Allrounder bass for recording

Ok, things are in progress now, I decided to not only order the Yamaha but to try around, after all I want to be confident with whatever I pick, since it will be my one and only bass guitar, at least for quite some time.

So I decided to take advantage of the money-back-offers of Thomann and other German online stores and ordered four basses for trying out. Three are Yamahas (TRBX174EW, BB234 and BB434M) with passive electronics and classical P(neck) + J(Bridge) pickup combination. The fourth is an Ibanez SR370E-NNB with active electronics and two splittable humbuckers. Awaiting arrival this week.

I was also able to get my hands on three others and already did some testing:
Ibanez GSR200B: Plays very well, but feels a bit "cheap" and the sound is kinda thin, this one is not a candidate.
Harley Benton JB75-MN: Jazz bass copy, ridiculous €155, but awesome build quality for that price. I find it catches that Jazz bass vibe quite well and I seem to like this one, only the neck is very thick and therefore a bit challenging for me. But when I start playing on this bass, I don't put it down so quickly, I seem to bond with this instrument somehow. I am strongly considering this one, be it as a backup or practice instrument, for that price you can't really go wrong with it.
Harley Benton MP-4MN: Sandberg California knock-off. It plays very well, almost like the Ibanez, the neck is thinner than the JB75's. It has switchable active/passive electronics. Set to active, I can get a good rock/metal sound from it, set to passive I don't like it much. It's only €311, and the build qality is again excellent for the price. This one could be a keeper if I was happier with the pickups/electronics. Makes me wonder - how much would it cost to get two new pickups and another preamp/EQ? Might be worth it, considering everything else is really nice.

My gut feeling tells me I will pick one of the Yamahs as they are passive and have that classic, timeless P/J configuration, and the Harley Benton JB75 for backup and sofa practice. But I will see once the deliveries are in. I actually watched quite a few Youtube videos the last two or three days where experienced players (some of them very successful session players) pretty much said that with a P or a J bass, you can cover almost all bases and hardly go wrong, which one is a simple matter of taste. They said they usually just bring a P bass to sessions as its sound always works, and also engineers and producers are so familiar with it and are happy when they see it.
 
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Done some testing, for anybody who is interested in these basses...

I continued to listen to demos on Youtube and also checked what the bass players of my favourite bands use. All of them used either Fender Jazz or Precision basses (with one exception, Mike Klepaski formerly of Breaking Benjamin who seems to use Musicman and Warwick basses), and I have come to really like the gnarly, midrangey sound of the P Bass. I also read more and more that that is THE sound every producer and engineer recognizes and loves and you can never go wrong with a a P bass (and also not with a Jazz bass).

So the ones that I already had here, the Ibanez GSR200B and the two Harley Bentons, are not my pick. The Ibanez and the Harley Benton MP-4MN are not what I am looking for, and the Harley Benton Jazz Bass goes into the right direction, but - for lack of better words - not far enough. That classic J bass sound is not sufficiently there.

Yesterday the others arrived, except for the Ibanez SR370. First impression:
Yamaha TRBX174EW: Its sound goes definitely into the classic direction on the P and J pickups. However, they sound quite weak, even thin. But that could also come from another problem: The setup is absolutely horrible. The strings are ca. 7mm over the 12th fret. Very difficult to play on the one hand, on the other hand the wide string distance might be the reason for the weak and thin sound. Sadly I never set up a guitar or bass and cannot correct that myself.
Yamaha BB234: Decent for the money, build quality is actually quite good. Soundwise it is ok, nice tone, good output, I just miss the specific character a bit that you should get from the P and J pickups.
Yamaha BB434M: Very nicely built instrument, looks beautiful, plays very well, excellent quality for a €500 price tag. Still trying it out. It has higher output than the 234 and the character is more there, this one might actually be my pick. I will see if I can really get that gnarly precision bass sound out from it.

If anybody knows a good Precision (or PJ that really sounds like precision bass on the split coil) bass for around 500€, I am very happy for recommendations. I am looking at the Squier Classic Vibes series, Vintage Reissued and Icon series, and Fender Player series. Not sure what else there is...
 
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The Ibanez SR370 arrived yesterday. It got a bad solder, the input jack loses the signal all the time. When it was working, it sounded ok, but does not have the character I am looking for. Playability is great, though.

The winner is clearly the Yamaha BB434. Going to keep that one. It does the Precision bass thing on the neck pickup, the bright modern clean sound on both pickups together, playability is great, looks and construction quality excellent for the price. It is going to cover all my needs for quite a while.
 
For anybody interested, I created two quick clips with the BB434M.
First one is the Precision / neck pickup only, tone control on full, through the SV bass 2 model with a 1x15 cab on the Axe.
Second clip is both pickups on, tone control on full, through a clean SV bass presets from AustinBuddy's 1000+ naked amp tones pack (forgot which scene exactly).
Have to learn to play with fingers, can only do with pick right now... and sorry for the sloppy playing...

I love especially the sound of the neck pickup only. What do you guys think of the sound of the bass on both clips?


 
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I just bought a squier precision bass vintage 70's replica to lay down some grooves.
I use the ampeg svt 1 + 2 in the axefx3
and it sounds great - with low sustain for days when I let it ring out. Check it out if you're looking for a wallet friendly and cool looking instrument to cover the low ends in your music.
 

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I just bought a squier precision bass vintage 70's replica to lay down some grooves.
I use the ampeg svt 1 + 2 in the axefx3
and it sounds great - with low sustain for days when I let it ring out. Check it out if you're looking for a wallet friendly and cool looking instrument to cover the low ends in your music.

That Squier looks tasty. I must admit that I am still not 100% sure which one to keep. I think I hear some strange honky upper midrange sound on the BB434M when both pickups are on, but am not sure if my ears/mind is playing a trick on me.

Yesterday I stopped by another local store and they had a Squier CV Jazz Bass like yours, just different colour, and a Fender Player series Jazz Bass in Sunburst. I liked both, although I preferred the satin neck finish on the Fender compared to the glossy of the Squier. I am thinking about spending a bit more on that Fender Jazz, it's 150€ more than the Yamaha.
 
Late to the thread, haven’t read all the through way it yet but a side note. I found these to be key:

 
That Squier looks tasty. I must admit that I am still not 100% sure which one to keep. I think I hear some strange honky upper midrange sound on the BB434M when both pickups are on, but am not sure if my ears/mind is playing a trick on me.

Yesterday I stopped by another local store and they had a Squier CV Jazz Bass like yours, just different colour, and a Fender Player series Jazz Bass in Sunburst. I liked both, although I preferred the satin neck finish on the Fender compared to the glossy of the Squier. I am thinking about spending a bit more on that Fender Jazz, it's 150€ more than the Yamaha.

@parlopower
Please note that mine is a precision bass not a jazz bass in case you were to quick:) and it has those traditional jazzbass stripes on the neck so it's easy to misstake it for a jazz but it's a precision.
 
Late to the thread, haven’t read all the through way it yet but a side note. I found these to be key:



Thanks for sharing these, I will go through them!

@parlopower
Please note that mine is a precision bass not a jazz bass in case you were to quick:) and it has those traditional jazzbass stripes on the neck so it's easy to misstake it for a jazz but it's a precision.

OOps, thanks for the correction - I was too hasty indeed!

A little bit of time with some steel wool or a Scotch-Brite pad can turn the glossy into satin ;)

I am somewhat scared to try that out... if I mess up and it destroys the optics by bad looking transition from glossy to satin, it destroys the resale value. On the other hand, a 350€ instrument does not have that much resale value anyway...
 
Just a final word:
Kept the Yamaha BB434M and am very happy with it.
And had my first lesson with a bass teacher today. I really enjoyed it.
 
I'm planning on getting a bass in next 2-3 months and have been reading lots of these threads, doing some research as well. My top 2 choices so far would be in ibby Soundgear 500 series or a Fender jazz (roughly same price bracket) but has anyone heard of MTD Kingston KZ4 Basses? any good? there's a used one at a local shop for the same price as what i'd pay for the two other options listed above
 

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I'm planning on getting a bass in next 2-3 months and have been reading lots of these threads, doing some research as well. My top 2 choices so far would be in ibby Soundgear 500 series or a Fender jazz (roughly same price bracket) but has anyone heard of MTD Kingston KZ4 Basses? any good? there's a used one at a local shop for the same price as what i'd pay for the two other options listed above

Never heard of those, but it looks quite pretty. The local store that has it, can you also try an Ibanez Soundgear and Fender Jazz there? That would make it easy to make your own decision.
 
Never heard of those, but it looks quite pretty. The local store that has it, can you also try an Ibanez Soundgear and Fender Jazz there? That would make it easy to make your own decision.
Today spent some time at my guitar shop and tried out a few basses. I think i'm leaning towards an Ibanez SR300E/SR70E. Felt great and sounded solid for my needs.
 
I think i'm leaning towards an Ibanez SR300E/SR70E. Felt great and sounded solid for my needs.
The neck on my SR500 feels very comfortable in my guitar-player hands. I might be changing out the pickups for something with more character to them.
 
The neck on my SR500 feels very comfortable in my guitar-player hands. I might be changing out the pickups for something with more character to them.
I played the SR500. Awesome bass. If i were going up a level on my budget..no question i'd go for the SR500.
 
I was also looking for a Bass for recording recently and went super classic with a Fender Precision American Standard, much to the enjoyment of our new kitten Atlas :)

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Yesterday i picked up this Sterling sub stingray (2019) on local private sale for $230. Wasn't considering this entry level but the price was right so i grabbed it. Only thing i'm not crazy about is the string spacing. its not as easy to play as the Ibanez SR300E/500 that I tried in store other day. The Sub does sound pretty good. Solid enough for just laying tracks down for my hobby. I may stick with it unless I see an Ibanez SR300E for a good deal.
 

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