buying a bass

Well I've been offered the spot as Bassist for my mate who's starting a band :D I spent most of today round his sorting out a songs bass and rhythm (I play both more then lead guitar), so instead of borrowing his for ever thought I'd buy one.

Tanglewood Rebel 4K(just like this one, same colour) for £69 on its own, about £100 with a 20watt Haiett(spelling?) bass amp, soft case, cable and picks.

Hows that sound for a starting bass? My mate has the same and it is really comfortable to play, his cost him £110 with all the gear but the bass was £90 alone when he got it (about 2 years ago).

Seems decent to me, but I would look at Peavey and Ibanez basses before making your decision.

Ok, as far a basses go there are some things you will need to consider. One is bass is REALLY EXPENSIVE. Mainly because you need more to do the same on guitar. In terms of amps, you will need a minimum of 450 watts (thats solid state btw) to be heard over live drums. And then with the basses themselves, I dont know what you play, so I wouldnt know what to suggest. High end ibanez are ok for most styles ($500+ american). I play through a Spector, and a Warwick Corvette personally, but I play progressive metal. What kind of stuff do you play? What is your budget? With that info, I can hope to help you.

My bassist has a few Ibanex basses, and since two other people mentioned them I'm going to say they're pretty decent. It seems pretty good to me, but I'm no bass expert.

I play bass in 2 bands and I say you should go for an Ibanez Soundgear they're affordable and incredibly high quality

True that, I play an Ibanez GSR205. It plays pretty well, in my opinion.
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Ibanez-GSR205FM-5-String-Bass-Guitar-517465-i1392777.gc

Not the model I have, but if this one plays like mine, I would get this one for the looks as well.

Budget: up to £200 as it's all the cash I got but I don't want to spend it all.

Music type: funk,metal. With some reggae/psychedelic influences.

The Bass amp I'll be getting will just be for doing practice at home, stage wise we'll have access to 500Watt amps. I also played the bass for about 6hours straight yesterday at my mates, and it was extremely comfortable and nice to play for a £90 bass..

seriously go for the soundgear you can get it for $250 canadian which I think would be like 100 euro's somewhere in there

If your mate's bass is ok then steal his, or failing that, buy it. the RRP is £229 new, so £100 including amp etc is very reasonable. i would ask if you could try it out though, check all the electronics are working etc. you don't want to buy a bass and find that the pickups don't work any more.

@blackhole: Your bang on the money there mate =D I'm going to borrow his until I get my own bass, but he also needs it for school at times (his doing GCSE music, then onto music in college), I'm a try the bass of course before I buy it, but I also want to see how much it'd be to order in the same bass but in Mahogany instead of honey, as we believe it's that cheap because they order to many and aren't able to sell them quick enough.

Yes, the most important thing is that you try the bass and you like the way it sounds. Everyone is scared of purchacing anything and not getting your moneys worth. And even with cheap instruments, you can buy a $50 bass and its realy worth $15. Also I stay away from any set deals where you get a bass, amp and whatever else in the same package. Usually all the parts are terrible in one way or another.

Also seeing as you are going to be playing metal, as a fellow metal bassist, you will want to have a bass that is very mid heavy so you can be heard in the mix. Otherwise you could play as loud as you want and you will be completly inaudable.

Hope this helps =D

Well, the EQ qualities come more from the amp... and you'll have a mid setting anyway so it won't matter as much about the basses natural boosts or cuts in frequancies.

Hmm, well I'll be attempting to go down this weekend, try the bass out and such, maybe a few of the other basses and such.
The one I'm after is the same as my bands Rhythm guitarist's and it is real comfortable and nice to play on, the amp you get isn't that amazing but it has more tone control then my guitar amp (which lacks mid,treble and bass controls. I also don't want to run the bass through encase of damages).
When we go do band practice,live shows and recording we'll have access to better amps due to knowing people =D so no worries there.

I know what you mean about the prices there as well my £60 Squire Stratocaster is a lot better then a lot of other peoples guitars in school which range from £120-600, sounds like bull but they all agree and such, my bands Rhythm guitarist will be using my Squire for everything.

I'll mix with the amp and controls on the bass to get the sound right most probably if the tone doesn't fit, any suggestions for a good bass to look into (in the £100-£200 range would be best £300 at the maximum) would help. My playing style is quite reminiscent of Rage Against The Machine, specially in songs like 'Killing in the name off' or 'Freedom'.