# Bass Guitar Advice Please...



## Shiny

I know there are a few knowledgeable guitar players on DW, so wondering if you can help.

My lad (15) is pretty good guitarist now and, as well as teaching himself the drums, he now wants a bass guitar. 

He has an Epiphone SG cherry red guitar which we bought 2nd hand (although it was as good as new) and although he wants a Fender Strat, he can save for that himself, lol. 

Anyway, the bass and amp, budget £250 to £350, will go a little more if necessary but would prefer to keep it in budget.

We've seen an Ibanez GSR180 which he had a play on and really liked, but I don't know much about them so would like some thoughts or alternative suggestions. It was up for £200 in the shop but the going rate on the net is £150, so im worried it might just a little too "cheap" a guitar. 

Not adverse to buying 2nd hand either, if we can get a £400 guitar for £200 then he still effectively has the quality of a £400 guitar, as long as it hasnt ben abused by the previous owner.

Also need and amp, but it will need to be able to cope with his electric drum kit. Just a practice type amp for the home so nothing too big. The shop had an Orange Crush amp 25w for £140. He has a Line6 amp for his guitar, but obviously this no good for a bass guitar & electric drum kit. 

Any thoughts or recommendations appreciated as always...


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## Shiny

A little bump for the weekday crew....


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## tmitch45

I know nothing about bass guitars maybe look at more guitar specific forums like http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ or I found this one recently and they were very friendly and answered my beginner questions. The following link is to their forum and my thread on a guitar question you may be able to help me with also. http://www.robchapman.tv/forum/threads/epiphone-sg-400-pro-or-esp-viper.27146/


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## JMorty

You cannot go wrong with orange to be fair. Tend to be a bit expensive but you really get what you pay for in terms of sound. As for the GSR, that's a good start to be fair. Great sound for the price.

If he ever wants an upgrade or a 5 string...let me know


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## Waxamomo

Drop JBirchy a PM, he's the man to speak too about guitars :thumb:


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## Shiny

JMDetailing said:


> You cannot go wrong with orange to be fair. Tend to be a bit expensive but you really get what you pay for in terms of sound. As for the GSR, that's a good start to be fair. Great sound for the price.
> 
> If he ever wants an upgrade or a 5 string...let me know


I don't mind paying a bit extra for the amp, especially as it will be used for the drums so will take a bit of a battering speaker wise.

He really likes the Ibanez, my worry was that it might be a bit cheap and nasty, but having read quite a few reviews online it seems to punch a bit above its price which is good.

His acoustic takes the most battering, it is joined to his arm and we have set an 8pm curfew so we get some peace and quiet! lol! This means that the electric guitar, drums and bass (when he gets one) get a bit of break.

He wants to eventually get some recording equipment to make his own music. Fair play to him, nothing wrong with being a budding Trent Reznor!


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## nick.s

I would strongly consider a Squier Vintage Modified Jazz. I had one as my 'noodle' bass (I'm primarily a guitarist). It was stupidly good for the money, can be had for around £250 ish.

Or, for something a little outside the box, a Squier Vintage Modified VI, a bass/guitar crossover for around £280, stupidly versatile and given it is tuned like a regular guitar, your boy will feel very much at home with it.

I reckon if you hunt around on the likes of eBay, you could get the above pieces a bit cheaper


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## nick.s

Forgot to add, the Squier VM VI can be played through a guitar amp, saving you cashish in the long run seeing as he already has one


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## Shiny

Cheers Nick. I'll get him to look at the Squier VM, just need to find a shop locally with one on the shelf. He won't want the 6 string guitar cross over though.

I've been looking into the Ibanez as he really likes them. The GSR he looked at in the shop was £200 (although it can be got online for £150).

The SR300 can be bought for £250 and the SR370 for £270, so i figured for £70 more he can the guitar shape he likes, get out of the budget range and end up with a better guitar, better pickups, better wood and better electronics.

http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/eb...2&color=CL01&year=2013&cat_id=2&series_id=112

http://www.dawsons.co.uk/ibanez-sr370-bass-guitar-brown-burst

EDIT: Dawsons have a shop in Reading so i might ring them and see what Ibanez/Squiers etc they have in their shop and drive him down to try them. Not sure how much heavier a maple body will be on the 370 either, so best he sops a feel first.


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## nick.s

Shiny said:


> Cheers Nick. I'll get him to look at the Squier VM, just need to find a shop locally with one on the shelf. He won't want the 6 string guitar cross over though.
> 
> I've been looking into the Ibanez as he really likes them. The GSR he looked at in the shop was £200 (although it can be got online for £150).
> 
> The SR300 can be bought for £250 and the SR370 for £270, so i figured for £70 more he can the guitar shape he likes, get out of the budget range and end up with a better guitar, better pickups, better wood and better electronics.
> 
> http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/eb...2&color=CL01&year=2013&cat_id=2&series_id=112
> 
> http://www.dawsons.co.uk/ibanez-sr370-bass-guitar-brown-burst
> 
> EDIT: Dawsons have a shop in Reading so i might ring them and see what Ibanez/Squiers etc they have in their shop and drive him down to try them. Not sure how much heavier a maple body will be on the 370 either, so best he sops a feel first.


Solid maple is a very heavy wood. I've played my bassists Ibanez GSR205 and it is a very well put together bass (albeit a 5 string), great value for money. You really can't fault them. Another well put together (and specced) bass apart from the Ibby and the Squier would be from Yamaha. My first guitar was a Yamaha, couldn't fault it.

A bit further up the road from Reading is Andertons in Guildford. I would thoroughly recommend them to buy from, their service (and prices) are second to none :thumb: Purchases attract loyalty points as well.


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## CaptainKirk95

The bass that i would recommend would be the one that i started out with about 5 years ago, an Ibanez GSR200. My dad has been playing bass with bands for the past 35 years and he helped me choose the right one to buy.

From the outset i had decided that i did not want to buy a fender replica and went out looking for affordable nice starting point. We found that online was the best place to buy, I got a pearl white gsr200 and hard case for £179 although the price has gone up now. I love it when i have the time to play it! The bass is an active bass which gives it a really nice sound and is a nice guitar to play so would be my recommendation to you!

For amps, we believe that for basses the best amp to get would be a trace elliot! Although they can be expensive, you can pick up some bargains on ebay if you look around!

I'll try and get some pictures of the ibanez and maybe a few of the other collection as well! Hope i've helped...

Jamie


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## Shiny

nick.s said:


> Solid maple is a very heavy wood. I've played my bassists Ibanez GSR205 and it is a very well put together bass (albeit a 5 string), great value for money. You really can't fault them. Another well put together (and specced) bass apart from the Ibby and the Squier would be from Yamaha. My first guitar was a Yamaha, couldn't fault it.
> 
> A bit further up the road from Reading is Andertons in Guildford. I would thoroughly recommend them to buy from, their service (and prices) are second to none :thumb: Purchases attract loyalty points as well.


Thanks Nick.

I think from the choice of Ibanez it will be either the SR300 or SR370 due to the better pickups, electronics etc over and above the Gio (GSR) range. From what i can tell, the only difference between the 300 and 370 is the body, 300 being agathis and the 370 maple.

Dawsons have Ibanez, Squier and Yamaha in stock so he can sit down and get a feel for all of them.

We will make time to visit Andertons too as it is not much further to travel. Just looked at their website, their prices look similar and they throw in a free gig bag, so there's £20 off the bill! lol! Thanks for the suggestion :thumb:



CaptainKirk95 said:


> The bass that i would recommend would be the one that i started out with about 5 years ago, an Ibanez GSR200. My dad has been playing bass with bands for the past 35 years and he helped me choose the right one to buy.
> 
> From the outset i had decided that i did not want to buy a fender replica and went out looking for affordable nice starting point. We found that online was the best place to buy, I got a pearl white gsr200 and hard case for £179 although the price has gone up now. I love it when i have the time to play it! The bass is an active bass which gives it a really nice sound and is a nice guitar to play so would be my recommendation to you!
> 
> For amps, we believe that for basses the best amp to get would be a trace elliot! Although they can be expensive, you can pick up some bargains on ebay if you look around!
> 
> I'll try and get some pictures of the ibanez and maybe a few of the other collection as well! Hope i've helped...
> 
> Jamie


Thanks Jamie. Yeah the GSR200 is similar to the GSR180 he looked at but with active pickups. He really like the feel of it and how it played. :thumb:

As above though, if he settles on an Ibanez i think it will be either the SR300 or SR370 at this is the highest model within our budget.


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## Jed

The Yamaha RBX range are very good too, best thing to do to be honest is go to a shop with him, let him have a play and choose what feels best for him, if you ask 10 bassists which bass to buy, you'll get 10 different answers!

Once he's been playing for a few months don't let him touch your car paint with his left hand! his fingertips will scratch it!


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## nick.s

Shiny said:


> Thanks Nick.
> 
> I think from the choice of Ibanez it will be either the SR300 or SR370 due to the better pickups, electronics etc over and above the Gio (GSR) range. From what i can tell, the only difference between the 300 and 370 is the body, 300 being agathis and the 370 maple.
> 
> Dawsons have Ibanez, Squier and Yamaha in stock so he can sit down and get a feel for all of them.
> 
> We will make time to visit Andertons too as it is not much further to travel. Just looked at their website, their prices look similar and they throw in a free gig bag, so there's £20 off the bill! lol! Thanks for the suggestion :thumb:


In THEORY there will be quite a difference in feel and weight between the agathis and maple bodied basses, with maple being heavier and a brighter sound so something to bare in mind  But as Jed said, the only sure fire way of finding the right one is to sit and play. For my recent purchase I played a fair few guitars of similar ilk before settling on 'the one', despite them all being similar  Well worth it as if I'd gone with what I'd thought I wanted, I'd not have been a happy chappy 

If you or your son get a chance, check out Andertons on Youtube, they do some cracking review videos...I just had a look for bass reviews, but they don't do many  They're good for a watch though, Captain and Chappers have a good laugh, here's one of my favourites:






Shenanigans ftw


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## Shiny

Cheers chaps, we'll take in both Dawson's and Andertons tomorrow and see how he gets on.



Jed said:


> Once he's been playing for a few months don't let him touch your car paint with his left hand! his fingertips will scratch it!


Lol, mind you his fingers have already hardened up from the guitar. This is him playing Crazy Train a few months back.


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## herbiedacious

If you're looking for an amp that has to deal with a drum kit and a bass, then a keyboard amp is probably the answer.


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## Markyt001

Personal choice would be to buy a 2nd hand Trace Elliot Combo for £200-£300 notes. Abit more than you stated budget wise but worth it...


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## Shiny

Just back from a days shopping around Berkshire & Surrey! Lol!

Firstly a big thanks to all in this thread, just goes to show what a good bunch of chaps we have here from tyre gel to electric bases!

First stop was Dawsons, a big sweet shop of guitars, including a rather nice gold Les Paul for £15k which was a bit out of budget. After we got past the "dad, buy me that instead of the bass...." The boy had a good sit down and play with loads of different bases. He just kept going back to the Ibanez Sr300. Tried the 370 but the maple body was noticeably heavier.

They only had the orange in stock (although they could order in other colours) but the chap was really helpful. He advised against sharing an amp with the drums unless we wanted to go down the pa route.

We left it at that and I said the boy would have a think about what colour he wanted.

Over a KFC in Reading I showed him the colour options, he saw the iron pewter and went "awesome".

So trundled off to Guilford to see what Andersons had to offer. Got there and we were directed to the bass room and just left to play them. The missus took my other lad off to have play on the keyboards whilst I handed the the boy an array of squires, fenders, epiphones. The only Ibby they had was the GSR200 and again he kept going back to that, it just felt right to him and kept saying how it just felt right and so easy to play.

So I found a shop assistant and he came in for a chat. I asked about the Iron Pewter SR300 and he disappeared for a couple of mins and came back with a box. Unwrapped it and pulled it out the bag and my lads eyes lit up. Plugged on and let him have a play and he was 100% on it.

We went off and spoke to the drum chaps about a shared amp and, whilst there were a couple of amp that would cope, they basically said what they said in Dawsons, ie to get a dedicated bass and a dedicated drum monitor.

So we decided on just getting a bass amp. Took the guitar downstairs to the amps, tried a few and then the chap asked if we would consider 2nd hand, which we are ok with. They had a Laney RB3 for £70 which sounded far better that new amps twice the price. It's a big bugger too and 65w.

The guitar was £30 cheaper than Dawsons, so we walked out of the shop with a new bass guitar, an amp, a gig bag (free), a stand, a strap, a set of spare strings and a handful of picks (free) for less than £370. They also agreed to start the guarantee on the amp from Christmas when Father Christmas will drop it down our chimney.

A heartfelt massive thanks to nick.s for suggesting Andersons. My lad is going to be one happy boy when he gets it and we will feel a bit happier when have raided his savings to help pay for it! Lol.





































"Hello... What's this then?"










"Whatever it is.... It's mine now!"










Pictures don't really do the colour justice, it is a metallic dark silver and looks really nice.

Now the search starts for a new laptop for my other boy....


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## tmitch45

Did you get it from Andersons or Andertons? I've heard very good things about Andertons and watched their youtube channel.

The guitar looks awesome and its sounds like everyone's happy!


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## Shiny

Sorry, yeah Andertons.


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## nick.s

Awesome news on the purchases fella  They're a great bunch of people in Andertons  He's going to be one happy chappy for sure  Little things like you've got with the guarantee are the reason they are the cut above


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## JBirchy

Sorry I missed this thread, been away for a while on honeymoon!

Looks like you've got a cracking deal there too! I really like Laney bass amps, and although I've not got a lot of experience with Ibanez guitars/basses, it looks like a corker! Great colour too!

I'm sure he'll really enjoy that!

Jon


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## Shiny

Cheers Jon :thumb:

Did you have a good honeymoon?


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## JBirchy

Shiny said:


> Cheers Jon :thumb:
> 
> Did you have a good honeymoon?


Yes tremendous thanks very much! Sad to be back! :thumb:


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