Anything Yamaha or Ibanez is going to win out over most other budget brands. I would also say Cort because they make basses for everyone else and thier in house brand is priced to be cheap but good quality.
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The best cheap bass?
- Thread starter dave84
- Start date
Yeah I got a used sub Ray 4 for well under $200 a couple years ago and was floored by the quality. Certainly the best price/quality ratio I've personally bought. But those HBs look like they may be an even better value proposition.
How would you rate the feel and quality compared to a squier? I’m on the hunt for an inexpensive P bass that I could use as a light modding platform. The HB is tempting, but the shipping brings it closer to squier territory.
I have an American Ray and after getting a sterling sub ray5 about 3 years ago I got the HH version recently and looks and sounds great.
At the time it was made, the Peavey Foundation. You could buy them new for $200 and they would punch with any passive bass of the era.
I bought an SX P that punches well above it's weight, solid, nice tone, feels surprisingly good and look great too. Congrats on the HB and great demo, I enjoyed it!
We are so very fortunate to live in a time where there are so many choices from $500 and less.
I've bought three Squiers in the last several years and am more than satisfied they are excellent basses for the money, surprisingly so.
I've bought three Squiers in the last several years and am more than satisfied they are excellent basses for the money, surprisingly so.
If short scale is yer thing, I love the Ibanez TMB30 - recorded with it today. I paid under 2 hoondo's, new and delivered.
A Squier PJ vintage modified was my first bass, and I recall it being a fine instrument, one I’d be happy today to have in my arsenal with a light set of Chromes as when I sold it. Perhaps now I would swap the pickups, but it wouldn’t be necessary. It sounded pretty good as is.
what qualifies as cheap? everything i've tried that was cheaper than a squier classic vibe or squier paranormal has been not good enough for me to buy, or had to be returned. so i'd say one of those squiers are the best cheap bass.. even though they're 400+ these days
I would have said SX up until a month ago.
Then I got the same bass as the OP.
It's really above expectations. I play mine bone stock, strings and all. Best 99 euro I ever spent
Then I got the same bass as the OP.
It's really above expectations. I play mine bone stock, strings and all. Best 99 euro I ever spent
D
Personally I think Harley Benton is in a class of their own when it comes to cheap basses, although they can be a bit hit or miss.
I got a PB-20 that was utterly useless. The neck needed a shim to be playable, the fretwork was awful, one of the tuners was defect out of the box, one of the pots was dead... I could go on and on... It was rubbish. I fixed it and gave it away for free.
I also got a PJ-74 with the sharpest fret ends I've ever seen on an instrument in my 30+ years of playing. It was completely unplayable out of the box. And just to be clear, I'm not talking about fret sprout (which can happen to ANY bass in ANY price range) but razor sharp ends that cut my fingers really badly. Apart from this it was a very impressive instrument for the price (although I'm not convinced the frets will stay seated over time in that rather soft tinted pine fretboard...).
But the JB-75 (natural finish, ash body) is the best cheap bass I've EVER played. It's extremely heavy but apart from that it's easily as good as any Fender Player series bass I've played, in many ways better. Unbelievable value!
The Harley Benton HB-60 hollowbody is also very impressive for the money. As is their 12-string guitar and many of their 6-string guitars.
Harley Bentons often need a setup though. The only one I've gotten with a reasonably good setup out of the box was the JB-75.
I got a PB-20 that was utterly useless. The neck needed a shim to be playable, the fretwork was awful, one of the tuners was defect out of the box, one of the pots was dead... I could go on and on... It was rubbish. I fixed it and gave it away for free.
I also got a PJ-74 with the sharpest fret ends I've ever seen on an instrument in my 30+ years of playing. It was completely unplayable out of the box. And just to be clear, I'm not talking about fret sprout (which can happen to ANY bass in ANY price range) but razor sharp ends that cut my fingers really badly. Apart from this it was a very impressive instrument for the price (although I'm not convinced the frets will stay seated over time in that rather soft tinted pine fretboard...).
But the JB-75 (natural finish, ash body) is the best cheap bass I've EVER played. It's extremely heavy but apart from that it's easily as good as any Fender Player series bass I've played, in many ways better. Unbelievable value!
The Harley Benton HB-60 hollowbody is also very impressive for the money. As is their 12-string guitar and many of their 6-string guitars.
Harley Bentons often need a setup though. The only one I've gotten with a reasonably good setup out of the box was the JB-75.
I would say the best cheap bass would be the Squier Classic Vibe Series. They are just amazing and not for the money. I own a Harley Benton MB-4 and don't get me wrong it's a great value for the money, but it definitely had issues when it arrived. The nut was terribly cut, the fretboard is not that straight (It looks a little wavy when looking down the neck), and the A string had a fuzz sound that goes through my amp when playing. All in all for around $190 (with shipping) its a great deal, just not near as good as the Squier Classic Vibes.
It isn't. It's a post-57 style vanilla P; you can see one being assembled here:
(For the rest, a meaning of "cheap" that ranges from <100$ Harley Bentons to >400$ Classic Vibes, with a leisurely tour around the 250$ MiM's you can* score on Craigslist all day, makes this discussion quite unfocused to my taste. My favourite bass is a Squier Affinity I got in a pawn shop for a pittance, but I bought it to vandalize to my appalling tastes and even if you got to that specific pawn shop they won't have another so what use is any of that to you?)
Thanks, yeah I have seen a few of these now. I have one on order for my birthday in a couple of weeks!
I recent purchased an Epiphone EB-0(h!) and was utterly blown away by the quality. Sub-$300 and LOADS of gooey bass goodness. It's not all thump either...the Epiphone Sidewinder has a lot of range and it's a great option and a very comfortable bass. I loved it SO much I ended up buying a Gibson SG Std!
