Yeah was not commenting on the quality, just wondering if there were a specific reason.
Rather than choose an upgrade platform as a first step up, personally I would go for a nicer instrument. What you really shpuld be looking for is improvements to feel, fit and finish, not simply something ypu can mod to be better.
Remember, you can always upgrade more expensive instruments. The jump in quality ftom the $250 to $600 range is pretty huge and IMO the real reason to upgrade. Actual tone matters much less than you think. What you want is playability and quality of construction; then go from there.
I think for me the goal might be to just start somewhere. Moding is something i will probably try down the line. Im just trying to guage the level of difficulty.
Do you have a bass at all yet? If not I would strongly recommend not worrying so much about it and just going with a very playable entry level model, and trading up later. Something like a Yamaha TRBX174. Or 204 or 304. Or BB234, etc. Or an Ibanez SR300.
All of these are really high quality and playable entry level instruments.
If I had to start over, I would have started with something straightforward without a preamp.
The easiest basses to mod, and theyâre all pretty easy in truth, are Jazz basses or installing EMG pickups. EMG because they have a solderless system, and you can add preamps and pickups without a solder iron. For most pickup configurations.
Jazz basses because everyone and their sibling makes a prewired jazz plate. Jack, preamp, pots, all on a plate and prewired to go, many solderless.
And thereâs a wide selection of general parts for jazz basses. Makes a difference - donât ask me what it took to find a 41.3 mm nut recently. You just have to google jazz nut and thereâs a plethora of 38 mm nuts that fit, Or bridges, necks, etc.
In the end itâs more daunting than difficult to mod a bass when starting out.
If I had to do it again I would do exactly what I did (buy an extremely playable entry level bass that I did not need to mod at all - in my case, a Yamaha TRBX304), except I would buy it used instead of new. Thatâs literally all I would change.
People should not agonize so much about their first instrument. Youâre going to upgrade to a better one eventually, once you know what you do and donât like. You just are. Itâs natural.
There is no way to know what you really want in an instrument without getting some playing time under your hands for a few dozen hours (minimum), followed by trying other instruments.
Looking for a long-term forever-bass purchase in your first instrument is a really bad plan. Even if you keep it forever out of nostalgia, itâs not going to be your daily driver for long, if youâre like most people. You can spend a lot of money on it or a little, itâs up to you, but the chances are very high that you will be moving on to other instruments.
For your first instrument you should choose something easy to play that you like looking at. What matters is that you pick it up and enjoy the feel. Higher end features and tone donât matter at all compared to that. Those are things you can address later. For the beginning, what matters is if it is fun for you to play, and that is nearly the only thing that matters.
I really agree with this. You wonât know what you are looking for in terms of comfort and it will take time to settle into your sound. Youâre not locked in, get a good solid instrument thatâs easy enough to play and save for the nice one youâll get when you finish the course.
Iâm with @Wombat-metal@howard on this. But an inexpensive P Bass or something passive so youâre not fussing with extra controls. Have fun on it doing the Beginner to Badass course and if you still love bass at the end of the course upgrade to a nicer bass later.
Gear is a very very small part of being a bass player.
Well, thereâs very small exception, the difference between expensive and cheap bass is just look and feel. You donât get 10 times better sound, in fact you probably couldnât even tell the difference.
Hopefully this weekend I can try to post a video of a few affordable basses that I have so you can judge how they sound.
