Advice anyone?

[shadow dragon]

I need to get hold of a bass, quite urgently. I've been thinking about buying one for a while, and I don't know of anyone prepared to part with theirs for any length of time. So... do I sell my guitar, which I'm not gonna get that much for now I've screwed up the Floyd Rose, it's an Ibanez RG shred machine... Or, do I buy a cheap shitty bass in case I don't like being a bass player and want to stop? Decisions decisions... Really don't want to part with my guitar, really do want to stay in my band (even if it does mean playing bass) What a dilemma.
Going to Music Live in Brum at the weekend, might have some more ideas (or even a new bass!) after that I suppose... And I get to watch Michael Angelo rip it up

 

[wildespace]

My advise, keep your guitar and buy a second-hand bass for cheap Just put new strings on it.

I got my first bass (Fender Affinity) for £50 off my mate, and it served me good while I was messing around with it in my room learning the basics, and when I was taking bass lessons later on. My bass tutor actually liked the sound and the playability of it, so you never know, a second-hand bass doesn't have to be a bad thing.

 

[Ayeka]

Yeah, my Fender Squire P-Bass thing is the most battered piece of junk you'll ever find...one of the tuning pegs is wobbling and held in place by blu-tac and sellotape, the strings haven't been changed for about four years, the jack for the lead is broken (despite what the guy at the guitar shop said) which means the volume can cut out if you move around to much, the scratch plate has a bit snapped off, the knob for the volume (or tone, can't remember) went missing before I even bought it, and it's generally scratched to bits and still has some dried blood on it...oh yeah, and every other bassist that plays it gets freaked out by the action.

Still wouldn't play any other bass though trawl through some small ads, see if you can get one REAL cheap. Even if it's as junky as mine, it shouldn't be too much hassle to fix up...even if you do decide you don't wanna be a bassist proper, you've still got it there, y'know? I will go months without playing sometimes, but you never know when you wanna go back to it and have a blast. Same reason why you don't wanna go flogging that axe!

 

[shadow dragon]

Thanks guys, you're right about the small ads pages I think. I'm gonna go for the cheapest one I can find and just mess about with it until I'm sure. My band want me to play bass for the time being as we can't find anyone else to do it, and having dabbled a bit with it I'm quite happy to go along with it. I'm also thinking about getting a second hand bass pod and feeding it straight into the PA, which would save lugging a bass amp (which i would also need to buy) to rehearsals and gigs. Does anyone have an opinion on that?
x

 

[Volcane]

If you apply the same philosophy to your bass gear as your bass, then it might be cheaper to get a second hand bass combo.

It depends on what your rehearsal PA is like - if it's not man enough then you'll find that you have a Bass POD (which us OK for recording) and you will have to buy a bass combo to rehearse with as well... Decisions!

Depends how loud your band rehearse really.

If you get serious on the bass, you'll need a head/cab rig to compete wit the rest of the band at rehearsals.

 

[dave-intense]

It seems to me that the cheap Fender basses are a good buy from what people have said here.

 

[shadow dragon]

thanks for all the advice guys. The guitar's definitely not getting sold, it's far too precious! I've looked into basses in the local papers but there's not much around, I'm gonna take my time tho cus I reckon people will be looking to make a bit of spare cash in the run up to christmas. As for the POD, it worked ok with my guitar - far too much effort lugging an amp 5 miles up a hill and back several times a week. As for playing loud- it's always the dream!

 

[Ayeka]

If you get serious on the bass, you'll need a head/cab rig to compete wit the rest of the band at rehearsals.

My solution to this - have a bigger amp than all your guitarist mates

 

[Nick Brookes]

2nd hand try ebay or a friday add