Tips on choosing a new bass.

Choosing a new bass.

It's a question asked constantly throughout the bass world - which bass should I get? Is that bass any good? Well, there's only one person who can pick the bass you should get... You

When picking a new bass, it can seem daunting - how good is this one, compared to that one? What's the difference between a Jazz bass & Precision? So you look to the nearest people, and ask them which is best, which to choose... Everyone has their preferences, and so the answer you get may be biased towards a particular bass - plus, a bass that suits one person might be in the wrong hands to the next person.

Here are a few bits of advice on what to think about when choosing your bass:

Try it out!
Firstly, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, try out any bass you intend to buy. Head to your nearest shop & ask to try it out, sit down with it & give it a go. Just reading a review on a bass, then heading to the nearest website & buying one could end you up with a bass that you don't like.... I did that, and it put me off playing bass for 2 years...

If you have no idea on which you wish to buy but find yourself in the local shop, try out a few different basses & manufacturers in your price range. Try a Fender, a Warwick, a Yamaha etc. & get a feel for the different basses, types & brands.

Budget
The only thing that will really limit the choice of basses available to you is how much you can spend on one. Generally speaking, you get what you pay for - but the most expensive bass isn't neseccarily the best one for you.

Looks
You've gotta have a bass that you're gonna want to show off to everyone, or pick it up & play every time you see it. There's no point in having a bass you thing is ugly as hell, just because it's a good one. I think my precision bass looks nothing short of awesome, and can't help but play it. However, if I was to have a bright pink flower shaped bass, that wouldn't be for me... No matter how good it sounds Looks & what you think when you see the bass are just as important as it's specification in my opinion.

Spec
Take a look at the basses specification - how wide is the neck? What wood is it made from? Which bridge has it got? How heavy is it? Is it strung through body? Is it active/passive? Make sure that the price you pay is matched in the quality of the parts. If you have any doubts about them, ask for advice.

Use
If you're playing a particular type of music, you may find a particular bass type is better for it. The Jazz bass, with it's variety of warm sounds, thin neck & smaller string spacing is the master of funk / disco / slap bass. But on the other hand, a Musicman Stingray is also killer for such music types, but features a wider neck & wider string spacing. So it's a matter of personal preference. If you want a bass for playing with a pick, the Precision bass goes well with that with it's wider neck & string spacing, plus the split coil pickup generates one huge sound. Depending on what genre you'll mainly be playing, ask the guys in the shop if they have any recommendations. Or see what bass your favourite bassists use...

Ask Around
I'll probably get killed for suggesting this But feel free to ask people for their opinion on a bass, or what their experience with it was. HOWEVER, you are most likely to get two responses - one saying "Yeah, I love it!", and another from someone else saying "Nah it sucks, get this one instead." So find the right place & people to ask, but do remember that all you're getting is another persons opinion - not something to go out & buy a bass on. And there's only one opinion that matters at the end of the day - yours Here would be a good place to ask, we seem to have a nice litle community

Take your time
This bass could last you for the rest of your life, if you like it that much... So spend some time researching online, reading magazines, trying basses out & make an informed choice, rather than buying the nearest thing you can find.


Hopefully this helps you making your decision - let me know how you get on!

Cheers, Smaz.

I'll have more coming to this when I get time!

Hey there Smaz, and thanks for the post.

I wanted to ask you (and the rest of course) a question and I hope I'm not hijacking your thread by doing so. It's at least somewhat pertinent to the original post

I am a complete novice on the bass and just really started playing a few months back. I had acquired a couple of guitars and played (poorly) with them but decided I wanted to learn the bass instead. So I started looking for a cheap four-stringed thingamajig, and found a used Squire (Standard Fender Starburst) dirt cheap and just bought it. The purchase was in no way based on my feeling for the instrument and I couldn't tell you whether or not it's even good to play (because I still suck but the question I had which your post brought to me, is: My neck (or the Squire's neck, to be more precise).. is it wide or thin or normal, and are the strings spaced tight or wide? In what style of music would this particular bass be best used? I think it would be good to know this when I actually get it to work, especially if I think I would benefit from a thinner/wider neck or will want to move to a genre far away from this bass' capabilities.

Hey Arni! Your post found the right place

I can't tell what bass you have - I think the Starburst refers to the colour. By the logo on the neck, it should say what bass it is underneath - jazz bass, precision bass etc. If not, have a browse through the squier basses here, and pick one out that looks the same:

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/p.php?n=45

Then I should be able to get some answers for you

Cheers, Smaz.

hey man, really helpful post! thanks ;D

Smaz, there's a lot of usefull stuff you know!

Smaz wrote:Hey Arni! Your post found the right place

I can't tell what bass you have - I think the Starburst refers to the colour. By the logo on the neck, it should say what bass it is underneath - jazz bass, precision bass etc. If not, have a browse through the squier basses here, and pick one out that looks the same:

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/p.php?n=45

Then I should be able to get some answers for you

Cheers, Smaz.

I knew the Sunburst was the color, but I thought the Squire WAS what bass it is Just shows how much I know really

The bass is a P-Bass, and something that looks like Affinity Series (it's in fancy script and tiny, so it's not easy to read). That make more sense to you ? I should think this would be it then: http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/squier-affinity-p-bass/3820

Yup, much better Squier is the brand, which is Fender's 'entry level' range basically.

Precision basses have quite wide/thick necks, which means that the strings are further apart compared to basses with smaller necks, like the Jazz bass.

As for style of music etc., any bass can be used in any situation - it's down to personal preference But from my experience, what I've read & seen etc:

Precision basses are great rock basses. They've got a unique tone, my P-bass sounds quite crisp, clear & punchy. Although, with there being just one pickup there isn't a huge amount of sounds that can be achieved from it compared to again the Jazz bass, where the two pickups give different sounds, and mixing between them both gives even more variety. Their punchy tone goes well with a pick, and the wider string spacing helps as you've got a bit more room to hit the strings with.

I can't think of much more to add at the moment, but if I think of anything I'll be sure to add it Hope this helps!

I'm looking for a bass to save up for. In the next few days, I'm actually heading to my local guitar mega mart and going to sit down in front of about 40 different basses. With the style of music I'm playing, I want something that has a punchy, almost mean sound to it. But one that also doesn't sound to bad for warmer things with the right EQ. Last time I played a Warwick I fell in love with it, but it was about $1200 out of my price range.. used. v_v

Helpful post but I still don't know what I'm looking for because I don't know what a real bass feels like, mine is just so crapped out..

Going to be a long day at Guitar Center, I can say that much.

If you're after something that packs a punch, and can sound pretty mean, then you might want to look at active basses as opposed to passive. This refers to the electronics in them - active uses a battery & has a much louder signal. Warwick have a lot of active basses - I tried one out, but it wasn't to my taste as it was too loud! Give them a whirl

Smaz wrote:If you're after something that packs a punch, and can sound pretty mean, then you might want to look at active basses as opposed to passive. This refers to the electronics in them - active uses a battery & has a much louder signal. Warwick have a lot of active basses - I tried one out, but it wasn't to my taste as it was too loud! Give them a whirl

Yeah, I was figuring that active pick-ups would be the way to go. How often do you need to change the battery in them?

Protoplm wrote:
Yeah, I was figuring that active pick-ups would be the way to go. How often do you need to change the battery in them?

It depends on the bass, but they usually last a few months. They also use 9V batteries, so it's a good thing basses don't suck too much power from them because 9Vs are pretty expensive

I couldn't tell you anything about active basses unfortunatley, as I've never had the chance to play with one for more than 5 minutes. I believe the batteries last long enough - they're not gonna die out after a few sessions on the bass. But I would keep one or two handy if you were gigging/practicing, just incase I'll ask my friend, who has a Musicman Stingray (which is active) how often he needs to change his battery. I'll let you know the result

You can save the battery life turning your bass off to passiv mode when not in use. (My previous Warwick Corvette $$ held up to 3 month this way.)

My Ibanez does not have as switch to turn off passive mode it is always in this mode.

As long as you unplug your inst. cable when you are not using your bass (by pluging in your cable completes the electrical circit) it will last quite sometime.

I play no less than 10 hours a week and my batt. is still the one that came with my bass 4 months ago. I do have a new one in my case so when it goes out I can keep on playing.

Thanks for the answers. I was asking because I have a pedal that chews through a battery in a week, only using it half my play time. I need to get an adapter for it..

Protoplm wrote:Thanks for the answers. I was asking because I have a pedal that chews through a battery in a week, only using it half my play time. I need to get an adapter for it..

You can't really say how long it depends how long you are plugged in. But mine use to last about 5/6 months, it won't just cut out on you either, it just starts distorting so you know when the time is right to change. Just don't have the jack plugged into the bass when your not playing it because whenever the jack is plugged in that battery is working.

Effects pedals eat batteries - they require much more power to run than the active circuit in a bass, so don't let that fool you

this is a reply to protoplm

i no im a bit late

have you bought a new bass yet?
if so congratulations.
if not i have some suggestions

i just bought a ibanez SRX 355
and i found it fits your discription quite nicely
it has passive pickups but active electronics and depending on ur EQ settings and pick up selection you can get some pretty sweet sounds out of it. i would definatly recomend it if you havent bought a bass already