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I love cheap basses!

Last week I received a CNZ JB Mini with a 28.6" scale and downsized body 1.5" nut width, a nice 3TB finish, tort 'guard, "imitation" rosewood fingerbord and a matte finish on the back of the neck and headstock. I paid $169 for it with free shipping.

I'm not a fan of bridge pickups but the pickups on this bass sound very robust including the bridge pickup. Very different from all the J basses I've ever owned or tried. Unfortunately, the pickups are single coils and, while they form a humbucking pair when at the same volume, when used individually they hum and the hum is something I don't like at all.

I thought about replacing the pickups with individual humbuckers pickups but I was concerned I'd lose their (IME) unique tone. I decided to go cheap and just rewire the pickups in series and see what happened. The mod leaves only the neck volume control and tone control functional but the tone is now absolutely huge and I'm very pleased with it. I also installed my favorite nylon tapewound strings and it now sounds even bigger with a nice bloom in the lows, less aggressive highs and no annoying finger squeaks which is exactly what I want from tapewounds.

The only other work I had to do on it was dress the nut slots since the E and A slots were just a bit high for my taste and do a setup.

Best $169 I ever spent.
I have seen a few reviews of the CNZ mini jazz and it seems to be a great "cheap bass" with a solid build, nice finish and beefy tone. Congratulations cool mini enjoy it!
 
What does 'decent' mean in this context? Why is the 'decent' bass better?

Edit: and I posted recently several times about how much I like my Ibanez Gio 6.
I can’t say what decent is now that you mention it. I have said there is not much difference between a $300 bass and a $1000 bass except the finish. So $1000 is above my limit! Maybe decent has a nice finish?
 
decent for me would be a comfortable, easy to play neck, a comfortable body, working electronics with acceptable sound or easy to replace pickups. not too heavy. nothing that makes me have to work around it. no dents, cracks or missing paint (if used, i can live with dents on the rear if the paint isn't impacted.

oh, and a working truss rod!

if you can do your own setups and smooth your own frets, the rest isn't a big deal.
 
If you like what you have just play it. I'm not sure I would have bought the higher range SR bass after the Gio, but I didn't know how little difference in playability it would make until I did. It's prettier and not much more expensive S/H, so I'll keep it anyway.
Yeah, seems the more you pay, the better it looks, can’t say much about “better’ tone, can’t say it stays in tune better, can’t say it has better wood, maybe a custom
Case, but hey, it cost more!
 
decent for me would be a comfortable, easy to play neck, a comfortable body, working electronics with acceptable sound or easy to replace pickups. not too heavy. nothing that makes me have to work around it. no dents, cracks or missing paint (if used, i can live with dents on the rear if the paint isn't impacted.

oh, and a working truss rod!

if you can do your own setups and smooth your own frets, the rest isn't a big deal.
HHAAA Pcake! Good to see you on the cheap bass!! Funny, all that you listed above my $269 Ray4 gets pretty close. It does not have a good finish, not flawed, fit is good for under $300, but it is the finish where they cut the biggest corner. An expensive bass does not have any more amenities than a cheap one other than a snobby name & a nice finish,
 
I have to disagree, I have a number of great used basses that I got for very little money.
Me too. Not to mention a fine american fender for $800 in great condition with the ohsc . yep. back in '11

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I'd been away from the bass for almost 10 years and started playing the piano in early '21, which I really enjoy. Strangely enough the more I played the piano, the more I thought about playing the bass again. I started looking around last week with a budget of around $400. Last Friday I went to our local GC to check out a BB234 it had in stock, but unfortunately it was sold that morning. But before I inquired about the BB234, I messed around with this TRBX174 and really liked it. I thought about it for a few days, read some reviews, etc, and plugged it in and played it at the store tonight. It serves my needs perfectly. Love how how the neck plays, and it sounds pretty good in the living room, which is all I'm looking for right now. That's a Yamaha P-125 digital piano in the background, so I have a Yamaha theme going. That small metal bar in the headstock popped loose tonight. Don't believe it affects anything, but I'll monkey around with it later.

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That small metal bar in the headstock popped loose tonight. Don't believe it affects anything, but I'll monkey around with it later.
Congratulations I hope it works out for you...:bassist: That 'metal bar' is the string retainer, your bass needs it, it creates the string's break angle over the nut to the tuners and helps the strings stay seated in the string nut slots. :thumbsup:
 
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I'd been away from the bass for almost 10 years and started playing the piano in early '21, which I really enjoy. Strangely enough the more I played the piano, the more I thought about playing the bass again. I started looking around last week with a budget of around $400. Last Friday I went to our local GC to check out a BB234 it had in stock, but unfortunately it was sold that morning. But before I inquired about the BB234, I messed around with this TRBX174 and really liked it. I thought about it for a few days, read some reviews, etc, and plugged it in and played it at the store tonight. It serves my needs perfectly. Love how how the neck plays, and it sounds pretty good in the living room, which is all I'm looking for right now. That's a Yamaha P-125 digital piano in the background, so I have a Yamaha theme going. That small metal bar in the headstock popped loose tonight. Don't believe it affects anything, but I'll monkey around with it later.

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I Played bass for years and years. I had started a another group at a start-up church. It was mainly keyboard driven. We had a decent sound. Church had just spent $2K+ for a Roland keyboard. One Saturday night we informed the keyboard player quit. So the next day I was playing keys! All I knew was the notes on the piano and some chords, no lessons and no experience! I played keys 3 times a week for 5 years. It was a learning experience ! I had started school band when I was 12, I could read single line music, theory, etc, But nothing like this! Currently I have not played keys in 12 years but it made me a better bass player!
 
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I Played bass for years and years. I had started a another group at a start-up church. It was mainly keyboard driven. We had a decent sound. Church had just spent $2K+ for a Roland keyboard. One Saturday night we informed the keyboard player quit. So the next day I was playing keys! All I knew was the notes on the piano and some chords, no lessons and no experience! I played keys 3 times a week for 5 years. It was a learning experience ! I had started school band when I was 12, I could read single line music, theory, etc, But nothing like this! Currently I have not played keys in 12 years but it made me a better bass player!
Interesting I played keyboard in our praise band until we found another keyboard player, then the bass player quit so I picked up the bass. I taught myself cords on the piano and used the song tab to improvise rhythms with our guitar/lead pastor. But my real joy was when I got to play conga drums, or any hand drum.
 
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