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Help please!!!

M

Maloy Poor

Feb 15, 2020
80
68
#1
Ok I'm a beginner trying to learn bass. I have NO place close that has a selection of bass guitars period! I ordered a squier bass and it had a slit in the body where the screw was, sent it back. Then ordered the sterling ray4. Got it and it was so out of whack I called a person to set it up. Was quoted 80 to 120 dollars to set it up. Plus a 240 mile round trip 2 times. To much cost to fix a 400 dollar guitar.
SO my question is
What bass under 600 dollars is a good bass guitar??? I want to play 60's and 70's rock.
Sterling stingray
Jackson JS3
Yamaha
Squier
I looked at a bc rich warlock but the reviews weren't all that good.
Please help
Thanks in advance
P.S. the warlock was used and didn't know the age of it. Had chips in the paint also had a jackson JS3. Asking the same as a new one on the jackson but it was in really great shape
 
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#4
At some point most if not all instruments will need to be set up to get it up to your preferences - lowering saddles, tweaking the truss rod - these are things I would recommend learning along with how to play it - it's not hard to do, but great care especially with the truss rod is needed.
That being said, I agree with the comment above, Yamaha. Their quality control is pretty high and I've had no problems or had the need to adjust the bass out of the box as much as I've experienced with other basses in the low to mid price range. Very solid basses. I've owned about 100 basses in the past five years, Yamaha basses have been pretty rock solid and dependable, the necks on these require far less tweaking in my experience than let's say a Squier or an Ibanez. I've had a few of the TRBX models, like the TRBX304. Relatively inexpensive and one I would recommend for a beginner.
 
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#5
You should probably purchase from a place that will do a setup. You might end up with an okay instrument at that point, unless you have them putting on totally different strings than stock.

I make the call out about strings, because if you go with strings that have a huge difference in tension, a one pass setup will not work — it’ll need to have some adjustments after the instrument has had time to settle. I had a local shop do a setup with some Thomastik Infeld Jazz strings, and had to basically do another setup on my own once the neck had settled due to how low tension the strings are.

Squier basses can sound good when properly set up — I have a Squier fretless that sounds really nice.

Frankly, I’ve found that learning to do most aspects of a setup on my own has been really worthwhile. I don’t touch the frets or the nuts, but truss rod/action/pickup height/intonation are all easy enough to learn — and those are the things you’re most likely to need to check from time to time.
 
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#14
Maloy Poor said:
Ok I'm a beginner trying to learn bass. I have NO place close that has a selection of bass guitars period! I ordered a squier bass and it had a slit in the body where the screw was, sent it back. Then ordered the sterling ray4. Got it and it was so out of whack I called a person to set it up. Was quoted 80 to 120 dollars to set it up. Plus a 240 mile round trip 2 times. To much cost to fix a 400 dollar guitar.
SO my question is
What bass under 600 dollars is a good bass guitar??? I want to play 60's and 70's rock.
Sterling stingray
Jackson JS3
Yamaha
Squier
I looked at a bc rich warlock but the reviews weren't all that good.
Please help
Thanks in advance
P.S. the warlock was used and didn't know the age of it. Had chips in the paint also had a jackson JS3. Asking the same as a new one on the jackson but it was in really great shape
Click to expand...
G&L Kiloton...$599 for the Tribute.
wjbzmkfy2gfrxc9eboui.jpg

Why not buy the best you can afford?
I recently bought a G&L that cost three times as much, but I'm thinking about buying one just in case the price goes up next year.
 
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#18
Too bad you got a lemon on the Sterling SUB4. Those are good basses for the price. The next step up, the Ray24, is not really much of a step up. The Ray34, on the other hand, is a big step up from both... but just bit outside your price range, unless you can find a used one.

As much as I love the sound of a Ray, for 60s/70s rock you probably really want some form of P bass anyway.

I'll second the recommendation for a Yamaha BB434 and also suggest you check out the Sire P7, though Sires seem to be sold out almost everywhere right now.
 
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#19
Ok! Just checked out the sterling stingray short scale and the schecter banshee also the squier mustang 60's percision. Which one??? I have big hands but to many years in the oil field has taken away alot of flexibility.
 

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