The extra strong, heavy sound that you want will come from your rig mostly, not the bass.
Check thE local Craigs List for a rig that has a couple hundred watts and some big cabs. Lots of good, loud, heavy weight rigs being sold today for reasonable prices.
Add a distortion pedal and keep the amp at the lowest volume that fits the venue.
I'd allocate all your cash to a rig and an HPF. Maybe you can sell your current setup to another beginner to raise a bit of cash.
Let us know what you find before buying it.
Well, here we have "mercado libre" and many big companies ship here. The thing is that my bass doesn't give an strong sound. It kills it with the feeble body and bad quality pickups. I thought about changing the pickups, but it wouldn't help with the light, non thick body. That's why I want to change. I got a 15 W amp and I am currently not thinking on going live, at least till my percussionist finds himself a new set of tommys
I was also thinking about the distortion pedal, but I don't quite know how to use it. I can learn, yeah, but then I don't know which one to get for my needs. I'd like to get one that helps me to distort the sounds in order to make some Tool kind of sounds (which is expensive as hell, but at least I want to try)
Thanks for the feedback, man!
600 bucks will buy you a new Ibanez SR500. It's a great bass! Ibanez can't be beat for bang for the buck, and the SR series are very popular among metal players. They have very slim necks, so they are easy to play for more fast, technical and progressive stuff. The SR500 will be a vast improvement over any starter pack bass.
However, like Stumbo already pointed out, a proper rig is as important for that big sound as a proper bass. Don't forget to shop around for that as well!
Thanks for your answer man!
As much as I love Ibañez basses (I've played on them once or twice thanks to friends that own one, I think he owned the SR300) I think I'll do what most people here are telling me to: buying an amp with more budget than I was assigning to it before. 600 bucks is a nice price, but here in Chile they cost 1 thousand bucks
Hi Daniel
welcome to TB
$500.00 to buy a "used" bass and amp to gig with.
a thread to read
with your 750$ budget you can get a nice rig (amp + bass)
may the bass be with you
Wise(b)ass
I'd like to get a brand new bass though
I know it's way cheaper to just buy an used one but I've got enough budget to make it work, at least it's an improvement from 150 dollars hahah
+1 to
@Stumbo 's answer. Sure, different basses each have their own character and sound, but if you want "strong, heavy" sound, that's first and foremost an amp issue. If you're playing through a starter-kit amp, it's going to be pretty limited in its capabilities (what amp did come with it, by the way?). I would basically reverse your spending priorities - put $400-500 towards a new amp. Did that budget include selling off the starter kit? If not, there's an extra $100 or so, so if your max was $750 you have maybe $300 towards a new bass. I don't know what's available in Chile, but you ought to be able to find some good stuff used for that.
Yeah, the budget includes selling the starter kit. I already got a friend of mine interested on buying it. I don't think I will put 400$ towards a new amp right now, because I don't need that much of a big sound. I'm only playing on my gig room mostly, and from time to time with an small group of friends, but only casual gigs and some rehearsals in order to improve our playing in general, but nothing serious. My current amp was working good in group playing but I needed a more thick strong sound, so that's what I am looking for. I think 400 bucks would be kind of overkill, since that'd be like a 40W amp and I've been doing good with a 10W amp xD
Welcome to TalkBass!
What is the used market like in your area?
Most of it in terrible conditions. Many friends have been scammed a ton of times, and there is almost no regulation at all, since most of the people are scamming without consequences. That has been like that since our Constitution's reformation in 1980, which privileges sales over quality and making money over making it ethically. So I am almost forced to ship myself a product from outside or buy it from a music shop, since it's a country-wide problem I cannot fight against currently.
