When I switched to bass from guitar due to a serious hand injury I bought a Squire P from GC. It wasn’t what I needed. Sent it back and tried a Gretsch short scale on sale for 219. Put flats on it and paid for a good set up. Fun for a while to start. Then decided I wanted something a bit more upscale and bought a short Schecter Banshee. Super nice after flats and set up. More like a mid. Figure after I get comfortable enough with this instrument I might (might) splurge on a standard fret bass. But the schecter might be enough. Point being, my $800 short scale is a fine instrument to start (maybe forever) but maybe a full size bass will be in my future if I get good enough and comfortable. So, do whatever works for you to start.
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The first release of the Schecter Banshee was 8-10 years ago. Three finishes, all with a racing stripe. Not for me, so I waited. I jumped on second release and bought a Carbon Grey one. The second release was initially priced like the first one, at $699. I was lucky to get one at that price before it was raised to $799, where it remains. I put flats on mine, too, a set of La Bella DTF’s for the MIA Fender Mustang that had through-body mounting only. They’re slightly thinner gauge, but play beautifully. If anyone is looking for a high-quality short scale P bass, the Banshee is really hard to beat. You can spend more money, but the gains would be incremental.
If you really want to spend more money, track down a medium scale (32"-35") Dingwall SP1 at around $2500. My black SP1-4 arrived in June. My white SP1-5 is due any day now. Payson Bass makes a 4- and 5-set of flats for this bass, plus an individual “C” string to make a 6-string set.
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Oooooh, noooooo! The bass I want (Sire U5) is back in stock at Sweetwater, but I told myself I couldn’t buy one until I finished B2B! I’m only on Module 12.
Who knows how long it will be until they come into stock again? Aaaaaaagh!
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I won’t say that you should definitely buy one right now, but I will say that that neck on the U5 is silky smooth to play.
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I’ve had a fretted U5 since it was released. I finally broke down last year and got a fretless U5 to go with it. It even shipped with flatwounds, and was only 25 € more than the fretted one. You’d be hard pressed to find a better bass at that price, or to find another PJ bass with a silent J pup on a bass costing hundreds more.
Am I promoting a GAS attack?
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Yes! I’m doing B2B on a 25 inch scale acoustic, and I’m drooling over a U5!
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You are almost in the end of the course, and you know you will want to buy the Sire anyway. So go ahead, and buy it. 
So you don’t miss the chance. And if you only have an acoustic bass, you will probably be happier getting the Sire.
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Done!
Sweetwater really knows how to get under your skin, having pictures of each instrument online so you can choose the exact one you want. Mine should arrive next week!
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Huge congrats, @Ardea. I bought my Sire U5 years ago (my first of three Sire models), and used it to work through B2B. It is a stunning shorty, a real hotrod bass with the ergos of a guitar. Fantastic neck, materials and workmanship. Have tons of fun with yours!
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excellent, join us in the short love thread for a review of it when you get it!
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Another soon to be U5 owner. Congrats! As @itsratso said, post your initial playing reactions and pics in the Short Love thread. Must have pics!!!
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I will! I’m excited to see how different it is to playing my tiny acoustic. And I’m looking forward to going back to the lessons I had to fumble because my acoustic doesn’t have access to higher frets.
Trying to sort amps right now. I’m leaning toward a Fender Rumble 40 and a set of Sony MDR 7506 headphones. I’ll also need to get cords to run my iPad into the Rumble, and luckily Sweetwater has several options and adapters.
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The Rumble 40 is an excellent choice. I used one for several years, but had to sell it and my Rumble 200 when I moved from the U.S. to France because they didn’t support multiple voltages. Once I arrived here, I bought a Studio 40 for practice. The only thing really missing from the Rumbles is an AUX volume control. You’ll have to set the volume level of your backing track or drum app (which I prefer to a straight metronome) from your iPad. The Sony headphones look good. You’ll be all set!
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Thank you! It’s good to hear that my potential set up will work. I’m depending on things I’m reading in the forum, because I have never played an instrument with amplification and really don’t know anything about it. You all are a great source of information.
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I feel your pain! I bought my first ever bass, a Sire P bass, sight unseen, on the recommendation of a friend. It’s a beautiful instrument. Well made with features usually only found on much pricier models. A week later, My left shoulder was hurting so bad, I had to go to the ortho Dr. My fingers couldn’t span 3 frets on the low end of the neck. I started to return it, but really didn’t want to pay the return shipping and reimburse the ‘free’ shipping, so I kept it. Fast forward past a couple of cheap short scales, I got a Gretsch telematic(also inexpensive but way nicer than the Ibanez Micro and other one). I have mostly completed B2B on the Gretsch and have occasionally tried playing the Sire P. Sometimes the results were OK, unless there was significant fretting movement. I decided to upgrade and got a Sire U5 short scale, after watching multiple reviews. It’s a beautiful instrument and I love it! After a few weeks with it, I was moving the P bass back to it’s case. As I picked it up, I thought ‘Wow, this doesn’t feel all that heavy anymore. Maybe I’ll try it out again.’ Well, I tried it out and it felt way better than before, although I haven’t really done any complex fretting with it yet. I’d recommend getting a short scale. It will help you get more comfortable with fretting. I still have to micro shift some to span 4 frets on the SS, but it has instilled a little more confidence. I believe that it’s helping pave the way to eventually feeling more comfortable on the full scale P bass
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Cool. Happy for you. You may want to consider what I did after owning a U5 for a couple of years. Get a fretless U5! It was only 25 € more expensive, and it came with flatwounds already installed on it, which saved me about 50 €. Nice.
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My U5 should arrive in the next day or two. I am champing at the bit! Giddy with anticipation! Raring to go!
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Check out the fingers on the telecaster master Redd Volkaert. They are huge.
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