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what's a good cheap bass?


mbengs1

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Imitating bass in any way besides playing the actual instrument always comes up short in my book. You cant do it on guitar because the strings just don't have the physical size and inertia the weight causes. Keyboards can produce notes and even produce envelopes but come up short for technique.

 

As far as making a recommendation, its purely a matter of how much you want to spend. Given the fact you've posted around allot and I've even heard some of your recordings I have some ideas of the music genre you like. My suggestion would be an Ibanez or Jackson.

Ibanez makes some fantastic budget basses that are easy for a guitarist to learn to play and the neck shape will allow you to play the types of music you are into. Jackson are very similar. They may have harder woods and have a little more durability. My old bass player has similar tastes in music and plays both and does a pretty good job covering all types of music.

 

I'm a bit more into traditional and unique tones, mainly for producing unique and unconventional original music. I don't want the sounds everyone else can get and seek out. I do have a Precision if I need normal tones, but everything else is pretty far from being main stream. I quit wanting to be or sound like others back in my High School days. I only played cover tunes because most musicians lacked the skill to write their own music and produce unique tones in the process.

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Yamaha makes a very good bass guitar at all price points.

 

When I was shopping for a bass I tried several different brands and ended up with a low priced Yamaha RBX360 which has a very even acoustic sound across the strings and up and down the fingerboard. This results in an even amplified sound which is excellent for recording.

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I can second WRGKMC's recommendation of Ibanez. When I wanted a cheap bass, I bought an Ibanez GSR200 for $100. Not a perfect bass by any means, but it did the job. Looks good, too.

 

This isn't mine, and it's not a great pic, but you get the idea:

DSCN2094.jpg.html

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He needs to give a price range to have some clue.

 

For a guitarist switching over to bass recording a Short scale bass like the Gretsch G2220 Electromatic Junior Jet II is a comfortable alternative.

Going from a guitar to a medium or long scale bass can take a long time to become proficient navigating those wider frets. A short scale still takes some major exercise to build up your hands but you can at least bet to the notes better.

 

The thing I like about mine is the mini Humbuckers. It has nice rich tones with a strong output. I've even plugged straight into a recording interface with no additional preamps or DI units and got an excellent signal that didn't need allot of tweaking to get it to sit in a mix well. Playing live I'd probably still recommend an Ibanez but recording these are tough to beat. All my buddies who play bass love it too because its just so darn fun to play and you don't wind up with your left hand wiped out and wilted the next day after a long session playing.

 

 

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Cheap would be anything below $400.

I guess we have different budgets. My notion of "cheap" is below $200. For what you're willing to spend, you could get a lightly used Mexican made Fender P-Bass or J-Bass, which is all most non-professionals will ever need.

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Check out the Squier Jaguar short scale bass. Around $200 new' date=' and a really good choice for a guitarist who wants to double on bass or record bass occasionally but who doesn't want to spend a lot of money.[/quote']

 

+1

 

I found a candy-apple red one on CL. The guy changed the P pup to American Standard, J to a Seymour Duncan Jazz, bridge to a Bad-Ass and a nice perloid white pickguard. He said even after upgrading everything he still didn't like playing short-scale. I gladly took it off his hands, with all the original hardware as well, for the $179 he paid for the guitar.

 

I did have to spend some time leveling and dressing the frets - sharp fret-ends abound - but now it plays like silk [he sold it with a new set of D'addario Chrome [flatwounds] and sounds fabulous.

 

I also second recommendations for Yamaha - they make great basses that go cheap on the used market.

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+1

 

I found a candy-apple red one on CL. The guy changed the P pup to American Standard, J to a Seymour Duncan Jazz, bridge to a Bad-Ass and a nice perloid white pickguard. He said even after upgrading everything he still didn't like playing short-scale. I gladly took it off his hands, with all the original hardware as well, for the $179 he paid for the guitar.

 

I did have to spend some time leveling and dressing the frets - sharp fret-ends abound - but now it plays like silk [he sold it with a new set of D'addario Chrome [flatwounds] and sounds fabulous.

 

I also second recommendations for Yamaha - they make great basses that go cheap on the used market.

 

 

 

Congrats on the Jaguar SS bass Verne - sounds like you got a really good deal! :philthumb:

 

As I mentioned in my review, the stock P-Bass pickup was solid, but the output of the J-Bass pup was pretty weak - how does the replacement SD Jazz work on yours? Is it as loud as the P-Bass pickup?

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will a cheap bass with stock pickups sound ok if its plugged straight into the console? i plan to play my own bass parts without a bass amp or micing.

 

Please define "plugged straight into the console."

 

If you're just plugging into a low impedance line input, it's not ideal with any high impedance bass. Do you have a direct box? If so, that will help a great deal; the sound will be somewhat dependent on which type and which model you're using, but that's a technique that's used regularly on lots of pro-level recordings. Want "easy?" Plug into something like a SansAmp Bass DI or a VT Bass and you get even more flexibility over the direct tone you're recording. Those little boxes make it very easy to get a good sounding bass tone direct.

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Congrats on the Jaguar SS bass Verne - sounds like you got a really good deal! :philthumb:

 

As I mentioned in my review, the stock P-Bass pickup was solid, but the output of the J-Bass pup was pretty weak - how does the replacement SD Jazz work on yours? Is it as loud as the P-Bass pickup?

 

Thanks, Phil. The guy did all the upgrades I would have anyway, so it was a steal of a deal. I think he was a doctor or lawyer or something and the money didn't really bother him, which I appreciated. It's the bass I keep within arms reach.

 

As for SD Jazz, I'll have to get back to you on that. I seem to recall when the J is rolled up it can overpower the P's, but I tend to keep it at about 1/4 volume; I don't like single-coil hum but do like the bite it adds to the P's, so it's adjusted accordingly.

 

It's actually a silly-good guitar - and not just for the money. While there aren't that many short-scale basses out there to begin with, this is a silly-good guitar regardless.

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that means the bass is plugged into the mixer/recorder rather than micing an amp and then the mic going into the mixer.

 

I assumed that much... :lol: What I was asking was by what method you were planning on doing so - with a direct box? Does your mixer or audio interface have a high impedance input?

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