Best bass under £400

[jackreacher193]

Hi All,

Apologies if this has been covered already. But wondering your thoughts on best bass for sub £400?

Been looking at a few:

Squier CV 60s / 70s P Bass?

Squier Affinity?

Sterling Sub Ray 4?

Also seen a used Yamaha BB424x for £300

 

What would you get if you had £400?

[Velarian]

I can’t comment on the Ray or Yamaha but I would definitely say a Squier CV beats an Affinity hands down. 

[theyellowcar]

What are you wanting to do with it? Do you want to play a particular style of music? Do you have any songs in mind with a tone you want to emulate? Any considerations like weight, or how big/small you’d prefer the neck to be?

 

My best answer will always be go down to the local shop and play EVERYTHING, even the stuff you would otherwise write off. 
 

If that isn’t possible, knowing more about what you’re after will help me help you 😊

[jackreacher193]

Thanks, yes appreciate depends on what want to do with it.

 

Just rock stuff really. 

 

No jazz, funk, pop, blues 

[Pinball]

I notice that Andertons have a whole bunch of G&L's for sale under £400. Includes LB's, JB's and fallouts. Maybe worth a look as they are great basses for the money.

[Paddy515]

1 minute ago, Pinball said:

I notice that Andertons have a whole bunch of G&L's for sale under £400. Includes LB's, JB's and fallouts. Maybe worth a look as they are great basses for the money.

Yep G&L L2000s. PM me re one.

[yorks5stringer]

Squier Paranormal Bass at £299?

[theyellowcar]

18 minutes ago, jackreacher193 said:

Thanks, yes appreciate depends on what want to do with it.

 

Just rock stuff really. 

 

No jazz, funk, pop, blues 

Then any of the options you mention would be just fine. Personally, I’d get some kind of Precision Bass. 
 

Check the used market, as you will definitely find a Mexican Precision for not far off £400 if you aren’t in a hurry. 
 

If you want it now, a Squier Classic Vibe will see you right. There are 60’s and 70’s models available but the only differences are aesthetic. 

[Munurmunuh]

2 hours ago, jackreacher193 said:

Squier CV 60s / 70s P Bass?

Also seen a used Yamaha BB424x

 

I've one of the older CVs (a Matt Freeman sig) and a similar age BB424. The Yamaha cost less but feels higher quality across the board. The neck in particular feels both more solid and more carefully finished.

 

The P on the other hand is lighter, and, being a standard P, allowed me to put a Dimarzio in (tho that meant it was no longer a sub-£400 bass)

[Delberthot]

Any bass will do what you want to do, just find the most comfortable one for you

[Maude]

These days £400 gets you some superb basses new, too many to list realistically, that will all be great. 

There's an even better selection second hand. 

It all depends what sort of thing you want, traditional, modern, solid, hollow, fretted, fretless, 4,5 or more string. 

 

What's the best sub £400 bass? Yes. 

 

 

But get the BB424, if you can squeeze a tiny bit more into the budget or be patient, you could even get a BB1024. 🙂👍

[lownote]

Why spend that much?  Revelation < £200 new, Harley Benton < £150 new.  Both brilliantly made, just a tad heavy if that matters.  Otherwise Sire for flexibility.

[naxos10]

Have a read of BassAdder27's NBD thread of the Squire CV60's P-bass in this forum a few threads below your at the moment.

 

I would not totally dismiss the Fender Affinity basses, the one I have is pretty good for the money.

[Paul S]

If you are set on buying new I would also take a peep at the Retrovibe website - David's basses are exceptionally good vfm. 

 

But, really, buying secondhand will get you so much more bass for your dollar.  And if you are buying blind you can't go wrong with a Yamaha BB424 which leaves you some change.

[Lozz196]

If wanting a Fender type instrument I`d hold out for a Mex Fender if possible. The Squiers are good, CVs & VMs especially so, but the actual Fenders are easier to do mods on such as scratchplates (for some reason Squier ones are different) and tuners. If of course you`re not the modding type then the Squiers are def worth getting.

[xgsjx]

There's quite a few great basses in your budget in the "For Sale" section on here...

But like others have said, it's down to what your criteria is.  E.g. styles of music, who you want to sound like, how many strings, etc.

I'd look at these brands, but don't limit to just these...

 

Ibanez

Sire

Sterling

Squier

 

https://www.basschat.co.uk/forum/19-basses-for-sale/

[Pea Turgh]

The Sire P-bass with the roasted maple neck and rolled fingerboard edges would be top of my list if I were starting again.

[BassAdder60]

I’ve just gone through this getting a back up bass.

I had a Sterling Stingray Sub 4 but I didn’t like it compared to my PBass 

 

Had a low cost Yamaha TRBX174 and they are good for the money but ..,

 

I would definitely look at the Squire Classic Vibe series PBass or Jazz as I think they are very nice for the money. 
 

Later they are easy to sell on or upgrade etc 

 

Like many basses around the lower end in price some quality issues creep in. My new Squire is being replaced by Andertons as the pickup was playing up and cutting out !

Apart from that it’s a lovely bass

 

[rushbo]

12 hours ago, Pinball said:

I notice that Andertons have a whole bunch of G&L's for sale under £400. Includes LB's, JB's and fallouts. Maybe worth a look as they are great basses for the money.

That sounds like a good deal...

 

I love cheap basses. I've had a few and honourable mentions go to Harley Benton and Retrovibe.

 

If I had £400 to spend on a budget bass, I be looking for a secondhand Indonesian Squier P/J. I've had two or three of these and the quality is great - equally as good as a Mexi Fender, in my experience. They used to go for around £100-£120, but people have got wise to how great they are, but they are still incredible value. Solidly made, versatile basses - that goes for the Indo Squier Jazz and Precision basses, too. Get one of those and a secondhand Zoom B3 and you'll still have change for a couple of good quality leads and a gig bag.

[RhysP]

I had a Sub Ray 4 for a while last year & I thought it was an excellent bass for the money.

I actually thought it was a better bass than the US Stingray 5 I had a few years ago.

[RhysP]

3 hours ago, Paul S said:

But, really, buying secondhand will get you so much more bass for your dollar.  And if you are buying blind you can't go wrong with a Yamaha BB424 which leaves you some change.

This.

There are some lovely used basses available for around £400.

I bought a Japanese Bacchus Craft Series jazz style bass on Basschat last year for £450.00 & it's up there with the very best basses I've owned.

[RussFM]

I'd definitely recommend a G&L Tribute SB-2 for value for money. Indonesian budget but with USA pickups. I prefer the sound to a Squier for similar money. They're £489 at Andertons but £399 at Guitar Guitar.

 

I'm still tempted by one of the Jazz style G&Ls too, starting at £329 or £399 with block inlays and scratchplate.

[Kyndainverse]

I’ve purchased 2 sub £400 Basses over the last 12 months since picking up the Bass again.
Both of which I love playing and work well with a band in a rehearsal room. 
A Bass Collection Bruce Thomas Profile P Bass. Second hand on this forum. 
A Squire CV FSR Mustang. 

[lownote]

6 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

If wanting a Fender type instrument I`d hold out for a Mex Fender if possible. The Squiers are good, CVs & VMs especially so, but the actual Fenders are easier to do mods on such as scratchplates (for some reason Squier ones are different) and tuners. If of course you`re not the modding type then the Squiers are def worth getting.

I've had 40+ bassess of all sorts and valued from £800 down to £25.  There were some amazing bargains to be had but hands down the best overall quality tone, playability and build balance belonged to a £300 secondhand MiM Fender P bass.  I'm not specially a Fender bunny, just saying that was my experience...

Edited February 4, 2022 by lownote

[Rayman]

No such thing as best under any circumstances, but if it were me right now, I'd buy used. That opens up your £400 to more options. If I were buying new, there's a sunburst Sire V7 on Andertons for 399.