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Great selection of choices. I own only 2 basses, the Yamaha BB424x, and the Ray34 with maple neck. Both are IMO great for my needs. Yamaha with flatwound and the Ray with rounds. They complete me... for my recording needs.
For versatility, I'd recommend the Yamaha. Built well, tons of tones, quiet, lightweight. Good stuff.
I just saw a used Yammy 425x for just a little more than 3 bills. Super nice and great sounding bass.
I think Yamaha is the stuff people are going to wish they had nabbed when they had the chance. When have they ever made a bad guitar? When has "Yamaha" and "quality issues" ever appeared in the same sentence?
I used a Yamaha TRBX305 for quite a while and nowadays I use an upgraded Squier VM Jazz (4stings).
TBH the yamaha is still my standard in every way. It was a dream to play that bass because of that superior neck and the quality of the instrument was like a very expensive instrument.
The only reason I switched to a Squier Jazz because it fits my type of music much better.
TL;DR: I'd go for the Yamaha.
TBH the yamaha is still my standard in every way. It was a dream to play that bass because of that superior neck and the quality of the instrument was like a very expensive instrument.
The only reason I switched to a Squier Jazz because it fits my type of music much better.
TL;DR: I'd go for the Yamaha.
I have played a new subray 4 with the preamp fixed. I was gonna buy a cream one but they are definately heavier than my older one. Neck was a hair chunky. Mine is shaved. Dont think you can go wrong with either.
One thing i did to to tame down my Ray and make it more viable was by creating 2 different settings on my Behringer Bass Vamp pro. I set up one setting for an Svt tone and one for atube preamp. Different voicing but opens up the tonal options. Dont think you can wrong with any of them.
Pick the one that sounds best to what you want it to sound like, and the one that is most comfortable to you.
Make sure you check out GC’s used gear section before buying. They come with a 30 day waranty, and you can extend it for peanuts. I landed are really solid German built Warwick Corvette 5 string for about double your budget. I’m sure you will find a really great pro quality instrument within your budget.
Yeah that is where I am looking at my price point used is the only way to go IMO. GC has a great used department and warranty.
The good and hard thing is all these are viable options. I found a used BB415...This may sound dumb I am not picky with looks I just don't like glossy black. I am cool with it if there is something added to it like a tort pick guard. Great price 270 right where I am happy budget wise. Just that cheap generic glossy black finish. This is tough all seem like good options.
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I get it. But if you can, take your time. You never know what might turn up tomorrow. I waited about a year and a half for that Warwick to show up at that price I paid.
That’s a sweet mod to make that passive with split coil volume controls, I bet that’s real nice.
Yeah that is a great deal I may wait a few more days or week. One hand I am dying to record and have tracks that need bass. But on the other hand as you said you never know what may show up.
What he said. If it only goes from full volume to off, it's one of the old Indonesian models. It's hit or miss. I had an Indonesian I bought as backup bass. Played with it live once, took it back the next day (I thought I could live with it because it was a backup). Since then I've played about 4 or 5 Subs. Bought one that didn't have the problem and it was made in China. Played live with it a handful of times and no issues. It has a punchy Ray sound and sits in the mix well. The low B sounds good too (growly, not muddy). It'll never replace my Ray35, but it sounds pretty good for the price.
