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Original message:387 days 18 hours 15 minutes ago

+ 1

Member: Zoo Lake

50
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Hi everyone,
So I've been playing guitar for ages and ages now but recently I decided it would be nice to pick myself up a bass, in part for at home recording and in part for just messing around on. Anyhow, as it turns out I know little to nothing about basses and was wondering if anyone could help point out a cheap reasonable sounding bass. If it helps I like Chris Wolstenholme from Muse's sound (basically the ability to get distorted but keep the low end) and I also like Flea's sound (i know, they aren't really the same). If there is anything else that would be helpful let me know, thanks in advance!

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Reply:387 days 9 hours 2 minutes ago
Member: DanPeck

+ 2

94
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What exactly is your impression of cheap? Pretty much if you get a $150-250 dollar bass it doesn't make a huge deal what you get, mostly those basses are carbon copies with different brand names. But over three hundred I'd recommend an ibanez soundgear or some form of P-bass. Muse's bass player has a couple different axes but his tone comes from him not just distorting his bass but having the clean tone underneath it. I've copied it by attaching a mixer to my amp so i had independent control over the distorted tone and the clean tone (more wires than i ever want to see again) and it turned out very kick-ass indeed..

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Reply:386 days 17 hours 48 minutes ago
Member: ibzRG

1437
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What he said. My bass is a $370 Ibanez SR. Pretty solid in construction and tone. Check em out.

A few general tips:
Have them plug the bass in an amp. If it makes noises when played (other than the notes), then the wires and connections are bad. Skip that bass.
With the bass plugged in an amp, tweak the controls from one end to the other and in various combinations, to check the range of available tones you can pull out of it.
If for any reason it feels like falling apart, it is not supposed to feel like that.
A bass is supposed to vibrate widely when you hit the low register. If you can't feel it vibrating much, it is a very bad piece...

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Reply:386 days 4 hours 57 minutes ago
Member: Zoo Lake

50
WebCred

thanks for the help guys, and just to answer your question, my impression of cheap isn't so much a certain price as it is paying the least amount possible for a bass that isn't a piece of garbage. Ill try the ibanez out for sure, any others I should look out for?

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Reply:312 days 15 hours 40 minutes ago
Member: Westwood

1
WebCred

Well, there's always the idea of not depending so much on a specific brand name but just look around pawn shops and such and if they carry one you like then I say invest, they're generally a few hundred cheaper, my dad found his Fender in a pawn shop for 80$.

That is assuming you have pawn shops around, if not, if you can (I doubt it though) find a cheap Yamaha I personally like those as well. For the record, to me it's Fleas style that makes him amazing- I doubt his bass has much to do with it.

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