Need help finding a bass

[onefingersweep]

Looking to buy my first bass and I'm kinda lost to be honest. I never owned a bass of my own. I don't have much knowledge at all when it comes to bass guitars.

I play my 7-string guitar in A-standard. Initially I tought, just buy a bass and play it one octave lower but quickly found out that it's not really that easy if you want a good sounding and functional instrument.

I have been thinking of the new line of Ibanez multi-scales with 35-37" scale and just drop it down a tone. The draw backs from going this way for me would be. Very expensive to change strings, maybe a hard instrument to play with 37" scale lenght? I don't mind challenges but it's almost 10 inches longer than my guitars scale length. Biggest problem is the price, it might be a little bit to expensive for me right now unfortunately.

So I searched for other solutions and one might be just to buy a standard bass, or even a shorter scale bass and just tune it to the same pitch as the guitar? Anyone with experience, is this a good idea? I mean does it sound good doing so? It would be way easier to find a bass if I do this.

How thick strings can you have on a standard scale bass before the intonation starts to fail?
Should I look for a 5- or 6-string and just use the A-string and higher for that, then have extra strings if I use another guitar in B- and E-standard?

How much tension is needed for a clean sounding bass? I tried some basses in a store a few days ago and all of them sounded like shit with a lot of fret buzz, even the ones with .130 guage strings on in B was buzzing a lot.

Next problem, I don't know anything about pickups or electonics for basses. What basses under 1000$ have good stock pickups and electronics? Any specific brands that makes garbage that I should stay away from?

As you can see I have a lot of questions and I really don't know what to do 🤣 I would greatly appreciate if someone could guide me in the right direction.

The sound I'm looking for is mostly metal but also other styles like classic rock. I want the bass to sound good for most styles but I doesn't have to be the most versatile in the world.

 

[Hexer]

Where are you located? Depending on that, other options may be readily available to you.

You don't necessarily need anything very much out of the ordinary to play in A with the bass 1 octave below guitar.

I would recommend a 5-string, simply for the fact that with 4-strings, the nuts arent usually cut to accept much bigger strings that would work well with low tunings like B or A so you'd have to modify it. No such problems with a 5 string.

A "standard" scale 34" bass should be able to do that just fine as long as it was made to handle that low string well and has good pickups.

Personally, I play a 34" 5-string that is tuned down one step (so the A you want) and it works just fine. I use stainless steel wound strings because I just like that sound. My personal strings of choice are Sadowsky Black Label Steels because they also keep a good sound for a long time. You'll notice that on bass, different strins have a much bigger impact than on guitar. For low A, I use a taperwound .130 for low A, but those Sadowskis have slightly higher tension than most strings.

EDIT: don't worry about bass scale lengths TOO much. Yes, you're used to shorter guitar scales but also keep in mind you wont play a lot of chords way down the neck since that usually doesn't sound good on bass anyways and higher up the neck, IF you play chords sometimes, the distances will be much closer to what you're used to from guitar anyways. Also as I said: it may be nice to have longer scale length for low tunings, but for A, it's really not something you absolutely NEED. A solidly made 34" bass with a good setup will be able to do that fine.

oh also: what playing style do you aim to use? Since you're mainly a guitarist, I'm guessing pick? That should be able to provide you with plenty of attack to get a clearer low note. Personally I play fingerstyle mainly and even that works fine as long as you adjust your technique to what kind of sound you try to achieve.

 

[ixlramp]

I play my 7-string guitar in A-standard. Initially I tought, just buy a bass and play it one octave lower but quickly found out that it's not really that easy if you want a good sounding and functional instrument.

I have been thinking of the new line of Ibanez multi-scales with 35-37" scale and just drop it down a tone.

(I have a few years experience of tuning a 35" scale bass guitar to A0 using a gauge .145. With very good tone and intonation.)
It is that easy, a common 35" scale 5 or 6 string can be tuned to A0 with no problems, just use a taperwound gauge .145 (or perhaps even a .135 with a light and careful technique). It seems you have read some incorrect advice.
For A0 you do not need a 37" scale, although that would create a better tone.
Intonation will be fine on the lowest 12 frets, you would not want to play the higher frets anyway due to the bad tone up there.

 

[Hexer]

Just saw you're in Sweden. If so you should be able to order from Thomann for example.
If you don't want to spend a lot of money, I recommend looking into their Harley Benton basses. They are really solid for the money nowadays. Also in Finnland there is Jackshop which has Esh basses, some of which you can get for under 1000€ (I've actually done so just a bit over a month ago) and they are awesome metal basses.

 

[onefingersweep]

As I said I tried several basses the other day with .130 in B and they sounded like shit with my playing style. I play with my fingers, I rarely play super fast tremolo picking and if I would do that, then, and only then I would use a pick. I'm not Paco De Lucia 🤣

It should be clarified also that I really don't like loose strings at all. I hate it. I have never liked 7-strings guitar with standard scale. Absolute minimum for me would be 26.5".
So I think I prefer higher tension for the lowst string, more so than what most people do. I'm just worried on how thick strings I can use with 34 or 35 inch scale. I'm fairly certain I would like to have thicker strings than you suggested, based on my experience in the store the other day.

 

[onefingersweep]

Just saw you're in Sweden. If so you should be able to order from Thomann for example.
If you don't want to spend a lot of money, I recommend looking into their Harley Benton basses. They are really solid for the money nowadays. Also in Finnland there is Jackshop which has Esh basses, some of which you can get for under 1000€ (I've actually done so just a bit over a month ago) and they are awesome metal basses.

Cool, never seen that brand before. 900€ for a bass with EMG pickup and even with a hardcase. That's pretty sweet these days.

 

[Hexer]

Cool, never seen that brand before. 900€ for a bass with EMG pickup and even with a hardcase. That's pretty sweet these days.

used to be a German brand, now they are made in Czech republic by the same place that makes the Euro Spectors.
Should you want to order from him, I recommend getting in touch with the guy via FB or wherever. He has more stock than what's shown in the online store.

Feel free to contact me if you need details about Esh models or specs. Keep in mind the ones with only 2 knobs are passive, the ones with 4 knobs are active.

 

[Hexer]

As I said I tried several basses the other day with .130 in B and they sounded like shit with my playing style. I play with my fingers, I rarely play super fast tremolo picking and if I would do that, then, and only then I would use a pick. I'm not Paco De Lucia 🤣

It should be clarified also that I really don't like loose strings at all. I hate it. I have never liked 7-strings guitar with standard scale. Absolute minimum for me would be 26.5".
So I think I prefer higher tension for the lowst string, more so than what most people do. I'm just worried on how thick strings I can use with 34 or 35 inch scale. I'm fairly certain I would like to have thicker strings than you suggested, based on my experience in the store the other day.

Ah ok. Yea, that's possible. I used to play pretty heavy strings on 7-string guitar back in the day but later got used to using much lighter ones and it has worked perfectly fine for me ever since. It's a matter of prefference though.

But yea, for bass, if you want to use heavy strings on a 4-string, you'll have to modify, so you should probably look into 5-strings (or 6 if you want that. Less models available though).

Strings up to like.... .145 are still relatively comonly available. heavier than that, you'll probably be limited in brands/types.

If you play fingerstyle and want a good attack for metal, I recommend not playing "traditional" fingerstyle but instead striking the strings more towards the body (as opposed to parallel to it) so they hit the frets with each stroke. That will give you attack in the same way it works when playing slap-style. You should set up the bass with relatively low action for that or it will take a ton of power which is bad for your stamina when playing.


If you need help with the technique or with Esh basses or whatever (no, I'm in no way affiliated with them, I just love them and own 2 myself lol), feel free to get in touch some way or other. I'm on FB, Instagram, Discord, ... and I'll try to help if I can.

 

[onefingersweep]

Is there a big difference in feel between 130 and let's say 145?

Was disappointed to find out now that one of the guitars I tried had 35" scale. It was a black headless ibanez multi-scale with roasted neck. Did not like that one at all. Nice instrument otherwise.

I found another Ibanez in a reasonable price range with 34-35.5" scale. Looks interesting. I'm pretty sure I want a really thick string. I just prefer more tension on the thick strings. Would a 165 work fine on 35.5" scale?

 

[Hexer]

Is there a big difference in feel between 130 and let's say 145?

Was disappointed to find out now that one of the guitars I tried had 35" scale. It was a black headless ibanez multi-scale with roasted neck. Did not like that one at all. Nice instrument otherwise.

I found another Ibanez in a reasonable price range with 34-35.5" scale. Looks interesting. I'm pretty sure I want a really thick string. I just prefer more tension on the thick strings. Would a 165 work fine on 35.5" scale?

can't speak from personal experience there but I'm pretty sure some people do play like that.

Yea there is a difference between a 130 or 135 and a 145 and yes, it does feel stiffer. Then again: if you play with the fingerstyle technique I described, you actually want the strings to move a bit. They need to oscilate far enough to actually bounce off the frets. this also makes quite a big difference in sound.
I recently attended a bassist meetup here in Germany and not a lot of the people there were metal players so some of them were quite fascinated when I started playing like that. It depends on what you're after of course.

Unfortunately you probably won't be able to figure this out conclusively without trying out some stuff yourself. When I started playing bass, it took me some time to find "my" strings as well and of course I was also figuring out the playing technique at the same time.

If you set up your bass for relatively low action, it can be hard to set the lowest string low enough for it to not feel much higher up than the others if you use a really thick string. that's why they make taper-wound ones. Personally, even for my .130 I like it to be tapered for smoother feel when going back and forth between it and the next string.

Basses in music stores can be setup weirdly/badly and certainly not usually with a certain playing style in mind. Usually it's more like a quick "should kinda work for most styles" kinda setup.

 

[onefingersweep]

Yes you're 100% right about that, I definitely need to try everything myself. Interesting that you mention this about the fingerstyle as well. I never knew that becasue I have never tried thicker strings than standard.

Sad thing I didn't like the setup on the Ibanez I tried, I know it was set up well because Ibanez always set their guitars up really good from factory (at least the more expensive ones) and this store is very good at maintaining their instruments.

Well, I have to pull the trigger at some point. Maybe I should just switch to using a pick instead. I just think it gives such a weak and boring sound, plus it's not cool to play bass with a pick either 😀
But maybe I have to change my approach.

 

[Hexer]

Yes you're 100% right about that, I definitely need to try everything myself. Interesting that you mention this about the fingerstyle as well. I never knew that becasue I have never tried thicker strings than standard.

Sad thing I didn't like the setup on the Ibanez I tried, I know it was set up well because Ibanez always set their guitars up really good from factory (at least the more expensive ones) and this store is very good at maintaining their instruments.

Well, I have to pull the trigger at some point. Maybe I should just switch to using a pick instead. I just think it gives such a weak and boring sound, plus it's not cool to play bass with a pick either 😀
But maybe I have to change my approach.

😅
well you CAN play with a pick and you can even combine playing with a pick with bouncing the strings off the fretboard.
For me personally I LOVE that when I play bass, I don't need a pick as an "interface" between me and the instrument, that I can just grab the instrument and go It's one of the things that makes playing bass so much fun to me.

If you're not at all sure, maybe do look into cheaper or used options and use one like that to experiment until you're more settled for something. Like a Harley Benton or a used Ibby/LTD/Jackson/whatever.
Personally I bought a used older Harley Benton for 90€ to see if I liked playing bass and would want to keep doing it. Played it a bit and very soon knew "yup, I wanna do this" and got a used Spector Legend next. Then a bit later I bought my first Esh used and fell in love with the thing.

Of course a cheap option wont be your perfect bass but there are enough decent enough options nowadays that are great bang for the buck and give you an opportunity to learn and experiment withough shelling out a lot of money right from the getgo.

 

[Crungy]

Maybe I should just switch to using a pick instead. I just think it gives such a weak and boring sound, plus it's not cool to play bass with a pick either 😀
But maybe I have to change my approach.

Nothing wrong with using a pick, you can get great and powerful sounds depending on how you shape your tone with eq, overdrive or distortion. If you're not tuning any lower than A, most 34" scale basses should be okay. I'd lean towards a 35" personally if you don't want to use a multiscale bass.

If you do want to tune lower, I can't recommend Dingwall enough. I have 4 of them and love them, I wish I tried them sooner!

I've played bass for over 25 years and adjusting to 37" multiscale took hardly any time. Playing above the 12th fret on a 5 string multiscale was weird at first but feels normal now.

 

[onefingersweep]

That's true, been thinking about that many times with guitars.

Is the Yamaha basses in the 4-600 range any good? They look nice at least.

I think I could be happy with a cheaper bass permanently actually. Not super cheap but I could probably find one for under 1000 that is good enough for me. What bothers me is that I don't want to change pickups. I've changed so many pickups in my life and one day a few years ago I said to myself that I would never ever do it again. So it would be nice to find a bass with atleast good pickups.

 

[Hexer]

Nothing wrong with using a pick, you can get great and powerful sounds depending on how you shape your tone with eq, overdrive or distortion. If you're not tuning any lower than A, most 34" scale basses should be okay. I'd lean towards a 35" personally if you don't want to use a multiscale bass.

If you do want to tune lower, I can't recommend Dingwall enough. I have 4 of them and love them, I wish I tried them sooner!

I've played bass for over 25 years and adjusting to 37" multiscale took hardly any time. Playing above the 12th fret on a 5 string multiscale was weird at first but feels normal now.

on that meeting I mentioned, there was a guy who had started building basses himself and he actually had a homemade one that was more or less a Dingwall copy. 37.3" on the low side. I only had time for a quick test without an amp but had no problems playing it really. Nice instrument!

@onefingersweep None of the basses I've owned so far (wich were 4 overall) have been over 1000€ (though the new Esh Various would have been if I ordered it here in Germany) and they worked great for what they were respectively.
Right now, my 2 Eshs don't really leave anything to be desired for me and they both were in the 900€ range. The used Spector Legend (which is their passive pickups chinese line) was somewhere around 600€. I just noticed as soon as I got the Esh that I imensely preffer active EMGs to their passive ones. That's part of why I let the Spector go again (their better models come with actives, too though).

For 1000€ you could potentially also find a used Warwick with some searching. Can't tell you a whole lot about those except that everyone says you'll want to NOT get one of their "Rockbass" line (that's the cheaper chinese ones). Instead you want one of the made in Germany ones that have a wenge or ovangkol neck and those brass frets. That seems to be a big part of what makes Warwicks great. I got to try out a few at the meetup, even a custom shop one, and yes, they did feel pretty damn fine.

 

[onefingersweep]

I actually think I might prefer active pickups for bass. I hate EMG's and all other actives for guitars. But when I put together my Warmoth, which is now my only guitar I actually installed the EMG AB, just for fun. I don't have much use for it when playing guitar lines, just sometimes if I want to scare the shit out of a vintage amp.

Anyways, when I have tried to play some bass lines with the guitar I definitely prefer having the AB on. So it might be that I actually prefer active electronics for bass. I hope so because it would make it easier to find a bass to buy.

Always had huge problems finding good guitars to buy becasue of my hate for EMG's. Especially in the past when basically EVERY 7-string had those huge soapbar sized garbage in them from the factory. Even took a good while before other companies who make passive pickups even started to offer pickups in that size.

 

[Hexer]

I actually think I might prefer active pickups for bass. I hate EMG's and all other actives for guitars. But when I put together my Warmoth, which is now my only guitar I actually installed the EMG AB, just for fun. I don't have much use for it when playing guitar lines, just sometimes if I want to scare the shit out of a vintage amp.

Anyways, when I have tried to play some bass lines with the guitar I definitely prefer having the AB on. So it might be that I actually prefer active electronics for bass. I hope so because it would make it easier to find a bass to buy.

Always had huge problems finding good guitars to buy becasue of my hate for EMG's. Especially in the past when basically EVERY 7-string had those huge soapbar sized garbage in them from the factory. Even took a good while before other companies who make passive pickups even started to offer pickups in that size.

😅 I also used to be a passive pickups guy for guitar. I have a custom 7-string V that has Dimarzio X2N-7 and AN7 (Check Guitar of the Month Febuary 2008) but for bass, I all for actives right now and I totally like the EMGs in my 2 basses (one has dual singlecoils, the other has a single MM-style humbucker that I can split)

 

[Crungy]

I agree with @Hexer on used German made Warwicks, they're pretty awesome. Their stock active electronics are great.

Sometimes the neck profiles can be a bit large but I generally found even the large necks easy to play. I'd recommend the Thumb and Corvette models to start.

 

[CanserDYI]

I have a .145 on my 34" shitbass tuned AEAD and it is perfectly usable for A0.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Check this, Serves all of my needs and I play with my fingers also.

https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/meet-“pearl”.361948/