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School Bass ($600)

#23
I'd go with a fender P if you can get it at cost. or a squire VM... I only say a P bass because It was my experience through high school that the P sound was cutting through big band mixes better than a jazz. Also it rocks a slightly old school sound which I personally like in that setting. Also a Pbass has one less pickup which means less things can go wrong... also the reason an active would be terrible.

I was lucky.. In 1978 the school I went to high school bought an electric bass and it's still there.. it's an all original Fender P with awesome mojo. I miss it. I had to leave it a year ago plus a few months
 
#26
casanova2416 said:
yeah... imagine doing the chicken... I'm sure the bassists in the crowd would be amused...

am I correct that the consensus is to go for the squire vm's rather than getting the SX's and modding them almost completely?
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I'd say that's what it sounds like.

the new squires are pretty kickass and with a good set-up will have a solid sound and last forever
 
#27
Haha, I always used my gear at school. By the time I left I had my jazz director sold on expensive basses and he gave me a good sum of money and told me to pick him out a new bass. I got them a MIA Deluxe J5. I hope those kids appreciate it...

For $600 I'd recommend getting one midrange instrument instead of two lower priced ones. I know SXs are great and all that, but nothing like one solid go to instrument. In that price range I really like the schecters and maybe an older MIJ Ibanez.

If you can't buy used, then buy through whatever store supplies your school. I used to work for one of these stores and they give huge discounts to schools. You could probably get an MIJ fender for the $600 or close to it.

Depending on what kind of music your band plays, I'd go for a 5er unless you're really not comfortable with it. We played a lot of funk and latin, so the extra lower notes reall made some nice impact. It's also nice to be able to have a two octave range in any one position...
 
#29
Fender Standard Jazz, for all practical purposes. Keeping things traditional and standard will help in the instruction process, and it keeps things easy and affordable to repair.

I'd also pick a Jazz over a P because the slimmer neck has an advantage for beginners in the 14-16 year old range who may have smaller hands.
 
#30
Porksicle said:
Fender Standard Jazz, for all practical purposes. Keeping things traditional and standard will help in the instruction process, and it keeps things easy and affordable to repair.

I'd also pick a Jazz over a P because the slimmer neck has an advantage for beginners in the 14-16 year old range who may have smaller hands.
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we don't have a dedicated electric bass program (yeah, right...) so all of the potential players would be switching over from upright.

fat necks no problem...

what about a t-40? I was using my variax, which is fairly heavy, so the school has an extra wide strap (it's not very traditional, though..)
 
#31
Porksicle said:
Fender Standard Jazz, for all practical purposes. Keeping things traditional and standard will help in the instruction process, and it keeps things easy and affordable to repair.

I'd also pick a Jazz over a P because the slimmer neck has an advantage for beginners in the 14-16 year old range who may have smaller hands.
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good point about the slimmer neck... however there's a decent chance that whoever is playing this will also be playing upright, so it may not really matter... just a thought

oh and I can't resist this next comment...
did you just admit that jazz basses are for children?... haha i kid, i kid
 
#34
get a 5 string and one 4 string. The 5 would apply for more flexibility for certain genres and the 4 string would be great fort beginners due to the slimmer neck.

if you can buy used definitely used USA peavey basses best bang for the buck.

New I guess a squire or a peavey Milestone would fit, maybe an Ibanez GSR or sr200.

any of these

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#35
in my experience, these instruments end up getting shoved in the dark corners of the instrument storage room...


i was cleaning up ours and found a rhodes stage piano in mint condition and a 86 MIJ fender jazz....loved that bass, played great for that program.


so, 80s MIJ jazz i my vote
 
#36
gahpg said:
+1 on one squier P and one squier J. The VM basses are good and would fall in the price range. Could even string the P with flats and keep rounds on the J depending on what kind of sound the director/player wants. Hell, maybe even get one 4 string P and one 5 string jazz or something; never know when kids might need that low b!

And hardshell cases sound good, because you might take good care of them but some kids in the future might not.

If it's just one bass i'd get a MIM P or J. Look around used though, maybe you can luck out on a MIA fender.
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As a band teacher, i like the idea of getting 2...
and +1,000,000 on the hard cases!
 
#40
If the school budgeted $600 for a bass, then you should buy 1 bass, not 2. Whether you want / need to spend the full $600 for that bass is a separate decision, but if you spend the $600 on 2 $300 basses, you'll leave some folks wondering why they didn't budget $300 if that's all a bass costs.

If it were me, I'd look for a MIM or MIJ strung with flats.
 

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