What bass choose ?

[toxik967]

Hi all,

I have been playing the guitar for almost 4 years. Now i'd like to buy a bass, specially for recording. I'm looking for a 60-70's bass sound, like mccartney bass sound or even scott walker bass sound (like the record : "the old man is back again").
I'm on a tight budget, around the 200-300$. second hand basses or new basses, i don't care.

Thanks you !

[Fletcher]

There are some Squire P-basses that are really quite good... you'll need to take it to a tech and get it set up great [which will cost ya] but if you look hard enough some of the Squire's are surprisingly good.

Also - you might want to check out a set of flat wound strings... you'd be surprised at how many great bass sounds can be attributed to flat wounds [which is absolutely a sound you can not get with round wounds!!].

Best of luck with your search.

Peace

[vernier]

What he said.
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[Snatchman]

Originally Posted by Fletcher

There are some Squire P-basses that are really quite good... you'll need to take it to a tech and get it set up great [which will cost ya] but if you look hard enough some of the Squire's are surprisingly good.

Also - you might want to check out a set of flat wound strings... you'd be surprised at how many great bass sounds can be attributed to flat wounds [which is absolutely a sound you can not get with round wounds!!].

Best of luck with your search.

Peace

+2 on the Squire Basses....I was pleasently surprized recently when I went to a local pawn shop looking for "stuff" and was drawn to this old looking Squire P-Bass..Plugged it in and was really stoked at how well this bass sounded/played..!..I liked it so much ( this one was actually already sold.....), I think I'm gonna find one and do as Fletcher adviced about having it set up by a Tech..Go figure on cheapness..

[toxik967]

Well first thanks you for those answers. I'd like to know what's your opinion about the Hofner Ignition bass. Dunno what is worth.

Cheers !

[glenn Taylor]

I have never owned that bass, but used a Hofner in the 1970's for awhile. It was ok. It would feddback if I would take my hands off the strings in live gigs.
Had 2 Hofner copies that where fine. Paul played with a pick many times through a amp. There are a few basses that will get that sound. GT.

[sonic dogg]

Originally Posted by Fletcher

There are some Squire P-basses that are really quite good... you'll need to take it to a tech and get it set up great [which will cost ya] but if you look hard enough some of the Squire's are surprisingly good.

Also - you might want to check out a set of flat wound strings... you'd be surprised at how many great bass sounds can be attributed to flat wounds [which is absolutely a sound you can not get with round wounds!!].

Best of luck with your search.

Peace

This.....

Everyone hears this type of advice all the time from those that know and then asks about something else.

You can get a decent bass sound out of a multitude of cheap basses, if you're lucky. And are a good bassist, Those wanting a Sir Paul sound and think its the Hofner will always be completely disappointed.

Why not spend a couple hundred on the Squier and another hundred on the complete pro set-up and have a plug and play rig that NEVER sounds bad or wrong?

This is dead center in the K.I.S.S. theory of gear purchasing.

[Silent Sound]

Squire does make some usable basses... sometimes. Many companies do. The biggest problem with these super cheap instruments is usually quality control.

Sometimes they'll have tuners that won't hold their tune, or pickups that always sound muddy, yet still lack bass. These things can be replaced fairly cheaply. Other times, they'll have very adequate tuners and pickups. Hardware can very from brand to brand or model to model. But at this price-point, it's the quality of the instruments that will vary wildly from one to the other, no matter who's name is on the headstock.

So that being said, it's best to take someone who knows a lot about these instruments with you to the store. You have to pick them up and play them a bit to see what you're getting into. I played a friends Squire P-bass once that sounded pretty good... but the action was terrible, the neck was warped all kinds of different ways, everything buzzed, and the pots were scratchy. Still, it had a couple of notes on that thing that sounded pretty good. I personally had a Squire P-bass many years ago that was much more playable. The neck was actually pretty nice (by comparison), but for some reason, it never sounded good. Still, that being said, I'm sure you can find a Squire P-bass, or some other cheap bass, that both sounds good and plays well if you look hard enough and know what you're looking for.

[Yummerz]

For a McCartney tone I recommend getting a Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass. Strap on some new pickups (Fender Custom Shop or SD Antiquity) and flatwound strings from Thomastik Infeld. I like these better than the Pyramid or D'Addario flats.

You can cop a Ric tone on the cheap by buying a Peavey T-40, and for more of a hollow-body thump, get a short-scale like the Eastwood Club bass or an older Japanese or Italian short scale hollow body (Greco, EKO, etc.). You should browse the TalkBass classifieds for deals.

Finally, I'd recommend against any old Squier P-Bass, unless you plan on upgrading it. I used one while my main axe was in the shop, and it was nothing special (though better than an Epiphone Les Paul bass I also had).

Good luck!

[jmikeperkins]

Pretty much every Beatle record, except Get Back/Let It Be, from the middle of Rubber Soul (mid/late 1965) to Abbey Road (8/1969) does not feature Paul playing the Hofner bass in the studio (although he continued to use it live). After the Hofner, he mostly used a Rickenbacker 4001 with flat wound strings (a gift from Rickenbacker), but he also used a Fender Jazz bass for much of the White Album and George and John sometimes played a Fender 6 string bass when they played bass. So the sound of Beatle bass is not necessarily the sound of the Hofner.

The Squire suggestion is a good one for the money, but if at all possible, you should play them first because they vary a lot in quality. Some are quite good and others not so much. The flat wound string advice is EXCELLENT as that is a big part of 60's bass sounds. I use the GHS Brite Flats.

[dudeitsree]

Squire classic vibe. Half round strings, or regular strings. Can't go wrong. I own one, it's been picked over an American j-bass and an Leo Fender Musicman on sessions before. Do it!

[toxik967]

I think i'm going to put on one side the hofner. Now I'm scruppling between the Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass and the Squire "Classic Vibe" Precision Bass. Let me remind you I'm looking for 60's bass sound (round/warm tone) as macca bass sound

[B3Nut]

Any well-made Precision or copy thereof with flatwound strings will give you a good old-school tone, and will *always* be useful in the studio (and live as well.) The made-in-mexico Standard range from Fender is often a good buy used, my P and J are both MIM standards and they've been stage and studio workhorses. Love 'em.

TP

[drumdrum]

A good bass sounds is 80% the player, 20% instrument.
a cheap bass in the hands of a great player will sound great.

Bass guitar is a funny instrument in that it is perhaps one of the must misunderstood instruments to play correctly. Bass guitars are surprisingly sensitive creatures. They actually require very little energy to get great tone from, and it is very, very, very ready to overdo it and put too much energy into it. This is especially true if using a pick.

The best players will tell you that it requires a much more delicate touch to get a recordable and consistent tone from, and not get into the "farty" sounds that too much force can exude.

Bass is also a fantastic instrument and for me it is the tonal key that holds a song together.

But yeah, +1 on the squire basses for your budget. I own a squire j-bass myself.

All the best!

[sound_music]

p-basses with flat would strings are great for the sound you want, and can be had inexpensively.

i like the rickenbacker for that sound as well. but they cost quite a bit more.