The Five Best Bass Guitars Under $500 of 2019
Any bass guitarist will appreciate how much of a difficult decision it can be to select the best bass guitar for you. This decision becomes infinitely more difficult when having to decide this purchase on a tighter budget.
Top quality instruments come with a top-quality price tag. However, there are a good number of top-quality instruments on the market in 2019 that won’t break the bank, have a great sound, and come with all the frills and trims as well.
Below is a list of five of the best bass guitars around at the minute reviewed and discussed.
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Traveler Guitar TB-4P Sunburst Travel Electric Bass Guitar
Product Details
The Traveler Guitar TB-4P Sunburst Travel Electric Bass Guitar, is as the name of the product suggests, a really great bass guitar for the travelers out there. As a musician, you will appreciate that traveling around with your instrument is not always the easiest of tasks, especially if you have a big case as well. This bass guitar has taken all of those needs and put them at the forefront of its essence. It is light, at just 33.1 lbs. and compact as well at only 45 x 21 x 7 inches big.
Key Features
- Headphone Amp Built In
- Aux Connection
- Compact
- Accessories
- Easy to Tune
Why We Like It
It comes with picks, a storage bag and all your strings (of course)! Other useful features are the headphone amp and aux connections, which are a vital part when playing live or recording. It has a great sound, and great reviews as well and is definitely a travel-worthy companion.
Schecter Stiletto Stealth – 4 – SBK
Product Details
This is a beautifully designed, affordable bass guitar with all the strings and design you could possibly desire out of your instrument. It has a classic, beautiful sound and comes extremely well reviewed, which only adds testimony to how good of a product it is. It is definitely one for the classic player, with a beautiful design made from classic instrumental wood such as maple and rosewood. Though it doesn’t come with some of the accessories, as other bass guitars often do, they are easily purchasable.
Key Features
- Stunning Design
- Strong and Sturdy
- Black
- Maple
- Rosewood
Why We Like it
This is a beautiful bass guitar that is easy to tune and easy to maintain. It requires very little cleaning apart from the usual love and affection you would pay to your instrument.
Yamaha 4 String Bass Guitar
Product Details
Yamaha is a well trusted and well-known brand of instrument makers that have been around for years. This is a good quality, fairly priced high standard bass guitar made by Yamaha. It emits a great quality of sound and is lightweight enough that you won’t get tired while playing it. The bass even has an EQ switch so that you can play on five different EQ settings resulting in a truly bespoke and versatile sound.
Key Features
- Lightweight
- Maple
- Rosewood
- Trusted Brand
- Great Reviews
Why We Like it
There is very little not to like about this bass guitar. It is made from substantial and durable high-quality materials and produces a great sound while maintaining the right tones.
Orange O-Bass-4-String Electric Bass Guitar
Product Details
The Orange O-Bass-4-String Electric bass guitar is quite a recent model. Though it is a modern addition to the bass guitar world, the creator has taken care to ensure it has a vintage and classic design. It is made from top quality materials and has a long, substantial maple wood neck to create a classic bass sound. It definitely has its own, unique sound.
Key Features
- Lightweight
- Travels Well
- Great Reviews
- Vintage Look
- Maple Neck
Why We Like it
It is such a great price for such amazing features and a beautiful sound to go along with them. It has all the perks of modern knowledge with a classic, vintage look.
Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass
Product Details
Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass is a medium-sized, bass guitar with retro vibes while maintaining modern features. It has a really nice and mellow sound which resonates well and doesn’t take a lot of coaxing. This bass guitar would probably not suit a beginner as it is made for experienced hands who know how to manipulate frets with ease.
Key Features
- Lightweight
- High Quality
- Low Maintenance
- Great Reviews
- Retro Look
Why We Like it
This bass guitar is an affordable luxury that once having purchased will bring you musical joy effortlessly and whenever you need it.
Buyer’s Guide
Those are just a small selection of the good offerings out there in the bass guitar world. However, there is still the matter of what you actually want from your guitar. Below are some guidelines that you might want to take into consideration while browsing:
Purpose
What are you going to use your bass guitar for? Are you a heavy musician in a band with a gig every other night? Or do you play in your spare time a few times a month? Not that there’s any difference in how much of a musician you are, but you will have different requirements.
Band members are often looking for a particular ‘sound,’ and as with all instruments, different types of bass guitar offer different types of sound. You need to try before you buy and make sure that you have sampled a good selection of different neck lengths, string numbers and fret sizes to ensure that the bass guitar will provide you with the sound that you want.
Bass Necks
The neck of the bass guitar is one of the most important parts of the whole instrument. Why? Because it has the key parts of the guitar attached to it. With a flimsy neck, comes a flimsy bass guitar.
- a) The Headstock: In other words, the top of the neck where you will find the tuning pegs. Not only this but it is the integrity of the entire sound. If it doesn’t match up to the rest of the bass guitar, then the sound will be off, and you will know about it.
- b) The Fretboard: Another key part of the bass guitar and where most of the action happens. It needs to be strong and arched for the optimum sound. Unless you are a true bass master, in which case you may be looking for a fretless bass.
- C) The Truss Rod: This is the stability behind the neck and keeps it in place and good shape. If the neck becomes deformed, the whole instrument becomes useless.
Maplewood is one of the most common materials for the guitar neck to be made from. It is strong but allows for good resonation. It is fully capable of holding the strings in place so that you don’t lose string function and have to tune them repeatedly. Though of course, all bass guitars will require tuning from time to time.
Body Type
There are a few standard types of bass body.
1) Solid body: This is the most common that you will find in the world of bass guitars. All it means is that there is one solid piece of wood that is used to create the body of the bass aka ‘solid body.’ The wood is tailor-made for instrument use so that the sound from the strings can resonate properly through it without being stunted or muted. The best kind of wood to achieve this is normally Maplewood or mahogany.
2) Hollow body: This is more common in the acoustic guitar but is sometimes transferred into the bass guitar models as well. The most common usage for a hollow-bodied bass is by jazz musicians because it gives them that bespoke, jazz bass sound that is a more gentle and ‘walking’ rhythm. They are more lightweight, but they are also quieter than the solid body basses.
Expert Tip
Remember that there are a number of different varieties in terms of how many strings a bass guitar has. Picking the right one for your individual bass guitar needs is essential. Otherwise, you will be stuck with the wrong sound.
Did you Know?
The Bass Guitar has become such a popular and well-used instrument that it is even now included in scores for orchestras and other classical pieces as an alternative or as an addition to the traditional classical instruments. The double bass, it is a versatile instrument used in jazz, rock and classical music as well.