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Which bass?

R

RCaliDrummer

May 1, 2011
13
0
#1
Hey guys!

I'm sure this is a monotonous post that occurs rather frequently-- an individual would like to know what he/she should get for a bass. Please accept my most sincere apologies if my hypothesis is correct.

Well i would like to start off by giving some background knowledge about myself. I currently am a drummer, but ever since I started drumming I was always amused by the bass. About a year ago, I purchased this really cheap "Lyon by Washburn" bass. I really didn't care about the quality, so I got it to fiddle around with. I never played it as much as I play my drums. I learned some songs that had interesting bass parts but that's it. I started playing it more often in the last two-ish months. I went to my local music shop to get some new drum sticks and a cymbal stand when I decided to try out one of the basses. It was a fender jazz bass I believe. That bass was so much easier to play than my current one! The best thing was the strings weren't so far off of the fretboard and I could actually play the bass without hearing a buzzing sound when the string hit the fret.

Anyways, that inspired me to look into a new bass. I have a couple in mind.

√ Sterling by Music Man
√ Fender P-Bass
√ Fender Jazz Bass
√ Flea Bass Model 32

And that's about it. I'm not sure if these are good basses or not. I probably won't perform much live with them, as I am primarily a drummer, but I still would like to keep up the hobby.

Anyways if I could get your suggestions, that would be great!!

Thanks everyone!

And here are the links for the sterling and the jazz bass.

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#3
Well, it sounds like your bass just needs a good setup, that way it'll be easier to play with the strings lower and not as much buzz. But if you're set on a new bass, I'd say any of those are good except for the Flea Bass. I would take the Sterling over it. I was very impressed when I played it.
 
#4
Ignore the Fleabass hate their actually decent. The Street version is even cheaper and is of same quality as the Model 32 I believe. I'll say the Sterling or a Fender Jazz but in reality you just played them haven't you? So surely you should just choose the best one you played.
 
#5
BoomingBass said:
Well, it sounds like your bass just needs a good setup, that way it'll be easier to play with the strings lower and not as much buzz. But if you're set on a new bass, I'd say any of those are good except for the Flea Bass. I would take the Sterling over it. I was very impressed when I played it.
Click to expand...

Well, I kind of want to upgrade to a new bass. The flea bass sucks?

And what should I change to make the strings lower?

thanks a lot!
 
#6
You really need to know a few things before you just going lowering your bridge or saddles to lower the action. I would suggest google or taking it to a good tech.

That said, most likely you need a truss rod adjustment. Then you can lower the action by lowering the saddles, but you need to remember that the saddles need to be arranged according to the radius of the fretboard, so assuming it is correct now, you should be able to lower each saddle the same amount of turns to keep them the same. After you get the string height where you want it, you need to intonate your bass. This is easy to do as long as you have a quality tuner. It can be done with a TU2, but I use a Peterson Strobe Tuner because it is much more accurate.

None of this is rocket science, but it is really easy for someone who doesn't know what they're doing to screw it up.


As far as basses go, I also dislike the Flea bass. If it were me, I would get a J bass.
 
#10
Rickenbackers like their necks straight. Most basses/guitars like a little bit of relief. That is, it should be slightly bowed forward. If your bass is bowed forward too much, tightening up the truss rod will straighten it out. 1/4 turn at a time and let the bass settle for awhile ( I usually wait a day) between adjustments.


Get the right allen wrench to adjust your saddles and lower each screw a half a turn. There are probably 2 per saddle. Play it. If it isn't buzzing but the action is still too high, try another half turn on each screw. Repeat until your happy or you have fret buzz. If you get buzz, turn them all back up a quarter turn. See what I'm saying?
 
#12
Floyd Eye said:
Rickenbackers like their necks straight. Most basses/guitars like a little bit of relief. That is, it should be slightly bowed forward. If your bass is bowed forward too much, tightening up the truss rod will straighten it out. 1/4 turn at a time and let the bass settle for awhile ( I usually wait a day) between adjustments.


Get the right allen wrench to adjust your saddles and lower each screw a half a turn. There are probably 2 per saddle. Play it. If it isn't buzzing but the action is still too high, try another half turn on each screw. Repeat until your happy or you have fret buzz. If you get buzz, turn them all back up a quarter turn. See what I'm saying?
Click to expand...

Ahh, I see what you're saying. Thanks for that! I will probably do that with my current bass. I still might potentially purchase a new one, I'm not too sure though.

And I was just on that site about intonation, but thanks for it! :cool:
 
#15
PeaceFrog said:
+1

More gear is always nice!! Also as mentioned previous, sounds like your bass needs a little TLC!! Check the intonation, if it's out of tune then adjust the saddles to bring to pitch!!
Click to expand...


Hahaha thanks guys! I will probably do as you guys say and mess around with my current bass, and I will probably get a new one as well.

So I basically got "get anything but the flea?"
 

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