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What is the most versatile bass under $1000?

SpitfireCWII

SpitfireCWII

Dec 18, 2010
322
92
Southern Ontario
#1
Hey, I play a wide variety of music genres, anything from blues to heavy metal, and I was just wondering what would be the most versatile bass for anything and everything in between blues and metal ? I was thinking maybe a G&L 2000, or an Ibanez, but im not too fond of Ibanez. What are some basses that are really versatile?
 
#6
The question was "most versatile", not "most versatile other than Fender"... so I'll be a pain and second the vote for a Fender J.

Other than that, I'd say pick your favorite two-pickup, 34" passive bass and go for it.

My second vote would have been the classic Fender P. It has played more different types of music than any other bass ever made.
 
#16
johndough247 said:
Why? We all have the right to ignore them you know...

Besides if someone asked this question 2, 5 or 10 years ago, are those answers always relevant today? Should the next 15 year old kid who joins TB be chastised for not following those older threads every single time? :hiding:
Click to expand...

As you have probably read here many times, Leo Fender perfected the bass guitar in the 1950s. So yes, decades-old answers to this question will always be relevant. Even factoring for inflation.

/sarcasm

Look, I just see this stuff when I log on, click it, and go "Ow." It's like poking a sore tooth I guess. My biggest complaint with these threads is not really that someone seeks knowledge (that's great), it's that they (naively, not knowingly) set up a divisive situation by asking stuff like, "What's the BEST thing?" (there's no best) or "Do X basses totally rock/totally suck?" (depends on who you are). In this case, "most versatile" is, I'm sorry, a false notion. There is no "most versatile" bass in any category I'm aware of. It's all a spectrum of tradeoffs, the basses that market themselves as extraordinarily versatile seem to have less and less character in my experience, and on the other hand a Precision Bass could be called versatile because it has a very useable tone.

Here's one answer that never loses relevance: "Try before you buy, and try lots." There's really nothing more helpful any of us can say, in my opinion.
 
#17
TheCush said:
+1 on the L-2000 - amazing range of tones from that bass.
Click to expand...

For versatility, I have to agree. The Fender J is the most versatile bass until you want active tone. You can install an active EQ but, straight out of the box, I would have to say the L-2000 still has a bigger range.

For me, I don't see versatility as a virtue, necessarily, because I only want one tone, which is MY tone, and I get it from a fat, warm split-coil P pickup every time. For my purposes, two knobs is plenty... more than that is overkill.
 
#18
Although... something occurred to me...

Do you define "versatile" to mean it can produce the widest variety of tone OR something that can produce the ONE tone most suitable to a wide variety of applications? If you mean the former, I stand by the G&L but if you mean the latter, probably any standard P.
 
#19
I second the Jazz Bass. I'm not very experienced either, but so far I like how my Jazz Bass sounds with different types of songs, and I play blues, jazz and rock licks. It sounds good with all of them.

As for the number of knobs thing, I disagree more than two are overkill. The J bass itself has three (OK, two for volume, one for tone; but moving those three gives a lot of good tones). I have a Yamaha that has four (well, three, considering one is the sole volume knob for both pickusp), and it gives a very wide range of sounds, most of which sound pretty good.

I'm not saying, go for a bass with more knobs. But having a decent amount of knobs can give you a lot to have fun with the tone. Maybe 5 or more knobs for just tone would be an overkill, though.:hiding:
 

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