TubeNet

I played e-bass in high school and on and off for a few years after. Owned a J bass copy and an Ovation 5 string hollow body, but had to let them go a few years ago. I am thinking about getting back into playing bass again, as my college studies have concluded and I can diversify a little more.
I am sure used is the way to go, but even used G&L's and American Fenders seem to be above my price limit. I would probably prefer the J style over the P.
Any recommendations for something inexpensive (ie the price of a good tuba mouthpiece) that I will actually enjoy playing, has a decent neck, won't fall apart in 6 months, and doesn't have electronics that buzz like a beehive?

bloke wrote:Look at the basic Johnson (Chinese-made) J bass copy.

I can picture it now:
Her: "What's that noise in the other room? The kids are trying to sleep!"
Me: "Its nothing, honey. I'm just playing with my Johnson! They told me about it on TubeNet."

Thanks, for the suggestion, I will have to check out a few Johnsons. I mean.......

Any other ideas??

The best INEXPENSIVE, yet good quality bass on the market is.....


OLP MM2 $250

This bass is a copy of the classic Musicman Stingray. The bass is manufactured through Officially Licensed Products (OLP) with specifications given by Ernie Ball (the current manufacturer of the high end Stingrays).

Best of all, the new OLP MM2's come with a flame maple top. You can't beat it with a stick!

One of my students bought one of these. He is VERY happy with it.

bloke wrote:Look at the basic Johnson (Chinese-made) J bass copy. A carefully-chosen one should serve you nicely, and may only cost (if you locate a very competitive dealer) about $180. They also offer a 60W 2-channel amp with a 12" speaker (and switchable 2" tweater) that you should be able to buy for under $200.

These can offer a tiny bit of hum, but only if you're around neon - or if florescents are on the same circuit.

YUCK!!!!! I HATE johnson guitars and basses. I have never played one that would "serve me nicely." They are poorly made, and you will get little to no resale value from it. (if you trade in at a music store you are likely to get only about $50 for it.) If you are going for bargain basement pricing, look at squirer (fender copies). These aren't much better than johnsons, but they are the best in their pricerange usually.

If you have a little more cash to spend (3-500) check out alvarez. Their basses are solid, and sound really good.

Fenders that are not made in America are much cheaper and often of similar construction quality to their American made counterparts. This could be due in large part to the fact that the factories are very close to one another. (one in cali, the other a short way across the border in Mexico)

Bloke, the hum you are talking about is mostly not due to the quality of electronics, (although johnsons are crap) but due to the inherent characteristics of single coil pickups. Any single coil is bound to produce hum most of the time. That is just the way it is.

If you really like the J-bass feel, get a mexican made fender. I believe they are usually priced around $400 and are very nice basses as Doc said.

To check prices you can go to http://www.musiciansfriend.com

[quote="Daryl Fletcher"]AmpWorx makes some interesting and inexpensive basses made out of acrylic. Has anyone played one of these?

http://ampworx.com/SD-1bAcrylicBass.html


EGADS!. Now, THAT's UGLY

Get an "Hecho in Mexico" Jazz or Precision. The Mexi-Fenders run (as mentioned in an above post) about $400 new or $250 used. These are real Fenders and play and sound great for the bucks. What's more, should you decide you don't like bass or should you decide you want to upgrade, they will hold their value pretty well. Try selling a used Johnson or J. Turser and you will get "squat"!

Plus, should you really dig the instrument, there are endless after-market pieces that will fit your Mexi-Fender...pickups, bridges, machine heads...whatever. Hot-rod that puppy to your hearts delight!

I know that budgets are a b*tch , but don't go less dollar wise...you won't be happy.

If you really want to get wacky...I've got a Peavey Midibass for sale for $450. Decent bass sound and controls any modern midi synth...be the next Yanni...on bass

Could be...I don't know anything about Essex and have never played one..so I can't say.

I do know, however, that anonymous internet postings carry absolutely NO WEIGHT with me as far as a recomendation.

Talk about a "freak jury".

Look, I really don't know. If they are great I would love to know about it. The original poster should probably check them out. Can't hurt. I guess for a hundred clams if it's even just OK, then it's probably a fair deal and if it sucks, well, not much wasted.

I did look at the thread and I guess that you must be a lot more trusting than I am about these anonymous posters being actual "gigging bassists." Just because "RockinBassDude," "4StringFartbox," and somebody who appears to be an Essex rep claim to be working bassists doesn't mean they are.

Obviously, you should only trust someone calling himself kegmcnabb and who wears a banana suit for bass recomendations.

Still, these might be a good value...check 'em out. Nobody ever got hurt educating themselves.

Grooving for Heaven wrote:A jury of hundreds of gigging bassist who have no reason to lie on an internet forum...

I read some of the thread, and I appreciate your link. While I am sure there are a few gigging bassists on that board, after browsing it I am apt to believe that the overwhelming majority are kids who can play in any key as long as it is e-minor and have never played more than one or two other basses in their life, and those probably had a builtin speaker.

No offense meant personally, G4H, and I genuinely appreciate your input.

bloke wrote:...arguing about "resale value" of $100-$200 cheapie electric basses as a serious factor effecting purchase consideration?

Point taken, but I wasn't arguing about $100-$200 basses...they will have no resale value. A $400 Fender will.

What's more, as I pointed out, they are cheaply and easily upgradable, unlike the $100-$200 basses. With the cheapies you are forever stuck with what you started with.

That said, as for your recomendations, as well as those of G4H, I would by all means encourage Marty to check them out...they may well be exactly what he needs. All I am saying, from the perspective of one who made his living with the electric bass for 20 years, IMHO I think the MIM Fenders are probably the best all around inexpensive bass value. What is more, THEY SOUND LIKE FENDERS, which for better or worse, is what most people think of when they think of electric bass. Personally, I only play my P-Bass when asked by a client, but you know what...that happens quite often.

But as I said before, go to the music stores and check 'em all out... hell, that's half the fun...and if you find a cheapie that works for you...go for it. The other truth is, despite my recomendations, the Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Chinese basses of today are remarkably good due primarily to advances in computer aided manufacturing. There are a lot of them out there...happy hunting!

Most important,

you can, and possibly should, ignore any of my above advice, but please, I encourage you to go to stores and put your hands on the instruments.

Nothing against Musician's Friend...I buy lots of stuff from them...but I want to play instruments before I buy them. There are inconsistencies between seemingly identical instruments. Some feel better than others, some sound better than others.

If you find one that feels and sounds good to you...it's probably a good choice...regardless of brand name.

Again, happy hunting.

yup

bloke wrote: I'm always entertained when someone will argue over which off-brand ketchup is best. Electric basses are clearly the "ketchup" of the music world, with the topic here being "cheap, off-brand ketchup"...and here is someone who is adamant about brands!

bloke "who still has his bought-new '74 Fender Jazz Bass...fabulous, but still 'ketchup' "

I totally disagree with you, and really have no frickin clue what you're talking about when you refer to ketchup of the music world. As someone who has played A LOT of basses and guitars (and own a few, and built one) If I get what you're saying, I would say that guitars are much more the ketchup of the music world. There are a lot more crap *** guitars out there than basses, because everyone wants to be the superstar lead guitarist. Basses are like the pickle relish or perhaps mustard of the music world. WHAT?? I have no idea why that is relevant to anyone, anywhere.


THE BOTTOM LINE IS: when shopping for new cheap basses, you are not going to get a nice bass. HOWEVER...... there are some BRANDS wether they be off brands or not, that perform much better than the others. For me, Johnsons, washburns, peaveys, and samiks have never been okay, regardless of price. They are just made with less care than other "cheapie" brand guitars and basses.

And to me, a '74 jazz bass is far from ketchup. Compare it to a miraphone 186. A workhorse and really common, but still a fabulous instrument and far from ketchup, but not franks hot sauce either. Although I believe that the date is post CBS fender, those basses sound better than a LOT of stuff that is manufactured today. Jaco played a jazz for everything he did afterall.

And for goodness sake, the dude seems to want opinions, and those are my strong opinions.

yup

Is this a continuation of the "What do do with fish" thread?

I've heard of an electric eel:



but not an electric bass. How do you catch 'em?

As somebody who has experience with pretty much every bass mentioned in this thread('cept the plastic ones!) I'll have to second the recommendation of Alvarez. Their prices are on par with Mexican Fenders but the basses are much higher quality. I've been really impressed with the playability of all the Alvarez basses that've come through my store and Alvarez' reputation in general should speak for itself.

As far as Mexican Fenders go...if you're going to look at them then you'd might as well look at the cheap Asian imports as well...you'll almost definitely get a better instrument at a lower price. A word on the Essex basses- I've owned 4 and set up a half dozen others. They are made from solid materials but as stock basses they are junk. The pickups and pots are virtually useless and you can expect to pay at least $100 for a setup. That said, they are worth the price for the body alone(i've built 2 basses using Essex bodies so far!). ALL essex basses I've seen(even on display at RondoMusic) have been junk out of the box..and I'd say the COMPLETE LEMON factor with them is about 20%..their achilles heel being the truss rod(stripped, crooked, or just plain dysfunctional). That said, I have one(SX Jazz copy already setup, by yours truly!) for sale for $120 shipped if you're interested! (I know, I've REALLY talked it up! )

One more option I'll throw out there for you: Godin. VERY solid instruments made in Canada by real Canadians. I truly believe them to be higher quality than the U.S. Fender basses in every regard and their pricetags are very modest, starting under $500 new. Find a dealer near you and try some out, they're real gems.

have fun!

Grooving for Heaven wrote:I'm not saying that the essex basses are the best in he world, but if the guy onyl wants to spend $100, telling him about $500 basses isn't helpful.

Bottom line...you can't get a quality electric bass for the price of the average tuba mouthpiece.

That said, you can get a crappy bass-like instrument new from a store at that price. If you are EXTREMELEY LUCKY you might find a decent used instrument for that price, but probably not.

Sorry, but these are the cold, hard facts.

I find it interesting that folks will happily recomend crap for electric basses. If someone posted on this forum that they wanted to buy a quality tuba for under $1000 they would be told over and over (and have been many times) that this is nearly impossible. While the electric bass is a far simpler instrument to build than a tuba the basic principle is still the same.

Who's your favorite bassist? Does he or she play an Essex, a Johnson, a J.Turser? No. Does that mean you need what they play? No, of course not, but don't fool yourself into thinking something that is the same shape and color is an equivalent. Cheap basses tend to sound rather anemic as the pickups are a good place for manufacturers to save money. How much fun will it be to practice and practice and still have a substandard sound?

In twenty years of giving lessons, the kids who have the most trouble are those whose parents bought them something that was "good enough to learn on." This nearly always translates to a bargain instrument that sounds bad, is impossible to set up properly, and ultimately breaks leading to frustration for the student. (Funny, once again this sounds like the bargain brass instrument threads, but hey...it's just an electric bass).

Again, go to the stores, try stuff out, and when you find what you like at the price you can live with...buy it. Don't worry about my recomendations or anyone elses. Just be careful with bargains, they often come with a high price down the road.

Is this a continuation of the "What do do with fish" thread?

I've heard of an electric eel:



but not an electric bass. How do you catch 'em?

This can be confusing. I eagerly tuned into "Bass Masters" on TV but there was no Stanley Clarke, no Jaco, no Mingus, just a bunch of fish. Go figure.

Doc wrote:What's the difference between "real" Canadians and "other" Canadians?

Real Canadians speak French (or English), eh?