Beginner – Upgrade guitar or amp?

[Mrbigstuff]

57 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

 

 

Sire V/P7 and above tuners (the Grover 142 copies, £24 for a 4 string set from NW Guitars) are generally very good though, I wouldn't confuse them with the budget machine heads you find on ultra cheap basses. In fact in the early days of gen 1 Sire basses they did use the cheap and nasty tuners and a fair few people (myself included) complained about them, they switched to the better ones partway through gen 1 V7 production.

 

I actually put a set of (ex-Sire) Grover copies on one of my Arias and they were a massive improvement, better than the Wilkinsons I have on my fretless.

In that case the OP should get a Sire and pro setup because they’re excellent when done right. If you get a V5 they’re passive and you don’t need to worry about active circuits or batteries.

 

FWIW I had an early V1 and didn’t have any issues with that either.

[ClusterOne]

18 hours ago, SimonK said:

...actually I'd add Sire to the list of reliable second hand (cheaper) basses for the OP to keep an eye out for... getting one for about £150 or so would be fine.

 

EDIT - just looked on eBay and they all seem to be a bit more expensive - around £350ish for second hand instruments. Still a good choice for that price!

Well, actually here on Basschat Marketplace there is one for £250 i think…

 

Local pick up i believe though..

 

Edited Saturday at 04:49 by ClusterOne

[lemmywinks]

Whole setup for you here OP, make a cheeky offer?

 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/3678068185832967/

[Jack]

Someone is selling a G&L SB2 in the classifieds, that would be a superb bass if you decide to go that route. I've used mine on plenty of rock music gigs. 

 

Maybe an Ashdown combo if you decide to go with the amp. You can get a pro level amp for budget prices with those and again, great rock sound. 

[soulstar89]

On 24/07/2025 at 12:22, Ducky said:

Hi all,

 

Hope everyone is doing well.

 

I’ve recently taken up playing bass, and have reached a point where I want to upgrade either my bass guitar or amp. I started a few months ago, with an inexpensive Gear4music 4-string guitar and amp pack for about £150. I’ve gradually improved with consistent practice, but always felt that my plucking / pulling never sounded “clean”. I thought it was down to poor technique, and tried to work on it, but didn’t make any real improvement.

 

Last weekend I happened to stumble into a high-end guitar shop and tried playing a fender bass with a fender amp, and it sounded incredible. I don’t think my playing has ever sounded so clean, which led me to realise that it wasn’t me / my technique that’s the issue.

 

Now that I’ve come to that realisation, I want to upgrade either my guitar or amp. What do you recommend I do first? My budget is around £300, and I will eventually upgrade both, but right now I only have budget for either the guitar or amp.

 

Also, I should mention that the guitar I tried in the shop was £900, and the amp was probably also a very expensive one. Will a £300 guitar or amp provide an improvement in tone like the one I just described?

 

I like playing heavier music, like metal, and will also buy a distortion pedal at some point.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.
 

Hey bud, 

 

congrats on the journey of learning a instrument. 
 

I started with an inexpensive squier p bass. As when I was younger and broke my left wrist (fretting hand) I took my bass to get professionally setup at the bass gallery in London. My combo I think was a stagg. When I decided I wanted to commit more due to feeling improvement I was asking myself the exact same question. 
 

I went down the bass upgrade route but in all honesty I should have got a better amp/cab or combo. I say this as my old bass sounds great with my genzler Magellan combo. The crappy combo had probably been over pushed and exhausted the speakers. 
 

A proper setup makes a world of difference on how the bass plays and sounds. I would suggest either learn to setup your bass (it’s not hard at all) or go and get it setup. 
 

You can pick up a decent combo, cab & amp  for such great prices on here. The used market is your friend. 
 

Also a change of string makes a drastic difference also. 

[jd56hawk]

Sire, very popular for a good reason. 

Sure, many will suggest getting an amp, but I'm betting you buy a nice bass like this and you won't be able to put it down.

 

Andertons

Sire Version 2 Marcus Miller V3 4-String Bass in Red Satin

£249.00£439.00

Edited Saturday at 16:13 by jd56hawk

[Ducky]

Hi all, I've attempted to setup the bass properly using THIS video as a reference, and must say that the results were pretty awesome (Thanks BassBuzz / Josh Fossgreen, in case you're here)! Adjusting the truss rod made the biggest difference, and everything sounded substantially cleaner. Thanks to everyone who directed me down this route.

 

However, the most noticeable improvement was when I plugged in a pair of headphones to the amp. That made it sound incredible!

 

I think that perhaps it's time to upgrade my amp. Keeping in mind that I only plan to play at home in a pretty small room, what kind of specs and brands do you think I should be looking for? I definitely won't need an immense amount of power and volume, and I would prefer to not use headphones. In terms of size, the smaller the better. I like playing heavier music, like metal, and will buy a distortion pedal at some point.

 

Thanks again for the invaluable advice!

[MichaelDean]

Having been in this position and chosen an amp, I'm glad I did. It really elevated my experience and I hope it does for you too. 

 

A little Fender Rumble, Ampeg Rocket or the new Laney Digbeth Foundry would be a big step up for not all of your budget. An 8" speaker might be ok, but a 10" one generally sounds better to my ears. Always keep a lookout for used deals too. Here, Gumtree or Facebook marketplace are worth a nose. A little MarkBass or Gallien Krueger might pop up in your price range, or any of the others I've already mentioned could be a second hand bargain. 

[Jack]

The TC Electronic BG series of combos are everywhere for super cheap. Any one would suit you and the tone print means you get to try out effects for free.