Horrorhiker

Yeah I think everyone is right when they say its worth travelling to try a load out. I'm liking the look of Maruszczyk basses. Watched a few Youtube vids and they look right up my street. I think that one you're looking at is on hold? That's someone telling you to wait.

Cheers! Yes I'm more looking for the vintage, stoner rock style vibe and sound, so it's a bit of a different thing I think. The 5 string Yamaha is getting away from your budget a bit I'm assuming, but I went to a shop and compared the 434 and the 734, completely prepared to get the 434 if it was ok but after playing the 734, I couldn't do it as it was chalk and cheese quality wise. £700 is a funny sort of budget I'm finding. It seems to be the point where 'budget' merges into higher end and you face the risk of under buying, if that makes sense. I originally was going to save a bit longer and get an American pro precision, but I just can't buy a bass that's worth more than my car. Plus, playing in a fairly rowdy band, I want something I'm not afraid to slap about a bit. As suggested above, I just had a look on the Bass Direct website and there are some amazing looking basses on there. I'm going there at the beginning of April so I'ts entirely possible that my short list will fly out of the window (together with my marriage when I spend the holiday money on a bass twice my budget). But so the old saying goes, wives come and go, but the right bass is a once in a lifetime thing.

..I have had a look just lately but didn't really look to see where they were stupidly. I shall look with a bit more interest now.

Sounds like something I would usually skip.

Brill sounds good. I think im going that way beginning of April so will try and hang on to my compulsions until then!

I went to Peach Guitars last weekend funny enough. It is an impressive place but I came away with a couple of typical music shop anecdotes unfortunately. Plus yes, sorry but the bass selection is awful for that size of place. I didnt think about Bass Direct. My brother lives in Northamptonshire and a mate in Lutterworth and I visit them every now and again. That is getting towards coventry way, so probably worth a look. Cheers for that!

Yeah I probably will I reckon. The Sire is tempting to have a crack at but I suppose any price bass will be the same amount of hassle to return.

Yes this is what I'll do eventually in all seriousness. It's quite easy on the train from here to be fair. More likely to Brighton to look in GAK as they have most of my list in there I believe, and I much prefer Brighton. I mentioned doing that to the missus the other day and she gave me the 'no way' eyes. I know them well. Will stand more chance when it's a bit warmer. I hate going shopping like that on my own, don't know why. Sometimes it's good to have a human shield between you and the salesperson.

It's not the distance. It's that it's London.

Lets go together ha ha! I think no on the Yamaha maple but yes on the Sire. The Sire is actually quite close on my wish list. The natural Swamp Ash Maple neck P7 sounds like it could tick some of your boxes? It has white block inlays rather than black which would make it look that much better though. I am after a new main bass and it will be one of the ones on my list but I can only get near the Yamaha which felt amazing but quite on a 'i'll get my wallet out right now' level. Very nearly though. If I'm looking to order blind, it feels safer to do it on a £500 bass than a £700 one. Returning stuff does my head in. If Andertons are reading this...put the thing in a sale. Please.

It's amazing that there isn't much choice when looking for a 50s style P bass. It's basically between very cheap or expensive as far as I can see. A bit of customisation and they look incredible as we can see with this. Its funny though as at first glance this looked a little garish to me but it has infiltrated my brain after a while to quickly become the best looking thing I'm considering.

...oh and a little look online shows that the American prices of these puts them more in line with cheaper basses over here. That's psychological to some extent but considering this over here is the same price as a used US Fender Jazz or P, and it really should be more the price of a new Mexican one gives me slight pause. If it was £100 less I would have bought it a few weeks ago for definate. The price they're asking just nudges it into very stiff competition and anything over £600 is not puntable, for me.

Have mentioned this on another couple of threads but I'm extremely close to almost sort of thinking about taking steps towards considering getting one of these. Holding me back is the fact that you can get the Yamaha bb734a for the same price, a Sire P7 for two thirds the price, this is active only, and it can't be tried out. The look of it has got me hooked almost to the point of not caring about all that. The geezer in the above video isn't helping matters either as he's making it look and sound even better. Schecters have a great rep and I suspect it'd be a nice bass, just a case of whether it feels right.

Don't want to hijack your thread at all, I wanted to just jump in on this action quickly as we are in a similar place I think. I'm looking for a 4 string with a similar budget and use, and I think the 5 strings are as popular on the models I've been looking at. I'm a metal player too, depending on the band, though you're looking to have a more 'technical' sound than me by the look of it. (I'd like something as versatile as possible as am thinking of broadening my horizons a bit). I've spent a few weeks looking now and have decided/undecided on various basses, and have mentioned a couple of various posts on here. I research the hell out of everything and it's now doing my head in. Anyway my short list is currently: Schecter Model T Session (£720) Yamaha BB734a (£730) Sire Marcus Miller P7 (Swamp ash natural looks to me the nicest) (£520) Used American Standard P (£750 and up?) ..or a used Sandberg or Lakland when something close to me pops up to try. Don't know if you've considered all of these, but obviously the Sire is cheaper and the 5 string V7 seems mega popular on Youtube. I'm not sure whether people would go for the Sire or think its worth spending a little over budget for any of the others? I did try the Yamaha and it is a thing sent by the gods. Haven't tried anything else though. Wish I lived closer ro GAK or Andertons basically. Good luck with the search anyway. I'd be interested to hear what you eventually go for.

I'd love to know how the set up is. The one I tried in the shop was perfect as far as I could see. Be interesting to see if that's a consistent thing. Congrats though, I'm 'well jel' after 20 minutes with one.

Hello! Bit of an old chestnut with many different answers depending on a lot of things. What genre of music it is, how loud your drummer is etc. I've personally found a 500 watt head with a combination of cabinets covers many basses (no pun intended). At the moment I use a 500 watt head with a 2x10 cabinet for rehearsals and small gigs and add a 2nd cabinet for louder/bigger gigs. (I do play in a loud and heavy band most of the time). In truth this is a bit much for smaller things and for the quieter stuff I could use a 250-300 head, but I cant afford to have multiple heads and its better to have too much than too little. Oh and also my head has a headphone jack so I also use it for home practice. 1 stop shop.

No worries at all. I will investigate the BB1024..there is the option of the new BBP34 but I'm fairly sure these will be well out of my budget. I've almost talked myself into the 734 though. I think we've talked about the Schecter Model T before, and that is passive only, and the same price, so I can't be any worse off with the 734.At least I know it plays like a dream. I asked Peach guitars in Colchester today about getting in some Schecter basses to try and they were talking about deposits too. It's tough at the moment for bassists. I think they economy has forced music shops to concentrate big time on what sells the most, i.e cheap and beginner (six string) guitars, and bass seems to have gone out the window. I understand totally but it forces us online to some extent which isn't that great for buyers or sellers. Yes there's a good chance I might have to cool off maybe get something else to play with for a while. It's not good to go food shopping when you're hungry!

Hello! I tried the 434 and 734 today. It wasn't a fair comparison really as the 734 seemed to be set up almost perfectly and the 434 had a very low action with a ton of fret buzz which coloured my opinion a bit. (both direct from the factories so not the shops fault). It sounded good though. I specifically asked to try the basses through a cheaper, bog standard amp with flat levels, and fret buzz aside, the sounds coming from the 434 were very respectable for a sub £500 bass. Piano like clarity and consistent levels all around the neck. It would be easy to dial in a workable sound for most uses. Very fast and comfortable to play. Both basses felt quite light to me. I also tried a couple of Mexican Ps and the Yamaha's were noticeably lighter and sleeker to hold and play, as you might expect. (They also both sounded far better than the Fenders by a long shot in my humble opinion). The bit you may curse me for saying though is that what I didn't expect, was how much better quality the 734 would feel. To me it was a wide gulf. The neck on the 734 is one of the best I've ever played, and the fit and finish are absolutely top notch. This one felt like a premium bass, and made the 434 seem functional yet forgettable when played side to side. Soundwise the pickups sounded much beefier and fuller too. I didn't hear it active as it had no battery in it, but I'm really after a passive bass anyway now since I heard that its complicated using fuzz with active basses. I would say on both basses, despite what I said on my previous post, I would try the maple before buying one if poss. They didn't have any maple necked ones but the ones I played today were both quite bright as they were. I tried the blue 434, cant remember the colour name, but it didn't do too much for me. (In other words I thought it looked grim). The 3 tone burst looked much better in the flesh, though this is a matter of personal taste obviously. It's given me a bit of a headache now, as I would never use the active function of the 734, and I'm trying to work out if the £200 is justifiable for what is essentially a luxury feel. Some of the extra money is to pay for active electronics I would never use. I'd say that the 434 is definitely worth the money, but personally after playing the 734, I forgot all about it. I would be more inclined to pick up a used 434, but would be happier getting a 734 new, as It's more likely to be a real lifetime keeper. Funny enough the sales guy said I was the 3rd customer that day to come in and compare two BBs, but the others were comparing the 234 and 434. They both left with the same dilemma apparently. They were really hoping they would like the cheaper one more ha ha. That probably hasn't helped you much, but in summary, you wouldn't be disappointed with the 400 series I'd say, and obviously for £200 more you'd expect the model up to feel better..that's why its 200 quid more. Put it this way..I'd easily have the 434 over a Mexican fender, or good Sterling Ray which are the main direct competitors imo. You'd be better off trying them out if you can I guess. My options now are the 734, or a Schecter CV-4. There is nowhere I can try a Schecter round here so its a tough one. £100 less, and more like what I need, but can't try it and now that 734 is singing to me telepathically.... "buy..meee..buy..meeeee". I both really love and really hate buying basses.

Yes, I am most interested in the maple actually. There is a chance they will do it in the future I guess as the maple version of the 434 came out later than the rest (over here anyway). I did read somewhere that the pickups are bright for a passive bass anyway, and that the maple didn't make as much difference as they were expecting. IMO it always looks better regardless.

I'm looking to change my bass in the next month or two. The 434 is a strong possibility for me, as well as the 734a. The little feedback you can find is exclusively positive as far as I can see. Along with these on my current short list are the Schecter Model T session, and CV-4. You might like to have a look at the 5 string versions of these as a wild card? I'll be getting one of these basses in the coming weeks, but I'd say the 434 is front runner at the moment. In fact I will be trying the Yamahas tomorrow so will try and remember to feed back here. The 734a is more unlikely unless I try it and totally fall in love. The extra £300 wouldn't be worth it for me, based on the differences, on paper at least.

I'm not very technical but I think I get what you're saying. I was wondering if putting my Wah in front of my fuzz in the chain would help as its buffered bypass, which should help a bit? I have no real way of experimenting at the moment. Though I really do like fuzz to be before wah, so would probably end up needing something else anyway.

Yes Ive seen these. I think this will be my most likely route. Though I recently picked up one of those cheapo Donner fuzz pedals as a back up, and I have occasionally been using that instead of my EHX BBM.

Yep. This is the reason I could do with getting over the issue. I plan to play mine instead of tickling it though

Thanks for that. I know that EHX do this with the Bass Big Muff deluxe (have an extra pot). I think I'm on the side again of getting the bass and working around the issue (if there is one). I don't get too precious about tone etc, especially as is the nature of using fuzz etc, so as long as I can deal with any more technical problems, I might as well try it (or else I'll always wonder). Thanks again, these answers have helped a lot. I was gutted to think that bass was going to pass me by.

Superb guys, thanks for that. Thats definately given me food for thought. I guess at the end of the day, its better to have to change/buy another pedal than have a bass you always know isn't 'the one'. I shall keep you posted on the bass Cameron, if I get it. Possibly might be worth a trip to Brighton to try one. Cheers for that.