Pros using a cheap POS?

[/\/\3phist0]

I don’t know if people think of Danelectros as cheap POS, but they certainly were cheap. Lots of pros used them in the 60s when they were much cheaper than Fenders.

I remember being surprised to see photos of Cream in the studio recording Disraeli Gears where Jack Bruce was playing a Longhorn. Pete Townsend used a Longhorn when credited as “Bijou Drains” played bass on the Thunderclap Newman’s “Something In The Air”. Jesse Colin Young with the Youngbloods used a Dano, as did Joey Spampinato of NRBQ. The Dano 6 strings were commonly used in recording studios, Carol Kaye has mentioned that it was expected in LA guitarists would have one and in Nashville they were doubled with string bass for the “tic tac” sound. All the electric sitars heard on records from the 60s and 70 were the two models of the Coral Sitar made by Danelectro.

Dano’s are fantastic, quirky distinctly different instruments: nothing else does what they do sonically.
They are also a joy to play.
Add Jimi Page ,

Rinus Gerritsen (golden earring) almost exclusively played Longhorns

 

[Pings Bass]

the best bass for a reptilian photo shoot is not necessarily the best bass for metal

that said, ain't nothin wrong with a yamaha bass at any price point, I'd rock one with or without a lizard mask

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Yamaha dosent make a POS...
They make some affordable instruments. But even those are good quality.

 

[JazznFunk]

As others have mentioned, I think 'POS' doesn't mean what it once did. Today, there has to be a distinction between 'low cost but solid' and 'low cost and poorly built' - the latter of which gets into POS territory. There are GREAT low-cost basses that are perfectly giggable and recordable. Then there are true POS's, which are usually the Temu/AliExpress cheapo copies of copies. I gig my SX SJB-75 and my Squier Classic Vibes right alongside my Laklands and Sadowsky without worries.

 

[CallMeAl]

Only thing that makes a bass a POS is if it can’t be set up. With the advent of CNC it’s kinda hard to find a true POS these days.

And if there’s one brand that’s a solid example of non-POS instruments at the lowest price points- it’s Yamaha.

 

[getBAK]

Honestly - if I know I'm going on the road for a long time, in sub optimal conditions, I can totally see bringing a cheapie bass.
If I was doing say, northern Europe in a bus, where the instruments are going to be in the cargo hold and it gets cold... I'd totally buy a cheap Yamaha when I got there and sell it when I left.

 

[Jack]

Yamaha dosent make a POS...
They make some affordable instruments. But even those are good quality.

Only thing that makes a bass a POS is if it can’t be set up. With the advent of CNC it’s kinda hard to find a true POS these days.

And if there’s one brand that’s a solid example of non-POS instruments at the lowest price points- it’s Yamaha.

Uh-huh. There's a watershed point for instruments, a line at which above is fine, and below you run into things like tuners not staying in tune, electronics being insufficiently shielded and bridges not intonating properly. That line used to be quite high, it is now surprisingly low. I would quite happily gig with my £109 Harley Benton.

 

[steimlem]

when tc finds out the bass paul mccartney used his mind is going to be blown

 

[B-Mac]

I was goofing off, admiring Esh basses (of which I am a big fan), and saw a picture of Hiisi, from Lordi. He's also an Esh user.
But he hasn't always used an Esh. Check out his picture.

View attachment 7238848

Is this guy, a professional musician, really rocking a Yamaha TRBX304 on stage? Isn't that the beginner-est of beginner instruments?

Regardless of price point, you’d be surprised at the level of quality from any Yamaha made musical instrument regardless of where it was manufactured.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Uh-huh. There's a watershed point for instruments, a line at which above is fine, and below you run into things like tuners not staying in tune, electronics being insufficiently shielded and bridges not intonating properly. That line used to be quite high, it is now surprisingly low. I would quite happily gig with my £109 Harley Benton.

Tuners can be replaced at a budget price point.
Shielding takes a few moments.
Even a 10.00 china made bent plate will intontate .

“Not staying in tune” is more often due to nut, and or friction on the string tree.

The biggest fail is often unstable neck wood, and poorly implemented truss rod.

Even a 80.00 Glarry is “decent” with a bit of finessing, can be a solid player.

 

[friskinator]

It’s wood and wire.
I gave a good once over to a Squier Debut (129.00)
Updated the pickups, good fret dress, new nut and pots.
It’s one of the best playing/ sounding/ lightest Precision basses I have EVER played.

(For context I’ve owned 73nder, Warwick, Alembic, RIC etc)

Cheap doesn’t mean BAD these days.

The GOOD is in the smaller details.

Nothing at all wrong with a Squier Debut. I recently bought one to refin/mod, and it was pretty good right out of the box.

 

[CallMeAl]

Uh-huh. There's a watershed point for instruments, a line at which above is fine, and below you run into things like tuners not staying in tune, electronics being insufficiently shielded and bridges not intonating properly. That line used to be quite high, it is now surprisingly low. I would quite happily gig with my £109 Harley Benton.

And I could add, things like hardware and electronics can be replaced. If I see a cheap instrument on stage, I can assume that any of those parts have been checked and replaced if necessary

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Nothing at all wrong with a Squier Debut. I recently bought one to refin/mod, and it was pretty good right out of the box.

It was!
I bought it with the intention of modding it.

I gigged it the same day I received it, with only a new set of strings.

Here is the completed bass:

Getting shielded, and MFDs I added the Fender hi mass bridge to counterweight the tuners to address neck dive. The bridge was cheaper than light tuners (27.00)

 

[cdwillis]

If you buy a cheaper instrument, have it adjusted and set up properly, then replace the cheaper electronics (if they're even that bad) with pro level stuff, you're not going to be able to tell a difference between it and the same model in a pro version. I've seen plenty of pros playing Squiers live. Jack Pearson has played a Squier Bullet live a ton of times. That's about the cheapest one they make and I'm not even sure that he did any upgrades to it.

 

[AK3000]

What am I even looking at here? lol

(j/k)

 

[toughluck]

What do expensive instruments have that cheaper ones don't? Quality control for one thing. You expect them to be problem-free and to come set up correctly from the factory or from the distributor.

Then you realize they're not set up properly at all. Then they develop problems a few months down the line. And you're left wondering if they played you for a fool.

Uh-huh. There's a watershed point for instruments, a line at which above is fine, and below you run into things like tuners not staying in tune, electronics being insufficiently shielded and bridges not intonating properly. That line used to be quite high, it is now surprisingly low. I would quite happily gig with my £109 Harley Benton.

Oh, it's still there. But I'd rather buy a set of good aftermarket tuners for my Harley Benton than spend over twice as much and realize I have to replace the tuners anyway. Or the bridge, Or the electronics.

Hell, I bought an EMG PJ GZR set for a very low budget quarter of a century old Vision bass (which actually has really high quality tuners) and it's been transformed into a completely different instrument.

As others have mentioned, I think 'POS' doesn't mean what it once did. Today, there has to be a distinction between 'low cost but solid' and 'low cost and poorly built' - the latter of which gets into POS territory. There are GREAT low-cost basses that are perfectly giggable and recordable. Then there are true POS's, which are usually the Temu/AliExpress cheapo copies of copies. I gig my SX SJB-75 and my Squier Classic Vibes right alongside my Laklands and Sadowsky without worries.

Those Aliexpress/Temu copies are horrible but that's for a different reason. They're purposefully mass-manufactured crap at the lowest possible cost with zero quality control and their cost is at most $10 a pop. They're so much crap that not even disreputable companies want their brand on them. Then they're sold on that marketplace at $100-$200 by one of the myriad sellers that appear and disappear every week. When it arrives and you immediately realize it's a lemon, the seller has long disappeared and you have zero recourse, so you just chalk it up as a loss.
When the cost rises to $100-$200, the instrument that China Co. Ltd. can churn out can be consistently high quality and that's what the budget brands use.
If a factory in China was ever paid $1,000 per instrument, they would make frighteningly excellent pieces... that nobody would buy.

And I could add, things like hardware and electronics can be replaced. If I see a cheap instrument on stage, I can assume that any of those parts have been checked and replaced if necessary

You'll never hear about it because there's an unwritten rule that professional musicians will not endorse a budget brand and budget brands cannot openly benefit from a celebrity endorsement, yet it's often an open secret.

 

[DWBass]

Even if I could buy a high end bass, I wouldn't. All my gigging basses are 'budget' basses and they are rock solid. Been gigging one for over 15 years.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

I was goofing off, admiring Esh basses (of which I am a big fan), and saw a picture of Hiisi, from Lordi. He's also an Esh user.
But he hasn't always used an Esh. Check out his picture.

View attachment 7238848

Is this guy, a professional musician, really rocking a Yamaha TRBX304 on stage? Isn't that the beginner-est of beginner instruments?

Maybe they cannot afford that vintage p bass or that fancy neck-throug-body active electronics hand made six string. You'd be surprised at how little touring artists net after expenses. I've turned down touring gigs because I make more money playing locally

 

[ElectricBass72]

Just like cars who cares. I'm a werido who enjoys more economical cars and I get excited seeing older ones holding up for so many years same with trucks.

Me too.... I get LOL'z and judgement from the locals for driving an economical Japanese-made SUV, instead of pricey Ford F-150.

 

[chris_b]

So far no one has noticed when I gig my $200 Cort Jazz instead of my $2000 Sadowsky Jazz. They both play well and both look good, but the Cort doesn't sound half as good. I don't use pedals so the difference is noticeable to me. No one else will notice but I do and that's the important thing. If I can get the Cort to sound like the Sadowsky at a reasonable price then it could easily become my #1 bass.