Members Emory Posted May 24, 2018 Members Share Posted May 24, 2018 I am mainly 6 string git player. Had a bass once, inexpensive Yamaha I gave away. Thinking of getting a new bass, as bass playing is loads of fun. Friends and I jam down on beach, often enough guitars but no bass, so why not? Okay, so been looking at what available here in Thailand, and best choice so far seems to be this Cort. I do want a light one, as I have to hump this down along with battery amp (have sub car speaker I can put in old Vox DA-5, maybe use my Pandora which has specific bass modeling & effects), maybe Yamaha THR 10 which has bass channel. Lots of friends just straight acoustic, so volume not required.So... anyone have opinion on these? Around same price here also Schecter SGR Stiletto or Spector performer. Not into metal, mostly old rock, blues and country. Yeah, bottom feeder stuff, but still would appreciate any input. Not much of a used bass market here, so not really a viable option. Just something sounds decent, plays well, and not too much weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted May 24, 2018 Members Share Posted May 24, 2018 If all your buddies are using acoustic guitars why not simply buy an acoustic electric bass?Plugging it in is optional. My bass player has an inexpensive Ibanez acoustic bass and its fun as heck for jamming around. Sounds very decent plugged in too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 If it's anything like the last Cort bass I reviewed, you'll probably like the Artisan C4 Plus quite a bit... but here's a couple of things to be aware of that I ran into that will probably apply to the Artisan too... They gobble batteries. The onboard preamp in the Cort GB74JJ is good for about seven hours of play time... so make sure you always disconnect your cable whenever you're not actually playing your bass. And keep plenty of spare 9V batteries around. But wait you say! Isn't this bass capable of playing without a battery? Isn't that what the passive/active switch is for? And the answer is yes, of course - you're correct. And that's a great feature and one that could really save you at a gig if the battery unexpectedly dies and you don't have a spare, or time to install one. But because the EQ is active, it dies with the battery - no battery, no EQ - so you basically just have the pickup selection and volume / balance as your only means of getting different sounds whenever you're running the bass in passive mode. Outside of that, the GB74JJ was a rather nice bass and a worthy contender in its price range. I wouldn't be surprised if the one you are considering is also a good value in its price range. The guys in the video sure seemed to like it, and it seemed to sound pretty good to me in their demos too. A lot of the features are pretty nice - especially in that price range - the Bartolini pickups, Markbass preamp, etc. I'm also a fan of slim, thin necks on basses (my main bass squeeze is an '89 Ibanez Soundgear SR1100, which has a similar type of neck). Short of going to a 30" shortscale bass (like a Fender Mustang Bass PJ, which I also liked a lot), I think that basses with slimmer necks are often your best bet when you're first moving between guitar and bass since it's going to feel a bit less foreign than a really big, wide, beefy bass neck. WRGKMC's suggestion about considering an acoustic bass guitar with an onboard pickup is also worthy of consideration too - it might meet your jamming needs without requiring amplification in some situations. I reviewed a very affordable Fender CB-60SCE not too long ago, and it was decently loud acoustically, especially considering its relatively compact body size, but if you are jamming with several loud acoustic guitarists, a small amp would help you keep up in terms of volume. I liked it a lot - except for the placement of the electronic tuner, which is built into the Fishman preamp - I really couldn't see it and reach the tuning machines at the same time very easily... It's always something, isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted May 24, 2018 Moderators Share Posted May 24, 2018 I see nothing to laugh at. I'm not familiar with the Cort, so I can't say anything about it, but I have an Ibanez GSR200 that I bought for $100, and it works just fine. It's not as nice as my Rickenbackers, but they go for around 15 times the price. I also have an acoustic-electric bass guitar, an Ovation. In my experience, it's loud enough to accompany one acoustic guitar, maybe two, but that's about it unless it's plugged in. Still, that's enough in a lot of situations, and the guitarists I've jammed with always smile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted May 24, 2018 Members Share Posted May 24, 2018 Ibanez pretty much owns the low end bass market. As isaac42 says, they're pretty good for the price. Never played a Cort bass but I've played a number of guitars that were made by Cort under various brands. They were all decent instruments and I see no reason why Cort wouldn't build a good product under their own name. Bear in mind that an A/E bass will be considerably larger than a regular electric bass and you'll still need an amp. That may matter to you or it may not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Emory Posted May 25, 2018 Author Members Share Posted May 25, 2018 That Fender looks nice, and I see end of August will have "natural finish", which I'd prefer, plus not all those fingerprints. I don't see over all length: would it fit in a Concert size gig bag? I'm charging up batteries all the time (battery amps for beach) so 1 more 9 volt no big deal. Like 32" scale length too. I also have a Fly 3 with extension speaker, and $64 question is: can guitar fly handle bass same as bass model? The extension speaker is same for bass or reg guitar except grill color. Lots of good info & you write some of the best reviews around. Thanks for taking the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Emory Posted May 25, 2018 Author Members Share Posted May 25, 2018 Thanks. Weight is more a consideration for me than size, as I don't have any sort of wheels... about 15 min walk to wear I often play & I'm a geezer/wheezer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Emory Posted May 25, 2018 Author Members Share Posted May 25, 2018 Now you guys got me going on an acoustic bass. Thanks, I think (haha). The Fender Phil mentioned not available here, BUT this Warwick looks quite nice with more comprehensive preamp. And I do like Bubinga wood, and "different" ideas, like soundhole placement... This is available here for about $340... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Emory Posted May 30, 2018 Author Members Share Posted May 30, 2018 Went to guitar shop and got one: the Cort C5 plus (they were out of 4 strings, maybe sign from above?) Tried the Warwick acoustic bass there too, but decided a solid probably more durable if I have to take public transport, slip and fall down, etc. Good weight: had to walk around a mile to get bus & walk home. With a nice fake leather gig bag ran me about $330 (bag had tiny rip so gave discount, total about $10 more than 4 string with no rip). Should be lots of fun, and that's what I got it for. Oh, tried my std Fly 3 and no problem. When I get back to beach condo I'll try it with extension speaker, along with DA-5 Vox amp with 6.5" car woofer, and if I can find 5" speaker to put in my Micro Cube, that might work too.Thanks for the input guys. As the girls here in Thailand say "I love you too much!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted May 30, 2018 Moderators Share Posted May 30, 2018 I used to know a woman from Thailand... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted May 30, 2018 Members Share Posted May 30, 2018 Congratulations and Happy New Bass Day. Pics when you can, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 I didn't measure the overall length while I had it here, and Fender doesn't list its overall length on their website either - I'm sorry. Maybe I should start including that in reviews in the future? What do you folks think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stratman1954 Posted June 5, 2018 Members Share Posted June 5, 2018 First of all Cort is part of one of the biggest musical instrument contract manufacturers on the planet. They’re Korean-based and have made guitars, bases, mandolins, ukuleles, etc. for all of the well known name-brand companies like Fender, Gibson/Epiphone, Ibanez, etc at one point or another. My point...they know what they’re doing and for the money, Cort is hard to beat. Secondly...there’s an old chestnut. “If it sounds good, it is good”. You scored an excellent instrument. Have fun, make good music. Good Music = Joy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Emory Posted June 7, 2018 Author Members Share Posted June 7, 2018 One reason I got Cort is I have a Sunset 1, their take on Gretsch Spectrasonic, which is totally brilliant guitar: TV Jones pups, tonepro roller bridge, bigsby, graphtech nut, semi hollow. Figured if could do that gem, why not bass? Loads of fun with Cort bass, use my Pandora with 30 or so bass settings and headphones. In process of recalibrating my brain for that low B and bass in general. Do get a bit off on D and G string up the neck... been playing along with some old Stones and Beatles... and thinking about picking up some short scale inexpensive bass when I go to US in August... maybe a cheap Ibanez Mikro, or Gretsch Jet 2 or Hofner Ignition. I've got all the 6 stringers I'd want (save a Ric 360, but too spendy). GAS will come out, be it a fart or a burp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted August 11, 2018 Members Share Posted August 11, 2018 My new/used bass is also a Cort. One piece mahogany body and plays great now that I've set it up. [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"PSX_20180610_164724.jpg","data-attachmentid":32294966}[/ATTACH] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RebeccaUTB Posted June 26, 2019 Members Share Posted June 26, 2019 In that price range I would suggest not buying online. There will be some decent insturments to be had, but the quality from model to model will vary greatly. I bought a fender squier deluxe strat a few years back and played about 6 or 7 of them before settling on the one i bought. on a few of them the fretwork was so bad they were unplayable. a few were average quality and the one i ended up with was probably that one in ten guitar with quality much better than the $250 price tag. If you dont quite know what to look for when inspecting guitars, id suggest taking along someone who can help. Also, guitars in that price range and some even alot higher in price tend to have a bad factory setup, therefore making it even harder to guage playability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted June 27, 2019 Members Share Posted June 27, 2019 In that price range I would suggest not buying online. There will be some decent insturments to be had, but the quality from model to model will vary greatly. I bought a fender squier deluxe strat a few years back and played about 6 or 7 of them before settling on the one i bought. on a few of them the fretwork was so bad they were unplayable. a few were average quality and the one i ended up with was probably that one in ten guitar with quality much better than the $250 price tag. If you dont quite know what to look for when inspecting guitars, id suggest taking along someone who can help. Also, guitars in that price range and some even alot higher in price tend to have a bad factory setup, therefore making it even harder to guage playability. Hi and welcome to the Forums. I notice you've been busy. But the thread you posted to is a year old.and your link only evaluates one bass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted June 27, 2019 Moderators Share Posted June 27, 2019 Hi and welcome to the Forums. I notice you've been busy. But the thread you posted to is a year old.and your link only evaluates one bass. Yeah, so? Welcome aboard, Rebecca. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted June 29, 2019 Members Share Posted June 29, 2019 Yeah' date=' so? . . .[/quote'] I don't see much point in giving inadequate advice a year after the fact. YMMV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted June 30, 2019 Moderators Share Posted June 30, 2019 I don't see any point in jumping in a new poster's sh¡t. YMMV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted June 30, 2019 Members Share Posted June 30, 2019 If a new poster's sh¡t is timely, relevant, and accurate, neither do I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted July 1, 2019 Members Share Posted July 1, 2019 If a new poster's sh¡t is timely' date=' relevant, and accurate, neither do I.[/quote'] its a good thing your opinion only matters to you then... nobody put you in a place of making decisions on relevance nor time as far as i know... please feel free to correct me if im wrong... lol, you’ll correct me even if youre wrong... welcome to the boards rebecca! please ignore the ill mannered, most of us are fairly decent folk... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted July 2, 2019 Members Share Posted July 2, 2019 Yes, Rebecca, there are both decent and ill mannered folks hereabouts. You'll probably figure out which is which for yourself. If a little mild, constructive criticism puts me in the latter category that's okay with me. But you offered advice a year after the OP had already bought a bass. Surely that's not timely but it apparently depends on your definition. You linked to a review of four guitars and one bass when the OP wanted advice specifically on choosing a bass. Not what most would call especially relevant or helpful but again I could be wrong. If you're still around and not a bot, I offer these observations because I sincerely want you to be a contributing member of the community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted July 3, 2019 Members Share Posted July 3, 2019 thats about as close to an apology as ive seen from you, depends... its a start... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.