I have a Sweetwater card and am thinking about another bass $400.00 or less. I was hoping to get a Ray of some type but alas, all they seem to have are the expensive $2k+ EBMM. So, I was thinking Ibanez Mezzo, Yamaha BB234 or TRBX304, Gretsch Junior Jet II, Epiphone Embassy, Jackson Spectra, Spector (cheapie), G&L Tribute or something in addition to what I already have (LTD B50 FM and a Vintage VJ74 Re-Issue). Which would you guys get and why?
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The Ray4’s seem to be GC’s area vs. Sweetwater…
Those are very different choices - sound, scale, design, etc.
The one thing I would say (that we were all saying in another thread recently is - don’t buy a bass with a price range first.
Figure out what type of bass you want, MM style, JJ, PJ, P, etc, and what looks you like, then see what’s available.
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Well, you know GAS is a terrible thing… 
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For example…
the Junior Jet is raved about, but a very short scale.
I have not heard one in person, but wouldn’t go buy one without fiddling with it due to the short scale.
I am not really familiar with the two you have, so not sure what type of tone you have, and what you want to supplement with. The only one of the bunch I can talk to is the TRBX304 (I had the 5 string). Solid bass for beginniner. General consensus here is go for the 504, worth the upcharge. My 305 is sold awaiting a higher end replacement, it did not last a year.
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GC is through the same bank as Sweetwater. I manage both accounts from the same login.
GC carries Sterling, but Sweetwater only handles the American line for EBMM
You might want to try Musician’s Friend, which is part of GC but only online storefront. You can return MF equipment to a GC store.
Anyway, MF is running 48 month interest free on many Sterling models. GC is 24 month right now on Sterling. But I don’t think there’s deals on the $400 models.
MF is another Synchrony card.
If you want Sterling it’s the way to go. Was playing a Ray34 yesterday, nice.
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Separate lines of credit. No one will take a Sweetwater card except Sweetwater, regardless if they’re all through the same bank. Of course, if you have a history with them Synchrony will happily open a GC or MF card for you…RIP credit score. 
For reasons I don’t understand, Sweetwater has never carried Sterling even though they do carry bass guitars for sub $400. 
However, if what OP wants is a Ray I’d say wait until an opportunity presents itself. Last thing anyone wants is to spend money on something they’re “ok” with only to have GC run a sale or a great listing pop up on Reverb for their dream bass.
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Should be sales around Thanksgiving
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I’d get the tribute jb2 lake placid blue. That cool trim comes with binding neck. Gorgeous. I don’t know why I sold that bass. Electronic is surprisingly awesome.
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This is the big corp America pressuring manufacturers for “exclusivity” in any/every way possible. We have this all the time with the Wal-Marts, Targets, 7-11s, etc.
Give us exclusive this or we won’t take that etc. it’s literally endless.
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But the thing about Sterlings is that they don’t appear to be exclusive at all. Everyone except Sweetwater seems to carry them.
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“we will carry them if you don’t sell them to our arch-enemy, Sweetwaterman” - GuitarCenterGuy
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@John_E can you expand these acronyms (MM style, JJ, PJ, P) so newbies like me can google it easily. Thank you.
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These are pickup configurations.
Music Man Style (a single large poled humbucker)
Jazz Jazz
Precision Jazz
Precision
a Precision pickup being a split coil, a Jazz is a single coil. There is also an HH, twin humbuckers usually meaning a soapbar humbucker.
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This might help:
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Thank you @Barney @Wombat-metal . Does this mean I need to buy several basses with different pickup configs? Hahaha. 
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Yeah you’re in the right place 
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Welcome to Bassbuzz 
More seriously, you should at least try them. If you can.
Honestly I would say that in the beginning, feel is much much more important than tone or pickup configuration. What you want to find is a bass that feels good to you that you will want to pick up. There are lots of ways to change the tone later that you will learn; don’t get hung up on that at all for now.
More than anything else, you want to pick an instrument that motivates you to actually play it. Feel, looks, and sound - they all go in to this, but probably in that order, frankly, at the start.
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Hell yeah. I have a P/J and a Jazz. I still need a pure P bass and a Ray of some type. Then I need different scale basses. It is a never ending journey. The proper number of basses is N+1 where N is the current number you have.
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Don’t let this intimidate you though @jpartogi - not everyone follows this path. I’ve owned several instruments and tried many, but I much prefer only owning one or two at a time. Not all of us are bass collectors, some of us prefer to pick a couple and stick to them, improving them over time maybe.
Which also brings up another gotcha - don’t stress too much over this decision. It’s highly unlikely you’re actually buying a “forever bass” right now.
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I have both but only use the TRBX504.
WHY - Good tone range, active/passive capability and alnico pickups.
The TRBX 504 eliminated any GAS I had for more Basses 
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