheartening. If I still did the wine, I'd raise a glass to the 21st century affordable bass. And you're right. I always emptied the good bottle first, then relaxed with the less expensive bottle. The used engine oil was always left for the nightcap.
I mean. I'm old enough to remember the cheap basses and guitars of 20 years ago (and older) that were absolute nightmares to play and tune, made of cheap wood with cheap electronics and hardware cast from 50% ash in the heart of red China. You had to search mom and pop stores and just find a good example of a lawsuit fender or Aria Pro to get a good instrument on a budget (those Aria Pros still kick serious butt btw). And it took a lot of tried because quality control was all over the map and the factories making these things were a hell of a long way from six sigma.
What's going on now in terms of cost effectiveness, quality, and consistency is incredible. Give me a $200 Squier and I'll make it sound just fine on stage. Give me a similar price 1990 instrument and I'll probably struggle to keep the damned thing in tune all night, let alone get a good sound out of it.
I have to think that anyone who considers the new budget lines of instruments unacceptable just wasn't around for the real POS's of yesteryear.
What's going on now in terms of cost effectiveness, quality, and consistency is incredible. Give me a $200 Squier and I'll make it sound just fine on stage. Give me a similar price 1990 instrument and I'll probably struggle to keep the damned thing in tune all night, let alone get a good sound out of it.
I have to think that anyone who considers the new budget lines of instruments unacceptable just wasn't around for the real POS's of yesteryear.
Honestly even with budget instruments that do have some issues as long as it's nothing serious I think it can be a good thing. It doesn't take much to learn how to do a decent set up yourself, or solder and upgrade the electronics.
If you start out with a perfect instrument there isn't any reason to keep improving it from there. Nothing wrong with focusing on playing your instrument but I think a balance between playing and learning about your gear is important.
I suspect you're exaggerating a little but I agree that cheap instruments are incredibly good these gays
I'm old enough to remember when "entry level" meant, not just "Cheap" - as in "inexpensive" - but, also as in "Badly Made". And, an awful lot of them were just that. Unfortunately, that perception has never gone away; "Cheap" is still synonymous with "Badly Made". Today, though, that's seldom the case. You can still get a pretty junky instrument, if you try; but, odds are high that it'll be something you've never heard of, made in a country you haven't heard of, either... As has been said already; most of the "Cheap"ness today, comes from 2nd tier hardware and electronics; the lack of good QC; and, most importantly, as little hands-on time at the factory as possible. A well set up and maintained CNC machine doesn't care where it is, and will cut a $300 bass' body just as precisely as it will one that's gonna cost $2000. The price difference between those 2 basses is going to be the electronics/ hardware, and - most importantly - how long it spends in someone's hands at the factory. Case in point? This is my "Entry level" Alembic Epic. Before Alembic dropped this model, the list price for a "no options" one - like mine - was $6300. Yes, it's exquisitely made, but it was mostly made by hand, by several highly paid people who had their hands on it - a LOT. And it's that key word - people - that made it cost that much....
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My first bass was a Hondo my Dad bought for me. It had terrible action and was probably never set up correctly but I loved it and loved playing bass. I made it work because that was all I knew. The idea that a newbie will quit because of a bad bass is something I don’t buy. That’s just my feeling because you either love it or you don’t.
Well for God's sake, don't buy anything at the "Total Suckitude Level." Those instruments are terrible!
My first bass was actually decent quality entry level American made Fender JP90 I got for 200 bucks. Still entry level, but I never set it up or what not. I bought it way back before TB. In those 10 years I worried more about learning how to play. Plus I started playing in the mid 90s, so entry level usually meant entry level crap.
It took me 2 years of saving my lunch money in high school to get that bass and I shopped around for the best I could afford, so yeah towards the end of that 10 year period is when I started figuring things out because I had a little more money. I figured out how to do proper setups doing intonation, trussrod adjustments, shimming, when I needed too, learned soldering because I thought I needed new pots, took it apart, made it into a parts bass, refinished it with a new body so yeah.
My last bass I bought, which I'm happy with and haven't gassed for anything since I built it, is a warmoth. Brand spanking new neck, in pauduk, with carbon fiber rods, still needed a fret level. It has everything I want in a bass.
And last no need to be insulting. Yeah maybe I was slow to learn. But learning isn't a race anytime!
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This kind of goes to what my intended mission is. My early years of playing bass I learned the fundamentals of instrument maintenance and repair. But nowadays the days of yore where I could go to a local music store and buy what I need, shoot the breeze with the owner and get some pointers seem to be over.
I am as well. 2002 squire P Bass 5 string and a ibanez Gio 6 string.
I feel ya! My very first bass I played was a tin bodied upright issued to me by the Detroit public school system. It also doubled a bully deterrent object. I slapped a bully once with it and it never happened again! Lol! Thanks for the feedback!
