I am a high school jazz guitarist and I do a lot of covers and one-man bands. I am planning to buy an electric bass so I can play them on my music covers.
I like the sound of Jaco so I prefer the jazz bass over p bass.
My budget is under 150$. I don't care if the bass is new or used. Any suggestion on which bass I should buy on which website? It will be GREAT if you guys can help me!!
In that price range, there is NO contest. Ibanez GSR PJ. I don’t remember exactly what the model number is, just look for the Cheap Ibanez PJ. Even so, you’ll need to find a used one but they are VERY common at pawn shops, even in smallish towns
I would not bother with any other babies under $200... Hell I would not suggest any other base under $300 compared to this one. I think they are genuinely great instruments, the neck is slim and easy to play, they really sound better than thru have any right to, and the biggest drawback is the cheaper hardware etc, but your budget is what it is.
I would not buy any other bass in that price range.. I would ABSOLUTELY not suggest anything cheaper- you may some very cheap Basses For like $100 at pawn shops that look similar to the Ibanez in that range; they are GARBAGE, you should wait for a good deal or sell some lemonade.
I would also absolutely not suggest a Squier. I LOVE a diamond in the rough, dark horse, secret weapon magically amazing Mexican Fender, as some of them are simply unbelievably good instruments. This magic RARELY extends down to squiers, and the QC and parts for these are just awful.
These are my thoughts, I’ll happily defend them, and I will close by reemphasizing that the GSR whatever Ibanez aren’t just ‘not bad, and pretty cheap,’ I genuinely think they punch above their weight class, such that, while owning a Roscoe and a few other nice Basses, I have repurchased a GSR just to own one again (it was my first instrument), bought 2 others to use the necks for projects where I built or modded a body, and also bought a MIKRO 5’er, which is very much the same instrument at an insanely short 28” scale for another project.
The only downside is that they look quite plain.. either let your music speak for you, or get creative and paint it or something..
i’ve run across a few threads with guys refinishing these Basses, because they’re nice enough to keep around
Edit 1: it’s an Ibanez GSR 200.. $200 new, as low as $99 used.
edit 2: regarding jaco: with this as my only bass in middle and high school, LEARNED how to play bass from-and-because-of Jaco and Vic Wooten. This bass VERY much does a good burpy bridge-only Jazz bass sound.. i’ve actually done some study and wrote many comments about how this family of Ibanez Basses has perhaps the best sounding pickup placement of any PJ Basses I’ve heard, excluding the requirement of a 10000% authentic Pbass placement (it still does ok there, though)
have I sung its praises enough?
