[Josh and Ben jamming]
Hey, I'm Josh for Bass Buzz,
and this is it - the final showdown.
We took a list of every single
sub-$500 bass we could find,
came out to about 200 basses,
whittled, whittled, whittled
down to this list of seven.
We've taken your through a review of each
of the seven basses with me
and two other pro bass players
who I had blindfolded
playing these basses,
and now we've all picked two favorites.
We're going to do a shootout,
and see which ones we pick
and let you know which
beginner bass you should buy.
[BassBuzz theme]
BEN: So, top two.
Top two basses.
I like them both.
I don't think you can go
wrong with either of these,
but we're going to pick a winner here.
Great tone.
Really good looking bass.
Kind of an old standby, I mean,
if you love the sound and
the look of the jazz bass
you're going to get
that and more with this.
I really dig the punch in this.
Really tough decision, man.
Let's try the Yamaha.
I'd have to say
dynamically the Yamaha bass
offers a lot more from the pickups.
You can get multiple sounds
that work for multiple styles,
Which is very cool.
I'm going to say the winner
is the TRBX304 Yamaha.
Just all around the feel
and the sound of this bass
is just far ahead of any
of the other competition.
I can get over the modern metallic look,
given the sound and the
playability of this,
but I don't think you'd lose either way.
You're going to have both great basses.
- [Together] One, two, three, four.
[amazing all-bass power pop]
[the jolly men laugh raucously]
GIO: So these are the two.
These are the two that I
think I like the best--
the Fender Jaguar and the Yamaha TRBX304.
It's just a symbol up
there, you don't know.
Yamaha versus Squier.
Let's swap them out.
This would be my pick.
JOSH: Bum, badabum bum
bum bum! [so helpful]
[bass chords]
GIO: I like the feel of it,
and again, I might be biased
because this is the same type
of bass that I play.
I play the Japanese made Fender Jaguar
and it's one of the basses that I like.
The string tension, the way
that the strings just sit
on this bass just feels like
it responds really well,
nice and punchy and even when
I play it with the volume off
it still has a lot of
tone and it still plays
the way that I want it to play.
So it feels like a more solid instrument.
Also I really like the vibe of this bass.
It has a great shape.
[laughs]
So, that needs to be considered.
In the Yamaha, I really like
the tonal options on it,
but there's something about
the string tension on it,
there's something about
the way that the neck sits
that I don't like as much.
- Yeah.
- Although, the electronics
there are much more balanced.
This still has the super
danger bass boost knob
that I think is just wrong.
I don't think it should be there.
So, disconnect that and you
blast it through your amp
and you're in good shape.
JOSH: So, all of our top twos
ended up being very similar.
Ben had the Yamaha and the
Squier J-Bass in his top two
just like I do,
and Gio has the Yamaha
on his top two as well.
He had the Jaguar in
instead of the J-Bass.
So, Ben's favorite was the Yamaha.
Gio's favorite was the Jaguar.
Let's see where I end up.
I'm going to noodle around a little bit,
share some of my thoughts.
Let's pick a winner.
- All right, let me try the J Bass out.
All right, it's tough to pick
a winner between these two.
They both have some
characteristics that are unique
between the two of them.
The jazz bass just has
those vintage sounds.
It's just a nice, low-end,
passive instrument.
It's got good neck pickup sounds.
It's got decent bridge pickup sounds
that could be a little bit better,
but like I said in the J bass video,
I did dial that in a little bit
by adjusting the pickup height.
All that said, the Yamaha
has some distinct advantages
of its own; the electronics
are just a lot more versatile.
Let me go ahead and pick that up.
You've just got a higher
quality pickup in this thing
than we saw anywhere else.
Again, because there's a
significant price difference
between these two.
But you got dual humbuckers,
you've got a lot more options
with the active EQ,
and the 24 fret neck and just better,
a slimmer neck overall.
It's more... this bass is
actually more my style,
in terms of how it plays and
the tones you can get out of it
but I think that for me,
if I had to pick between
the two basses, being a
professional bass player
and already having the basses I have,
I would go for the Squier
Vintage Modified Jazz Bass
as my winner.
I want to qualify that answer though,
because I play a bass
that's much more like this,
the Peavey Cirrus that you
see in most of my videos.
It's got two humbucker pickups,
it's got active EQ on
board a 24 fret neck,
nice slim neck profile,
a lot of characteristics
that this Yamaha has.
It's just a better version of this,
because it's a more expensive bass.
So, for me, there's really
no need for me to have this
in my arsenal, because I
already have the Cirrus.
However, I don't have
a jazz bass currently,
and this would be a
totally fun bass for me
to whip out on the occasional funk gig
when I get around to doing that.
So if I had to pick a bass
that I would actually own
at this point in my life,
I would go for the J bass.
So, we started with three
bass players; me, Ben, and Gio
and we ended with three different winners.
Not that surprising,
actually, because playing bass
is such an individual,
subjective thing in many ways.
And so, if you can get
your hands on an instrument
before making a first decision
that's really the best thing.
However, you've heard the basses,
you've heard a lot about them,
and now I'm going to give
you my recommendation.
So, for my recommendations,
I'm going to drop the Jaguar
out of the running, because I
have some really big concerns
about that active bass boost.
I don't want it getting
in the wrong hands,
and I don't want it screwing
up your first gig, okay?
So because the electronics
in this are kind of weak
and some other little issues,
I'm not going to recommend that one
over the other great options we have here.
So, if you're looking for a modern bass,
you want to play a lot of different styles
and have some tonal versatility,
maybe you're not sure
what kind of music you want to play yet,
you like some rock, you like some funk,
you like some jazz, you're
all over the place like me,
I would say go for the Yamaha TRBX304.
It's a great bass, it's
got a lot to offer.
It's got a 24 fret neck which is awesome,
the electronics are by far a notch above
everything else we looked at quality wise,
and I love this bass.
I think there's a couple of
improvements they could've made
but it's definitely worth your money
if you can spend $350 on a bass.
And, yeah, I like it as
a modern, versatile pick.
If you have slightly more limited tastes
and you really just like
those old school bass sounds
go for the Squier Vintage
Modified Jazz Bass for sure.
I mean, first of all,
it just looks awesome.
It's a gorgeous bass.
I personally do not like the
look of the Yamaha that much.
But that's just me.
It might work great if
you're in a metal band
or something like that, I think.
But this, I think Fender
just did a great job
with this Squier model jazz bass.
Yes, it has the typical Fender issues;
the big fat neck block, not enough frets,
bad upper fret access,
but it just sounds good.
It's just got a good jazz bass sound.
I like that it's active.
There's no gimmicky bass boost that sucks
like there is on the Jaguar,
and I think this is a great bass
if you like the jazz bass sound,
then you should totally get this bass.
If you're on a budget and
even spending the money
for the jazz bass or the
Yamaha is too much for you,
go for the Cort Action.
It is available in other finishes
besides the sparkly pink,
but why would you want them,
'cause this is amazing!
Ben and Gio and I were all
really impressed with this bass.
It's got a 24 fret neck for $200.
I don't know where else you can find that.
It's got passive
electronics, which is great
at this price point because
the only active electronics
you can get on a $200 bass
are those crappy bass boosts
that are just big and muddy
and don't improve the sound of it at all.
So, the Cort Action, I think, is...
I can't imagine a better
$200 bass brand new.
So this is the budget buy for sure,
and then the Yamaha for the modern sound,
and the Fender for the vintage sound.
Thank you so much for watching;
I really hope that this
review series brought you
some clarity about what your options are,
and maybe you're feeling ready to make
your first bass purchase.
Do it!
Buy that bass, start rocking today.
It's really fun, and
make sure to follow us
at the BassBuzz.com,
for all the latest
lessons and gear reviews
and all that good stuff.
Peace out.
