ilovefuzz.com

So i have some student payments and a birthday approaching in a month or so and have decided to finally venture into bass territory, but I know very little about basses in general having never been able to stop buying pedals and guitars for long enough to actually save up for one
I was wondering if any of you had any suggestions for basses that are well worth looking at which can be had for about a grand or less (keeping in mind I'm in Australia). Most places don't stock much where I live and the used market is generally not very good so I'll probably end up biting the bullet and ordering something into a local store or maybe from overseas if shipping isn't too prohibitive.
As far as specs go, as long as it has passive pickups I'm open to anything. Scale isn't a deal-breaker cos I have pretty long fingers. I alternate between picking and fingerstyle and tapping a lot on guitar so I imagine I'll end up doing the same on bass.
Sorry for such a non-specific request but yeah, I'm just curious to see what the ILF bassists dig, I bought my last guitar off recommendations here and haven't looked back.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Depends what you're looking for. The Squier line has some really solid stuff that often just needs a pickup change. My CV Jazz plays way nicer than it should for only $250 used. You could pick one of these up and do the hardware replacements and still have money left over.

Around that mark, you also start getting into some of the Fender stuff like the Jag bass, which I've been lusting over lately.

There's also the G&L Tribute basses that tend to hover around there as well, but I don't know what the likelihood of you tracking one down on that side of the pond is like.

Don't know if that really helps you a whole lot, but it might be a starting point?

Like Grr said, it is a bit tough to say without a bit more info on what you play and what's available.

I've had a few Fender basses now and have figured out what I like and don't like. They were all under $1000 so I'll add my thoughts here.

Deluxe Active Jazz Bass: good quality, played great, nice thin neck, but the active electronics were a pain in the ass. You said you don't want actives, so I think if you want a clearer bass with a thin neck and long scale a Jazz is good.
Standard Precision Bass: nothing spectacular, chunky neck (not in a good way), and so-so electronics. Not worth the money in my opinion. Poor feel even with decent P sound. Flats helped.
Squier VM Jaguar: amazing quality, especially for a sub-$300 bass. Great neck, great action, thin neck, and decent pickups. Hated the pots, they had to go. Definitely a solid bass, especially for a first. Great balance of Jazz and P sound.
CIJ Mustang Bass: my favorite to date. Love the neck (short guy with average sized hands), love the sound, and it plays excellent with fuzz. Never letting this guy go and would have no qualms getting the Squier version.

If you want a thicker neck, go with a P style. If you want thin, go with a Jazz.
And don't be afraid of the Squier VM line.

Grrface: I like the look of the CV, it's about $500-550 new here, I'd be hard pressed finding a used one but I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!
G&L is IMPOSSIBLE to get over here unfortunately. I'm not even sure if there's any dealers in the country.

greyscales: Yeah sorry about the lack of info, I tend to not get fussy about specs and just find a nicely made guitar with a bit of character and mold myself to it (e.g. I use an RG archtop as a jazz guitar, haha)
Totally not afraid of Squier, I had a bad first guitar experience with them so was put off for a while but I now have a J Mascis jazzy which is gorgeous.
Thanks a lot for the info, if I go the Fender/Squier route I'd likely steer towards a jazz or jaguar bass I think. Mustangs are gorgeous but I've never been able to jive with the smaller body shape.

backwardsvoyager wrote:Grrface: I like the look of the CV, it's about $500-550 new here, I'd be hard pressed finding a used one but I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!
G&L is IMPOSSIBLE to get over here unfortunately. I'm not even sure if there's any dealers in the country.

greyscales: Yeah sorry about the lack of info, I tend to not get fussy about specs and just find a nicely made guitar with a bit of character and mold myself to it (e.g. I use an RG archtop as a jazz guitar, haha)
Totally not afraid of Squier, I had a bad first guitar experience with them so was put off for a while but I now have a J Mascis jazzy which is gorgeous.
Thanks a lot for the info, if I go the Fender/Squier route I'd likely steer towards a jazz or jaguar bass I think. Mustangs are gorgeous but I've never been able to jive with the smaller body shape.

If you do head for the Jazz direction, the CV is pretty killer. The only thing I've noticed is that the pickups are pretty weak, so you'd have to deal with that, but otherwise it's an awesome bass.

G&L would be my recommendation as well.

Don't know if this is close to you, but this place has them

http://www.jacksmusic.com.au/

I have to say, I'm surprised to find that the really nice Yamaha I have here hasn't been played in ages. I find myself turning constantly (when I get around to playing bass these days) to my "backup" Dean. It looks like the bottom one here: http://www.deanguitars.com/edge1_basses.php although in a difft dye color. Also mine came with Bartolinis and skunk stripes and 4 pots, so it's clearly a higher, but discontinued model. It certainly wasn't "high-end"; I paid ~$350 USD for it at a blowout sale when a local company was dropping the line. So.. I dunno what to tell you, it's not "impressive", maybe I just got lucky wrt QC, I believe it's Indonesian made, but anyway it sounds farqin incredible and has the fastest, silkiest bass neck I've ever played. One of the tuners keeps slipping but I've been too lazy to change it out (works fine from song to song). That's my only complaint.

if you want something that's out of the Fender area, there are some excellent new options in the market as well as some older ones. in semihollows, Guild just reissued the Starfire bass in a single PU version which is reputed to be excellent, has the longer scale, and is under US$1000. Hofner has a new model of Verythin bass which looks HAWT, and Hagstrom now has a Viking bass reissue as well; these are two-PU models which IIRC are 30" scale. the Epiphone basses are also worth a try if you can find them...the Jack Casady bass is a long-scale design derived from the old EB-2, the Allen Woody Rumblekat is an adorable deep-body single cutaway 30" in the 1950s Epi style, and their EB-3 may be like many Epis in that they're cheap but a good example can be a great instrument. i'm not sure if they've made it to Oceania, but Gretrsch also has hollow basses in the Electromatic line which are reasonably priced and worth a shot.

the one thing i'd strongly dis-recommend is the Ibanez hollow Artcore bass...a friend of mine owned one which i spent hours setting up and still couldn't get a sound i liked from it. try the Allen Woody or the Gretsches instead.

fender mustang bass

the mid-line Hofner "Beatle bass" also goes for <1000, and the BB is the only model of 30" scale bass i've ever played that was tight-sounding and not flippy-floppy at all. it's not just for Beatles nerds, either...the woman in Deerhoof plays one, or did when i saw them open for Radiohead.

how in HELL did i manage to miss correcting "Gretrsch"?

hollowhero wrote:G&L would be my recommendation as well.

Don't know if this is close to you, but this place has them

http://www.jacksmusic.com.au/

I hadn't noticed that site before. The store is 5 hours away but I can get one shipped for free so that's certainly an option. Thanks!
This L-2000 is certainly a contender:

I don't mind the SB-2 either

backwardsvoyager wrote:

hollowhero wrote:G&L would be my recommendation as well.
Don't know if this is close to you, but this place has them
http://www.jacksmusic.com.au/

I hadn't noticed that site before. The store is 5 hours away but I can get one shipped for free so that's certainly an option. Thanks!
This L-2000 is certainly a contender:

I don't mind the SB-2 either

L2000 IS WHERE IT'S AT! GOOD PRICE TOO!
YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINT.

dubkitty wrote:if you want something that's out of the Fender area, there are some excellent new options in the market as well as some older ones. in semihollows, Guild just reissued the Starfire bass in a single PU version which is reputed to be excellent, has the longer scale, and is under US$1000. Hofner has a new model of Verythin bass which looks HAWT, and Hagstrom now has a Viking bass reissue as well; these are two-PU models which IIRC are 30" scale. the Epiphone basses are also worth a try if you can find them...the Jack Casady bass is a long-scale design derived from the old EB-2, the Allen Woody Rumblekat is an adorable deep-body single cutaway 30" in the 1950s Epi style, and their EB-3 may be like many Epis in that they're cheap but a good example can be a great instrument. i'm not sure if they've made it to Oceania, but Gretrsch also has hollow basses in the Electromatic line which are reasonably priced and worth a shot.

the one thing i'd strongly dis-recommend is the Ibanez hollow Artcore bass...a friend of mine owned one which i spent hours setting up and still couldn't get a sound i liked from it. try the Allen Woody or the Gretsches instead.

That Guild looks awesome, prices over here are looking at about $1300 though, I think a store about an hour away has them in stock so it's tempting.
I have to try out an Epi EB-3 sometime, I've not liked most Epi's I've played but my friend has a G-400 that is pretty killer so I guess it's hit and miss. Tokai have a knockoff called the SGB-48 which I'm interested in too but I have no idea if the current models are comparable to their older lawsuit guitars.
That Hofner Verythin is definitely HAWT, it's about $1300 here also but I'm able to order one. I'm not really a fan of deep-body guitars (which I probably should have mentioned ) but that profile looks very comfy, as with the Viking bass which I could afford if I can find one.
Thanks for the help!

I like dem fender pawn shop reverse jags. That's what I would buy only because they look cool.

I play a squier bronco bass. I love it. $50.