hi my name's Johnny and today we are doing something a little bit different and having a go at answering a question that somebody asked me recently now as well as devilishly handsome good looks one thing that us bass players all have in common we were all beginners one time we all started somewhere and a majority of you out there probably started out on awful awful bases because there was no one out there telling you don't buy that base no no don't buy that base it might be pretty but don't you buy that base now fortunately
for anybody that's watching this video that has never played a bass before never owned their own base before luckily for you there are so many good affordable options on the market today so many bases out there to choose from and it can be really hard sometimes now there are loads of lists and videos out there showing what bases you should buy or the best bases for beginners but there's not many telling you what you shouldn't get so that's what I thought I would do for this video today now of course before before we go anywhere
I have to say that this is just my opinion there might be some bases that I mentioned here that you had as a first base or you own now an absolutely love a lot of this is subjective so don't take it too much to heart these are just my recommendations and what my experience is and the kind of advice that I would pass on to any beginners out there and also I must must just remind everyone to like this video and hit that subscribe button for more bass content in no particular order we're going to
start things off with the Hoffner violin bases brand new these are typically between 250 to 300 pounds for the basic models and these bases are okay bases they do just kind of have that sound that doesn't really fit in every mix compared to something like a Precision base where it's limited in terms of capability or versatility but that can that sound can be applied to so many genres and unless you're a Paul McCartney Beatles fanatic I wouldn't recommend getting a violin bass as your first next up we have I annoy a lot of people here
the Epiphone s g now I'm primarily going to talk about the eb1 which is their single pickup SG base the most affordable in their SG range coming in at around 200 pounds it's a bit like Marmite you're either going to love these or you're going to hate them for me I think Epiphone SGS just sound so muted and dull and boring and just like it's like you're just getting a with that massive humbucker in the neck position you're not going to get that really nice Clarity or note definition that you want and you want to
be able to hear that if you're starting out as a beginner you really need to be listening to what it is you are playing so note definition and Clarity is super important to that you can hear all the things that you're messing up on and you can hear all the things that you're not playing correctly because that is how you then improve now I might be exaggerating a little bit you can still hear the notes on when it's wrong but I just think some of those nuances and some of the things that you want to
improve in your playing you might not pick up so much with one of those bases now Epiphone if you're watching this I'm really sorry because the next one I wouldn't recommend getting as a first time player is the Epiphone Thunderbird the standard Epiphone Thunderbird comes in around 350 pounds I really really love Thunderbirds I think they sound really nice and they've just got such an awesome vibe to them but they're just not good for beginners these bases go on forever the neck is so long Thunderbirds Are renowned for their terrible neck dive and I just
think that adds an extra barrier to the playability of these which you don't want to hinder your progression when you're just starting out number four is the Ibanez tmb 100 the Ibanez Talman bases are really really cool alternatives to your Fender like jaguar offset style bases without PJ configuration I've owned a few myself with varying degrees of success the tmb-100 is their most affordable full-scale length Talman base costing just 260 pounds and these bases play really really well however at this affordable price something's got to give and in this case it is the preamp this
base has an active preamp which means it has to take a 9 volt battery in the back to Power the on-board equalization that you have built set you've got a bass boost and a treble boost and whilst this can be great for adding a little bit more flavor or tweakability to your sound this bass just doesn't hold up in that department the preamp is super hot that you find yourself backing it off all the time I really wish for this base that they scratched the active preamp and focus the money from that on giving you
some better pickups okay next up is a brand that as a beginner you're probably gonna see around quite a lot and that is sire cross their price range sire offer fantastic bases however I don't think I would recommend the M series for this one I'm going to be talking about The Sire M2 which is their humbucking base it's a bit more of a curvy untraditional almost ibanez-esque shape coming in at just 300 pounds the M series sound and play fantastically well however they do come with really complicated on-board preamps I've owned one of these bases
not as a beginner I just found that control system overwhelming and there's too much going on I always recommend to beginners to get something simple not something that when you look down you're going to be confused about that is when you yourself are still trying to get the hang of playing the thing it's just an added stress something more to understand that distracts you from the important thing and that is playing I'm not saying that these bases aren't good they really are very good but I just don't think these should be marketed at beginners now
if you watch this channel you'll know that I mainly focus on reviewing affordable bases and I really like keeping up to date with the latest releases so I was super excited for this next space when it was released and again if you've watched this channel before you'll know what I'm about to say about the Squire contemporary series P bass there are a lot of people out there this base is gonna be their jam oh my god with the roasted Maple neck matching head stops the incredible colors the unique pickup configuration so cool looking at the
concept of them is amazing but they just suck let me clarify I think the bases are fine they play well and they sound good but they're just inconsistent I have had three of these bases two of which turned up not working and the third was damaged in transit it came directly from Fender and yeah maybe the packaging of the squires isn't so good on these ones uh yeah I I've just had a bad experience so I can never say that I recommend these bases or I'd say go and play them in a shop first because
the quality control is questionable they come in at around 350 to 400 pounds and if you're looking to part ways with that amount of money as a beginner I'd really think carefully about how you go about buying one of these bases now a lot of people now pukes now some people watching this video might be guitar players that's fine it's often really handy for guitar players to often have a Bass to hand as well especially around recording at home and looking for an affordable option is of course really important when you just want to lay
something down and don't want anything too high-end however there is a base out there that kind of crosses between the two worlds and that is the base six these bases look more like guitars but have bass in the name sound more like basses can be played like a guitar it could be playing like a bass famously using the Beatles and more Progressive heavier bands as well they're a really good alternative to a guitar that can give you that thick low end because they they essentially guitars but tuned an octave lower but they are considered as
bass guitars because of that and you might think that as a guitar player oh that's going to help me practice bass or get into the bass because it's more like a guitar but I personally treat these as separate kind of instruments because depending on how you use them they're going to be a bit different and if you want a bass get a bass Squire classic Vibe Basics is around 350 to 400 pounds and I think that's an excellent deal for what you're getting it's a really unique instrument if you're a good beginner player or guitar
player thinking you might transition to Bass this way I can't say I'd recommend that just get a bass so I've spoken about some specific basses in there now I want to talk a bit more about generically what things I would recommend avoiding when you're looking at picking up your first base I'm going to start off talking about acoustic bases a lot of guitar players out there normally start out playing an acoustic guitar now acoustic bases are far less common in the acoustic market and you don't often start out playing one of those you might think
that you do that and that's fine if that's the way that you want to do it do it or a playability point of view I can't say I'd recommend it though because acoustic basses play a bit differently and sound sound and respond a bit differently to an electric base of Will and if you want to primarily focus on playing electric bass and and want to play like rock and metal bands or do slap bass acoustic bass is just um built for that and so I can't recommend them so while you might think they'd be good
for beginners like they are for guitarists nah I mentioned a little bit before when talking about The Sire about Active Electronics and personally I just think active bases are things that you should avoid as a beginner passive bases are a bit more reliable there's less to go wrong there's less coloring your sound there's less to think about you just want to be concentrating on playing and getting and understanding the fundamentals of the bass without worrying about a preamp and something else in the middle that's coloring your tone a lot of the money that goes into
the production of affordable bases then kind of gets sacrificed in certain areas especially when it comes to your Hardware so your tuning pegs at the top the materials that are used pickaxe themselves the money then tends to go into the preamp a bit more and I just don't think that that's worth it you're better off getting a base that costs the same amount so that that money can be better spent on other items on the base now I'm going to finish up by talking about five string bases I don't think they're good for beginners I've
streamed cases are inherently just more difficult to play The Wider fretboard sometimes slightly smaller string spacing just adds another barrier to learning and that's the last thing you need when you're starting out now if you really want one you can then progress onto a five string but for beginners I think just stick to four don't over complicate it so if you've got a base in mind and would like some advice leave a comment down below try my best to give you as much guidance as I can bearing in mind that I haven't played every base
in the world maybe one day though if you hit subscribe as well as videos like this I mainly focus on reviewing affordable bases here on YouTube and also host a base podcast so make sure you go and check out another video once again thank you so much for watching I'll see you next time [Music]
