First bass: help to choose between some models

[PortlandBass77]

Thanks a lot for all the replies again!
I got two new options that I can choose from, which will not blow the budget: the Warwick Streamer Standard 5er and the Yamaha TRBX 305. This Warwick is the simplest from their line I think, passive, but I watched a video and really liked the tone, bold and nice, and the bass seems to have a really high building quality and very nice materials. It seems that Warwick don't let their quality drop bellow a standard, even on their least expensive models. And this Yamaha TRBX 305 seems to be pretty good as well, on this unboxing video it seems to have some high quality materials: youtube.com/watch?v=Kq7yOQY8Ob0 and on another video its tone and sound seems to be pretty nice too, with nice versatility



Nice man, so the Ibanez are really good
I have an amp already fortunately! I have it since many years ago, when I started acoustic guitar lessons. It's a 30w amp, barely barely used it in all those years, really only a few times. I tried to turn it on and seems to be working just fine. I think for home practicing 30w should do, right? I did a research on the web yesterday about this amp that I have and it was designed for electric basses, so I think I'm good fortunately. Amps in general are pretty expensive here as well, even the simpler ones.



Thanks for the tip! I didn't know Marcus Miller had a less expensive line, thought it was only the V7s. Wow this M3 has an amazing tone, and an active / passive mode switch, plus looks really nice. Just a shame that I did a research now and it seems nowhere to be found here in Brazil, literally nowhere.



Thanks for the tips! Yeah I think I prefer 2 pickups as well, I like having that possibility of different tones. The only thing about scales, I'm leaning toward the 34"s yeah, but since I'm going for a 5 strings, I read in quite a few places that that low B string tend to be floppy in many 34" basses. But that's my only concern about that, it seems that it don't happens to every bass



Thanks! Yeah I think I will go with the 5er

Thomann ships to Brazil, and they have every model in stock, total cost 343,28 €: Invalid Link Removed

 

[Minirehak 212]

I vote for the warwick! Even the least expensive model uses the hardware and electronics from their most expensive basses. You can't go wrong Happy shopping

 

[Zach Bass]

I made my mind 95% for the Warwick Streamer Standard 5 strings, I'm most likely going to order it, the only concern I have about it is that I read quite a few people saying that its pickups volume output is quite low, so they had to turn their amp volume pretty high to get the sound loud enough. And since its a passive bass there's not much to do about it. So this is really the only only concern I have about it, otherwise I would be ordering this bass already, really liked its tones and everything else

*I just found an Ibanez SR 305 for the very same price of the Warwick Streamer Standard 5 strings. It seems to be an awesome bass, I read some nice reviews from it and from some videos it seems to sound pretty awesome, nice personality and great variety of sounds. Fast neck, very slim, since I have medium-small hands

Thomann ships to Brazil, and they have every model in stock, total cost 343,28 €: Invalid Link Removed

Thanks, I didn't know about this web site, appreciate it! I may really get some stuff from them on the future I believe. Awesome variety they have. I will not get it from them now because I need it with more urgency

 

[Duke Damn]

If you know you want the Warwick, then just order it. The low-output pickups shouldn't be an issue at all. You may have to turn the amp up a little but you'll have plenty of volume with whatever keyboard amp you have. Some pickups have high-output (hot), but some don't, so if you really aren't satisfied with your volume or any other aspect of your pickups, after a while you can simply upgrade the pickups to some hotter ones.

Also remember that the 'fast' necks are a lot thinner than p-bass style necks and others like them, but overall there are a lot of different neck profiles. I don't know the dimensions of the Warwick but when they say slim it may be in a different way to the 'slim' that Fender (on Jazz basses and such) or Ibanez (on a lot of basses) describe. Either way, most neck profiles are easy to adjust to with any hand size, bar small hands gripping a 37" scale 6 string or something similar. Once you get more basses with different necks it's easy to simply adjust to the new profile after playing it for a while.

 

[Normando Neto]

When you said Red Hot Chilli Peppers I though Ibanez ATK. Search for them used. I'm in Brazil. I know they're out there...

Search Mercado Livre and Facebook (people sell stuff on Facebook in Brasil).

 

[Logic_11]

Check out local pawn shops, you can get a really good 24 fret bass for around 200 or 250

 

[Wallace320]

Hello everyone,

I'm about to buy my first bass, and I'm making my final decision to finally conclude the purchase, which I should do on these next following days.
I would like to be able to play groovy Funk (Slap as well, Red Hot Chili Peppers stuff for example, or Larry Graham) and Metal (some heavy thrash Metallica stuff for example, Battery, or Cradle of Filth, Dusk and Her Embrace, things like that) with it, and other Rock styles as well. So I enjoy a heavy, bold sound on the bass.
I think I would prefer a 5 string bass, I think I could use that extra B string for some heavier sounds that I decide to try on the future, and getting used to the smaller string spacing and widder neck on the beginning and slapping on the 5's seems easier now than if I learned on the 4's first and then had to get used to the 5's later. But I could pick a 4 string too, no problem.

The options that I came to and I'm trying to decide between are the Ibanez GSR 205, ESP LTD B-55, Yamaha RBX 170, Yamaha TRBX 174, Squier Affinity Jazz and the Squier Affinity Precision.
They are somewhat similar in price. Just the TRBX 174 is the cheaper, and the ESP will cost a bit more than the others. My budget is pretty tight at the moment, so these are the options I have. And since I live in Brazil, the better the bass model, its price grows exponentialy; they are way more expensive here than on the US.

I managed to play and personally test the Yamaha RBX 170, the Squier Affinity Jazz and the Warwick Corvette Basic Rockbass only unfortunately.
The best sound by a very good distance for me was the Warwick, it has a very bold, strong and heavy tone, that I really really liked. But unfortunately it's much more expensive than the others, so I can't take it.
The second that I liked after the Warwick was the RBX 170 by Yamaha, it has a very nice strong tone in my opinion too, even being a passive bass. It outshined the Squier Affinity Jazz in tone in my opinion, but what I liked about the Affinity Jazz was that it has a very big variety of tones that can be achieved, I found it really versatile.

The others I just listened to the sound on youtube unfortunately, and read reviews on internet. From the videos, I really liked the sound from the Ibanez GSR 205, it seems to have a very bold and nice tone, plus it's a 5 string that I'm looking more for. It seems to be a good quality bass.

On the ESP LTD B-55 the first plus to me is that it's a 5 string again. Only from listening on youtube as well, It seems to have a very unique tone (similar as others ESP basses that I listened to as well). It seems to have that rasp bold tone that is very different from other basses, I found it very interesting. Looks like it fits very nicely some rock sounds (black metal, stuff like that). Well, I liked it, I just don't know if it's versatile, or if it would suit better more just for metal for example.

I don't have much info on the Yamaha TRBX 174, it's the less expensive of them all. I really liked the sound from the RBX 170, and I could get the 174 for a lower price. I'm just not sure if the 174 has the same sound quality. I saw some youtube videos but I'm not sure yet.

The Squier Affinity Precision I just saw a youtube video and liked very much the tone from it, don't know if it's really that nice personally (video: youtube.com/watch?v=jqSDpZIEnIQ). One drawback from the squiers for me is that they only have 20 frets, don't know if that could be a hassle in some situations.

After all I'm really pending to the Ibanez GSR 205 I think... but also thinking about the ESP LTD B-55, that seems to be really nice too.

So well, sorry for the big long thread, but I will be doing the purchase on these next days, so any advice you could give me on this decision would help.

Thanks!

scream for me brazil!!!!!

(sorry: maiden fan here)

Ltd B55
it's worth every penny and is the most peculiar in both sound/tone and overall perceived quality. oh and... yes: fits almost exclusively rock/metal!

Cheers,
Wallace

 

[dincz]

Another option:

 

[Wulfensteiner]

scream for me brazil!!!!!

(sorry: maiden fan here)

Ltd B55
it's worth every penny and is the most peculiar in both sound/tone and overall perceived quality. oh and... yes: fits almost exclusively rock/metal!

Cheers,
Wallace

I tend to agree with you, Wallace. The B55 is a much cleaner player than people give it credit for. I'm playing a lot of bluesy stuff at the moment and the B55 tone is sitting nicely. Its capable of more than what its designed for :]