That being said, even though you might not be in the market for a high-end bass (right now), you still want quality in look, sound and playability. Here are 12 basses under $500 worth considering:
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I was chatting with my brother on the phone the other day and he mentioned that he was getting one of my teenage nephews a bass for Christmas. The young man is currently showing great interest and my brother and I both believe in cultivating musical abilities.
Best Bass Guitars Under $500 Of 2024
This conversation made me remember how clueless I was when getting our son started on saxophone, as it is not my own instrument of choice. It would have been great if we could have had a list of everything we would need to get him started on the right track. This article contains a list of suggestions to help you in navigating gear if your child is asking for a bass guitar.
Once you start looking, you will most likely be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of possibilities to choose from! I have tried to narrow this list down to more budget-friendly options, but still with decent quality and reliability to make the process easier.
One of the main considerations is that most children who start playing a musical instrument either change their minds as to what they want to play or quit altogether.
Best Bass Guitars: Four And Five String Options
The delicate balance is finding a combination of a cost-effective rig but also one that sounds good and encourages them to go to the next level.
Even if your youngster doesn’t pursue a career in music, it has been shown that children benefit greatly from a musical education.
Another consideration you will want to keep in mind is what kind of music they want to play and their personality. Face it, they already are seeing themselves performing and want to look cool for their friends, so it is important to take that into account as well.
Ibanez Sr300e 4 String Bass Guitar
Now, I am aware that there are “Bass Starter kits” out there but I find them to be wanting in one way or another. They do make it easier, but the goal here is to facilitate the musical growth environment and I think they could be better. Here is my list of bass gear if I were going to put together a bass starter package for my child:
TIP: 4-string basses are the most common. And as the neck is narrower, it can be easier to learn/manage for those just getting started.
TIP: Should be at least 10 feet long and keep in mind where the output is located in case you need to choose a right-angled version.
Cort Action Bass Plus
Want to know more about bass cables? Check out this article on Bass Musician: Opening a Can of Worms… 5 Bass Players Take on 15 Instrument Cables For An Unscientific Analysis
There is a LOT more to strings than meets the eye! Have a look at the following Bass Musician articles for more information on bass strings: All About Roundwound Strings | All About Flatwound Strings | Cool ‘How to’ – Changing Strings On a Sadowsky Bass | Bass Health – Things to Think About When Adding Strings
TIP: Start with at least a 10-watt practice amp. If they decide to play in public you will have to figure out how much air you want to push.
Tario Fretless 5 String Electric Bass Bolt_on Maple Neck,basswood Body
TIP: I HIGHLY suggest looking for a teacher in your local area to help your child get started with the best habits from the beginning… it can be hard to ‘un-learn’ bad habits!
I seem to enjoy finding myself in the middle of contentious topics among bassists, because here I am comparing instrument cables, which has long been a touchy subject for those with differing beliefs about the importance of instrument cables for electric bass.Do they really sound different from one another? Are expensive cables worth it? Is someone a chump for spending $X on a cable? (and other longstanding tropes). These are murky waters, and I wade carefully. Let’s first separate out the tangibles from the subtle:
Some cables come with lifetime warranties, some don’t. Some utilize unquestionably higher quality connectors and materials than others. Some just feel more rugged and durable, some have heat shrink strain-relief covers on the connectors, abrasion-resistant “tech flex” outer layers etc…
Best Choice Products 22 Fret Full Size Acoustic Electric Bass Guitar W/ 4 Band Equalizer, Adjustable Truss Rod
From there, things get a little more esoteric. “Low strand count”, “cross braided tin copper shielding”, “increased grain linearity”, “Precision foamed polyethylene dielectric”. Do you know what any of this functionally means? If so, congratulations, most of us don’t have a functional knowledge of conductivity and the physics of electrical engineering.
Now, I’m not saying all of these assertions are purely marketing hyperbole, to the contrary, they literally are explaining what may make their product different from the crowd. But, as always, I’m not a lab tech, I’m a player. I don’t have the tools (or the desire) to put cables through rigorous bench testing apparatus. it’s just not where my interests or my strengths are.
…the best thing I could think to do was to get a small group of local bassists who I trust, some astoundingly good and highly seasoned players with lots of live and studio experience, but also those who have excellent ears and impeccable tone, for some good old-fashioned double-blind testing. I thought it would be mighty interesting to hear their reactions to a handful of high-end and budget instrument cables and see what, if any, themes, and trends rise to the surface. I invited a handful of cable manufacturers to submit their products for this process and we had a blast listening and critiquing each cable against one another.
The Best Bass Guitars 2023
We tested everything from a $12.50 Rapco all the way up to a $220 Analysis Plus cable and a whole lot in between. Testing was done with an active 5-string Fodera Emperor Standard (EQ flat and tone wide open), Eich T-900 amplifier (set flat) and a Bergantino 2×10 cab with the tweeter at noon.
We first decided we should choose a “control” cable, one that we could refer back to when we couldn’t tell if our ears were deceiving us, or if the last thing we listened to was distorting our objectivity, so we came back to the control a number of times during the process. The group selected a Mogami Gold, as it was a familiar reference point for most of us. Here is the list of cables we tested:
As we cycled through these at random, I played each for a bit (the same line or two over and over) as consistently as possible, and the fellas commented on what they heard.
Which Bass To Buy?
Everyone’s perceptions are their own, and I/we are by no means the arbiters of any objective truth, I’m just doing my best to explore what I feel is a subtle but important component in a bassist’s playing experience:
Most articulate sounding – those with the most enunciated or present high end: Evidence Audio Lyric HG, Lava Ultramafic, Hosa edge, Rapco Player series
“Biggest” sounding – those with the fullest and largest sonic image: Colossal Sweet Fats, Asterope, Rattlesnake If I had to pick the Top 3 as collectively indicated by the group for sound quality? Probably these:
Best Bass Guitar For Beginners
The trick is that what is “best” is highly subjective, and we all have different definitions of what that means. For some, it’s a ratio of cost to performance, for others, it’s reliability, for some it’s what simply sounds the best to their ears. But what even is THAT? More high-end articulation? Stronger lows? Smoother midrange? It’s clear that we’re all working with a different set of preferences, and that these preferences are based on our experience, our likes and dislikes, and the applications we find ourselves in.
I hope this long-winded and admittedly anecdotal analysis proves to be of some educational value to you. I sure enjoyed the process and look forward to the next muddy puddle of provocative topics that I find myself in. Got some thoughts on this?
Drop me a line on social media, you can find me on FB @Jake Wolf and Instagram @jakebwolf, I’d love to hear from you. And huge thanks to all of the companies who participated, and sent us cables for testing:
How To Choose The Best Bass Amp
In this article, we are going to focus on the finer points of all things flatwound strings. There is a lot of mystery and misconception on the topic of flats; primarily that they’re just for vintage/old-school tones and fretless bass. In reality, there is a pretty wide range of instruments, styles, and techniques where flatwound strings can shine, depending on how they are used and towards what goal. In the last couple of years, I have personally developed a much broader understanding of all of the different ways I can use flats to achieve particular tone goals. At the moment I have a set of flats on my 33-inch scale six string, take
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