I don't know yet! I tried a few out last weekend and to be honest - forgive me - I couldn't tell too much of a difference between the £79 second hand Yamaha in Real Time (Chesterfield) and the £1200 Musicman in Rich Tone (Sheffield) and all points in between. I did try a Fret King which was nice, but at £500 it was a fair bit more than I want to pay (actually, how much the missus wan't me to pay!). I just don't have enough experience to tell whether one sounds better than another. They all sounded fine through the little Fender Rumble/Blackstar amp (I think) they put me through. My ears are not bass developed!!
I have been fettling my own guitars for a few years and have fret saws, leveling beams and files, slotted straight edges and so on, so I am not worried about fettling one to bring it up to snuff if I get a cheaper one. I will be investing in a slotted straight edge for bass from Crimson guitars, so if any frets are a bit wonky I can get them level and dressed in an afternoon.
I guess at some point I will look at upgrading pickups/pots but until I can hear a difference between good and bad, just a reasonable player (or one I can make reasonable anyway) will do me. I think I will see what is available in the sales just after Christmas.
I'll be playing through my Egnater Tweaker 15 watt guitar combo for noisy home practice, or my son's 200w PA if I need to volume up a notch! But I have JamupPro on my ipad for headphone guitar noodling, so I will probably buy the £9.99 bass amp pack to drop into that. I record using a Zoom R8, which has all sorts of bass effects in there as well.
