Fender in General

[bad_ai]

You need neither be surrounded by great players to be a great player yourself nor be in possession of a great instrument to sound great; any musician worth his salt will practice every single day of the week, regardless of who he's got around him or what instrument he has.

The price of old Fenders is so insane purely because of collectibility and nostalgia.

Here’s a challenge I would offer any musician or audiophile - I would bet three full paychecks that even the most discerning audiophile or bassist couldn’t tell the difference between a modern MIM Fender bass and a much more expensive 60s vintage bass within the context of a mix more than 60% of the time. Regular listeners much less so.

It’s not the bass that makes the bass sing, it’s the player.

. What you're talking about might be quite subjective. There's no MIM bass that has the mature woods of vintage Fenders, Gibsons, etc. all. The music explosion of the 50's and 60's became bankster's games of profit at all costs even if it decimates entire cultures, forests, mines, people. How many people were employed in music in the early 60's? What'd they buy and for what reason? To me, this video answers that question: How I love this part of my youth.

 

[bad_ai]

Relax!! IMO you're over thinking this. Every one compromises especially at the start of the long journey that is becoming a bass player. You don't need great gear to be a great player, you just need to put in the hours and develop a good technique. That's the one thing your shouldn't compromise on. For everything else you can build up to the "best". Anyway, you're idea of what is "best" will certainly change over time.

At the start of their careers, the guys you mention didn't worry about their gear. They just bought what they could afford, worked out how to get a good sound out of it, then played their butts off. Many people start on a Fender and nearly as many end on one. Very few players only play one bass their whole lives. I started on a used Framus Star Bass. That was all I could afford. After 2 years I bought a new Fender P bass. After another 25 years I bought a used Musicman SR5, now (after 50 years) I have my "best" a Sadowsky J5. I'm old now but I know most of my best playing was done on that "ordinary" P bass.

Gear is just stuff. I'd say that a Fender is a good starting point. If, after a few years, you think you've out grown it, that will be the time to decide what the next bass should be.

Anyway, be happy and enjoy your playing and you'll be a better player.

That's the beauty of learning the Blues. It does not take a long time to learn to play Blues, within it and throughout it. I don't know what music you're talking about, but when I was a kid, you learned Blues right off and you were playing.

 

[Mister Boh]

Get yourself a used elite.

 

[bad_ai]

A used George Bush?

 

[Shannow85]

Same boat I have a rick and Stingray 5 (selling both, love the sound of the rick hate the QC and playability and exactly the opposite for the stingray...) I decided I was after a JBass.
Spent 1 hour trying to figure MIM (player) vs Pro (USA) as unfortunately there's no third option for a left handed version (apart from a second hand 3000$+1974 MIA). Couldn't figure the best J between the 750€ vs 1850€ version. The 1850 sure looked nicer (colors,frets,paint finish...) but otherwise the tone, although not quite the same, I didn't favor one over the other. Long story short I wasn't looking at all at P basses and decided to try the MIM and was blown away by the sound and feel. Then tried the P bass Pro and not only the tone was better (more mid growl less of a "Loudness" feel) but it's felt faster to play to me.
Could be a better setup of the pro and maybe a bit of placebo as I wasn't expecting to like P basses.
I'll go back at the shop on tuesday to try it again but this time with headphones and more time!
So far it's going to be either MIM J Bass + MIM P bass or MIM J bass + MIA P bass.
On one hand I'd really fancy the Pro P bass for the finish/look/color and the ego on the other there's a 2.6x price difference !! In left handed MIM the colors are a bit grim... black,white, red (all solid primary colors) SB and that's it... tried the J Squier sounds good but hate the varnished neck (no lefty P Squier).

And the second hand market in France for lefties are either "Frankenfender's" or some weird Fretless 5+ strings and recent MIJ at 1200$ second hand.