There are a lot of really nice basses out and they have all improved designs in one way or another and each can sound great for a particular purpose or playing style. I guess at the end of the day the one bass that most players come back to is Fender. A lot of pro players out there have the high-end boutique basses but they also have an old P or J (or both) sitting in the corner that they can go to at any time. There are lots of fantastic basses out there and I believe a lot of the companies out there have made better basses but Fender has continued to be the standard for the electric bass guitar and will probably remain so for quite some time.