Inexpensive Electric Bass Recommendations

[Doug@GT]

Get a good bass, and learn how to play before you drop money on a great one.

<dumb question>

What's makes a bass "great"?

</dumb question>

Doug "doesn't play bass" G

[Rick Denney]

...so that's why many (not all) bass players change instruments frequently, as many people go through the "flavor of the month"

Well. I'm glad tuba players are smarter than that.

Rick "who has an American-made Fender Precision Plus, and who can't play it" Denney

[MartyNeilan]

I have one(SX Jazz copy already setup, by yours truly!) for sale for $120 shipped if you're interested!

I decided to buy funkcicle's bass. I figured that for the price, since it has been professionally setup, I probably can't do much better. If I like it, I will just upgrade the pickups and pots when I have the dough down the road. It will be something to play on in the meantime - gotta start practicing my walking patterns, scales, and maybe Bach cello suites

After all, $120 is a fair price for a good tuba mouthpiece, right?

[TubaTodd]

I posted earlier about a good quality sub $300 bass, but I would like to make a suggestion for anyone who is looking to purchase a HIGH-end bass at a good price.

My most recent bass purchase was about 3 years ago. My wife wanted to learn electric bass. The bass that we decided on was a Spector NS2000Q (I believe that is the model). It has EMG pickups, a GREAT bridge thin neck, great action and is very well constructed. We payed $475 or so from Rik's Music in Knoxville, TN. Spector no longer makes this particular model. I believe that the model that replaced it is the new "Legend" series, which I played at a local music shop. It is a very nice design. The only differences were gold hardware, P/J configuration instead of dual humbuckers (still using EMG), and a body shape more like their HIGH end basses.

The bass is $600, but plays like a dream.

[Lew]

...

Truth be told, if the bass has

- a true fingerboard with a straight fret job (with just the amount of "bow" in the right place [if any] in the neck to the player's liking)
- the nut & bridge set to the player's liking
- tuning gears that don't slip
- pick-ups that pick-up well but don't hum
- fresh strings of the player's choice
- an eronomic set-up that fits the player

Any good bass player (fitting the requirements above) can play that 4-5-6-string bass - whether it costs $25 or $2500.

bloke "but it's kinda fun to own a $2500 one"

I loved my fretless bass that I played with my brother's rock band in the late 60s through early 70s. As a (now former) cellist, I never was comfortable with any frets. I can't remember the brand, but I still regret selling it.

[Tom Mason]

I have a Brice bass that I got from eBay (6 string fretless) for less than $300 new. At the time, they were selling 4 string p and j copies for less than $200.

I got the Brice as a throw away back-up weapon. It has active electronics. Since I got it, the sellers have a string through body version as well. The only bad part of the bass is that the active electronics are full time (not swichable). They offer switchable ones now.

The place in New jersey that sells Brice offers sales on-line as well as ebay sales.

Tom Mason

[Chuck(G)]

Please allow me to ask a stupid (or at least uninformed) question. I'm not an e-bass player, so I'm asking out of pure unadulterated ignorance.

The way it seems to me is that (unlike an upright bass), the body of an electric bass plays little or no part (no resonance per se) in the sound. It seems that it could be made of polystyrene or granite with little consequence to the sound.

The sound would seem to boil down to a matter of mechanics (the machines and general construction), strings, and the basic pickup electronics. Any of which could be changed out easily.

So why the insistence on certain brands?

[Matt G]

The way it seems to me is that (unlike an upright bass), the body of an electric bass plays little or no part (no resonance per se) in the sound. It seems that it could be made of polystyrene or granite with little consequence to the sound.

I myself am not sure, but I believe the wood used in construction does have some bearing on the sound. The manufacturers would sure like you to believe that. I know that Carvin has a lot of body material options available, but most at little or no additional cost. I remember them putting the characteristics of the different woods in print somewhere, but this may be highly correlated with a gold brass/red brass/yellow brass debate or lacquer vs. silver arguement.

One thing I truly believe makes a difference is the neck-through construction. The basses I have played with neck-through design always seem to have better action and have a longer sustain. Tone seems somewhat better also.

FWIW, Carvin makes some nice basses, IMO. The bolt-on necks are fairly inexpensve (around $600 new) and the neck-throughs aren't a lot more. I picked up my 5-string fully active 18v P-style bass with a lot of options for around $1200. To my crappy abilities it does everything any of the top-line basses can do.

Good luck with your new bass MN.

[ThomasDodd]

The way it seems to me is that (unlike an upright bass), the body of an electric bass plays little or no part (no resonance per se) in the sound. It seems that it could be made of polystyrene or granite with little consequence to the sound.

If a bass is anything like a guitar on this reguard, that's not the case.

Different woods absorb different frequencies. I've seen experiment using CNC shaped bodies, every thing the same except the wood. Different sounds. Some differences are harder to detect. Hell, I cannot tell most tubas apart either (given a similar size at least. a 3/4 and a 5/4 sound different. And in certain ranges, Bb/C is detectible from Eb/F)

The materials also have a big effect on the sustan. I've got a Kay SG clone that has almost no sustain. Very thin and light though. I got 2 strat bodies and the heavier one has better sustain.

So why the insistence on certain brands?

That's more a preference thing. Legal issue prevent exact copies I'm sure.
Different finish combinations, and other add ons come into play. There's always the "quality" thing. Like so many areas, some are always well made (fit, finish, materials) and some are always poorly made. Then there are the ones with good materials, but hap-hazard fit and finish.

Then there's alway the playerX uses Y, so I want Y too. Especially in the guitar world.

[Tom Mason]

The harder the wood used in the body, usually the more resonance the instrument is. There are basiclly two other points that lead to more resonance, those of a neck through the body, and stringing the instrument through the body.

The pick-ups will not only recieve the string resonance, but also the resonance of the body. As Carvin has been mentioned, they offer a diverse list of body materials that do make a difference in sound, given that the same pick-up and pre-amp set is used.

Tom Mason

[Chuck(G)]

Further demonstrating my ignorance....

I took a hunk of oak of about the same size as an e-bass body and listened to the "resonance" as I tapped it with a wooden mallet. (I know it's not maple, but at least it's a hardwood). To my ear, the resonant friequency of this hunk of wood is at least a couple of octaves about the low E on a bass.

Now I'm wondering if we're not talking about resonance, but absorption; i.e., "anti-resonance". Could it be that the material absorbs and damps certain low frequencies rather than resonating?

An idle mind is the devli's workshop, you know...

[Joe Baker]

I have one(SX Jazz copy already setup, by yours truly!) for sale for $120 shipped if you're interested!

I decided to buy funkcicle's bass.

I thought about buyin' it, but coming from Funk I thought it might be a lefty...
________________________________
Joe Baker, who is going to just keep walkin....

[funkcicle]

Hey Funk,

Never heard of Godin (made in Canada by real Canadians). Pics?

AND,
What's the difference between "real" Canadians and "other" Canadians?

Doc

www.godinguitars.com has lots and lots of info and pics. I don't own one myself but played on a friends Godin SD for a few months before I bought my Modulus..sound is TITTS. The only reason I didn't like the SD was ergonomic--I wear my bass up high and the SD has les-paul style body... no upper horn means the bass sits a lot farther to the left, so I never really found a comfortable way to play it standing up. The week before I bought the Modulus I played a Godin Freeway 4...same pups and electronics as the SD but a precision style body, solid Mahogony too. I played every bass I could get my hands on before buying the Modulus and that Godin was easily the #2 bass on my list(and roughly 25% the cost of #1...I had to do a LOT of thinking!).

I also have pretty much unlimited access to a semihollow Godin fretless 5 string..it's a real work of art. Ebony fingerboard, tuners, bridge, and pins..body is maple with black lacquer. Very thin body is chambered on the same principle as the Bose wave radios. Bragg pickup under the bridge and an unobtrusive 3 band EQ, very thumpy upright-ish sound as long as you don't push the gain too much. A bit neck heavy but my right arm balances it out. I played a fretted 4str version of the same bass and absolutely LOVED it, the sound was just as thumpy and uprightish as the fretless and there was absolutely ZERO fret noise in the tone. I think it's very likely that my next bass purchase will come from that family.

Anyhoo.. Godin prices are absolutely unbeatable, their entire line from La Patrie classical guitars to Godin Synth-access electrics are unparalleled in their respective price ranges and, in most cases, several hundred dollars beyond..and made by REAL canadians..I think that means they have flappy heads.

cheers!

[funkcicle]

- How many people move the same exact set of pick-ups to three identically-constructed electric basses - except for one selected and controlled variable - to test any theories?

I'd say that this is a pretty common practice, and I'd think/hope that every luthier and manufacturer of electric stringed instruments would do this. The body of the fretless I assembled(and posted pictures of) several weeks ago was from a bass identical to the one I sold Marty, but made of ash instead of alder. Aside from the finish and weight(the ash bass being about 3lbs heavier), every other aspect of these two basses was identical. Standard J-bass wiring of Volume-Volume-Tone, 512k generic korean pots with passive generic korean pickups.

The differences were subtle but relevant. With identical knob settings there was a clear difference in sound. Tuned to the alder basses "best" balance/tone, the ash bass was a lot muddier sounding as if it had more fundamental to it..turning the tone pot up about about 10% on the ash made it sound more like the alder, but there was always a noticable difference in attack. The ash responded a lot more to the tone pot than alder did which at first had me wondering if it was the pot, though I eventually noticed that it was a lot more sensitive to pickup blend as well. I picked the ash body based on that, swapped in some 2meg pots and DiMarzio pickups....and if we can talk Marty into doing the same thing with the alder bass we can do another side-by-side!

Hardly scientific, I know, but the conclusion I got from it was: body wood does make a difference. I think the difference, though, has as much to do with how the wood interacts with the other components as with how it responds to sound in general.

(aside: I suspect neck wood would play a far greater role in the sound, but THAT's a whole 'nother thread!)

my $.02

[Chuck(G)]

"best"

Here's your science, Chuck(G).

I smell a new thread--lacquer vs. paint...

[funkcicle]

"best"

Here's your science, Chuck(G).

Hence the quotes and disclaimer.

(feel free to PM if you need an explanation)

[adam0408]

I'll piss off friends, the bass experts, and all of the tuba princesses, but just like lacquer/silver/unlacquered & heavy/medium/light mouthpieces, I have found that the material from which a bass is constructed to be of negligible difference as far as resonance is concerned.

- It's somewhat difficult to measure true "resonance" as we're dealing with a nearly non-acoustic instrument.

- How many people move the same exact set of pick-ups to three identically-constructed electric basses - except for one selected and controlled variable - to test any theories?

- "Sustain" is what many electric bassists seem to seek. It can be optimized (99.99%) though the shape and material of the nut, the shape, construction, and material of the bridge, the shape of the frets, the technique of the player, and the shape, construction, size, and material (along with age) of the strings.

As mentioned by others, woods DO make a difference. The difference IS noticeable to most people, and manufacturers DO know what affect individual types of wood have on their instruments.

This is the reason we see Alder, Ash, and Mahogany as standard body woods. You can top the body with just about anything (maple,walnut,koa....etc) and it won't affect the sound too much, dependent of course on the thickness of the top.

Generally speaking, a harder wood will produce a brighter tone. You don't see many (are there any?) solid body guitars made out of maple exclusively because it gives the guitar a strident, displeasing tone. I think ChuckG mentioned that a bass could be made out of polystyrene or granite. Well technically it could, but the probability of it sounding decent would be very low.

The reason for wood having such an affect on sound is thus: Electric instruments produce notes by a vibrating string over a magnetic pickup producing a small electrical current. On first analysis, this would seem to indicate that body woods have little affect on the production of tone. However, if you have ever played a bass, you know that when you flop the low E, you can feel the whole bass vibrate. The transmission of these vibrations and the interaction between the body vibrating and the string is vitally important. I don't know the specifics of the physics, but that is the quick and dirty version.

This is not just my opinion by the way.... If woods made no difference in the sound, guitar makers would be hammering guitars out of cheap plywood or recycled tires.

While your points on sustain are valid, you would have nothing without a 2" thick slab of alder to slap that new bridge or set of strings on. A good tone wood is an essential starting point to building a decently sustaining bass.

There were numerous articles and ruminations on this subject in Guitar Player over the course of my subscription to the publication. It is an issue, and while it may be difficult for the average consumer to tell differences (due to variations in amps, quality and number of samples, etc) woods DO MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE!!

This discussion is pretty much pointless because you probably aren't going to be able to readily purchase a bass that is made out of a material that doesnt work, simply because they aren't made because it makes no sense at all.

[Mark E. Chachich]

Check out the pawn shops, especially in large cities.

good luck,
Mark

[Chuck(G)]

As mentioned by others, woods DO make a difference. The difference IS noticeable to most people, and manufacturers DO know what affect individual types of wood have on their instruments.

Your comment about alder as a core for sonic reasons would seem to go toward reinforcing my theory of absorption of higher frequencies rather than resonance. Alder's a very soft "hardwood"--in fact, it's softer than fir. It used to be a junk wood out here, usually going only for pulp and charcoal. In the last dozen years or so, I've seen a lot of budget furniture built of it. I can't even think of alder as having any sort of resonance.

I suspect that other soft-hardwoods like poplar/sycamore or bigleaf maple might be equally adapted to use in e-basses.

[windshieldbug]

I suspect that other soft-hardwoods like poplar/sycamore or bigleaf maple might be equally adapted to use in e-basses.

Solid-bodies are e-flat-basses