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I've never owned a bass before but I am an experienced guitarist. Now that I'm no longer in a band I've come to the conclusion that I don't need all three of my guitars so I'm looking at buying a bass, partly for a bit of fun and partly because a local band have asked me to join on bass. To fund this purchase I'm going to sell my 2013 Gibson Les Paul Studio in Ebony with gold hardware. The pickups have been upgraded to a handmade set from Catswhisker and it's fitted with gold Schaller strap locks. What would be a good bass to get for that sort of money?
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A MiM Fender certainly crossed my mind. I seem to recall somebody once telling me that the Jazz has a slimmer neck than the Precision so I thought that coming from guitar, that might be better. I know nothing of any other differences between them I'm afraid. I hadn't even thought about scale length but I've had a couple of goes on bass guitars at the school where I work and they weren't a problem. My son uses a Sterling bass and I seem to be OK with that.
Atomic have told me that the AmpliFire will work pretty well with a bass and they're looking at the possibility of introducing some bass models with a firmware update at some point in the future as a result. So far it all sounds reasonably promising, except for the fact that I lose my beloved Gibson.
http://www.dv247.com/guitars/jandd-yc-pb-4-string-bass-guitar-3-tone-sunburst--201745
The neck will be slightly larger than a sterling.
I had a quick Google on the Laney and it appears to be a full range speaker so if you use it for stage monitoring at medium volumes you will be fine and I'me sure you can adapt one of the guitar patches on the Amplifire to work for bass.
In my experience budget basses get alot more mileage than budget guitars. (Bass amps do not though)
However, if you do want to spend more a Sterling Ray 34 will do modern soul/rock tones & a MIM P bass will cover rock & vintage stuff. If you have to have a skinnier neck than the Sterling then it's Ibanez you need to look at.
The ones which stood out for me were one or two Fender MIMs, a couple of G&Ls, an 80s Tokai Jazz (might need authenticating) and a partsblaster with a Kahler trem.
Beware of fake Fenders.
I would also agree with getting at least a small amp - while you can use your existing gear, a one-box solution you can use anywhere either as a standalone amp or a monitor is probably better. You'll be DI'd into the PA anyway for any serious gig, so power is not very important - go for something that sounds good and is fairly lightweight.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Play a few of them to find a good one.
Considering how basic a Jazz or Precision is, I'm amazed people still buy the US Standard models. The pickup might be a bit better but that's far cheaper to change than the price difference of the instruments.
The precision is the most recorded bass in the world, so chances are the sound in your head was played on a precision. But the neck shape is quite different to a jazz so do try both.
As for amps - older tech 'big iron' amps are now dirt cheap used. I recently saw a full Trace Elliot stack (an old AH600 head) with 2 cabs sell for £350 for the lot. Far too heavy for me these days, but amazing value.
If you want a little combo for the house though - the older model Roland Bass Cubes are cheap and sound fantastic.
https://speakerimpedance.co.uk/?act=two_parallel&page=calculator
The reinforced neck and string through option on the bridge. If you want both of those things it's probably better to get the US model (mostly because of how much the necks cost to attach to a MIM body), but actually I don't think it's necessary for the majority of people or playing styles. Definitely suits me playing drop tuned rock stuff with a low B though, the neck is rock solid which really helps with clarity on lower notes. IIRC the tuners are also a lighter type on the newer US standards, and the headstocks are thicker on the necks, which allegedly improves dead spots (Though I'd imagine the reinforcement will have a big part in that too)
If anything - the sides of the neck pockets I've seen on the MIMs have generally been of tighter tolerance than the US models, but that doesn't really have any bearing on tone whatsoever. The higher up MIM models can be excellent and hold their own with anything of similar spec.
There are some complications in this whole process that certainly won't end up saving me money. Last year I moved to the Falklands so whatever I need to do has to be done in the two weeks I'm in the UK in August. That means it has to be done fast and I'm limited on weight for the flight. I'm already heading to Rich Tone Music in Sheffield for something else so as private selling and Ebay etc. take time, the most likely scenario is that I'll have to just trade my Gibson in to them and get a bass that is new. It's frustrating because my Les Paul is upgraded and kept in such pristine condition that they probably have new guitars that are worse!
It is the weight issues that mean I probably won't get an amp and I'll stick to using the same Atomic AmpliFire and Laney IRT-X that I use with my guitars. At a gig I'll just use the IRT-X as a monitor and go through the PA. For the bass itself, I'm obviously limited to what Rich Tone are selling so at the top end of my budget would be a MiM Fender Jazz or Precision.
http://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/products/fender_standard_jazz_bass_maple_fretboard_lake_placid_blue.asp
I expect these to be very good as I own a MiM Fender Stratocaster Standard and it's superb. As a more budget option I was looking at a Yamaha BB424X.
http://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/products/yamaha_bb424x_bass_guitar_black.asp
If there's anything else on the Rich Tone website I should be looking at that is a good option, by all means let me know.
The higher end (CV or VM) Squier basses punch well above their weight. What convinced me not to bother with a MIM Standard was seeing the bass player of Madness play a Squier CV Jazz on Jools Holland. A few weeks ago I spotted Robert Cray's bass player on the same programme playing a VM Jazz. The pickups in the Squiers are better than those in the MIM Standards (or at least the ones from a few ago, I have a dead one in use as fridge magnet).
https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/0306760521/electric-basses/squier-vintage-modified-jazz-bass-v-5-string-in-natural
Mine's a bit on the heavy side at 10.8 lbs, but I suppose that's not too bad for a 5 string bass.
It might be worth trying a few because I suspect the quality control might not be as high as for more expensive bases. I had to do a bit of setting up and replace the input jack but, apart from things that were simple to fix, it's basically a great bass.
Below are a couple of clips to give an idea of how it sounds, which are a couple of my past riff on the month entries (which I didn't win, so that might say something). Bear in mind bass isn't my main instrument - excuses, excuses...
Thoroughly recommend.