Premium price for premium sound?

[KickingBass]

Why do we have to do this over and over and over and over and over and over and over every week...

Well people keep responding to these posts so they pick up steam.

 

[DavC]

Squire ... made by Fender ... i'd say it's like ... Chevy , Buick , Cadillac ... lots of the same bits and tech wrapped up in different clothes ( marketing ) ... does something that costs more actually make it better ... most of the time , yeh ... but value is always in the eye of who's writing the check .. ! at that point , nothing else matters ... that is until it's time to Sell said item ... !! that's when you'll see which price point was the best bet .!

good rule of thumb... find something that does 80% of the Holy Grail item, for 50% of that price = good value

 

[superdick2112]

Well I can say that my German Warwick Corvette sounds better than my Chinese Rockbass corvette. I think with some brands the more you spend the better instrument you get (Warwick, Spector, Ibanez ect) and then there's others that are just not worth the money (Fender, Fender Copies, more fenders)

+1

My Spector Euro is a fantastic sounding bass.
My USA Spector is also a fantastic sounding bass, but costs almost twice as much as the Euro.

Does the USA sound 2x better than the Euro? No.
Is it worth the extra cost? For me, the answer is Yes. YMMV.

Every bassist has different tastes and sonic requirements - you have to decide what sounds & works best for you, and what you are willing (or not willing) to spend to get that sound.

EDIT; I have to disagree about the statement about Fenders. In my experience, the USA & Custom Shop Fenders are usually worth the money. Again, just my opinion, and YMMV.

 

[Pudge Fish]

The TB search button must be down for maintenance again.

 

[madbass6]

Hey you get what you pay for!!

 

[Lawuka]

Practice is the best priced bass. Also best sounding bass.

 

[Son of Wobble]

I think it's because the search feature is so darned hard to use.

Oh, and let's play again!

Here's some popcorn!

Here's your card!

Your bingo card is brilliant. Are you the author?

And I see included the inevitable "joke" about MIMs and MIAs both being made by "Mexicans" - I gotta hold my tongue at that racist trope every time it is republished here...

 

[pie_man_25]

I think it's because the search feature is so darned hard to use.

Oh, and let's play again!

Here's some popcorn!

Here's your card!

yeah, this thread is bait. Some people want to bash on fender, that's fine, they're not for everybody. However, having an MIM Fender Squier Series Jazz and an MIA deluxe Jazz V, IMO they're worth the money as @hrodbert696 mentions, there's a law of diminishing reterns, so it might not be ten times as good as the cheaper equivalent, but they're still noticeable better - at least on average. I'd say that my MIM DOES play about as well as my MIA, but the electronics aren't up to par, and this MIM is definitely above average. That said, I've also gotten both used, just because I have the money for a new one, doesn't mean I won't look for a deal when I can.

 

[Bent77]

Here my opinion.

Say you have $1200 to spend

It doesnt matter how awesome a $1000 bass is, through a $200 Amp

But a $1000 amp, well, even your Squiereier or Fendre will sound good.

 

[RED J]

This topic has been discussed ad .

Ad vomitum ?

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Ad vomitum ?

Vomitus Maximus

 

[BassDaddy77]

 

[BadBobbyH]

There's turds and gems at every price point dude. Which has been mentioned copious times throughout this site. You HAVE to play the instrument to discern that for yourself. However, as previously stated, multiple times on multiple pages, the turds become fewer and fewer the more expensive you go.

 

[red_rhino]

Why do we have to do this over and over and over and over and over and over and over every week...

And always from the usual suspects.

 

[Bodeanly]

Why do we have to do this over and over and over and over and over and over and over every week...

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

There's more to it than just the sound. There's playability, quality of the woods and components and the workmanship. They might not be translated into the sound, but are certainly part of the overall experience.

 

[Son of Wobble]

If Lemmy is God, then Allar is Allah.

 

[DigitalMan]

Or do people just seem to have more money than sense these days?

Why one or the other? Some people might have more money and more sense...

Let me elaborate. Everyone has an inflection point where diminishing returns begins. But when you make this statement it seems that the point where YOU run out of money seems to YOU to be the point where THEY run out of sense.

 

[FingerDub]

Why do we have to do this over and over and over and over and over and over and over every week...

You're not the only one on this board. Maybe other people actually spend more time elsewhere and don't have time to keep up with TB trends, like you.

 

[Alexander]

I would say that no matter what the price point, you're going to find some gems and some lemons. There are so many variables in exactly how the components come together to make the gestalt tone and feel of the instrument, that you can have a $300 Squier that kills it and a $1900 Rickenbacker that just isn't quite there. Also, the bottom threshold of quality is higher; companies of been mass-producing electrical instruments long enough now that they can crank out a higher-quality instrument from the factory more reliably now than they could 30 or 50 years ago. The veterans I've seen on the forum have been been pretty unanimous that the cheap starter basses one can get now are miles ahead of the cheap basses of yesteryear.

However, even so, the likelihood of getting a lemon or a gem still is reflected in the price point; You have better odds of finding a great bass (and lower odds of a lemon) at the higher prices, and vice versa. Paying more does still often translate into getting more.

The other thing is the law of diminishing returns. You can't really quantify quality or tone, but if you could, I would say that you got a 10% increase every time you double the price. In other words, if you imagined a "quality rating" - let's call it Q - and rated your average $100 bass at a Q of 100, then as the price goes up you'd see this:

Price/Q
$100/100
$200/110
$400/121
$800/133
$1600/147
$3200/161

Of course, you get the best "value" (ratio of price to Q) at the lowest price points, but if you really want a bass that plays at a certain level you have to cough up for it. It then becomes a matter of at what point you're not getting enough additional quality to be worth it. For instance, your $300 VM Squier typically rates about a 115 and your $1300 MIA Fender typically rates about a 140. But because of the variation I mentioned in any given production line, you'll have some VMs that would rate a 125 and some MIAs that only rate a 120, and thus the people saying their Squier is better than their Fender.

Just a way to think about it. "Q" is purely subjective, there's no way to measure it. But I find it helpful to think about it this way.

I like this way of thinking about it. The other thing to mention is that price is relative too. A kid in college might save six months for a $300 Squier and be damn glad he got it. Buying a $3,000 bass to him would seem an impossible reach - and an unnecessary one, given he probably has never played an instrument like that in his life and doesn't know what he's missing out on anyway. A working professional in a top company wouldn't think twice about it if they were making, say $12,000 a week. In fact, they might even consider it a steal - you mean I can get a Custom Shop 1959 Precision for $3k or pay five times that for the real deal? And I don't have to worry about all the problems that come with a 55 year old instrument? Score!