some great suggestions here, also my main bass for years was the sterling ball music man version of their short scale, which is in your budget range. I recently traded up to the Ernie Ball version.
edit: woops, Al and Mike also talked about the sterling above. anyways, I concur 
Allow me to toss in the Schecter Banshee bass and the G&L Fallout Tribute bass, both short and within your budget. Owned a G&L, good quality, but didnāt bond with it.
My Sire U5 has a beautiful Tobacco Sunburst.
On the other hand, my Sire M5 and V8 are natural Swamp Ash.
Nice! Had the M2 in that translucent blue, that was more emerald green looking to most people 
There are a lot of good short scale bass guitars EBMM stingray, Valiant short scale, public peace custom bass guitars Maruszczyk Elwoods , Mensinger Cazpar. Mike Watt bass guitar made by Reverend. Low budget squire jaguar Short scale.
This looks exactly like baby Sire U5, with its Tobacco Sunburst and Flamed Maple top (Alder body). I rode my puppy through the first half of B2B. Made the learning easy and fun.
Hey oh! @BigAl , little al reporting for duty here, lol.
Gorgeousness. Love it man especially the blue burst with the Do yer decal on it.
Itād be fun if you can make the SoCal meetup next time. Hopefully my 23ā scale 5 string will be here by then.
Just ask the greatest songwriter/musician/bass player in the history of the planet earth, what short-scale bass he has relied on & consistently played to audiences of 60 thousand plus, for over 60 years now & is still going strong at 81 years of age.
I was just wondering why nobody had mentioned the 500/1 viola style. In fairness I was never interested before buying my vintage Hofner Artist/185, but having heard the tone first hand and watched more Beatles bass videos than is healthy in a 24 hour period, I have to say that Iāll be looking into finding one at some point - possibly this year.
The 185 I picked up is lightweight, fast playing, and has a such a deep tone that I wish Iād tried one before buying my TRBX504. The 500/1 (and itā derivatives) is only going to be a deeper tone. Though it is worth noting that a lot of pros use tape wound strings which seriously soften the sound.
Thatās a very healthy budget you have and it would get you a choice of Hofner Ignitions, but Iāve been hearing good things about Harley Benton (actually pretty much everything they make gets generally positive reviews).
Where would he be without the Ā£30 violin bass? Probably ended up playing in the pub and never made it in the big time, lol. Put a gun to his head heāll tell you itās not the fiddle,
Horner has severe limitations but 2 huge benefits, itās cheap and it can be played either side. If Fender P bass were to be offered at the same price and not Ā£100 and also available in left hand, weāll be singing different tune.
1000%^^^
McCartney is indeed a phenomenal, highly inventive bassist and one of the most prolific songwriters in history: facts that are time-tested and well beyond one personās opinion. His bass lines have inspired players of wildly diverse genres to think beyond basic accompaniment.
By his own admission, Paul has credited James Jamerson as being his biggest bass influence. If you know, you know.
But heās also stated that he chose a Hofner bass to play primarily because it was so lightweight to wear during live gigs. A Fender P could never get close to being so light unless you removed the body and the neck. Lol
Just goes to show that itās the archer, not the arrow, that hits the mark. 
Hofners have tight string spacing, they can be hard to intonate, they neck dive. Thereās a few small quirks of the design. I didnāt mention them because my picks were more user friendly. If youāre starting out you want to pick up a bass and play.
Not to say itās not a good bass, but not beginner friendly is where I think Iām going.
A Hofnerās tighter string spacing and short scale are two of the main reasons flatpicker guitarists like McCartney chose it. Itās fast to play and comfortable to wear: outstanding features for a gigging player.
1000%
The Beatles are the most overrated band in history. Prove me wrong. They stood out because they were the first.
Try and claim āMichelleā would have been a #1 hit if anyone else had made the song identically. Even the Beatles themselves play that one down. It was a loopy party song they made up to make fun of a French guy they found pretentious. A complete send-up, straight to nonironic #1, because Beatles branding.
Nobody needs to prove a thing to anybody. Opinions are likeā¦you know. Everyone has one and some love to air it.
I tend to agree with this sentiment. That said, Ringo Starr is the most underrated drummer of all time, now prove me wrong, lol.
I love you, brother. But I respectfully disagree,@Al1885. Still, itās what you think, so itās all good.
That said, this whole thing of someone sh**tting on a band/music/genre is such crap. The thing is: like it, donāt like it, donāt give a damn about it - whatever. Itās music.
Any and all music was made to be enjoyed.
God knows there are many post-Beatles and post-post, and post-post-post stuff I vehemently canāt stand. But I do the logical thing and donāt pay a whitās worth of attention to it or those who espouse it. Live and let live. 
About the Beatle? or Ringo, 
