I went down to Green Bay yesterday for my homebrew club's meeting and decided to check out a couple of local guitar shoppes and look at bass guitars. At one time, I had a Peavey Fury p-bass copy that I foolishly sold along with my Peavey Basic 50 ampf, a Crybaby bass wah, and DOD bass eq and bass chorus. Yes, I'm an idiot.

Anyway, they had a used SX SJB-62 in Lake Placid blue. I could tell that I wasn't used to playing a five-string. I liked the bass well enough except that it seemed a bit neck-heavy (although that may be due to me unfamiliarity with the J-bass body) and I'm not the hugest fan of the heavy amber gloss on the neck. The real kicker was that they were selling it for $260--double Rondo's price for a new one.

I also tried a Peavey Foundation and Squier P-bass. The Squier had a satin finish on the neck, but beyond that there was nothing to recommend it over the Peavey or SX. The Foundation had the exact same neck that my Fury had, so it was like shaking hands with an old friend. They had a used Fury in stock a while back that was exactly like my old one. Sadly, I didn't try to talk them down and buy it myself.

Once I get my Model 7 project done, I'm probably going to have to get a bass. I'd like to get a SX SPJ Ash or some similar bass with both P and J pickups. The SPJ-62 Red is pretty nice too, although I'd prefer a maple fretboard. If I was really to get picky, I wouldn't mind the Geddy Lee-esque maple board with black block inlays. I'd like to find someplace that has a bunch of newer Peavey basses that I could try to see if I like them as much as my Fury. I think I'd have to switch to playing with a pick because of my hand injury, but my picking technique has improved so dramatically from playing guitar that I don't think it would matter.

Back when I still played, Peavey amps were the best price/performance ration for bass amps out there. Is that still the case today? I wouldn't want anything big. Something like my old Basic 50 would do fine.