P Bass on a budget - anything better than squier classic vibe?

Schnozz

If you're lucky - Dean Paramount 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdL0XLNo47Y
The Talkbass forum raved about them and I finally managed to find one new at the start of the year. I think they were £500 to £550 and supposedly you could find them for £250 (never saw this), but a step up on a Squier CV - Comes with a rosewood board too.

prowla

I've got a MIM Precision and one I made from parts - they're both very good and you could get similar in-budget.

I've had a Squier Affinity which I sold for £60 which sounded great - there'd be a lot of beer money left over... I don't get the more expensive Squiers, though - they're still a Squier all said and done.

Another great bass is a Westone Thunder (rather heavy, though).

I'd skip the Vintage and other budget copies.

Thinking outside the box, as an alternative, you might be able to pick up a German Warwick (2 J pickups) for that sort of money.

PonchoGreg

Wow that Dean looks sweet!

I'm sorted now but thanks for all the suggestions, guys. As an FYI, oiling the laurel fretboard has done it some good. Now, it's not as dark as the 16yo rosewood on my strat, but it's definitely not unattractive (defo doesn't look worse than the pau ferro I see on mexi Fenders). More importantly, I simply don't care!

Fitted an old set of flatwounds on the CV, it now definitely ticks my P Bass boxes.

PonchoGreg

prowla said:

I've got a MIM Precision and one I made from parts - they're both very good and you could get similar in-budget.

I've had a Squier Affinity which I sold for £60 which sounded great - there'd be a lot of beer money left over... I don't get the more expensive Squiers, though - they're still a Squier all said and done.

Another great bass is a Westone Thunder (rather heavy, though).

I'd skip the Vintage and other budget copies.

Thinking outside the box, as an alternative, you might be able to pick up a German Warwick (2 J pickups) for that sort of money.

I think when I want to step up to the next budget level, I'll do a parts job. A partscision?..

Seems straightforward enough, with not that many parts to budget for. Thinking a nice nitro aged fiesta red, maybe a US neck... Anyway, getting carried away there, I reckon the Squier is all I'll ever need as I learn to play bass decently.

Marihino

I always loved the sound of a good P, but whenever I tried one, just couldn't get on with it. Even bought an American Standard in 2011, but moved it on as it was kinda dead. I continued to accumulate my herd of Jazz Basses, from Squiers and SXs to American reissues and custom Maruszczyk, with a Japanese Marcus Miller signature with a Sadowsky preamp being my main player.
Last year I saw a super ugly second-hand Vintage V4 in my local shop, and although I hated the look (pinkish red with matching headstock over a very very pale maple fretboard), I decided to try it. Damn. It was sooo good. I left with it and play it more than my other basses combined since then. Very lively and responsive, as in opposite to "compressed". I put flats on it, but it really shone with rounds. Very playable neck too, I could set the strings on the other side of frets if I wanted to.
But then to be fair, I've tried another, prettier V4 some time later and it was nowhere near as good sounding or playable. 

Jeremiah

I was in a similar position of looking for a cheap P-type bass about a year ago. I went round a few music shops and tried what they had, including:

• Various Squiers (I'm not actually sure which model range they were all from, but ranging from around £200 to around £350)
• "SX" branded basses that were even cheaper than the Squiers
• an Ibanez Soundgear for around £240
• a Peavey (can't remember the model name) at about the same price.

Of these, the Ibanez had noticeably better build & hardware quality than anything else; the only reason I didn't buy it was because the volume knob was too close to the bridge (yes, I find that just as annoying on basses as guitars.) If you don't find this to be an issue, then these are well worth a look.

The Peavey and SX basses, and one of the Squier Affinitys, all had sharp fret ends, which put me off them.

I ended up buying a Squier Affinity (the one without sharp frets), as it felt just as good as any of the more expensive Squiers. Actually I preferred the satin neck finish on the Affinity to the others.

guitargeek62

I’m surprised that Sire aren’t in the list so far, unless I missed them? I think they only make a P/J Model (“P7”?) though, but judging the couple of M-series I briefly had they would be a step up again from a Squier CV.

prowla

PonchoGreg said:

prowla said:

I've got a MIM Precision and one I made from parts - they're both very good and you could get similar in-budget.

I've had a Squier Affinity which I sold for £60 which sounded great - there'd be a lot of beer money left over... I don't get the more expensive Squiers, though - they're still a Squier all said and done.

Another great bass is a Westone Thunder (rather heavy, though).

I'd skip the Vintage and other budget copies.

Thinking outside the box, as an alternative, you might be able to pick up a German Warwick (2 J pickups) for that sort of money.

I think when I want to step up to the next budget level, I'll do a parts job. A partscision?..

Seems straightforward enough, with not that many parts to budget for. Thinking a nice nitro aged fiesta red, maybe a US neck... Anyway, getting carried away there, I reckon the Squier is all I'll ever need as I learn to play bass decently.

You can have some fun building from parts or picking up basket cases.

My orange partsblaster is really good - I'd be pressed to find a Precision I'd rather have.

Squier body (someone else painted Capri orange), Fender MIM neck, Fender tuners & Hipshot drop-D, Badass bridge, Fender US pickups.

My MIM one turned out to be a good buy; it is in a bit of a state and I bought it on the basis that I could at least salvage parts, but it seems perfectly stable.

Based on the seller's pic, I think it was chucked at a wall or used as a bat!

But it's a decent bass and it turns out it's also got a Badass bridge, which was nearly worth the £100 I paid on its own.

Some people call instruments made from parts Frankensteins, after EVH's, so I've got one which you might say is a rather literal interpretation...

It's got a cheap body and expensive parts, including a Status Graphite neck.

PonchoGreg

That orange P looks sweeeeet

mark123

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/cort-gb55jj-5-string-electric-bass-in-seafoam-pearl-green-ps23920-olympic-white-or-natural-ps26320-delivered-using-code-at-kennys-music-3520121

PonchoGreg

mark123 said:

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/cort-gb55jj-5-string-electric-bass-in-seafoam-pearl-green-ps23920-olympic-white-or-natural-ps26320-delivered-using-code-at-kennys-music-3520121

Mmmh more of a J bass on a budget, but looks good nonetheless!

Snap

I've been twitching for a Squier Classic Vibe 70s, thinking I'd put a SD SB3 in it and a Hi Mass bridge, black with maple neck, a cheaper version of the Roger Waters signature.

thegummy

Orange - the amp company - make a bass with a P pickup for a pretty low price and looks quite cool and quirky.

No idea how good it is, the price makes me skeptical.

Creed_Clicks

@thegummy curious to hear about this too. Looks a bit "cheap" (well, it is...) but also looks a bit cool. I like the headstock.

thegummy

Creed_Clicks said:

@thegummy curious to hear about this too. Looks a bit "cheap" (well, it is...) but also looks a bit cool. I like the headstock.

Aye apparently they made one purely to use to demo a bass amp at a convention but a lot of people asked for a production run.

If part of the price is that they're not known as an instrument brand then that's a bonus for us.

Does seem to have a les Paul shaped body though which would be a big down side for me.

Creed_Clicks

@thegummy I don't mind the body shape on the Orange bass. To the OP , you could go the partscaster route, and as it's a P bass, you shouldn't have to spend a whole lot on parts. You could go P bass body, and a J bass neck!

thegummy

Creed_Clicks said:

@thegummy I don't mind the body shape on the Orange bass. 

It's a classic shape.

I'd still like to try one to be honest.

You planning on getting one at all?

Creed_Clicks

thegummy said:

Creed_Clicks said:

@thegummy I don't mind the body shape on the Orange bass. 

It's a classic shape.

I'd still like to try one to be honest.

You planning on getting one at all?

I’ll be tyre kicking the rest of the year but would like to get a p bass config maybe. I like the 2x2 headstock on the Orange but would love to see one in the wild

hollywoodrox

I used to have a Vintage V4 mvw , seemed well made ,was a steal 2nd hand and Steve Dawson out of Saxon plays them 

Creed_Clicks

hollywoodrox said:

I used to have a Vintage V4 mvw , seemed well made ,was a steal 2nd hand and Steve Dawson out of Saxon plays them 

I have one with flatwounds, and was thinking of "upgrading", but nought wrong with it really...