DH Gate

[Graham_C]

Hi folks.

 

I'm looking to buy an ultra-cheap 4-string for teaching on and found a neat Duff McKagen clone on DH Gate. My plan is to get one (a cheapy bass), make it serviceable and probably stick some kind of Hipshop rip-off tuner on it for laughs.

 

Does anyone have experience of buying from there and am I going to totally regret it?

[Russ]

2 hours ago, Graham_C said:

Hi folks.

 

I'm looking to buy an ultra-cheap 4-string for teaching on and found a neat Duff McKagen clone on DH Gate. My plan is to get one (a cheapy bass), make it serviceable and probably stick some kind of Hipshop rip-off tuner on it for laughs.

 

Does anyone have experience of buying from there and am I going to totally regret it?

From the ones I've seen, woodwork and finishing are fine, if not great. Neck and fingerboard are usually OK, although they go a little heavy with the lacquer sometimes, and there might be some sharp fret ends. Tuners, bridge, electronics - utter rubbish. 

[Graham_C]

tbh, I’d probably put some good pick ups in it like I did with my old Squier P-Bass. 

[PaulThePlug]

I'd go Squier or Harley Benton

[Doctor J]

Why not just buy something good and not upgrade anything?

[NancyJohnson]

Odd post.  Buy crap, do it up.  Just buy a serviceable Squier, Harley Benton or EastCoast.

 

And what exactly is a 'Hipshot rip-off tuner'?

[Graham_C]

Here's the rub...I'm not well off and can't afford to spend a ton of money on a bass that'll get used once in a blue moon. I want a cheap bass to teach with, because I only have 5-string basses at the moment and it's proved to be confusing for learners to follow along.

 

Half the replies have been snarky and elitist, which is sub-optimal.  If you have nothing to add to the conversation scroll on. Bit sad that you have nothing better to do with your time than trash other people's questions and ideas. 🤷‍♂️

 

Big thanks to Russ and Paul for their objective input, though.

[Bigwan]

What do you call cheap? I bought a used Westfield P bass for 20 quid locally a few years ago. Perfectly serviceable with a setup that I did myself. 

 

You'll be able to find a multitude of named used basses for under £100, all of which will be a better bet that something from DH Gate. All it takes is patience.

Edited May 12 by Bigwan

[lemmywinks]

It's just another portal for the same builders on AliExpress. I wouldn't buy anything off there unless you're happy with fretboard radiusing and refretting tbh as you might get something which looks nice but hasn't been built correctly, especially if you're aiming for the cheapest bass that matches the aesthetic you want.

 

 

If you want a cheap version of his Jazz Bass Special or Signature bass then a 90s Aria Pro II (maybe with an aftermarket neck) like this might be up your street:

https://reverb.com/item/19560539-1991-aria-pro-ii-fb-bass-white

 

 

For the Aerodyne Jazz look at Gear4Music's LA Select line (they also do a P copy):

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/LA-II-Select-Bass-Guitar-by-Gear4music-Black-Burst/3L4L

[BabyBlueSound]

Cheapest solution is to take off that B from one of your fivers 🙂

 

What's you budget? Ultra cheap is a relative term if the end product is useless. Instead of ali/dh/temu, look into something like this:

 

https://www.glarry.co.uk/glarry-precision-electric-bass-guitar-p7.html?color=Black&srsltid=AfmBOoqxQ1ZhsJFF-0Aa3cFDd-_MRReoMtPyMJ6zDLMtdabzZE56v01IC10

 

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/LA-Bass-Guitar-by-Gear4music-Pink/7LN?utm_campaign=surfaces_across_google&srsltid=AfmBOopXzB5Ud0HiElX0nu8vwmVH6EvC0KKdt2ncn1guJBcxJzf3NT5h4Zk

 

Although for £110 you can already get a Harley Benton.

 

If you'd like to stay around the sub-75 quid range, I suggest checking Cash Generators and the like for a good used one, instead of the cheap end of the chinese imports. Some of these pawn shops have an ebay presence too, I bought 2 of my pedals on the cheaps from them!

[Dad3353]

There's a £45 Squier Affinity bass on Gumtree, Edinburgh at the moment. Is that inexpensive enough..?

 

Gumtree, Edinburgh : Squier bass ...

[mcnach]

Personally I'd stay away from DH Gate, purely because it's a bit of a lottery. I'd go with some of the usual cheaper suspects that are known to be generally decent: Squier, Harley Benton, Westfield, SX... 

 

[HeadlessBassist]

Agreed with several others on here, with these cheap Chinese wholesalers you never quite know what's going to arrive. (Often not what you ordered!)

 

No need to go expensive, Graham - Keep an eye on the classifieds on here - There are often bargains to be had. A lot of us recently bought the hell out of the SoloKing basses from Andertons, which they discounted to £150 from £300. They were a lot of bass for the money.

 

There are several really nice cheap instruments on the classifieds if you have a dig. For instance, I've got a nice Ibanez BTB on there for £350 (negotiable). There are often instruments available in the classifieds for under £200. If you're after seriously cheap, have a look at the Harley Benton range on Thomann.co.uk. They always offer great playability for practically no money.

 

Hope that helps

 

 

[Rich]

In all honesty, I'd trawl through Farcebook marketplace and pick up something from there. 75 quid would get you an Encore / Vintage / Harley B or some such, that will be a much better bet and a safer punt than anything from DH Gate. 

[Elfrasho]

Another vote for a 2nd hand harley benton! Matter of biding your time and eventually one will come up!

Edited May 12 by Elfrasho

[Jonesy]

And another one for the 2nd hand Harley Benton idea. They're decent basses, less of a lottery and you wouldn't need to upgrade anything.

 

Just had a look on FB and there's one in Shotts listed as a Harley Brenton for £80. There's about 4 others within 40km of Edinburgh, all under £90, but the HB would be my pick.

[tauzero]

FB marketplace, Gumtree, Ebay - Squier, Harley Benton, G4M and possibly Cort, Ibanez, and Peavey.

[HeadlessBassist]

31 minutes ago, tauzero said:

FB marketplace, Gumtree, Ebay - Squier, Harley Benton, G4M and possibly Cort, Ibanez, and Peavey.

 

I'd agree with all the above, except G4M's base offerings. I've had several pupils turn up with them, and the bodies usually weigh so much that they generate their own gravity & I end up spending about half an hour setting them up to make them even half playable. Not recommended. 

[spencer.b]

https://youtu.be/cltDqc-lPsw?feature=shared

Interesting vid here of a guy who bought 2 basses from AliExpress , I've bought football shirts for the kids from DH gate and was interested in the basses but after reading reviews it was mainly horror stories, that said you might get lucky, how much is the Duff bass ?

Edited May 13 by spencer.b

[Greg Edwards69]

On 12/05/2025 at 10:31, Graham_C said:

Here's the rub...I'm not well off and can't afford to spend a ton of money on a bass that'll get used once in a blue moon. I want a cheap bass to teach with, because I only have 5-string basses at the moment and it's proved to be confusing for learners to follow along.

 

Half the replies have been snarky and elitist, which is sub-optimal.  If you have nothing to add to the conversation scroll on. Bit sad that you have nothing better to do with your time than trash other people's questions and ideas. 🤷‍♂️

 

Big thanks to Russ and Paul for their objective input, though.

I don't see those replies as elitist at all. They make a valid point. You say you don't have much money to spend on this, but you'll be willing to risk a couple of hundred quid (that I can see on DH Gate for this model) on what is effectively a lottery and potentially unplayable, and non-retrunable.  Not to mention, you may have to pay import taxes as well, and you're willing to spend more money and time to upgrade it?

 

There are far cheaper and risk-free options available that are more likely to be perfectly playable, even giggable, straight out of the box. Harley Benton from Thomann, or Gear4Music's in-house brands for instance. Don't like them - send them back. Or try your local Facebook Marketplace - you can try them out in person before buying them.

 

Reading between the lines, it sounds like you really want a Duff McKagan bass on the cheap!

Edited 11 hours ago by Greg Edwards69

[SteveXFR]

If you want a cheap bass that will do the job without any upgrades or extra spending, why not get a used Ibanez SR300. They're not good for the price, they're just good.

[jonnybass]

Cheapest bass I can see on DH gate was $207 with delivery, assuming that covers any import taxes its about £150.  Theres about 4 basses on FB market place for that or cheaper from as far away as Musselburgh.  They wont look like a Duff bass though but you will get a chance to try them before you buy.  It will be harder to get a bass you think is cool though, depend if you want to take a punt I suppose.

 

Jonny

[Russ]

10 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

I don't see those replies as elitist at all. They make a valid point. You say you don't have much money to spend on this, but you'll be willing to risk a couple of hundred quid (that I can see on DH Gate for this model) on what is effectively a lottery and potentially unplayable, and non-retrunable.  Not to mention, you may have to pay import taxes as well, and you're willing to spend more money and time to upgrade it?

 

There are far cheaper and risk-free options available that are more likely to be perfectly playable, even giggable, straight out of the box. Harley Benton from Thomann, or Gear4Music's in-house brands for instance. Don't like them - send them back. Or try your local Facebook Marketplace - you can try them out in person before buying them.

 

Reading between the lines, it sounds like you really want a Duff McKagan bass on the cheap!

 

The reason I'm not discounting it entirely is because an old work colleague of mine ordered a bass on there - it was a blatant copy of a Mayones Commodus, and it cost him £250. When it showed up about two months later, it was actually pretty bloody nice in terms of construction, woods, etc. Well balanced, not too heavy, and the maple top was a proper top, not just a veneer. The fretwork needed lots of attention, and the electronics were just cheap, noisy s**t. He replaced them with an EMG 40DC set (the bass was routed for exactly that pickup size), got a full setup and fret job done, and the thing ended up being the equal of any £1000+ bass for about half the money. I've also seen stories of people who bought the Faux-deras off there and did the same thing and they ended up being excellent instruments.

 

They'll have no resale value whatsoever, but they're basses you'd buy to mod and play and not feel too guilty about, since they're not particularly expensive.