How to pick your first Bass Guitar and Amp
Before I start these opinions are mine alone and based on a Bass/Amp budget of $600-$1000.00 Canadian.
Question: How many times do we see new players asking for advice regarding Bass and Amp purchases?
Here is what I think.
Regarding the Bass:
The answer is to pick the Bass that you want and not even consider
anything else because anything else will only be a compromise and that
can be destructive to your learning path and, in my experience
expensive, because in the end you will purchase the one you really
wanted and will either sell off the compromise, at a loss in money, or
the compromise will end up in the closet forgotten.
So lets assume we walk into a music store and there are three Basses you like.
Try each one out and see how they feel to you.
Of the three one will appeal more to you than the other two. These two
would be the compromises. By picking the one you really want you will
look forward to practicing and the truth is you will be spending a lot
of time with it when learning to play. If you choose a compromise you
will always be thinking of the one you liked the best and in the end you
will end up purchasing it anyways, or just give up, and that is sad.
When you have decided which Bass you would like do some research on it see what others have to say about it.
I often compare buying an instrument to dating. If you have a choice of three girls to take to the senior prom there is probably one that you would prefer of the three. Why settle for a compromise, unless you have to.
Selecting
a Bass is so personal to the individual purchasing and nobody can know
what preferences you may have and so they cannot really tell you which
bass to buy.
I own several 6 string guitars, seven to be exact acquired over the last
50 years, and two ukuleles. I have never felt the need to trade or get
rid of any of them and still play all of them on occasion.
As far as a bass amp is concerned there are a few things to consider:
1 - Are you only interested in a practice amp? If so 40 watts or less
will do the job for you. Possibly a headphone amp is all you need. Or,
if running short of money because you spent it all on the Bass you
preferred you could always just purchase an audio interface and play
through a DAW on your computer.
2 - Speaker size is a consideration. For Bass I would say that a 10"
speaker would be the lowest compromise and a 12" the preferred size. You
need to move that air.
3 - If you are interested in playing with others or playing small venues
a 100 Watt amp would probably more than meet your needs. For stage gigs
you will need at least a 200 Watt amp, which would be a compromise, or
preferably a 500 Watt Head/Cabinet amp.
So which Bass and amp should a beginning Bass player purchase?
Buy the Bass you want and a practice bass amp with at least a 10"
speaker and 25 Watts of power. Never Never use an amp designed for
electric guitars. They cannot reproduce the low frequency sound/tone of a
Bass faithfully and the lower frequencies will tear the hell out of the
speaker/s.
You should also check out the best beginner Bass and Amp reviews that Josh did a few years ago here on the BassBuzz site.
Here is a link: https://www.bassbuzz.com/gear
Also:
The Beginner to Badass course is the best Bass learning resource I have
managed to find after many weeks of checking out the other options
available.
Good Luck and Happy Practicing.
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