It ain’t cheap but the smart new finishes, the player-friendly amendments (improvements?) to an all-time classic and the tones are worth it. The Aerodyne Special, in Dolphin Gray or California Blue, is a pared-down, minimalist triumph. Obviously, it’s unlikely to appeal to traditionalists, which is why the new pups, though vintage-voiced, are clearly capable of a contemporary growl and the Babicz Z-series bridge is a distinctly modern touch.
Explore our wide variety of bass guitar, including the popular RBX374 and the lightweight RBXA2 models in the RBX Series. In standard tuning, this is a low B, and will allow you to explore a deeper, darker tonality. The five-string bass is still fairly mainstream and found in many styles of music, as it’s capable of everything a four string can do, and then some. The onboard preamp of active basses can compress your tone slightly – great for more aggressive styles of music such as metal, or hard rock – whereas those dynamics remain up for grabs on a passive bass. Well the six-string format makes possible all kinds of progressive and outré jazz-funk styles, and the EMG 45Hz humbucker pairing and comprehensive 3-band EQ let you dial in pretty much whatever you want. Scoop the mids for some effervescent slap, or boost them and the treble for some really up-front, bass-as-a-lead instrument tones.
There are many factors to consider, especially if you’re looking for a beginner bass guitar to start your bass playing journey on. Here are some of the most important things you’ll need to decide on, before you go looking for your brand new bass guitar. People often talk about the Warwick growl and, really, it is officially a thing and a joy to behold. There’s an upfront, pugnacious quality to the active MEC J-Style pickups that, should you turn it up loud enough, will deliver all the thunder you need for rock settings. As with all of the designs that Leo Fender had a hand in, there is an understated brilliance and a sense of practicality – and it’s a bolt-on construction, too. Now, the StingRay does not come cheap but that outlay goes into the fine details; the stainless steel frets, the compensated nut, the finish, the wood choice, and the pickups and electronics.
We’ve listed the best bass guitars in price order to make it a bit easier to find the right one for your budget. Generally, basses are used as rhythm instruments to fill in the low end of an arrangement. Some bassists are the centerpiece of their band and use effects and unique techniques to make them stand out. Others are happy to sit back and provide the backbone for their rhythm section. Providing a more “”Gibson-scale”” instrument, rather than the 34-inch Jazz and Precision, Fender produced the Mustang Bass, a 30-inch scale-length instrument.
The bass has always been an unsung hero in popular music, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t play a crucial note. With any of the top quality basses available here, you’ll have no trouble keeping the band in the groove and having them sound tighter than ever before. Every guitarguitar store has a large bass department with a variety of bass guitars available, and our Glasgow store even has an entire floor dedicated to all things bass.
With the explosion in popularity of rock music in the 1960s, many more manufacturers began making electric basses, including Yamaha, Teisco and Guyatone. From acoustic to bass, Yamaha’s entire range of guitars delivers revolutionary music playing experience to every guitarist. Bass guitars are the backbone of any rock, pop, or jazz music, and therefore, Yamaha’s high-quality bass guitars can quickly become the bedrock of your music. The 1980’s saw Ned Steinberger develop the headless bass and pioneer further use of modern high-tech materials in guitar construction. It was also the birth of new brands like Warwick, Spector, Fodera and many others who pushed forward the evolution of the bass guitar, expanding the choices in body styles, pickups and electronics. The innovation has never stopped since and bass design keeps pushing toward a future and it’s all about that bass.
Alembic also pioneered the use of onboard electronics for pre-amplification and equalization. 1976 saw the UK company Wal begin production of their own range of active basses. In 1974 Music Man Instruments, founded by Tom Walker, Forrest White and Leo Fender, introduced the StingRay, the first widely produced bass with active electronics built into the instrument. Basses with active electronics can include a preamplifier and knobs for boosting and cutting the low and high frequencies. In need of value at lower prices for your musical instruments, you need to visit the right store.
Moreover, the bass guitars with M3 pickup bass are integrated with an essential thumb-rest and hum-canceling circuit that ensures incomparable high definition noise-free performance. Yamaha bass guitars models come with state-of-the-art H5 and M3 pickups that are exclusively designed to give a clean and powerful output whenever you pick the strings. The active bass has an onboard preamp, typically powered by a 9V or 18V battery. This preamp boosts the pickup’s signal and the bass’s EQ can be used to cut or boost frequencies. The controls on a passive bass can only attenuate the master tone and volume of the instrument, whereas on an active bass you can have a little more control over your tones with a 2- or 3-band EQ. You’ll first need to decide whether you want a long or short scale bass guitar.
The bass guitar is still a showpiece of how new technologies find their way into instrument design. Every year, there’s some new idea, some clever twist on a previous concept that finds its way into the world of basses, and you’ll always find it here, at Musician’s Friend. Bass players have it pretty sweet right now, with more high-quality offerings than ever before – making it the perfect time to pick up one of the best bass guitars.
While long a staple of the symphony orchestra, in the early 20th century, it began to be used in popular music, most notably replacing the tuba in the new musical style of jazz. If five strings aren’t enough, then six-string basses, in standard tuning, will provide one extra low string and one high string, in the form of a low B and high C. Compared to a four or five string bass, the available selection of six-strings is much less – and is generally focused in the high-end category.
