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I love cheap basses!


Pappabass

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On 09/11/2020 at 11:59, TheLowDown said:

I love inexpensive basses too. Manufacturing is at such a high level these days that you can get a really good quality instrument for under £200.

I have always said there is not much difference between a $300 bass and a $1000 bass other than the finish

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12 minutes ago, Pappabass said:

I have always said there is not much difference between a $300 bass and a $1000 bass other than the finish

I believe much of it is brand name, custom makes, and frills. Fender, for example, charge much more than they're worth because of their history. Yet their quality is not that good in comparison to the likes of Ibanez, Cort(who make most of the basses in the East) and Sire.

When there is a genuine reason why something is priced more, it will be often be because of the electronics, not because of "quality finishing" and other marketing terms.

Edited by TheLowDown
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I've always been ashamed to admit this but I only have one fretted bass and I bought it, used,  in 1981 for forty pounds (with fitted hard case). It's an Aria ProII Primary Bass, a precision copy. I bought it because my previous bass, a horrid short-scale VOX, was stolen one evening and I needed something in a hurry (I was gigging 2 or 3 times a week back then, happy days!). I'd never heard of Aria when I bought it but it seemed OK for the money and here we are forty years on and it's still working fine. I've done various beastly things to it over the years, the worst was hacking out the body to fit a (useless) pickup near to the bridge. I also hacked a hole for a battery compartment in order to fit an EMG in the early 90s. Because of all this hacking, I decided to re-finish it (car paint spray) in the mid 90s. It also had to have a re-fret round about the same time. It doesn't get out of its case too often these days, even before COVID I was gigging pretty much exclusively on double bass, and had been for 20 years or so. Nonetheless, I reckon it the best forty quid I ever spent!    

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6 hours ago, TheLowDown said:

When there is a genuine reason why something is priced more, it will be often be because of the electronics, not because of "quality finishing" and other marketing terms.

Electronics don't cost that much folks often confuse aftermarket prices with wholesale.

Take the Tone Pump Spector use, you can buy it from the Czech designer for 120€ or direct from the factory for 40€. I know a fella over in the US was using Seymour Duncan in his basses, they were $20 a pop.

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14 minutes ago, Bassfinger said:

Oh my giddy aunt...

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_mb_4_sbk_deluxe_series.htm

Cheap, and knowing Harley Benton it'll have plenty of cheer too.

I have been fighting the urge for weeks over this one 

EDIT What? Damn I thought it was the t-bird one. I must have this. 

Edited by stewblack
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21 minutes ago, Slick Bass said:

£99! I mean Really????

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_pb_20_sbk_standard_series.htm

That is amazing value. Anyone have a PB20? Good / Bad / Ugly?

Sat playing mine right now. The most beautiful finish of any bass I own. 

Played perfectly out of the box. If you'd picked one up and were td it was say a 350 quid bass you wouldn't bat an eyelid. 

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