Bass shopping trip: exclusive report

Col_Decker

Went on a bass shopping yesterday to look for a 5 stringer as an upgrade to my 4 string Ibanez. I tried squires, MIM fenders, MIA fenders, P bass, J bass. All sounded good but not really *wow*. Then I picked up a £499 ibanez to do a comparison. Wow I was blown away! The tone and playability of the ibanez made the £1500 fenders feel like toys. Ok the ibanez will never be as cool as a P/J fender but I think I can live with that. So it's confirmed, I like my basses all modern and weird looking. Also the 5th string just gets in the way so I'm gonna stick to 4. That's all for now, tune in next time

fretmeister

The Ibby SR series are particularly awesome. Some even come with the soooperdoooper new Nordstand pickups.

I'd like a 5 string

Col_Decker

Aye, if my current Ibby wasn't so blingy I'd love it. Now I'll just have to save up to get a SR1800 (if only the gold hardware were black)

Dave_Mc

Nice review. I need to go on a bass shopping trip. Not that I need another bass or anything, just for a laugh to see how the instruments differ.

ROOG

Col_Decker said:

Went on a bass shopping yesterday to look for a 5 stringer as an upgrade to my 4 string Ibanez. I tried squires, MIM fenders, MIA fenders, P bass, J bass. All sounded good but not really *wow*. Then I picked up a £499 ibanez to do a comparison. Wow I was blown away! The tone and playability of the ibanez made the £1500 fenders feel like toys. Ok the ibanez will never be as cool as a P/J fender but I think I can live with that. So it's confirmed, I like my basses all modern and weird looking. Also the 5th string just gets in the way so I'm gonna stick to 4. That's all for now, tune in next time

I've held off from making my bass purchase, I was pretty settled on a Squire CV, perhaps I should re open the case?

As a total bass beginner I struggle to understand the differences between basses, @Col_Decker what did you like about the £499 Ibanez? I will have a look before I jump but I suspect you might have a better insight.  

Col_Decker

As ever you'll need to try them out for yourself. But for me the Ibanez sounded bigger and played better, also it felt better when I picked it up, ie the quality seemed better.

 

all subjective though

ROOG

Col_Decker said:

As ever you'll need to try them out for yourself. But for me the Ibanez sounded bigger and played better, also it felt better when I picked it up, ie the quality seemed better.

 

all subjective though

Thanks @Col_Decker , I had it in mind that I probably can't go too far wrong going for a Squire but I think I'll check out the Ibanez and Yamaha offerings too! 

meltedbuzzbox

You can't go wrong with Ibanez. Especially if you are spending a few hundred quid. 

They make great guitars in all forms

RedRabbit

I was trying out a few basses in Dawsons before xmas to try and held a friend chose his present from his wife.  He ended up with a Squier jazz of some description (VM I think) but I preferred the feel of the Ibanezes we tried.  Even the cheapest one was comfortable and a breeze to play.  I think he had his heart set on a jazz before we'd even got to the shop though.

ROOG

RedRabbit said:

I was trying out a few basses in Dawsons before xmas to try and held a friend chose his present from his wife.  He ended up with a Squier jazz of some description (VM I think) but I preferred the feel of the Ibanezes we tried.  Even the cheapest one was comfortable and a breeze to play.  I think he had his heart set on a jazz before we'd even got to the shop though.

I have a similar problem, I can't even call it a snobs attitude what will it being a Squire, but my image of a bass is either a P or Jazz bass. I did have a look at Yamaha guitars recently and the quality of finish looked good to my eye.

Got to finish the bathroom  first then I'm gonna have some GAS action! (if there's any money left by then)

EdGrip

I think basses seem to suffer from a lack of icons. They are either a P/J bass, a Ric, a nondescript bolt-on bass from some other company, or a Wanky-Looking Bass(TM) all made out of nice wood with an oil finish and an ergonomic body shape and gold hardware. Y'know? 

mart

EdGrip said:

I think basses seem to suffer from a lack of icons. They are either a P/J bass, a Ric, a nondescript bolt-on bass from some other company, or a Wanky-Looking Bass(TM) all made out of nice wood with an oil finish and an ergonomic body shape and gold hardware. Y'know? 

I think there's something in that - there are a lot of basses with a nondescript shape; not a direct copy, but nothing particularly Distinctive.

But there are a few more classic archetypes: violin bass, EB0, semi-hollows like the Jack Casady. It's tempting to add the Ampeg AEB and the Steinberger cricket bat, but neither have had many copies.

Of course, it may be that bass players are even more conservative than guitarists! (And I count myself as a bassist as much as a guitarist, but mostly one that plays "wanky-looking" basses.  )

Dave_Mc

LOL at "wanky-looking bass (TM)"

You could probably add MusicMan and Thunderbird to that list? But yeah aside from that... admittedly I'm pretty new to bass and probably talking garbage.

UnclePsychosis

So apart from the Jazz, the Precision, the Ricky, the Musicman, the Steinberger, the Thunderbird, the EB0, and the Violin bass there are no iconic basses?

This thread has gone a bit "what have the romans done for us?" hasn't it? 

Dave_Mc

)

ThePrettyDamned

http://www.edroman.com/guitars/bootsy/images/bootsy_collins89054893.jpg

EdGrip

Yeah, alright, fair enough.

But apart from the P and J basses, the Rickenbacker, the Thunderbird, the violin bass, the Musicman, the Steinberger, the EBO, the Gretsch hollow-body basses, the SG bass and the Mustang short-scale bass, what basses are there? None. Apart from all them basses with funny names that guitarists don't recognise, that actual bass players play. Apart from them, what is there?