Battle of the budget basses?

[Bolo]

Yamaha is never a gamble at this price bracket, absolutely solid.

 

The squier choir conveniently forget to mention how lucky you have to be to find a good one.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:50 by Bolo
Edit to correct the autocorrect

[Terry M.]

27 minutes ago, Bolo said:

The squier choir conveniently forget to mention how lucky you have to be to find a good one.

That applies to Fender rather than Squier in my experience. I've had several of each. It's to the point where I don't understand the immense price difference between the two brands.

Edited yesterday at 07:14 by Terry M.

[HeadlessBassist]

2 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

That applies to Fender rather than Squier in my experience. I've had several of each.

 

I think it applies to every mainstream mass produced instrument maker. Yes, sometimes there's the odd standout 'tryhard' like Sire who really make their mark, but if you can, you should try before you buy with anything mass produced.

 

I must admit, I've been very lucky with both Squiers and Fenders over the years. The Mexican stuff from the Ensenada factory in particular has been very impressive over the last few years.

[Terry M.]

21 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

I think it applies to every mainstream mass produced instrument maker. Yes, sometimes there's the odd standout 'tryhard' like Sire who really make their mark, but if you can, you should try before you buy with anything mass produced.

 

I must admit, I've been very lucky with both Squiers and Fenders over the years. The Mexican stuff from the Ensenada factory in particular has been very impressive over the last few years.

Yep this is all true. I actually have a Mexican Player Plus Jazz V bought used from The Gallery earlier this year modified with an onboard Sadowsky preamp. I'm not a Fender fanboy but I really like this particular one.

[zonular]

Seen a Yamaha TRBX174EW come up in local ads for 175 euros.

 

I figured that's an ok price right?

Vs buying a new Harley benton j bass

[Geek99]

1 hour ago, Bolo said:

Yamaha is never a gamble at this price bracket, absolutely solid.

 

The squier choir conveniently forget to mention how lucky you have to be to find a good one.

 

 

I’m not sure that is true. I’ve honestly never played a squier that wasn’t worth at least the asking price and probably more 

 

I’m with @Terry M. on this one, it’s much more a fender problem and more US than Mex these days. 

[Geek99]

17 minutes ago, zonular said:

Seen a Yamaha TRBX174EW come up in local ads for 175 euros.

 

I figured that's an ok price right?

Vs buying a new Harley benton j bass

It is, but be aware that EW probably means extra wide. Unless you have big hands, I would advise caution 

I’ve had an extra wide Yamaha and it was painful to play after just a few minutes - I have medium large hands, bigger than average but I still struggled with the wide spacing 

 

I looked at a picture of a TRBX174EW and they look pretty wide to me 

Edited yesterday at 08:22 by Geek99

[itu]

17 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

...but if you can, you should try before you buy with anything.

Fixed. 

[miles'tone]

51 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

It is, but be aware that EW probably means extra wide. Unless you have big hands, I would advise caution 

I’ve had an extra wide Yamaha and it was painful to play after just a few minutes - I have medium large hands, bigger than average but I still struggled with the wide spacing 

 

I looked at a picture of a TRBX174EW and they look pretty wide to me 

EW = Exotic Wood, such as mango 🥭 😉

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

There's no wrong answer from the replies already given. Buy the one that is so appealing to you that once you have it at home you won't be able to walk past it without picking it up and having a play.

[Geek99]

43 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

There's no wrong answer from the replies already given. Buy the one that is so appealing to you that once you have it at home you won't be able to walk past it without picking it up and having a play.

As long as it fits your hands. There’s nothing worse than fighting with a instrument 

[ian61]

Well Ive had just about all of the Fender style P basses over the years and I'll end my days with my current CV 70 in walnut. Incredible build quality and playability and as with just about all of them, would benefit from a PU upgrade tho it doesn't bother me at all, but thats it. 

[jay bass]

I Have tried a few budget basses over the years including Harley Benton, J and D, Vintage , artist hybrid , Squier , Peavey, yamaha

not yet tried the Budget Mark basses . thats probably next on my list to look at.

all have been very good for the price point , i have actually gigged with these basses just to try them out and never had any issues with any of them

if you go down the Fender copy route you can always upgrade the electronics etc if you feel the need as there are parts widely available.

[chris_b]

Buy the bass that feels the best in your hands and has the look you want.

 

If it has neck dive, replace the tuners with licenced HipShots, if it doesn't sound great, and it probably won't, they always cut corners on pickups, replace them. It won't be the cheapest bass in town any more, but it will be a much improved one.

 

I have a £250 Cort Jazz and instead of replacing the pickups I use an outboard preamp. I haven't wasted any money on modding, I can resell the preamp and it gets me 90% of the way to a decent sound.

[Stub Mandrel]

If you expect to change pickups, get a Squier 40th Anniversary (if you can find one). If you want a vintage 60s sound you won't need to change a thing.

[Teesee]

In terms of "Budget" I'm thinking prices up to £200. There is the criminally cheap HB PB-50 for just over £100 that in terms of fit and finish is remarkable, neck quality superb, and sounds great. I've also got the HB JB-75, but at just over 6 kilos, it's really heavy, but again fit and finish very good and the roswells are enlightening and sound much more expensive. I had the HB RB-414 body was great but was let down by cheap hardware and the bridge pickup was half the volume of the great little Artec neck mini-humbucker, plus I didn't like the wat it was wired in a gibson sort of fashion.

I've recently scored a G4M Hartwood Satellite 32" which is another little stunner in terms of quality albeit styling is "left field" I love it.

Many moons ago I bought my son a Squier Bronco which I've since inherited, and that little guitar never ceases to amaze me still to this day in terms of quality. All of these mentioned less than £200.

 

Then since I'm such a cheapa$$ I'm going into what I call mid price (others may still call it budget) so up £400. This opens up a whole new set of possibilities. Squier and Epiphone lead the way for me ATM but that's only because of style, I have the Rascal and the Newport both shorties but similarly tricked out with 2 humbuckers each. Each is unique, tho the epi is a bit of a monster to tame when you're setting it up, due to it's bridge, but with flats one the 60's British tones you get out of it is as true as the original. Other notable mentions are the G4M 972 5 string fanned fret (orange guitar), the Retrovibe "Telenbacker" just nudging £400, and last but not least the Sire Z3, which in itself in terms of quality out does everything else with exception of the Retrovibe.

I'm not going to say which one is best because all of them have been modded at least in part, but the 3 least modded are the PB-50 - headstock cut to Tele style, Newport - new strings only, and the Z3 - new strings only.

I've no favourite make, as quality these days of all new guitars are a lot better than 30 or even 20 years ago.

[PaulThePlug]

Depends what there vibe is...

Best place to start but not a starter bass... 2nd hand Ibby SR300! - £160ish?

Love 'em and love passive modding 'em.

+1 on the HB PB50 - great as they are, at the price point they make for a loverly little personalisation tinker project, ideal for a dining room table over a few winter nights... 😉 Had a fun time modding mine.

I've seen some basic Yams criminally cheap but i just don'g like the look compared to the Ibby  

Edited 2 hours ago by PaulThePlug