Bass guitar help ???

Question

I have been playing for a year and I have A squier and I hate it and I want to buy a new good bass I'm in a band also highest I'll pay is $400

Answer 1

You won't get much for $400.  Good luck with that.

Answer 2

Go with a Fender jazz or precision, you may have to pay a bit more though...

May I ask why you hate the Squier?

Answer 3

I've been playing out for 26 years, predominantly as a bass player. You'll occasionally find values in that price range, but it requires some detective work. There's Craig's List, eBay, etc... local pawn shops/consignment shops. To find the quality you're after in that range, you're probably looking for something used.

Or play everything in the local music store in your price range. My set-up guy says he often finds top-end components in entry-level priced guitars when his students bring them in. Reason being, a lot of the stuff is built in places where shipments of supplies can be erratic, and the factory will often use whatever they have on hand to keep on production schedule. My guy says he's seen a LOT of Mexi-Strats with the SRV model hardware under the cavity cover. The factory ran out of the c**p they usually slap in there, and put the top-end stuff in to stay on schedule!

So play everything, and if one feels/sounds better than everything else, it may be one of these gems.

Or, you can order a B4 Bolt kit from Carvin. They're comfortably in your price range, and you assemble it and paint it up yourself. Need to be able to handle a soldering iron for this. But I've ordered three custom shop guitars and basses from Carvin and been happy each time. My main bass right now is a Carvin BB-70.

Hope one of these works for you! Keep on groovin'