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How much does a cheap bass effect a good rig?

I run essentially what you run.

1001RB-II into 2 - 2x12 Neo cabs. All of my basses cost me under $215. GSR-100, SX SJB-75, OLP MM-2 and a used ATK300.

With proper setup, strings, wiring and pickups there shouldn't be an issue. I put Quarter Pounders in my GSR-100 and it works fine.
 
The rig I use is a GK 1001-RBII with a GK Neo 2x12 cab. Lots of great reviews and recommendations.
The bass I use is an Ibanez GSR200 4-string. When I bought it (for $200) it was just what I needed. Something to get me started.

I'm not an expert of gear by any means, but I've been through a fair amount of gear and guitars. I'm on my fifth guitar (see profile) and ALMOST went looking for an Ibanez GSR200 because I was having problems getting "cut-through" with my then current guitar, 1978 Rickenbacker 4001, it sounded very nice solo, but was a bit dull in the mids and I tended to get lost on stage. Just for kicks I tried the "church guitar" they kept around for subbing bass players. it didn't have much weight to the lower end of its sound, but had great cut-through, almost exactly what I was looking for!

Ya, so don't under estimate your guitar too quickly. sometimes I've had tone problems thinking it was my amp or cab and then come to realize maybe my guitar or EQ settings were the problem or vice versa.

Currently I'm using a $300 Vietnamese bass that I threw $250 worth of mods into, now it sounds really nice and I don't have a guitar that looks like everyother fender bass or whatever...

good luck finding your sound
 
I'm going to say this: a "bad" bass through a good rig will sound so much better than a "good" bass through a bad rig.

And my bass never really did it for me. I got a good rig, and just thought it made all the not so good qualities of the bass shine through more. I thought the bass sounded boring, but then I cranked the mids knob. Sounded so much better, that knob never made a positive difference through my crappy sounding crate amp, just changed the color of the crap.
 
OP, if you are playing out alot already, then youo made a good decision to invest in your rig first. As the last poster said, a cheap bass through a good rig will sound much better than a good bass through a cheap rig.

I don't know if I completely agree with that. If you're playing out a lot, then you'll run into situations where you're running direct to FOH, and your amp is doing little more than stage monitoring. I can think of a few of my first basses that sounded absolutely horrible.... and I thinking back, I'm glad I never had to run those direct.

You have to have an instrument you can "sing" on.... one that you're comfortable with the sound of, and comfortable playing on. Good clean power is important too, and can be had for relatively cheap. Finding the right bass is a bit more difficult.

Ljazz
 
I'm just the opposite. I can make any bass sound great* but I'm much pickier about amps.

* By sounding great, that isn't to say I can make a cheap Ibanez sound like a Fodera Monarch. But a cheap bass is still very much usable if everything works and it's set up nicely. Can't say the same about cheap amps.