WTD: Bass Guitar

Hi...

Looking to get a bass, don't know baws all about them so could somebody tell me a few good makes to consider?

What kind of price should be looked at, up to £500, but not wanting to spend that if you can get a cracker for £200 or so.

Top 3 choices...favourites...bargains that have been noticed...best shops etc to buy at...best places/ways to learn how to play the bloody thing

Really gonna have to stop agreeing to things while hammered!

All help really appreciated...

A name of a good amp would be great too!

Cheerz

Yoda.

Yamaha - best price/performance for the big brands. Any idea what you want to do with it before I rec an amp? cb

Thrash about on it till I get half decent

Cheerz

Yoda.

Decent earphones and a decent second hand preamp that you can use with a proper rig later?

Nah...get it all now in a good deal n saves you pissing around later

Which is your fav make?

Cheerz

Yoda.

I use an ashly bp-41 which I picked up for peanuts on ebay. It's the best preamp I've used but damn hard to find. For amps, Thomann has some killer deals - a PA amp at 600W bridged is more than good enough. A peavey 15' 115BVX BW is the cheapest cab I'd use though. See if you like the sound of some 2x10's but it's my experience that you have to pay a lot to get a decent sound out of them.

*cough cough* MIM Fenders *cough* and mtd kingston....

I replied to this, but my post seems to have vanished into the ether...

You can get a cracker for around £250... is £500 your ultimate budget with amp included?

At £250... Yamaha, Yamaha and Yamaha. Excellent basses for the money.

What sort of music do you want to play? This will obviously have some bearing on the model you buy.

I was disappointed with Fenders in this price bracket, if you can push it a bit further, you could maybe afford a Japanese Fender (I have tried some, they're generally a lot better than the Mexican Fenders in terms of QC) or a USA Highway 1 Fender (not tried)

I don't know if the new Musicman SUB falls in your price range, but if it does, get one. Ignore everything else. I've played four of them so far and they're consistently amazing.

Also look for second-hand USA Fenders, Musicmans (unlikely at price range, but possible) etc.

See above

There is an unwritten rule that these will only be noticed *after* you have bought your bass.

Bigger guitar shops in bigger cities (otherwise you won't see a big enough range or get knowledgable shop staff). If you're lucky and live near London or Birmingham, go to one of the specialist bass shops. Check out ads in Guitarist magazine, Peter Cooks consistently appear to do good deals on Fender basses.

Haggling is the norm in many guitar shops. Paying with cash helps a lot.

Learn songs. Always, always play with an external time source, such as a metronome or drum machine. The 'Play along with' type of books look good, but I've never tried them out.

*snip*

Well, for the first few months you won't really be in a position where you will actually need an amp, you probably won't really be good enough to want to play along with others.

When I practise, I play through a preamp into headphones. I use a Sansamp Bass Driver DI into my four track with a drum machine. That's probably a bit out of your price range... I would seriously look at one of the Digitech multieffects pedals like the BP200. Don't get too hung up on the effects themselves though... they're fun but can kind of detract from constructive practice.

The advantage of one of these pedals is that they have a rudimentary built-in drum machine and give a reasonably good tone. You will be able to put it in front of your amp when you finally get it to improve your sound.

So maybe a Yamaha RBX370 at £225 or a BB604 for £275 (both active electronics, nice basses) and a Digitech BP200 at £133 or the less fancy BP50 at £69 (prices from Soundslive.co.uk) and a decent set of headphones (don't use the ones from your walkman) from Argos and you'll have a better start than most