Opinions please

Hi guys, I have just bought a Benson GRS bass package from ebay (item number: 200642870364 [sorry it won't let me post a link up yet ]) to learn to play on.

I am a complete novice. I've played about 6 hours in total on it so far and it seems ok to me but I have a couple of questions.

First off, Have I completely wasted my money? (in relation to the guitar and amp and not my playing skills or lack of lol)
Secondly I'm guessing the pick ups should be tight against the body and not loose how they currently are???
And finally I'm guessing the amp is the weakest part of the package? So what would be a good upgrade for a novice with out spending a small fortune.

Any opinions (good or bad) & advice are welcome. Thanks in advance, Dan.

How much did you spend on it? And what were you expecting from a beginner's pack? It's gonna be bad quality. Which is good for beginners.

It was £110 posted. I wasn't expecting it to be amazing, or even good. I was just looking for something that was ok to learn to play on. If I get on ok with it then I will look to upgrade it later on. I just didn't want to go out and spend alot of money on something that I wasn't sure if I was going to like/enjoy/be able to play.

At the end of the day I know you pay for what you get. I was just wondering if it was ok for what I want to do with it/Paid for it.

Should be fine for learning on. I think learning to play on a rubbish instrument can actually make you better in the long run.

The pickups... hmm, well I've never played on, seen or heard of a bass with loose pickups, so I'd guess that they're not supposed to be loose You should be able to just tighten 'em up with a screwdriver.

The amp... yours is a 15 watt amp if I found the right package. I've had a 19 watt practice amp for TWO MOTHERFUCKING YEARS AND TWO MOTHERFUCKING MONTHS and as you can probably tell, it's starting to annoy me. So yeah, I'd recommend upgrading that as soon as possible. Apparently, some good choices to begin with are second-hand Peavey TNTs, Fender Rumble 150s and near anything by Ashdown. Just stay away from Behringer. Stay awaaaaaay.

A Fender Rumble 100 is plenty, you don't need to go all the way to 150.
Whichever amp you get, make sure it has a large speaker. I'm talking 15 inch.
I have a Rumble 100 with a 15 inch and a very small speaker (not sure what it's called in english) for added high notes.
I've seen someone buy a bass amp with a 12 inch and with the smaller case and speaker, you don't really get the deep bass tone.

As for the pickups, they need to stay in place while you move the body around. However, I've noticed that you can actually press them in with your finger slightly. Not sure what you consider loose.

Stryfer wrote:However, I've noticed that you can actually press them in with your finger slightly. Not sure what you consider loose.

Well bugger me senseless, I never did notice that.

That was what I meant by the pick ups being loose. They werent about to fall off but you could press them in about 2-3mm.

Thanks for the advice on the amps. I will keep my eyes open know I kinda know what I'm looking for.

Yeah, the pickups have screws with springs on, so you can adjust the height of them!! If they move a bit when pushed in, thats perfectly normal! The Bass seems OK, and they certainly look good!! And trust me, budget Guitars these days are way way better quality than they once were! If it plays and sounds OK, then don't worry!!

A new guy? Welcome!

Hi guys, just a quick update more than anything. Just picked up a Ashdown Bass Amp for a bargin price and i'm over the moon with it.







I have also let a couple of people who have been plaing bass for a long time loose with my budget bass and they said the action is actually very good for how much it cost.

Ooh Ashdown, nice! I play through an Ashdown pretty regularly (it's like that one but about 4x the size) and it sounds great

Blue amp. <3


...Seriously no heart option on this board?