[needgibsonbadly]

Quick bass question: I've heard from a guitar player with several years experience, plus the supportive opinions of others with similar experience, that it's a VERY good policy to be able to play more than one instrument. So, following in Dad's footsteps, I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to look into a bass. I saw an Epiphone EB-0 bass starter pack on Guitar Center's website, and decided, for $250, if I absolutely can't do it, I hate it, or for whatever reason i don't want it anymore, it wasn't a big wad to drop for nothing. Yes, I know, mild GAS, but I've also got a friend who plays bass, and he loves it, and he picked it up fairly quickly with little trouble learning the method, etc. and his only past musical experience was (amazing) drumming. So, cutting to the point, Is the Epi a good idea? Can't post a link yet, but it's the 2nd bass on GC'c "Bass" then "Value Packages" page. Pros, Cons from past experience? Just about any feedback is good and accepted, so my ears are open and I'm a good listener. Thx much

[P-90]

Since a couple of days have gone by and nobody's answered, I'll give it a try. Sort of.

I'm fine with the idea of guitarists also picking up bass. The first stringed instruments I ever fooled around with were a ukelele and a banjo, neither of which have I touched since I was maybe 10, so I tend to look at a bass as just another one of those things with strings you can pluck or pick. My brothers, who are mainly guitarists, also both learned to play bass, as I did a little bit, and my sister's gone back and forth between violin and viola for decades. So I can't question the basic premise.

That said, I'm not at all informed as to what the best deals in basses are right now, so can't say anything very worthwhile about that Epi pack. However, most of us here are very suspicious of starter packs with regular 6-stringed guitars, and much of the same probably applies to bass starter packs. The consensus seems to be that the instruments themselves are sometimes fine (and sometimes not, varies a lot by manufacturer and just plain luck), but that the amps, tuners, gigbags and other stuff that come with them are often junk. They will probably all fulfill the function they were made for, but you will probably want to replace most of them very quickly. I have a starter pack amp right now, it came with a cheapo closeout guitar that was no longer available as a single item. It sounds like the enclosure is made out cardboard (it isn't, but... you'd never know it). I use it for testing preamps and effects I build, just in case I've done something horribly wrong which will blow up an amp, because, to be honest, I wouldn't mind blowing it up.

Now, I have nothing against Epi basses... my sister-in-law plays one of the Jack Casady Signatures, and loves it. So, AFAIK, an inexpensive Epi might be as good as anything for the price. The Harmony Central reviews, which can be seen here...
Epiphone EB-0: Harmony Central User Reviews
...are kind of mixed, but that's likely to be true with most instruments in that price range. You might want to look over some reviews of other makes & models, and see what people on bass forums say.

Sorry that so much of my reply is lame guesswork, but I try to avoid saying much when I don't know what I'm talking about, and in this case, I don't. Hopefully someone here, who has played a lot of bass lately, can come up with some more concrete suggestions. Until then, I think I speak for most of us here when I encourage you to do a little research into what the great bargains in inexpensive basses and bass amps are, rather than going the starter pack route.

[needgibsonbadly]

Thank you very much. I have been watching the thread, so thanks. I'll take your advice and look into my budget and see if I can find anything better. Thanks also for the link, I should have thought of HC before. And also I guess you get what you pay for (my Squier Strat Pack [I'm embarassed now] can testify to that). Again thanks.

[Tako Kichi]

I have been playing bass for over 18 years and have owned four basses in that time (I currently have two).

With regard to the 'beginner's packs' I think you might be better off looking for a better used bass and amp rather than going with what is basically a bottom of the line instrument and amp. Most important is that you actually get the bass in your hands and 'feel' how it works for you. Basses are just like guitars in as much as they require a good setting up to play well. A high action makes them difficult to play just like on a guitar.

The good news is that if you pick a bass with a fully adjustable bridge it's very easy to get them playing well with the correct intonation (my acoustic fretless bass is another story and two years after buying it I am still 'tweaking' the action to get it playing as I want it).

There are a lot of good bass manufacturers out there but there are also some awful ones too and like everything else in life you get what you pay for. I must admit I have a preference for Aria basses and my first two were Aria's and the second one I bought I still have and it still looks like new and plays like a dream (although I did do a lot of set up work on it including filing down the nut and shimming the neck). My third bass was a Westone fretless with active electronics and although it sounded very nice it was very heavy and badly balanced so that playing on stage meant you were constantly pulling the neck up as it wanted to point at the floor all the time. The last bass I bought was a couple of years ago and that is my Michael Kelly Dragonfly II fretless acoustic (see my avatar or profile page). The build quality is superb for the money and the inlay in the neck is a true work of art but when it arrived it had a very high action and as I say I have been working on reducing it for two years now in very small steps. As it is an acoustic it's very like lowering the action on an acoustic guitar and requires sanding the bridge piece, filing the nut and 'tweaking' the truss rod. I am very close now but it's a fine line between having the nice fretless 'growl' and sanding off too much and ending up with the stings rattling on the neck.

[Dewy]

I can't comment on the quality of the items in the pack, but it looks like everything a NON-musician would need to get started, and might duplicate a few things that a guitarist might already have and not need to re-invest in.
The strap won't be needed on that guitar, because it really shouldn't leave your bedroom. You probably have a tuner that would work with the bass already, and a few cords lying around.

Trick is, can you grab a used bass and small amp for near the same price at the local shop? If so you might find your money better spent there, than trying to by an "off the shelf" kit.

I feel like every guitarist should learn a dozen songs or so on the bass, and go "audition" as a bass player somewhere. Thats a real humbling experience, when your hand starts cramping from the same repetitive riff over and over, while the guitarist wants to take an extra pass at the guitar solo. You gain a little respect for what the masters have done before you, and an insight into one of the driving forces of contemporary music.

Contrary to popular opinion (among 6 string slingers) Bass is where the groove is. Its where the beat hits the music... and no amount of guitar wizardry will overcome a lackluster rhythm section.

[needgibsonbadly]

Thanks for the help, I never thought of used equipment. I guess there's nothing wrong with used equipment, most dealers check and test it first, and I probably could find some MUCH better equipment for the same price. Granted, it will already be optimized for someone else, but a quick set-up and a little self-tweaking should fix that. I'll be looking up used equipment wherever I can find it, thanks.