bass

Any general guidelines on what to look for in a starter 5-string bass? What to look for, what to avoid, etc?

We have a couple of bass players here who can probably give you some great advice.
I played bass and guitar in our church band for a few years....I always like playing the basses that were a little lighter but could still give you that heavy bottom end.  Not much of anything else I could offer other than in a lot of cases your amplifier might been at least (if not more) important than the actual bass itself.

Just be careful with a lot of entry level instruments.  Some can have cheap plastic tuners that will eventually break off.  If you are paying less than $100 for a new instrument, don't.  The quality will be seriously lacking.

For a starter or more serious bass, the first things I would look at would be the weight of the instrument and width of the neck.  If you have smaller hands, you would want a thinner neck.  I have large hands, so I prefer both basses and guitars with a neck the size of an aircraft carrier.  If the bass is too heavy, you won't want to play it a lot.  I have a Tobias 6 string that weighs almost 30 pounds.  If I play it very long anymore, it causes my back to hurt.  I have a bad disc.

Other than that, just stick to more well known brands.  At least with those, you could try them out at a local guitar shop and then check user ratings on places like Musician's Friend or even Amazon.  Just note--if you buy a guitar from an online source, they will not to a pro set-up on the instrument for you.  That is just making sure the neck is straight after shipping, setting the intonation so it tunes properly, and checking your string height.

For a beginner I'd go with a medium range instrument.  Stay away from the top end and the low end.  You can always upgrade if it's something you're going to pursue.  Head down to the local music store and the different basses to see which one fits you best.  I have an Ibanez Ex-Series which is a smaller guitar but fits me well as I'm not that tall.  The Ibanez basses tend to be lighter and still have a great tone to them.

I've had a Fender Jazz bass and it was too long and heavy for me.  I had a Kubicki Factor (expensive) that I really didn't have time to get used to before I had to sell it to pay bills.  I've had my Ibanez for so long that it's become an extension of my hands.

The best thing to do is get your hands on one and see how it fits.

Staybrite wrote:

Not much of anything else I could offer other than in a lot of cases your amplifier might been at least (if not more) important than the actual bass itself.

Good point! I assumed advice on the bass would include advice on amps too, but perhaps others were assuming I already had an amp and was ready to go.

Amps are a whole other ball game.  I can dial in the tone I like on just about any amp I've used.

I was fortunate to pick up a Marshall Jubliee Series amp many moons ago.  Running that through a 4x10 cab sounds great!

Just be aware that lower wattage amps many times can't handle the low end of a 5 string.  If you buy a bass with active pickups which I would not recommend at first, you will need a bigger amp.

I have a Hartke 160 watt amp and a Crate amp.  The Hartke has a small 10" speaker.  As long as I don't have the active pickups on with my 5 or 6 string, it is great for practice and some light gigging.  If I were playing out regularly, I would take the Crate.  It has a larger 15" speaker.

I agree with what has been said so far....you probably won't get a bass you'll enjoy playing for less than $300 new, you can get a pretty nice used pawn shop bass for that price as well.
Get a basic set of guitar tools and watch some Youtube videos on doing a proper setup, which will address issues of intonation and string action, thus making even a less expensive bass much more enjoyable to play.