Bass hunting with decent enough budget

Necronomicon

Could use a bit of advice here guys!
Basically, I've been playing bass for over 2 years, and while I'm confident in my playing ability, I never got too much into the hardware side of things, never became an expert on amps, pedals, or even guitar specifics (such as the differences between precision and jazz etc).
I'm happy with my own bass, but I think I'm comfortable in spending big on something. Not straight away, probably in the next year or so, but I thought I should start looking now.
But there are a few things I'm not so sure about, like the precision vs jazz debate or 4 vs 5 string. I know it all depends on playing style, but I like a bit of everything. Rock/metal is my favourite type of music, but I've been looking at a couple of jazz books and trying to get into a few artists to expand my playing a bit.
As for budget, I'm not too sure at the moment but I think i'd be willing to spend a grand or so...which is why I want to make extra sure I make the right decision!

Anyway, thanks in advance for any tips.

Doctor J

Just try as many different basses as you can. I've been playing almost 20 years now and recently came to the conclusion that me and Jazz basses just get along. I find them very versatile and there isn't a style of music I can think of where you couldn't do it well with a Jazz. Just a great design. If you stick to Fender-esque designs there are plenty of after market products (pickups, electronics, etc) that are easily installed and can change the tone of your instrument drastically if required.

First though, find the bass that suits your playing style, that you find most comfortable playing.

Necronomicon

Thanks for the reply! I guess shopping around isn't something you can just do online or by reading about the guitar. Must start visiting some shops.

If anyone has a specific suggestion I'd be happy to have a look.

Edit:

Don1 wrote:

You can buy my bass.
'78 Fender Percision with hard case!

Have to have it valued still though.

Thanks, but as I said, I'm a while off the actual buying part yet

jimi_t

As goes the whole 4/5 string debate, if you're playing a lot of metal and rock then chances are you'll want to get a 5 string after a while - however, IMO you're as well off buying a crappy 5 stringer (or getting a loan of one) just to get the feel for the instrument as an instrument first. It would be awful if you spent all your money on a 5 stringer, and then decided that you prefer 4 stringers!

There's a few cracking basses on sale in the adverts forums at the moment, well worth a look. Other worthwhile sources of GAS are chrisguitars.com and ishibashi - many boardsies have bought off them with nothing but praise.

Patricide

Id try out a music man sub if i were you, lovely basses for the price and are good for everything imo, esp for metal. Warwicks are good too if youve got around a grand however there necks are huge and arent for everyone. Also the higher end yamahas for around the 1000euro mark are the sex so id try out me one of those too.

Doctor J

If you're prepared to buy from abroad have a look at Ishibashi's ubox and do a search for Bacchus. Great, hand made bass sold only in Japan, you can get second hand ones well within your budget and I can personally vouch for the quality of them. They're Fender based designs so if you like the feel of a Fender Jazz you won't go wrong. In my opinion it's the best deal (money/quality) out there.

punchdrunk

i love the new stingray HH!

Patricide

Doctor J wrote:

If you're prepared to buy from abroad have a look at Ishibashi's ubox and do a search for Bacchus. Great, hand made bass sold only in Japan, you can get second hand ones well within your budget and I can personally vouch for the quality of them. They're Fender based designs so if you like the feel of a Fender Jazz you won't go wrong. In my opinion it's the best deal (money/quality) out there.

actually yeah id listen to j there, bachutts(SP?) are meant to be the bees knees so to speak.

Necronomicon

Thanks again fellas, gonna check out that link.

As an aside, my current bass is a Maverick. (Well, I have an old ephiphone as well)
I got it in a great deal. Jeffer's music in the city were moving and they had a great half price sale on. I found a bass (for the life of me I can't remember what) that was reduced from 300 to 150. I originally only went in for a glance, but when I saw it I knew I wanted it. So I asked them could they put it aside for 5 minutes while I withdrew money from the atm machine, which is not even a five minute walk away.
They declined, said that they weren't holding anything for anyone for any amount of time. So I went pretty speedily down to the atm, got my money, came back up, and the bass was behind the counter. I found out that another member of staff was after putting it away for someone else. Pretty annoyed, I got the manager. There were no other basses there for that price range, but he offered me the Maverick, which was 800, for 300. Pretty cool of him. It stretched my money a bit, but I couldn't turn it down!

Doctor J

Take your time and do your research and you should come away with a serious pro quality bass for your budget. If I were you, I would take the second hand route, you'll be pulling instruments from the €1-2000 branches. However, should you decide to go for a new bass you'll still get something sweet for that money. Don't be scared to investigate brands outside of the most popular two or three too, the likes of Yamaha and Ibanez offer great new basses at that price range. I think your biggest decision is 4 or 5 strings. Concentrate on figuraing out that first and then look at makes and models.

To see what I mean by Bacchus, check this thread.

Necronomicon

It's hard to understand anything on that website, but the pictures sure are pretty
The Bacchus looks very nice alright!

Rigsby

One of the most versatile bass guitars sound wise are the G and L 's ( made by Fender ). I have one myself and in my opinion they are excellent. Check out their website : www.gandlguitars.com ( if this is wrong Google it ). They even have a forum for G and L owners. I'm sure you wont be disapointed.

feylya

http://www.glguitars.com/

No need to drag up old threads Rigsby.

Rigsby

feylya wrote:

http://www.glguitars.com/

No need to drag up old threads Rigsby.

I Dont know anything about old threads as I only joined yesterday !! Just giving the man some good advice .:)

Rustar

Schecter Stiletto FTW!

Royale with Cheese

Going for a new bass soon. Looking to spend €1000 on fame baphomet from musicstore in Germany.

First bass I had was a tanglewood. Moved onto a Warwick Rockbass, now I'm moving onto Fame which is just a Warwick copy basically. 4 Strings all the way. Have played a good few other basses and I'm not sure if I'm just used to Warwick type basses or if they really better than others... but nothing else fits. Recently had to play a Fender p-bass at a gig. It was god awful.

Going back to Cologne in February to pick out my baby, the model I'm interested in they don't sell online for some reason.

Patricide

http://www.musicstorekoeln.de/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/MusicStore-MusicStoreShop-Site/de_DE/-/EUR/ViewFFSearch-Start;pgid=TOZgS8fSZObR0000000000000000JZfTcdpi?Sprache=de_DE&Land=DE

The dont sell online Eh?

Doctor J

http://cgi.ebay.de/Fame-Baphomet-4_W0QQitemZ120054980449QQihZ002QQcategoryZ87492QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.de/Fame-Baphomet-IV-4-aus-der-ersten-Modellreihe_W0QQitemZ230053793513QQihZ013QQcategoryZ87490QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Royale with Cheese

Patricide wrote:

http://www.musicstorekoeln.de/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/MusicStore-MusicStoreShop-Site/de_DE/-/EUR/ViewFFSearch-Start;pgid=TOZgS8fSZObR0000000000000000JZfTcdpi?Sprache=de_DE&Land=DE

The dont sell online Eh?

Sorry the exact version I'm looking for is only instore. It has a gloss finish instead of the natural one. It costs about €200 more and plays much nicer than the one I think you're trying to link to.

Also the dot inlays in the frets light up blue when you flick a switch. Wooooooo