• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Underrated guitar companies???

Many people remain unconvinced about one of the two companies in your premise.

Not going to say much about the Gibson’s I’ve played and owned other than, not a fan. Fender on the other hand has been the industry standard since the 50’s, and has been heard and accepted on more recordings as the definitive electric bass sound.

Are there better basses on the market today? Absolutely. Better made, better engineered, better electronics, easier to play, visually more pleasing to the eye, you name it, it’s out there.

That said and say what you want, Fender has the “Voice”. Tons of singers better than Frank Sinatra from a technical standpoint, but love him or hate him, people still like him. Same for Fender Basses.
 
Just so we're clear, underrated means people don't think they are as good as they really are. I don't know of any companies that fit that bill. Under-appreciated might be more accurate.

There are some companies that don't get the publicity that they probably should. Ben Lindsey basses are really good. I've had Nash, Bluesman, Fender, among others and Ben's are second to none. I'm recently sold off all but 4 of my basses and I've kept 3 Lindsey basses because they are just that good.

You have a good point. For my money, I find that Devon basses, at least based upon the three which I own, are perhaps underrated as they offer more features for less dollars than any other builder of whom I'm aware.

They may qualify as under-appreciated as well, insofar as they are relatively unknown to my knowledge. If one wants a custom instrument, they're worth a look.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lfmn16
Maruszczyk Instruments
adrian_frei_s.png


And on the "used" market you can get some really good deals
 
received_275679156624570.jpeg
TBC "The Bass Company". Love mine. Just finished installing Bart's in it with A Nordstrand Preamp. Humbucker bridge, and jazz neck. Super low action, Light, Wide spacing 5'r. Great bang for the buck. I picked it up used locally cheap. Don't think anyone knew what it was. I did and scooped it up.:smug::bassist: I have 7 other basses, Carvin XB75, Ibanez SRFF805, Pbass special deluxe, Squire jazz vm. The TBC gets most of the playing time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Corbusier
I agree with a lot of these comments. Schecter, LTD and even Hohner (not just their Steinberger clone, but they came out with a few models, I owned two others, a PJ and one called the Phoenix).
Another underrated brand, except to people who took that leap of faith - Sire. If they were only available in more brick and mortar stores, they would probably sell a lot more than they already do as I think the low price and that fact that you can't try them out first before you buy one has some people skeptical and wary of it. Let's face it, it's both underrated and overrated (in a way)- realistically it's not going to compete against the boutique or high end basses, that's a pretty unfair comparison but it's a great bass for what it is and what it sells for.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jaysbass2002
Cort. Recently picked up a barely used Cort A5 that is an amazingly well built, easy playing, and great sounding bass. My current go to in one of the two bands I play in, a heck of a lot of instrument for the money.

I still don't understand why Epiphone doesn't get more credit. Yeah they put out some individual instruments that need some tweaking before becoming good players but IMO for the most part well built and great sounding/playing basses for not very much money. IMO the best bang-for-the-buck basses on the market today, even if you do occasionally have to put some tweaking into some of them.