Good Swamp Ash bass?

[Xxyion]

So i'm in the market for a relativly inexpensive backup bass. As much as i would love to play my Dingwall ABZ at every show...thats just not possible. Carrying around 2000$ worth of bass to seedy parts of the city just doesnt sound like a good time for me.

So if anyone has any ideas then this would be good.

Here are the specs that i would LOVE to have.

Swamp Ash Body (must HAVE!)
Willing to spend up to 1000$
Modern Look (something along the lines of MTD, Dingwall, Some Ibanez...please no rickenbacker i hate the way they look)
Cool tuning pegs (i hate the ones that look like flowers)
Prefer no wood color (red,blue,green,purple colors are preferred)
Need a good strong finish (no satin please)
Must be able to switch out bridge pickup for Seymore Duncan Smb-5

And here are the specs i'm willing to settle for
Still must be Swamp Ash body
dont care type of tuners
can be single coils
lame body color
lame body style.


Any help would be awesome thanks!

 

[E_strat]

You may not be able to switch out the pickups to your specifications on this one, but it's a solid piece of ash and you can choose from solid colors (and of course transparent). Ernie Ball Music Man basses, and even their Indonesian made intruments (Sterling) make great basses. They have the flower tuners as you mentioned to your dislike though.

 

[bassbenj]

So i'm in the market for a relativly inexpensive backup bass. As much as i would love to play my Dingwall ABZ at every show...thats just not possible. Carrying around 2000$ worth of bass to seedy parts of the city just doesnt sound like a good time for me.

So if anyone has any ideas then this would be good.

Here are the specs that i would LOVE to have.

Swamp Ash Body (must HAVE!)
Willing to spend up to 1000$
Modern Look (something along the lines of MTD, Dingwall, Some Ibanez...please no rickenbacker i hate the way they look)
Cool tuning pegs (i hate the ones that look like flowers)
Prefer no wood color (red,blue,green,purple colors are preferred)
Need a good strong finish (no satin please)
Must be able to switch out bridge pickup for Seymore Duncan Smb-5

And here are the specs i'm willing to settle for
Still must be Swamp Ash body
dont care type of tuners
can be single coils
lame body color
lame body style.


Any help would be awesome thanks!

My choice for swamp ash bar bass is SX. But they are old school Fender clones that doubtless won't take the pickup in question. Mods usually necessary to bring them up to quality level.

My other bar bass is an OLP. Here I'm pretty sure that pickup will fit (though it's in the stingray position and has no neck pickup) Mine has a maple top and I'm not sure what the wood underneath is. Makes a pretty decent modern bar bass, but mods also required here. Adding a 'Ray clone preamp really makes the bass great.

Another bar bass I have is a simple straight cheap Ibanez. I can't say enough good things about them. Thin necks, light weight, balanced, easy to play, great tone. Check them out. But I don't know if they come in ash.

A Dingwall is a pretty hard bass to replace with a bar bass!

Also for a really decent good looking bass for not too much coin, check out Bass Mods. They have a lot of interesting stuff. I've got one in spalted on ash and it looks like a million but didn't cost a huge amount. Don't know about your fav pickup.

 

[Wallace320]

Man:
I myself got an SR4500E Prestige (for the bucks you cite), it's available in natural or "deep espresso" (a darker walnut brown)

Then Ibanez also has cheaper SR600 same ash body but open pore instead of glossy finish; cheaper Bartolini mk1 pickups instead of USA Custom Barts and again natural or walnut finish

The very first I mentioned is a masterpiece for the price. And it looks like a "Marcus Miller" in Soundgear dressings, but way deeper and aggressive and "big" sounding (in both active and passive mode)

Hope to be of any help

Cheers,
Wallace

 

[aqsw]

If you like the Dingwall, get a used Combustion. Should be right at your price range