Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Starting Double Bass


samej
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi,

I'm looking to get myself a double bass and am struggling to find one for my very limited budget - under £500, ideally £400. Most second hand ones I find advertised seem to be in the region of 800 to 1500 pounds and extensive searching of gumtree and ebay hasn't yet come up trumps. From reading threads on here it seems the budget online ones (Thomann, Gear4Music etc) around the £400 mark rather divide peoples opinions, but may be my best option for the budget, particularly with an upgraded set of strings?

I'm hopefully heading to London on Saturday so are there any shops which may have something around that price mark that I could have a look at? MJ Healey's website says their stock starts from about £1200.

Also given that I don't have more than £500 to spend, what do people think of the [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_kontrabass_111.htm"]cheapest thomann one[/url]? NeonMig's post [topic="29794"]here[/topic] suggest it might be a decent buy to learn on.

Any opinions gratefully received!

Thanks
James

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='samej' post='373168' date='Jan 7 2009, 03:49 PM']Hi,

I'm looking to get myself a double bass and am struggling to find one for my very limited budget - under £500, ideally £400. Most second hand ones I find advertised seem to be in the region of 800 to 1500 pounds and extensive searching of gumtree and ebay hasn't yet come up trumps. From reading threads on here it seems the budget online ones (Thomann, Gear4Music etc) around the £400 mark rather divide peoples opinions, but may be my best option for the budget, particularly with an upgraded set of strings?

I'm hopefully heading to London on Saturday so are there any shops which may have something around that price mark that I could have a look at? MJ Healey's website says their stock starts from about £1200.

Also given that I don't have more than £500 to spend, what do people think of the [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_kontrabass_111.htm"]cheapest thomann one[/url]? NeonMig's post [topic="29794"]here[/topic] suggest it might be a decent buy to learn on.

Any opinions gratefully received!

Thanks
James[/quote]

I'm sure you can find a better bass than the one Thomann are selling. Try and go for one with an ebony fingerboard. I'll keep an eye out for you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cheers, I just went into the violin shop near me and they had a Stentor for £580 which while more than I would really like to pay, I appreciate is probably significantly better than the Thomann. And it's a local shop which is usually a preferred place to spend my money. I might have to start scraping together some pennies...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='samej' post='373319' date='Jan 7 2009, 06:09 PM']Cheers, I just went into the violin shop near me and they had a Stentor for £580 which while more than I would really like to pay, I appreciate is probably significantly better than the Thomann. And it's a local shop which is usually a preferred place to spend my money. I might have to start scraping together some pennies...[/quote]

Sounds like a much better option... :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='samej' post='373319' date='Jan 7 2009, 06:09 PM']Cheers, I just went into the violin shop near me and they had a Stentor for £580 which while more than I would really like to pay, I appreciate is probably significantly better than the Thomann. And it's a local shop which is usually a preferred place to spend my money. I might have to start scraping together some pennies...[/quote]

I've got a Stentor and it's great! I did spend some cash getting it set up and new strings put on but none of it was essential and I've now got a bass I gig with that sounds pretty good to my ears.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the search for a DB samej. Have you tried bartering with the music shop? Walk in with a wad of cash and tell them you'll take it. A small profit for them is better than no profit in these times, buyer's market and all that. Try to talk them into it and be firm on your price. Maybe also tell them you need their services in the very near future for strings and a setup so they will get more ££ out of you then.

Good luck.

Cheers,

Edited by TPJ
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' post='373720' date='Jan 8 2009, 12:12 AM']Especially since a new set of strings for a cheap Thomann bass would pretty much bring you up to that level anyway...[/quote]

Good point, a chap in another shop actually suggested going the gear4music route but that while you may get a pretty good one straight up, equally likely you may have to spend a few hundred more getting it decent, and not only on strings.

[quote name='TPJ' post='374965' date='Jan 9 2009, 12:04 PM']Welcome to the search for a DB samej. Have you tried bartering with the music shop? Walk in with a wad of cash and tell them you'll take it. A small profit for them is better than no profit in these times, buyer's market and all that. Try to talk them into it and be firm on your price. Maybe also tell them you need their services in the very near future for strings and a setup so they will get more ££ out of you then.[/quote]

Cheers, I might try this. Of course this guy said I had better get my name down quick before it goes... Shame I'm not very good at bartering. Will just have to cut back on the beer for a while I suppose!

Thanks everyone, I'll let you know what happens..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

So i got the Stentor at the weekend, it's been ten years since I've played one and standing next to it, it seems bigger than I remember! I played it a little and seems good, no funny noises and sounds and feels nice. Looking forward to getting some lessons to check I'm playing it properly and getting on with learning. Can't wait until I can play it with other people. Yay!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='samej' post='385105' date='Jan 19 2009, 04:06 PM']So i got the Stentor at the weekend, it's been ten years since I've played one and standing next to it, it seems bigger than I remember! I played it a little and seems good, no funny noises and sounds and feels nice. Looking forward to getting some lessons to check I'm playing it properly and getting on with learning. Can't wait until I can play it with other people. Yay![/quote]

What price did you beat them down to?????

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='farmer61' post='387758' date='Jan 21 2009, 05:17 PM']What price did you beat them down to?????[/quote]

Sadly no beating was done! I think it was a pretty good deal still. I might have got it slightly cheaper online but I think they have set it up quite well so it's easily worth paying the extra.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='samej' post='393775' date='Jan 28 2009, 03:59 PM']Sadly no beating was done! I think it was a pretty good deal still. I might have got it slightly cheaper online but I think they have set it up quite well so it's easily worth paying the extra.[/quote]
Congrats mate and enjoy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I often sell those Stentor ones, including a couple to friends, deffo way better than anything I've seen cheaper.
The strings are not half bad to start with; I'm using Evah Pirazzi which just leapt up to nearly £250 a set!
A brill pickup is the Realist by David Gage. I've used this for 8 years now, and recently got the mandolin version too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='slobluesine' post='393845' date='Jan 28 2009, 05:20 PM']found one of these a REAL help with double bass, strengthens finger, hand and arms muscles very quickly

[url="http://www.powerballs.com/index.php?m=Home"]http://www.powerballs.com/index.php?m=Home[/url][/quote]

Yeah I have one of them already. I don't really use it that much but find it quite nice and relaxing at a moderate speed and it's quite good to warm up. Haven't found I needed it for electric bass but yeah it will probably help for upright.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='hubrad' post='393860' date='Jan 28 2009, 05:32 PM']I often sell those Stentor ones, including a couple to friends, deffo way better than anything I've seen cheaper.
The strings are not half bad to start with; I'm using Evah Pirazzi which just leapt up to nearly £250 a set!
A brill pickup is the Realist by David Gage. I've used this for 8 years now, and recently got the mandolin version too.[/quote]


Cheers, yeah it seems really good. Had a lesson today and my teachers bass is obviously nicer but I think the strings are where the main difference lies, they felt much better. He said his were that sort of price. Ouch! That's painful. Especially if they ever snap.

Not sure I'll be needing a pickup for a few months at least though! I'm quite tempted to try making one first though just with a piezo transducer and a jack socket. If it doesn't work it's only a few quid lost.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...