Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: carlaz on November 27, 2006, 03:49:57 PM
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Somewhat bizarre question that isn't totally right for this forum, but I'm asking anyway since folk here usually steer me right. :)
Oddly enough, I was just accosted by one of my co-workers because she is thinking of getting her boyfriend/partner/whatever a bass for Christmas. He's already got several guitars (mostly Fenders, she thought) and does have a bass to muck around on, but its neck is a bit warped or something ....
Anyway, she had been hoping to find something decent for not more than 100 quid or so, but I expressed doubts about how easy it would be to find something reasonable in that range. And though I've scoped a number of suggestions for low budget but good value guitars recently, I've kind of ignored bass options and haven't really got a good sense of what the best deals might be. But I promised I'd check around, and here I am. :)
So, any suggestions on budget-but-decent bass guitars? This would be for a guy who isn't looking to be a bass player, but would like a reasonable bass to knock around with at home. Thoughts?
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The budget Spector range is supposed to be good but I think they're a fair bit more than £100.
http://www.spectorbass.com/NewFiles/performanceseries.html
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the variation in squiers is pretty wide, i borrowed a really nice one for a gig once, but similarly there are some truly disgusting ones at my school. since, as far as i can tell, this girl doesn't play, she probably won't be able to try them out anyway, so this isn't really the most helpful post... sorry!
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Yeah, I'm not sure she really plays, but I don't think she's utterly ignorant -- she's sensitive to the problems of the warped neck on the current bass and said she was reluctant to just order something sight-unseen since she liked being able to see and touch the thing to get a sense if it feels decently made (and it's easier to bring something back if you've got it from a real person in a real shop and have a real receipt! ;)). Cambridge isn't kitted out with large enough shops that there's a decent low-end/budget selection of anything, so she said she might try down in London if the quest seemed worth pursuing.
I'm just trying to get an idea of what marks and price range she might be looking at so she can decide whether she wants to spend that much or look for another present. ;)
Like, those Vintage guitars someone in the forum mentioned a while back seemed pretty OK and they could be had for less than 200 quid (if not less than 100). Do they make basses? I dunno! Maybe I should check .... :)
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http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintagebass.html
doesn't look like you'll find one for much less than £200 - but to be honest she's gotta ask herself if it's worth it spending less than that on a guitar?
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Yeah, I advised her that I thought you could get something decent for less than 300 or 400, but less than 100 was likely to be good only for kindling (and maybe not even very good kindling ;)). Still, I thought I'd ask about partially to be a good neighbour and partially because, you never know, one might want to buy a cheap bass someday .... :)
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There are some really nice "no name" Fender copies (both P and J copies) knocking around at the moment, that are around the £150 - £200 mark. A friend of mine bought one from eBay, and not only does it look cool (maple or rosewood board with block inlays), but they sound pretty good as well on the stock pickups.
Needless to say that they'd sound so much better with a set of BKP bass pickups in of course! ;)
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Some of the OLP range are pretty good (the Levin model seems to be the best option but it's a 5 string)
Daisy Rock basses are fu**in nice (not the flower shaped ones), and can usually be found with a good discount.
Peavey and Yamaha do some decent lowend (pardon the pun) options too.
Rob...
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Thanks for the suggestions, folks. I passed them along and heard that the lady's got her SO's sister and brother chipping in, which gets them up to the level where they can buy something decent. :)
I lean towards Vintage, but that might be 'cause I read such complementary reviews of some of their guitars. ;) I'll leave them to it ....
But, speaking of Vintage, does anyone know the URL for an actual, official Vintage web site? Searching for "vintage guitars" isn't so much help -- they might have chose a less generic name! ;)
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I think this is the nearest thing to an official Vintage site:
http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintageelectric.html
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I think this is the nearest thing to an official Vintage site:
http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintageelectric.html
Wish they did EB-3 or T-bird type knock-offs on the bass side of the range! I'm married to my Rickenbacker :) but those are my other two favorite bass styles.
But ah, those guitars! Not bad for the price, no? I must hastily turn my face away from the TC200s and VRS100s lest I fall into temptation! ;)
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I just picked up a slightly battered Ibanez SDGR (not sure if its a 390 or 600, there is some very conflicting information) for a fiver.
Its got a broken tuning peg and only two strings tut that'll cost me just over a tenner to fix. It's really comfy to play and has quite a good acoustic tone even though the pups are really bland.
I also saw some EMG PJ sets going for 50quid, discounted as the boxes were damaged.
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Dean do a bass called the "playmate" of all names - I bought one for £100.