decent cheap bass and amp-reccomendations?

[matteo]

my friend is looking to take up th bass  :?and to be honest i know next to nothing about them! can anyone reccomend a decent bass and amp? he doesnt mind if its second hand on ebay or something. obviously he doesnt want it to cos the earth but wants a half decent one! his limit is £200 but im thinking its going to have to be second hand in that price range?

any ideas??

[Twinfan]

Cheap Yamaha bass and a Peavey amp should do the trick?

[headtheball]

I got one of those wee OLP Stingray copies for my last birthday, and it's a likeable enough wee thing. I can't speak for all of them, but any Low-end Squiers (Affinity or whatever they're called) were completely woeful, so proceed with caution along that route...

[Adam.M]

£200 for a bass AND a bass amp?

That's not going to happen... but i'd tell him to get some sort of headphone thing instead of an amp for home or practice use. Cheap bass amps are rubbish, utter crud.

The OLP MM-2 or OLP MM-3 are the cheapest i would ever suggest.

The Squier Vintage Modern Jazz bass is very good, but still, it says squier on the headstock... i had one and loved it but the name just bugged me.

The cheap Ibanez's are often a good buy, but i don't like the look of them.

If i had tried one, my actual suggestion would be one of these.

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/76233

The big huge bridges give a better, bigger tone and from what I've read and seen actually do work! and look awesome too.

It also has active pickups, something I'd always suggest in a bass unless you want older tones.

these guys do bootzilla's basses and i have a OLP Traben MetalArt guitar at the moment which absolutely kicks ass.

I'm buying one of these basses at some point for my own recording needs and just incase i get back into it again.

[Ratrod]

The Squier Classic Vibe Jazz Bass is really good.

Can't help you much with bass amps but anything below 50 Watts is useless in band practice and live performance.

[headtheball]

When I were a lad, we amplified our Basses for practicing by pressing the headstock against a Wardrobe or similar. These youngsters with their electricity. don't know they're born.

[Adam.M]

When I were a lad, we amplified our Basses for practicing by pressing the headstock against a Wardrobe or similar. These youngsters with their electricity. don't know they're born.

I used to do this!!! :D

[PhilKing]

I used to have a Bass Centre Bass Collection Jazz Bass that I picked up on Ebay for about £100.  It was a nice bass and woudl be good for a starter - I think new they are around £200.

[Adam.M]

The old Bass Collection basses are good, depending on which chapter of the Bass Collection history their from, i don't remember specifics, but i recall reading the history of them and they seem to have been made just about everywhere, some highly sought after.

New ones are £299 on GAK i believe.

[matteo]

thanks for the advice! :D

im making a list of whats reccomended (and whats not!) it does seem to be the amp that takes a large chunk of the budget! well have to see what he likes the look of and if he can stretch that budget a bit further methinks? just out of interest do bk make bass pickups? surely theres a gap in their stock??

oh and that array looks sweet!

thanks!

[PhilKing]

BK do make bass pickups, I have a Precision and will soon have a jazz bass with them.

[Nadz1lla]

For a first Bass you really cannot go wrong with this: http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbb400tbk_ebass.htm

I have the 6 string version. Bear in mind, these are active pickups. At that price he'd be silly not to get one. I've not heard much about their Bass Amps, but they are pretty cheap too. If the quality of this Bass is anything to go by then their Amps will at least do for now until he decides he really likes playing Bass and wants to invest in better gear.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hb20b_bass_combo.htm

I also have a friend with a 6 string version and it's his backup bass for gigging. It lasts and lasts. The one thing I will recommend if he goes for one of these is buy a decent set of strings to come with it. The strings that are already on it are a bit naff.

[Adam.M]

For a first Bass you really cannot go wrong with this: http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbb400tbk_ebass.htm

I have the 6 string version. Bear in mind, these are active pickups. At that price he'd be silly not to get one. I've not heard much about their Bass Amps, but they are pretty cheap too. If the quality of this Bass is anything to go by then their Amps will at least do for now until he decides he really likes playing Bass and wants to invest in better gear.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hb20b_bass_combo.htm

I also have a friend with a 6 string version and it's his backup bass for gigging. It lasts and lasts. The one thing I will recommend if he goes for one of these is buy a decent set of strings to come with it. The strings that are already on it are a bit naff.

Wow, these look suspiciously like re-branded tanglewoods, and if they are, at that price, you definitely can't go wrong! i'm seriously tempted by that 6 string...

I have to agree with strings here, strings make such a MASSIVE difference on bass, much much more so than with guitar, you also have different types like roundwound and flatwound, there are others but i think there even more speciality. generally you go with roundwounds though. bass strings are costly and the last good set i bought were 30 quid but they last a long while.

You have any problems with fret buzz on yours Nad? For 122 quid, i'm super tempted.

[Adam.M]

Hey take a look at this!

http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_bass_einsteigerset_b16.htm

can't be that bad...

[Nadz1lla]

Ah yes! There you go, forgot they did packages too.

I have been told by someone way more "in the know" than me that these Basses are basically rebranded Shine basses. Kinda like a Squire by Fender deal. But, if you know your Tanglewoods and think it might be one of those rebranded it is entirely possible. These probably come out of the same mass producing factory as some other brands.

Also, I am a Guitar player and bought the Bass purely to record bass on to my own tracks at home. Even though I bought the 6 string I find it exceedingly easy to play, the transition was surprisingly effortless! I bought a set of Ernie Ball strings I think and it sounds amazing! For the price I believe anyone would be a fool not to grab one, hehe. They are also work horses, so hard wearing. Mine has fallen over more times than I can count and it still stays perfectly in tune. Absolutely no fret buzz at all.

[Edit] For information, the bass that comes in the package is not the active pickups version. The package bass is the hbb200bk, the active version is the hbb400tbk. For the money, I'd probably sacrifice the package price and go for the Active version, just because proportionally there is more "oomf" for the money.