Which basses can take heavy gauge?

[Kjarkas]

I'm thinking of getting a Dean Edge 10a and putting Ernie Ball's on them. I want to put on it medium to heavy gauge, but I've read reviews on Musician's Friend that this type of bass has a fairly thin neck, suggesting that heavy gauge strings are not ideal unless the truss rods are adjusted/replaced or whatnot. That's the reason why I'm selling my Ibanez GSR200.

Maybe it's the wood, but that leads back to the brand of bass. Anyone know which basses can take a heavy hit?

 

[mellowgerman]

Warwicks from before they went back to the slimmer neck profile.
Or pretty much any P-bass.

 

[OOZMAN]

...I want to put on it medium to heavy gauge, but I've read reviews on Musician's Friend that this type of bass has a fairly thin neck, suggesting that heavy gauge strings are not ideal unless the truss rods are adjusted/replaced or whatnot....

Then... like... adjust it dude.

 

[levis76]

Yeah, you just need to adjust the truss rod. I played a set of .130 to .65 tuned AEAD, they don't come much heavier than that son, on a cheapo Ibanez TR and the neck was fine. I had to mod the crap out of the bass as far as the nut and bridge, but I didn't really care, it was a $50 bass.

Point is, feel free to get a different bass if that's what you really want, but you can adjust the neck on the Ibanez to handle a larger gauge without too many problems. Keep in mind the nut and bridge saddles may need to be widened to accept it. If you don't know how to do this properly, I would suggest spending the approx $50 to have a luthier do a proper setup for the larger strings. You might be surprised what a good luthier can bring out of even a cheap bass. Most "cheap" basses are just built bad, they don't have bad parts, and a luthier can help identify any flaws and correct them.