If YOU had $599 bucks to burn on a bass, what would YOU get?
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$429 - Squier Classic Vibe '60s Mustang Bass - Surf Green
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I buy all my basses used.
Probably either of these
https://www.proaudiostar.com/mtd-kingston-crb-5-amber-burst-b-stock.html?utm_source=Google_Shopping&gclid=CjwKCAjw-KipBhBtEiwAWjgwrAYZy1_YBa1iZXdbj741ZTt3_slIWsSSfXkJq8qo71TAb10o8s3fOhoCS6cQAvD_BwE
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LG4STTSB--spector-legend-4-standard-tobacco-sunburst-gloss
PRS SE Kestrel…in RED
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Used Squier CV 70s Jazz (my first bass and I’d buy it again).
And use the leftover money for pickup upgrade.
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You can get a whole lot of used bass for $600.
Yamaha TRBX604 you could even get new.
Should be no problem to find a used BB734A in that range. That’s about the same quality as a MIA Fender, so…
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It depends, what kind of music do you like and play, and more importantly, do you need change back?
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I’m with you, @Al1885. There are myriad basses in the $599 price point. Everything depends on the genre(s) the OP wants to eventually play.
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One of these…
Danelectro '59DC Long Scale Bass Guitar - Copper Burst | Sweetwater
Squier Paranormal Rascal Bass HH - Sherwood Green | Sweetwater
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Yep, 
There’s an absolutely huge range of used and new basses in that range.
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I have the @MikeC Marcus Miller coming (Sweetwater eta end of month), and after what I’ve learned about the Sire’s, it would be one of theirs that fall in that price range.
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.$600 is a sweet spot for basses, there’s a lot of choices.
Sire has some good options
Squier has some fine ones too, the Rascal is a really good bass,
It depends on what you want to do with it. What’s your genre?
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For $600 I would avoid Squier entirely and just go with used Fender. Or (for me) new MIJ Fender. Might be a bit more for you due to shipping.
Otherwise agree though. $600 is the first real sweet spot for instrument pricing, both new and used. $1k is the next.
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I didn’t have you down as a headstock snob @howard 
I was thinking up to $599. I still think the Classic Vibe range punches above its weight.
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Haha. It’s not that, it’s just in that price range, there’s no point in skipping Fender for Squier really. Nothing wrong with the Classic Vibe series, great instruments.
I’d probably have to go used at that price too though, the new ones are a bit more than that (but not much).
Save $100 more and get an Ibanez SR500.
Squier Paranormals are around $450 and punch above their weight. And right now the Pink Rascal is on sale for $360. They are from China, and that factory has as good quality as a Fender. Both the Paranormal Jazz and Rascal are really good
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If you are using it at home and do home recording then there are a lot of cheap and cheerful options. If you are gigging then looks matter more than sound/tone, you’d want to get the right range of looks for your genre. A few bass models can cross genres with no problems like a Music Man Stingray, Fender Jazz, and Precision bass. The last thing you want to do is to show up to a Country gig rocking a flying V, lol.
For home recording, I love my Squier Contemporary P or J bass. They sound great and I paid $200 for each of them. You can also get any used Squier and just slap on the EMG pickups and have yourself a great instrument ready for any recording you desire.
You can get the Squier Paranormal '54 or a '51 P bass that you can take anywhere and sound super awesome or just a couple hundred upgrade your pickups and sounds super awesome.
this is the Squier '51 with Seymour Duncan antiquity
This is the '54 Paranormal with EMG JV with Stacked Preamp upgrades.
If I want to burn $600 I’d go with something like this
https://www.proaudiostar.com/sterling-music-man-stingray-ray34-flame-maple-neptune-blue-b-stock.html
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MIJ yes, but that’s hard at $599 or less.
MIM, to me, ain’t worth the upcharge at all.
YMMV
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$599 used is really easy for the MIJ here but yeah probably not there.
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