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?