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Good All Around Bass

M

MetalManZ

Apr 26, 2008
11
0
Clinton, Mississippi
#1
Anyone know of any basses that are good for mostly anything. Mainly metal is what im gonna be wanting to play but ive only been playing for 6 months or so and i wanted to be able to play in a friend of mine's metal band but still be able to jam with my dad, who likes more classic rock type stuff, and also be able to practice my popping and tapping type skills. Im lookin' for something around $1,000 or less.

Currently i have a Dean MetalManZ(who would have known) but its really cheaply made and doesn't sound perticularly special. It only cost $100 dollars so i should have know it wouldn't be worth anything.

Any ideas would be great.
Please and Thank You.:bassist:
 
#9
above all, try your best to play AS MANY basses as you can, so you can judge for yourself what FEELS right. advice is great thing, but what works for me may not be right for you. always keep that in mind.
with a budget of $1,000, you have a ton of choices. also remember if a bass feels right, you can tweek the sound with everything from amps to preamps to pick up's, to get it to where it will work for most kinds of music. above all, get out there and play some basses and do some research. the intenet is a wonderfull thing if used properly.

for ME, and I can only speak for me,for a bass that covers a lot of different genres of music, I prefer my lakland 55-02. it has a J and MM type p/u, and covers a TON of ground for everything from heavy rock to jazz and R&B, with just a slight tweek of my EQ on my amp. Lakland checks over every bass in the shop by a tech in chicago before it leaves, and that attention to detail comes through in the workmanship of the basses.

good luck in your search
 
#13
Weird, I always grew up thinking a J was more versatile because you can dial in how much you want of each pickup for something close to a P style with just the neck pickup, a classic J, and the bridge pickup for more of a stingray sound.

Anything with two pickups should give you more tonal versatility than something with 1 pickup. If you really want versatility and you get a P you're going to wonder why you got something with just 1 pickup down the line...

The laklands mentioned are probably great, they have an excellent reputation.

FWIW, the most versatile bass I've ever played was one of the Ibanezes with the "Vari-Mid" EQ system. The sweepable mid EQ gives them a ton of tonal variety. The only reason I didn't get it was that I hated the neck profile, but if I could get the electronics separately for a frankenfender project I'd pick them up in a minute.
 
#14
To play different styles of music doesn't necessarily an instrument that is capable of sound variation, it is the player that should be variable in style. So a P can be useful even if it has just one pickup. Doesn't mean a J would be wrong (J-player myself).
 
#15
MarkTAW said:
Weird, I always grew up thinking a J was more versatile because you can dial in how much you want of each pickup for something close to a P style with just the neck pickup, a classic J, and the bridge pickup for more of a stingray sound.
Click to expand...
The way I understand it, the P-bass itself is less versatile. It's just that the P-bass sound can be used everywhere, hence the one sound you get is incredibly versatile.
 
#18
MetalManZ said:
Anyone know of any basses that are good for mostly anything. Mainly metal is what im gonna be wanting to play but ive only been playing for 6 months or so and i wanted to be able to play in a friend of mine's metal band but still be able to jam with my dad, who likes more classic rock type stuff, and also be able to practice my popping and tapping type skills. Im lookin' for something around $1,000 or less.
Click to expand...

I'm very impressed with my Peavey Millennum BXP 4 string. It has a J bass pickup setup but it can sound either smooth or grindy. It's real easy to play and not expensive (under $250US). It fits very well with the roots rock, blues, jazzy swing, country, classic rock that I play and my son likes it for his nu punk metal band.
 
#19
For my $$ can't beat a G&L SB-2....does the P bass thing far better then any FEnder and the jaz pick up is a big plus. If you can find one with the tone modification--becomes the best $$ for the $$ (and blows away a lot of the more expensive basses
 
#20
azzyrazzy said:
The way I understand it, the P-bass itself is less versatile. It's just that the P-bass sound can be used everywhere, hence the one sound you get is incredibly versatile.
Click to expand...

Depends on how you define versatile - a J bass has many tonal options, but how many tonal options do you need? The one (or many, depending on the versatility of your right hand technique) that a P bass does is itself very versatile, and applicable to many styles of music, which makes it a very versatile bass.
 

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