Which cheapo basses should I review?

That’s your love for P-basses talking :slight_smile:

But yeah for Fender that does look like the sweet spot.

For Ibanez, Yamaha and other Japanese brands I would say the sweet spot is probably a bit lower, the $600-$1200 range. The difference between my $600 TRBX and a $1500 SR is pretty small, kind of incremental improvements really, much less than the difference between a $200 bass and my bass. And it’s difficult to find a better bass (if any even exist) than an $800 BB734 for even double the money or more. The BBP series is incrementally better at best, and the 734 can stand up with the MIA fenders without problem. It’s just a great bass that is probably way underpriced.

You could easily tour or record with a midrange SR, TRBX, or BB more or less for your entire career. Some of my favorite artists do, in fact.

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I wouldn’t mind some mid range reviews. I just picked up a mid-range bass, and did a lot of research first. There’s a ton of low and and high end reviews, not much in the middle.

I agree with @howard that there are some good values there.
My SRMS805 was around $800 and that’s a lot of bass for the money. I would stand it against an MIA no problem.

I do think you have the low ends covered pretty much in the thread already to answer the question. I did find this one

Also you could review some of beginner kits that include amps. Quite a few of them under $150

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my love for P-basses and for Telecasters :grin:

I agree

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Didn’t SBL do a comparison between a 5K bass and an $90 ammoon. I thought the ammoon held its own at less than $100… ammoon Solid Wood 4 String JB Electric Bass Guitar Basswood Body Rosewood Fretboard 21 Frets with 6.35mm Cable

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I realize this is outside the thread but I’d like to see someone go hitting up pawn shops with $100 and see what is the best bass they could walk out with…but thats just me I have 2 awesome basses that I bought for less than $100, second hand stores are incredible.

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How about a Glary P-bass? Just $89!

If I knew then what I know now when I started out, I would have considered one.

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I have to wonder this myself. I just watched a review that matched up
Ibanez GSR200
Glarry P bass
Squire Affinity P-bass p/j
Cort ???
Harley Benton P bass p/j

suprisingly, everyone but the Glarry got 5 out of5 or 4 out of 4 on most catagoryies
except
the Glarry got the lowest scores for
Action
intonation
Frets
Neck

The way they were scored, all of these things would be able to become perfect with a proper set up and filing down the frets.

The reviewer played them as is out of the box, with no set up, just so if people watching don’t know too much about set up and where to get one, etc… that his score would reflect the bass as is for a beginner pulling it out of the box.

This is exactly what you are talking about.
I thought the Glarry sounded the best, as did the reviewer, just the tone of it alone was better IMO then the others he played.

But, If I knew nothing and bought that bass, and stated trying to play it with high action, and the tune all over the place, and the frets poking into my hand, I don’t think I would keep up with playing the bass, and it would either
A - sit in the corner
B - be in the trash
C - be given to an enemy
D - try to sell it but tell the buyer it is a POS

so, yes, the super super cheap basses I could see turning somebody off to playing bass.

On the contrary, if they have any mechanical aptitute and don’t mind a little DIY, they can find all the information on YT to learn how to fix that , and then the bass is not a bad buy, and will be ok to learn on, and sound pretty good actually.
Not even mentioning the Pimping out that could be done, and electrical upgrades to make it sound even better. And it is not as scarry for somebody new at this, to drill and cut into a bass that cost less then $100 (or a little over it). then say a $350 squire or an $200 Ibanez even.

That bass and this other one are the same thing, the other one just has a different name, but it is still under $100, so it could be reviewed as the Go Plus, or probably the IVY or Ammoon or Polar Aurora, etc…

Yeah, that one, the same bass as the Go Plus Pam bought, so either of those Amazon basses would work @JoshFossgreen

I wonder, will you be setting them up before you review them to give them a review of what they can potentially be? or just reviewing them out of the box, and talking about the minor to major issues that would need a set up or even a luthier to adjust or fix?

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Sure, this goes both ways. But, judging for myself, I wouldn’t have (had) that aptitude and thus maybe quit frustrated had I started on a supercheap bass.

About the “pimping”/upgrading: I had discussed this with someone and the gist of it was, that - unless you are trying to learn from actually doing those upgrades yourself - you are probably better off buying the next tier bass than spending, say, 500 dollars on new PUs, a new bridge, new tuners and so on. Not even talking about when you start to put on a new neck and so on…

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Yeah. This is the kind of thing you do to have fun, not save money. Unless you place zero value on your time. And even then you probably won’t save much if anything; it’s easy to see ending up spending more, and ending up with a frankenbass with great pickups, bridge and tuners attatched to a disposable worthless body and neck.

On the other hand, it could be a lot of fun.

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I think you should build yourself a Ubass @JoshFossgreen!

It’s not as hard as you might think, the kit makes it very easy, and I know a guy that could probably walk you through it if you run into trouble. :slight_smile:

Or I’d be happy to send you mine if you’re not in the DIY mood. MGB is a great company (but small) and I’m sure they’d love to get a professional review.

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@JoshFossgreen I know it’s not what you asked for, but there’s a whole lot of entry level bass recommendations out there (including the excellent one you’ve already done), and also a bunch of “Is this $90 Amazon bass any good” type videos, while far far fewer videos for recommending a second bass when people are ready to step up.

Now of course there are a vast sea of choices there but I do think that is a video that would get a lot of hits. There’s some pretty easy standout recommendations there too - the midrange Yamahas and Ibanez, the MIJ Fenders, Cort’s mid-priced basses, ESP’s LTD line, Warwick Rockbasses, Sterling, etc.

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I would second that!

You could probably add some of the Sire basses here as well!

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What about some of the Jackson JS basses (JS2, 3)?

Me too :+1:

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I will 4th it @JoshFossgreen
There is also many videos reviews of all the main basses as well.
maybe some of the lesser thought of basses that still are good quality and value.
Some Dean basses, Washburn basses, I like the mention of LTD and RockBass by Warwick.

There are alot of basses that not many people, or all people have access to try because they can be a bit obscure to some locations, but are still pretty solid contenders in the bass world. Yes, Jackson, not often considered in the head to head reviews either.

I would say try to stick to basses under $1000 for second bass, but not really under $400, Maybe even $500

And while doing the cheapo bass review, you can still do the 2nd bass review afterwards, in case scrapping the Cheapo bass idea is not desireable or even an option at this point.

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That’s how I got my TRBX170 for less than $50.

Heck if he wants, I could send Josh my bass, as an outlier comparison that you can find decent basses for cheap secondhand if you’re patient. :slight_smile:

Agreed above with requesting midrange bass reviews.

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Try Rogue. I have one that used to be my oldest son’s. He is no longer with us,
so I got it out of the closet and played it. The bass has a rattle in it. It is 20 years old and it was cheep.

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Welcome on board, @vernonhenderson

@Sp33dSnakr, let’s send Josh all our cheapo basses to review. Just give him a bit of warning, so that he can rent a warehouse or three :smiley:

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Try to take a look at:

Squier Bronco Bass - cheap and seems to get lots of good reviews.

Sawtooth Bass - have only seen a couple of reviews for this one.

Monoprice / Indio Pubb Bass - reviews seem to be really mixed.

Yamaha TRBX174:

Ammoon P Bass:
https://www.amazon.ca/Electric-Basswood-Rosewood-Fingerboard-Pickups/dp/B08L6MSWD1/ref=sr_1_29?dchild=1&keywords=ammoon+p+bass&qid=1613423219&sr=8-29

Some of these might be a bit over the price range but these are all quoted in Canadian dollars. USD should be quite a bit cheaper.

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