Coming back to the bass - Thoughts anyone

[Scoobs]

Been advised to post this here - thanks MoJoKe. Played bass in a previous life 25 years ago and want to again having had a go on a Mexican Fender P bass a couple of weeks ago. Since then I've had a go on a yamaha which was passive and I can't remember the price - south of £200 in the shop I think. I was surprised how easy to play they both were compared to my vague memories of my CSL (I think it was) from the previous life. So here's the thing.

Budget for everything is £400, bass, case/bag, strap, lead, amp and headphones (otherwise I'll never be able to practise!) Anything else I've missed, set up maybe? Not worried about second hand or new. How should I split the budget up between those things?

Sound I'm after? First bass lines I'm going to learn are good times, le freak and master blaster cos I've always wanted to play them properly, after that I'm not really sure. I want a bit of flexibility really as although I won't be playing any heavy metal I don't know what I might end up wanting to play.

Neck width - I have big fat fingers so want a bit of space between the strings - does this vary a lot between styles and makes?

A lot of questions I'm afraid and all thoughts are greatly appreciated. Part of the problem is the amount of choice and my limited knowledge! Plus it isn't that easy to get round shops to try things out. I'm aiming to get to Bristol to try a few - any basses I should look out for or avoid while I'm there?
I have already had some helpful pms thanks.

Thanks for reading..

[leschirons]

Hi, and welcome to Basschat.

This'll just be my opinion of course so you can expect about a further 500 "opinions"

For that sort of budget, it'll be quite achievable. Obviously depends if you're going to gig eventually and if you are, a combo or amp and cab would ideally need to be 150 - 200 watts. If you're going into pubs / small cubs, that'll get you in the mix.

Judging by what you want to learn, an OLP Stingray could be an ideal start. You'll pick one up for £100 - £150. They're great value for money and play really well. A Jazz bass may be a little too thin at the headstock end of the neck if you've got huge fingers. The OLP will give you that Bernard Edwards tone more or less. The jazz would too (bridge pick up and back off the tone) but as I say, neck width could be an issue.

A secondhand combo is easier to transport and obviously a quicker set up at rehearsals or gigs. Peavey / Ashdown both offer great value for money and reliability. I think the Ashdowns may have headphone sockets but don't quote me on that.

Most basses (secondhand) will come with a gigbag even if it's a crappy one but it'll still help keep it scratch free. If you go for a new bass, Yamahas are great, maybe a Squier Precision might fit the bill too. Any shop worth it's weight these days may throw in a lead / strap / cheap gigbag too if you're buying new and not rying to pin them down too much on discount.

Hope this helps, have fun.

Edited October 22, 2013 by leschirons

[LukeFRC]

Buy the bass secondhand off here from someone with a fair few posts and good feedback - you'll probably get a better set up bass than the shop and it will be cheaper.

[Nick Riffed]

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1382471424' post='2252652']
Buy the bass secondhand off here from someone with a fair few posts and good feedback - you'll probably get a better set up bass than the shop and it will be cheaper.
[/quote]

Great advice but if you want something new go and try stuff out.
Some shops can get a bit snotty but I hear Wunjo's are very good if you fancy a day out in London.

I have bought several items from amps and cabs through to basses on the net from Thomann. They have a 30 day no quibble returns policy, their prices are comparable if not cheaper and everything comes with a 3 year warranty.
Better than a lot of the manufactures offer and I can't praise them highly enough for their aftersales service.

[Lozz196]

With £400 I`d look at everything second hand, preferably off of here. A Squier will set you back up to about £150, be it Precision or Jazz, and they are good basses - many of us have them as backups, and several have them as their main gigging basses. From there, amp-wise you should be able to pick up a decently powered combo (I`d look for 250 watts minimum if intending to gig).

[Horizontalste]

Do you need an amp? Reason I ask is if your only playing at home you could save yourself the bother/space and just get a little mixer. I wish I'd have done it years ago.

[Scoobs]

OK dopey question probably coming up - what do you mean by a mixer and how much might one be? If I could do without a practice amp that would be good and if it saved money it could go in the fund for something I could use when playing with other instruments

[Evil Undead]

If you have an iPhone or iPad, you could even get amplitube free - you need an irig adapter (I may know one for sale for a tenner ) and headphones.

Bass-wise, you can't go wrong with a squier precision. The cv and vm series are excellent value and come up for sale often on here, but there's nothing wrong with the affinity series either, IMHO.

[Billy Apple]

I'd go through the marketplace here. You'd probably get the whole rig for your budget.

[Bassic]

Nothing like a few easy songs to get back into playing with either ha ha

Great tunes from two great bass players have fun with them

[Horizontalste]

[quote name='Scoobs' timestamp='1382562624' post='2253822']
OK dopey question probably coming up - what do you mean by a mixer and how much might one be? If I could do without a practice amp that would be good and if it saved money it could go in the fund for something I could use when playing with other instruments
[/quote]

Not a dopey question at all.
Right, if you don't need/want to play into an amp like traditionally we would you could buy a small mixer (i have an Alesis Multimix 4 $59) and plug into that along with your choice of mp3 player or computer (i use my phone with spotify). Then simply play through your headphones or plug into a hifi or monitors and your away. It's really simple and better than messing around with amps and stuff I think. But again, it's just a suggestion, some prefer massive combo's that never get turned up.

[kendall]

Hi there welcome back to the land of bass. When I returned to bass playing a couple of years ago I envisaged using headphones etc, but found it a bit restrictive, so I got myself one of these, Cheap and good tones for the price and quiet enough to noodle away without disturbing the wife, also has headphone jack if needed. The bigger amp/combo could wait until you need it. [url="http://www.gak.co.uk/en/vox-pathfinder-10/24074?gclid=CMin6ev0rroCFWbMtAoddRIACw"]http://www.gak.co.uk/en/vox-pathfinder-10/24074?gclid=CMin6ev0rroCFWbMtAoddRIACw[/url] Maybe able to pick one up second hand cheaper. As for a bass. I have played Ibanez GSR200's Squiers Vm and Deluxe and found them to be great for the money.

[DorsetBlue]

Have you got a PS3 because Rocksmith 2014 is out tomorrow and the jamming mode looks like quite good fun and the amp/effects modelling was quite good in the first version (to get you started again). The Zoom B3 is pretty good for headphone rehearsal too.

[Conan]

[quote name='Scoobs' timestamp='1382469753' post='2252609']
Budget for everything is £400, How should I split the budget up between those things?

Sound I'm after? I want a bit of flexibility really as although I won't be playing any heavy metal I don't know what I might end up wanting to play.

Neck width - I have big fat fingers so want a bit of space between the strings - does this vary a lot between styles and makes?[/quote]

You'll find that a lot has changed in the last 25 years!! For the better, mostly.

Firstly, I would say that the neck width thing is maybe not as big a factor as you might believe. My main bass these days is a Mexican Fender J, and although I have pretty big hands I have never found the J neck too small/narrow/cramped. Many top players use them, and some have gigantic hands! Try a few and see which feels the most comfortable.

If you prefer to buy new, you should still be able to get a reasonable set-up for your budget. Fender/Squier do some "beginners' set ups" which have everything you need. The price really is stunningly low and the quality of the Affinity range is surprisingly high... [url="http://www.gak.co.uk/en/squier-stop-dreaming-start-playing-affinity-jazz-bass-pack-black/31258"]http://www.gak.co.uk...ack-black/31258[/url]

There are a number of excellent value used basses on here at the moment. Squier would be a sound buy (the Affinity range is the cheapest, but the "Vintage Modified" and "Custom Vibe" models really punch above their weight) but Ibanez also do some excellent "budget" instruments. I've played one of these recently [url="http://www.gak.co.uk/en/ibanez-sr300-ipt-iron-pewter/18711"]http://www.gak.co.uk...on-pewter/18711[/url] and was very impressed!

Even manufacturers like Stagg make some good quality basses for silly money. We have one of these [url="http://www.gak.co.uk/en/stagg-b370-vintage-j-bass-style-metallic-black/16673"]http://www.gak.co.uk...lic-black/16673[/url] at school, and I was blown away by how good it felt and played!

There are loads of examples and lots of people will tell you what they think you should buy! It's a buyer's market at the moment, so if you have cash to spend it puts you in a very strong position to do a bit of haggling.

Enjoy the search!

Edited October 24, 2013 by Conan

[Scoobs]

What's a PS3?
I'm of an age where I know what it is but wouldn't know what to do with it - plus if we had one my son would be on it all the time!! - I'll think about the mixer thing but in the meantime I have news...

I played a Squier VM Jazz today and a MM SUB - the shop didn't have a precision and when I got to PMT some young whippersnapper was still noodling when my time ran out. Anyway felt very comfortable playing the Jazz (well as comfortable as it could be with my lack of abilty) - no problem with the strings at the neck, nice range of tone and compared to both the SUB and the Yamaha it just felt right - am I missing anything??

Even worse news is there's one for sale in the classifieds and I'll be in its vicinity this weekend uh oh! Hang on no it's not it's a classic vibe not a VM - I'll just trot off and try to figure out what the differences are between the two then...

[DorsetBlue]

[quote name='Scoobs' timestamp='1382624024' post='2254568']
What's a PS3?
I'm of an age where I know what it is but wouldn't know what to do with it - plus if we had one my son would be on it all the time!! - I'll think about the mixer thing but in the meantime I have news...

I played a Squier VM Jazz today and a MM SUB - the shop didn't have a precision and when I got to PMT some young whippersnapper was still noodling when my time ran out. Anyway felt very comfortable playing the Jazz (well as comfortable as it could be with my lack of abilty) - no problem with the strings at the neck, nice range of tone and compared to both the SUB and the Yamaha it just felt right - am I missing anything??

Even worse news is there's one for sale in the classifieds and I'll be in its vicinity this weekend uh oh! Hang on no it's not it's a classic vibe not a VM - I'll just trot off and try to figure out what the differences are between the two then...
[/quote]

Lol on the PS3 - only have Rocksmith and Singstar (for my daughters) on my PS3. Use it mainly as a Bluray player.

VMJs are a great choice, apparently the CVs are even better (but they don't do lefties damn them).

[Scoobs]

In case anyone is wondering - I hadn't refreshed this page so didn't know Conan's post was there when I posted mine!!!

[Scoobs]

So I am about to go and pick up the new to me instrument which is cool -barring unpleasant surprises..... Now I need a practise amp. Not sold on the mixer idea as don't want to be restricted to headphones. I will need the option though. Any suggestions anyone? And anyone know a good teacher around Bath Bristol area. Or how does a lesson on Skype work??? Thanks for your help folks

[Lozz196]

My fave practice amp is the Ampeg BA108 but then I love the Ampeg sound. It doesn`t really do much else I find, thought it excels at this. I also like the Fender Rumble 15.