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Another good used option to keep an eye out for is a Peavey Fury from ~1984-1986. They're not hard to find, and they usually go for under $200 ($100-$150 is a good price on one if it's in good shape), but they're American-made basses with (usually) great necks and bodies, and electronics and hardware which will serve you just fine until you decide whether or not you'll go further into the bass. They're Precision-style basses, and they're great starter instruments and excellent upgrade platforms if you choose to pursue bass further. As far as learning two instruments at once, you could do much worse than learning electric guitar and electric bass guitar at the same time. Unless you're using different tunings (unlikely if you're still relatively new), the notes are going to be identical, and the only differences you'll need to learn at the basic level are differences in playing technique. Frankly, you might not even need to do that if you decide you'll be playing with a pick, but I think it would benefit you to learn to play with your fingers. Bass is a lot of fun, and very easy to get into - not to suggest that it is not a technically difficult instrument to master, as are most. I say that if you want to go for it, why not? You only live once, and it won't hurt you to at least try. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how your studies in the two instruments will complement eachother. You might even find that getting better at bass makes you into a better guitarist, and vice versa.
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Dec 12, 2007 18:29
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thegloaming posted:Good point, I completely forgot about amps. The low frequencies and high amplitudes that bass pickups output can blow guitar amp speakers, even at what seems like reasonable volumes. It is worth it to invest in a used bass amp if you're going to try your hand at bass.
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Dec 12, 2007 18:38
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thegloaming posted:Ah, I feared that would be the situation. Any recommendations? I'd just need a small practice-sized amp to start off. Here's a good place to start: www.zzounds.com's Bass amp blowouts I've gotten two cheap B-stock bass practice amps from Zzounds, a Behringer Ultrabass 3000 (1x15 aluminum speaker, Hartke knockoff) and an Ashdown mini-stack 2x10 which is just adorable - it was for my fiancee, even if I end up using it more than she does. I digress: the point is that the Zzounds blowouts come with a full warranty, and are always in awesome shape. You can have products which are, for all intents and purposes, brand spanking new, at used prices. Right now, the only one you'd want to be looking at is the Behringer BX180 they're blowing out - the rest are all well outside your pricerange, and frankly more than you need right now. Don't be afraid of the Behringer name, here; though they're not going to put Ampeg out of business any time soon, Behringer's bass amps are surprisingly unshitty, especially "for the money" (tm). Agreed fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Dec 12, 2007 |
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Dec 12, 2007 18:44
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thegloaming posted:Also, that Behringer bass looks great, Agreed, but others are recommending I spend significantly less ($50 range). Would you say the increase in sound quality justifies the higher price tag? Well, for one thing, if you ever want to jam with friends you actually can. It isn't a knock-your-socks-off tone machine, but it is a surprisingly capable bass amp for the money. It is not just a practice amp, in other words - it'll make a lot of noise if you ask it to. For $100 more, that's saving a lot of money over getting a $50 practice amp that sounds like poo poo and farts on notes below 200hz. This amp will have no trouble playing anything a bass can make, shouldn't break unexpectedly (I have seen $50 no-name bass combo amps pop a speaker the first time you plug them in because it wasn't really designed for bass at all, just labeled for it), and if you ever want to do something more than just practice with it, you have the option - for only $100 more. I can't bend your arm, but if I could I would - you'll like a capable bass amp a hell of a lot more than a cheesy practice rig, and the money is not going to hurt you if you can afford to get into music at all. thegloaming posted:What then, would be the benefits of a P-bass over a J-bass? Would it be suitable for larger group playing environments? I disagree, their bridges are fine. You'll get better tone and more solid intonation if you replace it with a high end bridge, sure, but it'll work just fine in the meantime. And a good aftermarket bridge isn't very expensive, in the grand scheme of things - get a used Mexican bass and you can outfit it to American-made Fender bass standards for a third the cost. But keep an eye out for an old Peavey, I'm telling you - they're great!
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Dec 12, 2007 20:15
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thegloaming posted:The only reason I'm considering Fender over Peavey at the moment is that I've had good experience with Fender products before. I know it's hard to judge, but is there any you, personally, would recommend over the other? It was really more of a suggestion to keep an eye out if you're in a music store, browsing the used stuff - don't turn it down just because it says Peavey, take it down and try it out next to the other things you're interested in and see how it holsd up. There is nothing at all wrong with a used MIM Fender, they're probably the best and most consistently high quality deals in basses at all. They're great upgrade platforms that don't BEG to have all the hardware and electronics swapped for something new immediately upon purchase. I can recommend a brand you've probably never heard of unless you've browsed the megathread here: https://www.rondomusic.net has a selection of Korean-made basses (Brice is the brand, avoid the lower brands like Douglas and SX as they're Chinese made and much lower quality in my experience, primarily felt in exponentially shittier electronics and hardware - still good wood and finishes, but you're not buying just wood if you want to play bass). Check them out, you might be able to get into a setup cheaper than you could otherwise. I've owned two SX basses, both of which suck a lot less than the one SX guitar I bought - it was terrible, they just needed pickup replacement to rock out for the cash. But the higher end brand, Brice for basses and Agile for guitars, are great examples of quality workmanship, parts, and even electronics on a budget. They compare favorably with, say, Schecter guitars and basses. Schecter is a much bigger brand, but they do the same thing - high quality woods, high quality finishes, high quality components, assembled in Korea and sold with the discount that allows... But Rondo will go twice as low as Schecter because they're not spending anything on advertising dollars. You might just want to go with the Fender option since you've had good experiences with them already, and because someone is going to look at your headstock and recognize Fender and think "That cat's alright" sooner than they're going to react the same way to Brice... but at least check 'em out before you make up your mind.
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Dec 12, 2007 20:38
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AtomicManiac posted:I'm no bass player, but grabbing a cheapie Rondo Bass and an amp you're really only looking at like 150. And, my guitar teacher actually teaches both Guitar and Bass, and has a few students that go back and forth every week between the two, so one week they learn bass and the next the guitar. If you look hard enough you may be able to find a teacher that does that (hell your teacher even might do that). He's already outfitted with a good setup for his needs. And, honestly, if you're going to buy from Rondo, you'd do well to go to the Agile/Brice line rather than shop at the made-in-China cheapo SX level. The quality difference is felt most keenly in the nuances of workmanship, and ESPECIALLY in any metal parts. That's tuners, bridges, especially. The nuts on Agiles are lightyears beyond the terribly cut SX nuts. This is all in my experience, of course, I'm sure some SX stuff comes much better. I've never seen it though and I've bought a handfull now, they make great gifts that suit a newbie well enough and require only a minimal investment to turn into a serious instrument.
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Dec 24, 2007 07:42
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Squier basses are kind of hit and miss. Friend of mine got a pretty good one which I'd put up against some MIMs (but not all - the best MIMs are as high quality as any American bass, this definitely isn't), but it still needs a full re-kit if it's going to be anything serious. If you're going to cheap out, the best deal around is https://www.rondomusic.net's Brice line of basses. They're great instruments for the money, kind of like Agiles are great guitars for the money. And by "for the money," I mean that if you replace the pickups you've got a $200-300 instrument that can't be easily distinguished from a ~$1000-$1500 in terms of playability, construction quality, and for the most part sound (though the thicker poly finishes and the headstock will, of course, show the cheaper instrument for what it is).
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Jan 21, 2008 20:48
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ECTO-1 posted:Bump because Im still considering something for first bass. Sorry I'm a bit late to this question, but my wife's SX fretless shortscale J is amazingly well-made. We swapped the pickups out for GFS J pickups, big improvement over the stock stinkers, and the electronics we put in helped the crappy bleedy noisy problem from the original electronics. But the fretboard is buttery and smooth, very level, and it's a blast to play. I love jamming on it, and she's gaining proficiency quickly after I got her a big jazz Realbook. She comes from an upright bass, orchestral background, so it's very different for her, but she's quick on the uptake. I also bought the SX Pirate P/J bass when it came out for her younger sister, and it was really well made too. The stock pups in it sounded better than the ones from the Fretless SS Jazz, but that's also more than a year and a half of time to work on them - in the same time span, Agile's house pickups went from "regrettable poo poo" to fairly workable pickups. I actually saved a set of AL-HOTs because they remind me of a darker Jazz/JB combo. But that's going off on a tangent.
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Apr 14, 2008 06:47
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