Sleeper Basses

[The_Active_Conundrum]

I know you all love them and stuff, but, I have never played one that really took me past the "meh, it's alright" mark.. I also would not call them a sleeper anything, they are in every fucking store, catalog and website.. they are like the bigmac of guitars..

Couple issues with the statement. They are hardly "Big Mac" by nature, if anything McDouble. its cheap, quasi-satisfying but not the cheapest or least satisfying.

Now sometimes with squiers, they're set up right from the store or have extra magic or whatever and its like driving through mcdonalds and they give you the wrong order and you have french fries and a snack wrap in there with your mcdouble. Just. Keep. Driving.

[Mudfuzz]

I will admit to actually not setting foot in a Mcdonalds in over 15 years… other than to use the restroom while traveling

[DarkAxel]

I think Squiers are fantastic blank canvases for any mods. Cheap enough but quality enough to not be shit with good stuff thrown on it

[p.j.]

I have a Danelectro bass that I put on a better, adjustable bridge and flatwounds. Life is good.

[Mudfuzz]

I think Squiers are fantastic blank canvases for any mods. Cheap enough but quality enough to not be shit with good stuff thrown on it

I am sure there are some good ones that cone out of the pile but I have yet to play one I thought resonated very well which to me is the most important thing, pickups, setup and hardware can be changed, but if it sounds like a lump unplugged you are not going to get me to even plug the thing in.

[blindrabbit]

Squier basses dude. On the real. Get one that's set up right, cheap and awesome. I have a Jazz that sounds fucking amazing and could rival almost any other passive I've tried. Don't buy them sight unheard though, unless you are buying from someone trusted.

I also think Jackson basses are great. So cheap and sound perfect.

Truth. Squiers are fantastic. Another "sleeper" that most people don't consider is the Godin Shifter/Shifter Classic. Very cool basses, well built, sound great, fantastic necks.

[braaandooon]

Not sure if these are sleepers, but I really dig the 70's/80's gibson grabbers, been playing my bandmates as I gig bass duties from time to time and looking to get one myself. Been seeing em go on the bay for under 5 hundo at times.

[kbit]

I dont know of I'd call it a sleeper, but I love my Japanese Mustang bass to pieces and you can find them for a decent price.

[spacelordmother]

I've played a few fine Yamaha BB series basses over the years. Think those are usually under the radar?

[Bon Hoga]

I think my DeArmond Pilot 4 string is either the Deluxe or the Pro model. Korean made by Cort, Ash bodied bolt-on with EMG-40-shaped soap bar pickups and active preamp with three band eq. It's 35" scale, so that low E is nice and deep. Very good, strong, rich tones in there with great playability, but the stock pickups are meh. The Duncan passive soap bars for 5 string will fit the cavities pretty close, but they have slightly different mounting spacing and drilling it can be a hassle if that isn't your forte. The Duncans sound great in it, even with the stock preamp. A bunch of these got blown out cheap when Fender folded the brand, including some neck-thru 4 and 5 strings, so you might find them used for cheap. I haven't played the lower end Indonesian made Pilots with solid-color bodies and passive PJ or JJ configurations but people seem to like them.

Fuck yes, those are brilliant basses. 35" scale ftw!

[sears]

My medium scale Aria is very hot. Great player, great looker and a unique tone that records well.

[echoraven]

Why passive? I purchased a Classic Vibe Jazz Master to be opposite of my Schecter C4XXX. When I was recording i wanted a clean bass with punch so I grabbed the squire and could not get a tone I was happy with, switched over to the Schecter and the active pickups gave it a gorgeous punchy tone that is seriously making me contemplate selling the Jazz Master.