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Returning to the bass after 30 + years

Peter Fezza

Peter Fezza

Guest
Aug 25, 2016
76
80
Queensland, Australia
#1
Hi everybody, first post! Been enjoying your discussions. Well now im not bothered by work, im going to give it a try again. Back as a teenager i was miserable at playing guitar, and my teacher told me so. But i really loved bass as it was what i listened to. Stanley Clarke, the Cure, Japan (especially) was me. I tried bass for a while, but i was pretty dispirited.

I have no illusions. I just want to be confident to play my favourites in the shed. Be an imaginary Mick Karn eventually. No joining bands or performing will be on my radar. This is for pure fun, not critical acclaim!

So id like some help in buying a bass. One thing i learnt back then that cheap "beginner instruments" were junk sounding and hard to play! Surely they should have been easy!! High action, heavy, fat necks. So what will be decent? I watched a European bass "shootout" on youtube the other day, and i thought the fender starcaster and gretcsh had the best sound. Do they have have nice thin necks and low actions? Any other semi acoustics i should look at? Prefer long scale 4 string, to keep it simple! I want to do this right so i keep at it!
 
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#2
Peter Fezza said:
Hi everybody, first post! Been enjoying your discussions. Well now im not bothered by work, im going to give it a try again. Back as a teenager i was miserable at playing guitar, and my teacher told me so. But i really loved bass as it was what i listened to. Stanley Clarke, the Cure, Japan (especially) was me. I tried bass for a while, but i was pretty dispirited.

I have no illusions. I just want to be confident to play my favourites in the shed. Be an imaginary Mick Karn eventually. No joining bands or performing will be on my radar. This is for pure fun, not critical acclaim!

So id like some help in buying a bass. One thing i learnt back then that cheap "beginner instruments" were junk sounding and hard to play! Surely they should have been easy!! High action, heavy, fat necks. So what will be decent? I watched a European bass "shootout" on youtube the other day, and i thought the fender starcaster and gretcsh had the best sound. Do they have have nice thin necks and low actions? Any other semi acoustics i should look at? Prefer long scale 4 string, to keep it simple! I want to do this right so i keep at it!
Click to expand...

The notion that beginner basses are "junk instruments" is 100% outdated and untrue. There are tons of quality instruments in the 300$ or lower range. I'd look at Ibanez Soundgear or Squier P or J basses. I'm sure others will chime in with more, but with modern machining and precision there really are great basses out there in that price range.

Also look into a small combo amp. I'd say with 500 bucks you should be able to get a decent bass and amp, enough to start pursuing your goals. Good luck, and welcome to TB!
 
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#6
Wow... Hate to be a broken record.... I hung my bass up in 1992 and came back a years ago to play in my church. Yeah, I am still completely befuddled with the gear selections available. It is a brave new world for sure. And the inexpensive basses do not translate into poor instruments necessarily. I think maybe better to think along the lines of consistency. You may see a rack of five 200 buck basses all the same. One of the five may not have the fit and finish of the other four so check them out. There are some nice ones ripe for the picking. Some good stuff to be had for little dough. Welcome back.
 
#7
@ Peter Fezza welcome back. The "leave of absence" from bands here was 1989-2006.

You did not post a location but if you can, go to local music stores and try out what they have, new and used. Yes, a lot of them may be poorly set up but the "feel" of the body and neck(s) can help you narrow down your preference. I'll add a "+1" to the price thing. My expensive basses got sold in 1989 to move family to Texas and then again(after reloading) in 2007 to help with children's college expenses. THEN I ventured into the land of "Cheapos" as they are called. You can find a TON of new and used basses that are GREAT for $300 or less.

Examples:
If you like the way a Fender Jazz feels and sounds, a used 1980's or early 1990's Peavey Foundation for a lot less is very close and sometimes better.

One of my main basses is a $247 FAME/Hondo bought used on eBay that came here with upgraded pickups(Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders) and a factory Kahler. I spent a few dollars(less than $5) for some stainless steel neck screws to re-attach the neck to the body correctly, set it up, and now it is amazing.

There are many more like the above. If you want Stanley Clarke's sound, you will either have to do extreme EQ or have an active bass with very good on-board EQ or......an Alembic(had one, sold it in 1989 mainly because the neck was too thin...it would flex if one moved a lot like younger Johnny Crab used to do).
 
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#8
Welcome back bassman! Lots of bass gear changes since the 80s! Don't get hung up on the best brand and reviews (your head will certainly spin if you get sucked into some of the gear threads around here!!)

Try used gear at local music shops (and pawn shops too if in your area) as much as possible to find out what you like with regard to feel and sound. I think Craigslist can be a gold mine for great used bass gear. Lots of used Ibanez, Fender, Peavey gear are typically available at really great prices.

And if you haven't figured it out yet from reading TB threads, you will be selling/trading any gear you do buy within the next 2-3 months :D and then of course regretting it 10 years later.
 
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#10
Welcome back, your timing is impeccable. Remember how crappy a $2-300 bass used to be? Not anymore! It's amazing what you can get for short money now. IMHO, the best bang for your buck in virtually every price range is Ibanez. They run in ascending series, SR200, 300, 400, etc. The 200 line is an entry level bass, starting at 300 and 400 series are all any amateur bedroom bassist (like me) will ever need. The SR 500 series is pro-level, anything beyond that just gets prettier cosmetically, incremental improvement in hardware and electronics as you walk up the line. The top of the line Prestige series are boutique-level instruments for around $2000 and up. They are all light, ergonomically superior, and have a very thin, fast neck, so not great for the ham-fisted, but very comfortable for small to normal sized hands. The higher end models have Nordstrum pups, the mid-range have Barts, great sounding either way. Excellent electronics setup, with Master Volume, Pup blend, and three-band EQ, passive or active. If I was in your shoes, I'd get an Ibanez, no question.

Another bass line to check out is the Squier CV and VM series, excellent basses for the price if you prefer a Fender look and feel. I think they are equal to most MIM Fenders, opinions vary hugely on this, of course. Speaking of Mick Karn, the Squier VM Jazz Fretless is a great bass, it's a lined fretless "ebanol" (phenolic) fretboard, no pickguard like a Jaco Jazz, instant "mwah" for cheap.

The Sire line by Marcus Miller also gets a lot of love around here, though I haven't tried one personally.

For amps, you are also in luck. Most amps these days have an aux in and headphone out for playing along with MP3's or CD's. The Fender Rumble 15 is very well reviewed, my son has Rumble 30, and it's more than loud enough for church and coffee-house sized gigs, the 15 would be plenty for bedroom use. There are also plenty of high quality headphone amps, some with effects built in, ability to mix with other music sources for playalong, software to slow down and pitch correct music for learning, etc, all of it relatively cheap!
 
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#13
I'm a big proponent of buying used high end gear, heck I scored an Alembic Epic on TB for $1,000....what? Ok, not the cheapest bass in the world but a steal for an alembic.
My point being for a novice you can score something that's both nice AND different like an old Ibanez Roadstar for $300 or a Guild Pilot for $400, both great old school basses
that I used to drool over when they were new (and I was young). If you must buy new I don't have much to add that others haven't already said, but would like to recommend
(if you like semihollow's) the Epiphone Viola bass, nice fast neck, decent craftsmanship and with a set of flats gives a classic boomy tone (best $300 new bass I've ever bought).
And as far as amps go, I was in the market for a good portable rig for small gigs/rehearsals, I played a bunch of lightweight combo's like GK, Ampeg BA115, Fender Rumble
Orange, Hartke and Markbass. I bought the Markbass CMD151p because I like lots of headroom and this offered just enough with an extension speaker, but was also very
impressed with their CMDP151 Players School (200 watt version of my amp), you can score these used from Guitar Center for as little as $300. It would make an excellent
practice/beginner amp. Well that's my $.02, welcome back to the bass world!
 
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#14
As mentioned above, try out a few dozen different basses...you might be surprised with the Squier CV and VM line, the Sterling SUB basses, etc. Entry-level basses have never been this good.
If this was the shootout you mean, you definitely can't go wrong with #9...the '51 Squier P bass. Listen with some good headphones. I'm still impressed with that bass.
 
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#16
Welcome back – as others have mentioned – and welcome home.

It's truly a different era these days. No longer does "low price" equate with "low quality." Take the time to explore...from Fender's Squier series to Ibanez's Gio and Soundgear series to SX's Ursa series, and beyond. Heck, look at premium offerings too if you have the time. Fact of the matter is: There's something out there to fit your tastes and your budget.
 
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#19
Agree with the try to death before you buy plan. Once you find something that is in the ballpark and your ready to buy, play it at home for reasonable while. Not so long that you can't take it back if it's not as great as you thought it was....
Once you know it's a "keeper" take it to a local guitar guy that you trust and have him do a setup on it. That will keep you in it. I remember wayy back when I discovered this for the first time, the guy who works on my stuff told me something like "ok now you're going to stop working at playing your bass, and just play your bass." Not sure if those are the exact words or not but the sentiment is there. Point is, he was right on. Totally night and day. Action was sky high, it was a mess. I didn't know any better, I was just a kid...
Anyway, once you find your perfect bass, get a new set of strings for it because not always but lots of the time the stock strings are not great. New strings and a good setup=1000% cooler bass...
 
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