I’d agree with @howard on the pedestal that fender / MM are placed. That Stingray is nearly $3000 Canadian (They do an Indonesian import line at around $700 which has had some solid reviews). You could pretty much get anything you want for that kind of money.
The high end Ibanez, Yamaha stuff will be on par in terms of quality but much less mulla.
But and here’s the but, it doesn’t matter. If you’ve got the money buy whatever you want. If it makes you want to pick it up every day and play it then it’s the right bass.
I’m currently on the fence about a custom bass from a German company called Sandberg. You can configure it how you want and they’ll build it in about 6 months for a bit over $2000 CDN.
Bottom line. Buy what you want, because we’re all going to die at some point
Sandberg is another good example of a company making (custom!) basses of really high quality for less money than Fenders of equivalent level.
If I were even going to buy a Fender style bass in that price range it is unlikely I would buy a Fender, but that’s primarily due to living in Japan. There’s a set of high end boutique manufacturers here that make Fender clones that are in the same $2k-$4k range as the MIA Fenders, but custom made and really high quality. Vellmor, Atelier Z, etc.
Also I know this is super obvious but if you can find one you like buy it used. That’s where the value lies. You can pick up practically mint stuff on Reverb at 20% off new list price.
I disagree twith @howard a bit; I have a Fender Jazz and absolutely love it. If you were to get it I think you would be well pleased. I do hear good things about Yamaha though, and hope for the crazy world to sort itself out so I can go try one - stores all closed in this neck of the woods.
What I like about the Fender Jazz and Yamaha TRBX604 and BB734A are how they blend the pickups. A lot of basses have a 3-way toggle switch for pixkup selection; neck, bridge, or both. The Jazz has a tone control and separate volume controls for the neck and bridge pickups, so you can blend the two pickups by adjusting the bridge volumes independently of each other.
The Yamahas have a single volume but also a balance control, so you choose how much neck and bridge pickups are in the mix. Which method is better is probably a matter of choice; but I think either are infinitely better than the 3-way toggle.
I would consider the BB734A myself. The front pickup is a P style, and a PJ bass just seems versatile.
I should be clear that I don’t think there is anything wrong with Fender basses, I just don’t think they are automatically the best (or even better) choice. If that’s what you like, that’s awesome.
I can also kind of understand the P-bass cult. Much like the Stingray, if that specific tone is what you are after, probably nothing does it better.
I really didn’t take it that way. Fender, you can buy better but you can’t pay more. But I couldn’t try them out as the shops are closed, so to me it was a safe bet, and with a set of Black Beauties on it really does sound nice.
I do think P Bass, Stingray, Rick, and Hoffner have unique sounds.
I can speak with confidence about all of the basses mentioned here, I have one or more of most mentioned, and IMO my first bass was a Yamaha rbx200 and for the price when I bought it new in 1988 it still stacks up against the P, J EBMM and the Ricky.
I have been lucky to be in a position over the years to buy some classic basses, I enjoy playing them all, at the end of the day they all have 4 strings and if in tune mixed with other instruments it would be difficult to tell one from the other unless you are looking at them,
Another example of what I mean would be this,
You could put the crappiest bass in the hands of the best player and it would sound awesome, you could put the best bass ever made in the hands of a crap player and it’s gunna sound crap.
You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig, get my drift👍
Cheers Brian
Hello bass buzz friends, I’ve decide to change my profile name and pic as I no longer conduct any excavation work, I have sold of all my directional drills and earthmoving equipment.
Cheers Brian
