Since B2B, I have played and owned 3 basses, in which 2 were returned.
YAMAHA - TRBX174
IBANEZ - SR504 (returned)
SBMM - SUB RAY4 (returned)
It’s hard to know which one I like and don’t like even trying it in-store, not until I brought it home.
I’d prefer rosewood (or dark) fretboard, passive pick-ups, simple knobs control and not sound punchy like the RAY4. The TRBX174 served me well, however I do want to have another bass in the house to put it upstairs for convenient, not necessary an upgrade just the same as the TRBX174 is fine, but not TRBX174 since I do want to add variety to my GAS .
Looking around and I see these two model are closely to my preferred, which one should I pick? <= $400
Sire Marcus Miller V3P
Classic Vibe 60 Jazz Bass
Please do not advised me to go to the store to try out, I did it in the past and most of the time it’s just waste of time because I don’t know what I like until I brought it home and spent time with it for a few days, not to say the models I’m interested are not likely to be available in my local store. Thanks
I do like the simplicity of the p-bass but I also like the sound of the j-pickup from the TRBX174. I spent most time practice with the j-pickup and only using the p-pickup for when playing along with certain songs.
I’m not sure if this is just me, but the low-end from the p-pickup (volume knob all the way up) give me a little headache and make the wall rattle (rumble 40 - master/gain at 10-11 o’clock) while j-pickup make me feel comfortable.
Lastly, songs I’d to learn to play are mostly cover using the J-bass so I figure that’s probably the sound I want.
Before I owned any basses, I had the opinion that the BB series look outdated and chubby. However it’s all changed,the BB now look like a cute chubby baby to me.
Thank you, for reminding me of this series, I hardly remember it existent.
Yeah, I can afford the BB234 but not the BB434 at the moment. I have read a replied from someone in this forum saying that’s you should start from the basic and work your way up as your wealth and skill is growing then buy the higher end one.
Might as well take that advice and get good to deserve and better one
You are probably a good candidate for a G&L SB-2 Tribute series. It only has 2 volume knobs the bridge pickup knob act as a tone knob adding brightness. The MFD pickups are the same as the USA made model and it kicking it. I have the USA CLF version.
I absolutely love the MFD pickup. It’s incredible how much you can do sound wise with a single pickup. I don’t know the SB but the Kiloton has a series / parallel / single coil selector on it. Flipping it from series to parallel and turning my tube screamer off (not even touching the SVT / B15 switch on my preamp) I go from Joy Division to Portishead, just did exactly that 10 minutes ago.
I believe you could be reasonably happy with either. I’ve owned two CV60s JBasses and I own a Sire U5 shortscale bass. I’d be happy to gig with either. Just choose whichever you prefer. It’ll probably come down to that.
An alternate route would be to search out second hand basses, in your price range, in your area - FaceBook Marketplace, eBay etc. - buy them, play them, then sell them, if you don’t like them.
Over the past year, I have done this four times and currently have a fifth for sale. Providing you have a reasonable sense of what a bass might be worth, you can find bargains, and might even sell them on for more that you paid for them.
This way, you get to play lots of different instruments, work out what you like and don’t like, and keep costs within an acceptable range.
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to me.
