Recommend a decent all-around bass

[Robert****]

I'm looking to buy a decent bass for home recording. Something I can plug straight into my sound card and use for blues, rock and jazz demo stuff. Any recommendations? Squier? I'd like something that's easy to play and that's on the budget side. I don't know that much about basses.

[Tone2TheBone]

Robert,

Yeah Squire sounds good.

I picked up a Yamaha bass (can't remember the model) at a pawn shop here in town to do exactly what you want. It does the job. Any good playing bass with decent pickups will work. I have yet to make a sound clip for you yes I haven't forgotten. Just haven't had time!

The bass should be compressed a little though when you record..especially on your computer.

[bassume]

I think you also should try the Essex basses, you could have a look at them at http://www.rondomusic.net/bassguitars4.html

[r_a_smith3530]

Wow, this post is aged. Not too much activity going on here, eh? Anyway, it is probably too late for the original poster, but maybe it will help out future readers, so I will go ahead and give my recommendations.

A bass utilizing both the P and J pickup combinations gives you some degree of flexibility. There are a number of them out there, including the Deluxe P Bass Special from Fender (now discontinued), and the Tribute by G&L's SB-2 (also discontinued). Many of these can be found on the used market.

One of the finest basses in the low to medium price range has to be the Tribute by G&L L-2000. Capable of getting P, J, Stingray and more tones, it is a bassplayer's dream come true, and well worth checking out.

Anyway, are there any bassists out there still, or has this become a dead forum?

[Robert****]

Hey Rob, I'm still here! I started the post and I haven't bought a bass yet. Thanks for the tips. Have you tried the SX basses? I hear they are nice entry level basses.

[Katastrophe]

I don't think you can go wrong with either the Squier or the Ibanez entry level bass, IMHO. Our bass player just started learning (and is doing VERY well), and bought the Ibanez, in one of those "starter packs." The bass was very well put together, with a comfortable neck, acceptable action and a great price. Even the little 15w amp it came with had a decent sound for its size.

[r_a_smith3530]

Robert, no, I haven't tried the SX basses yet. Unfortunately, they are only available sight unseen from Rondomusic, and I haven't run across any in my area on used shelves in guitar stores. I cannot speak for them.

Although I have never owned an instrument this far down the musical food chain (see my sig), I have checked out some Squiers, Rogues and others at the GC's and Sam Ash store in my area.

To me, Rogue's instruments don't seem completely finished. Most that I've played had frets that stick out at the edge of the fretboard. The same is sometimes true for Squiers, though not always. My son has an Affinity Series Strat, and its frets were fairly well dressed. Of course, we went through every one that the local Sam Ash had in stock. Peavey's built in the US seem to be of great quality, but those built overseas can be hit or miss. Do check them out though. I've never liked the narrow necks on Ibanez basses, but for the most part, they are a well built instrument. if you like those ultra jazz necks, you could do far worse. Yamaha builds some of the nicest "bang for the buck" instruments in the industry. That said, my old RBX774 bass, with its dual active humbuckers was no match for the Bartolini-equipped Fender "Frankenbass" I own today. I A-B'd the two and hands down, the Frankenbass won in both volume and tone catagories!

This brings me to my favorite, G&L. Leo Fender invented the electric bass guitar. No such animal existed prior to the Precision Bass. In fact, in the early days, it was referred to not as electric bass, but rather as the Fender bass. Leo then went on to create the Jazz Bass to meet the demand for a different sound. After leaving Fender (sold to CBS), Leo went on to create the Stingray Bass at Musicman. The Stingray has gone on to become another classic design. Leo left Musicman to form a partnership with his old buddy George Fullerton. The resulting company, G&L, was where Leo created the pinnacle of his designs. The L-2000 can achieve P tones, it can achieve J tones, it can achieve Stingray tones, and more. In order to reach a broader market, the Tribute line was created. Tributes are produced overseas, using USA pickups, and US designs. All Tribute instruments go through final inspection and adjustment at G&L's facility in Fullerton, CA. Talk about your bang for the buck! Anyway, the L-2000 is available in the Tribute line, and I would recommend them to anyone.

Speaking of G&L's Tributes, I just read a post by Will Ray, session player extraordinaire and member of the Hellecasters, heaping praise on the Tribute line. He owns two or three. As soon as I can bring myself to actually selling my old S-500, an L-2000 will be sitting at my house.

Now, a little about construction. Remember that there are a number of things that affect the quality of sound that an instrument puts out. While electric guitars and basses are not as dependent on wood type/quality as their acoustic cousins, what you build the body and neck of will still make an appreciable difference in the tonal quality. Some guitars in the lower price spectrum are made either from plywood or from scrap pieces of wood, glued together into a patchwork quilt. A guitar or bass made in this fashion will not sound as good as one made from a single piece or maybe two pieces of bookmatched wood. Also, the wood coming from a three hundred year old tree will generally be more stable and dense, and will produce a better tone than wood from a twenty year old tree.

Next up I would have to address pickups. Here, materials play an important role, but how the coils are wound can affect tone to a great degree also. Generally, but not always, you get what you pay for in this department. If you want clean, fat sound, be prepared to fork over some dough. Distortion can hide both lack of quality in materials and lack of playing ability, so keep that in mind!

Other hardware can also have an effect on your sound. A cheap bridge can help to make an instrument sound "tinny." Cheap pots can add dirt to your signal chain. Cheap tuners can have you out of tune in the middle of a song.

Now that I've said all of that, a friend much more knowledgable than myself once told me that people don't listen to your guitar, rather they listen to what comes out of the speakers. He went on to say that you should spend a reasonable amount on a quality instrument, but, in the end, the bulk should go towards getting a good amp/cab setup. In other words, a FirstAct guitar through a 100 watt Marshall stack will probably sound better than the best sounding Les Paul through a FirstAct amp.

If you are into roots blues, note that more of those old players were recorded using Stella's and Harmony's than were recorded playing Gibson's and Martin's. That said, the most popular of them, Robert Johnson, played a Gibson, so quality does count for something!

[SuperSwede]

Ibanez make a few low cost models that are supposed to be quite good for the prize.

[Spudman***]

R A

I have two Rogue basses that are awesome (for the $). I have the 4 and a 5 string LX models both with active/passive circuitry. Even though I live in Idaho the necks haven't shrunk from the lack of humidity yet and hence no exposed fret ends. They have 6 bolt necks, 24 frets and matching amber quilted maple tops with alder bodies. Strings go through the body or just bridge, your choice.
I like them both a lot and I got them a couple years ago when they were doing a clearance on them. They came to me for less than $200 each and they are beautiful with no neck problems, but the electronics are scratchy sometimes. They sound good though.
I also have an Ibanez SR300 passive from 1995. The neck is much narrower than the other 2 basses. I kind of like the skinny at the nut neck but I like the tone of the Rogues much better.
I need to replace the volume push/pull and balance (with indent) pots on one of the Rogues. Do you have any recommendations as to what would be best and where I can get them?

[r_a_smith3530]

R A

I have two Rogue basses that are awesome (for the $). I have the 4 and a 5 string LX models both with active/passive circuitry. Even though I live in Idaho the necks haven't shrunk from the lack of humidity yet and hence no exposed fret ends. They have 6 bolt necks, 24 frets and matching amber quilted maple tops with alder bodies. Strings go through the body or just bridge, your choice.
I like them both a lot and I got them a couple years ago when they were doing a clearance on them. They came to me for less than $200 each and they are beautiful with no neck problems, but the electronics are scratchy sometimes. They sound good though.
I also have an Ibanez SR300 passive from 1995. The neck is much narrower than the other 2 basses. I kind of like the skinny at the nut neck but I like the tone of the Rogues much better.
I need to replace the volume push/pull and balance (with indent) pots on one of the Rogues. Do you have any recommendations as to what would be best and where I can get them?

Spudman, what I experienced with some of the lower end basses and guitars that I've tried wasn't neck shrinkage due to lack of humidity, but rather poor finish work in the fret installation operation. Frets come as wire, are cut to size, pressed into the neck, and finally levelled, dressed and finished. This is where the least expensive instruments cut costs, as it is a labor intensive operation that requires skill. You can destroy a neck quickly if you don't know what you are doing here.

Cheap electronics is another area where the lower end instrument makers save money. The good news is that this is relatively easy to fix, and the cost is not all that bad. From articles I've read, CTS pots are some of the best out there. That's what both my G&L S-500 and my Les Paul came with from the factory, and it is what I used when I added the humbucker to my Peavey Reactor. Here's a link to Torres Engineering for CTS pots. BTW, the 300k is what I used, as I was mixing a single coil and humbucker. This is what you want for P-J setups as well!

http://www.torresengineering.com/guitvolpot.html

You can also get decent pots from Stewart MacDonald. Here's their link.

http://www.stewmac.com/

I'm starting to hear some good things about GuitarFetish, and have included their link below. I just bought a strat hot wound pickup set from them that I'm going to use in a project that I'm building from a 1991 Peavey Predator. We'll see how they sound soon.

http://store.guitarfetish.com/index.html

Here are a couple of other resources for guitar/bass parts. These suppliers have everything from bodies and necks to pickups, tuners, bridges, and controls. At some point, you may want to consider "rolling your own" bass guitar. There is nothing that is quite as satisfying as hearing someone make positive comments about a guitar or bass that has a lot of "you" inside it!

http://www.allparts.com/

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/

http://www.stringthis.com/

http://pickguards.us/

http://www.webstrings.com/

http://www.riograndepickups.com/index.html

http://www.mightymite.com

http://www.warmoth.com/

I hope these give you a few things to check out, and also some ideas.

Remember, that if all you can afford is a $100.00 axe, there is nothing wrong with that. By all means, get the best that you can find in your price range. Do play a couple of expensive instruments though, just to realize the difference and to have something to aim for. The other day, I got to play my bass through a 900 watt Genz-Benz amp with two 8x10 cabs. Although my 220 watt Crate sounds really nice, and it's entirely giggable, there's a reason why the Genz-Benz goes for over a G Note!

[tehuti]

Wow, this post is aged. Not too much activity going on here, eh? Anyway, it is probably too late for the original poster, but maybe it will help out future readers, so I will go ahead and give my recommendations.

A bass utilizing both the P and J pickup combinations gives you some degree of flexibility. There are a number of them out there, including the Deluxe P Bass Special from Fender (now discontinued), and the Tribute by G&L's SB-2 (also discontinued). Many of these can be found on the used market.

One of the finest basses in the low to medium price range has to be the Tribute by G&L L-2000. Capable of getting P, J, Stingray and more tones, it is a bassplayer's dream come true, and well worth checking out.

Anyway, are there any bassists out there still, or has this become a dead forum?

I guess I'm pretty late to the party, but that's because I just bought my first bass the other day. It was good to see an endorsement of the G&L Tribute L-2000 because that's exactly what I ended up getting. Originally I was going to go with a Dean EVO XM, which is a short scale Les Paul style bass since it's closer to the scale of a guitar. But after reading a few recommendations about not going short scale I expanded my search. I had narrowed my choices to a Dean Edge 1 or Edge Hammer. The G&L, while one of my favorites, was a little more pricey and I decided to eliminate it from the list. That was until I found one at a local shop that was almost the same price as the Edge Hammer. Once I saw that it was a no brainer. I already own 2 Dean guitars and a G&L guitar, so I am a fan of both brands. However I definitely favor G&L at that general price range.

Anyone looking for an inexpensive bass should at least consider Dean. They make decent quality instruments at all price ranges. For a few bucks more the G&L Tribute line, both guitar and bass are also worth consideration.

[Spudman***]

I've played a few of those new Dean basses at music stores and I agree they are pretty nice.

[Robert****]

SX basses, man! SX!!