Q&A: Best Bass Guitars for Intermediate players?
Question by Kanye North: Best Bass Guitars for Intermediate players?
What is the best brand/type of bass guitar for intermediate players. How many strings should be on the bass, wat brand is good, and what type of amp is good.
Best answer:
Answer by baxterville
Ibanez makes fantastic basses. Even their low-end ones sound really punchy and are built like rocks. I’m also partial to Fender jazz basses, which give you more sound options than Fender Precision basses, since you have separate pickups. Both Ibanez and the Fender jazz basses have thin necks, too, which makes it easier to move quickly between notes.
For most music styles, four strings are fine. The only players I know who like five- or six-string basses are jazzers who do a lot of noodling around on instrumentals. I’ve always played rock and have never needed a fifth string.
As far as amps go, my philosophy has always been the simpler the better. There are a lot of models out now that have digital displays and more knobs and switches than I can figure out. The more bells and whistles an amp has, the more there is to go wrong. For years I played with a really basic Fender bass head and a 2×15 cabinet, but that wasn’t all that practical because it weighed a ton and was nearly impossible to lug up and down stairs. I’d recommend a combo amp with a 15″ speaker. When you decide on a bass, plug it into a bunch of different amps at a store and see which one has a sound you like. Behringers, to me anyway, sound a little wimpy. I spent months looking for a bass amp before coming across a no-frills Peavey Basic 40 in a pawn shop. I’ve never been crazy about Peavey guitar amps, but the bass amps are really rugged and utilitarian. But the best thing to do is play the bass you choose through different amps, since each brand tends to have its own sound.
If you want to do some research from home, read some of the reviews on musiciansfriend.com. Those have been a huge help to me in narrowing down my choices before actually going into a store. Good luck!
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Reader Comments
it really just depends on the amount of money you want to spend. in the 800-1500 dollar range you can pick up a very nice Warwick Corvette almost brand new. Warwick no longer has distributors in the US so Warwick prices are very low right now. These basses will give you SOOO much tone variance its insane. If you want to go a little cheaper I’m partial to Ibanez. I’ve had 3 of their basses and enjoyed them all. I would definitely get a 5 string. Costs just a bit more but you never know when you’ll want that string. In rock music you definitely need it. BADG tuning sucks.