Electric guitars, like electric guitar players, get all the glory. Bass guitars — particularly electric bass guitars — are often overlooked, relegated to the back of the guitar shop. Bass guitars are not often as heavily adorned, and they don’t usually have as many features as electric guitars. But electric bass guitars are workhorses. The are solid, stalwart.
Bass guitarists are just as important and can be just as talented as their 6-string-slinging counterparts; and so it is with their instruments. It takes a certain kind of person to be a great electric bass guitarist, and if you are that kind of person then you deserve a great sounding, great feeling instrument to lay down the bottom end with. If you are one of those people, then this is a guide for you. These are the best electric bass guitars in 2017.
- Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar
- 4.8 Customer rating
- Body: Basswood
- Neck: Maple, "C" Shape
- Jumbo frets: 22 medium
- Fretboard: Rosewood
- Price: $
- Fender American Special
- 5 Customer rating
- Body: alder
- Neck: maple, Slim "Modern C"
- Jumbo frets: 20 medium
- Fretboard: maple
- Price: $$$$
- Epiphone Thunderbird PRO-IV
- 4.9 Customer rating
- Body: Mahogany
- Neck: Mahogany, Classic through-neck
- Jumbo frets: 20 medium
- Fretboard: Rosewood
- Price: $$$
- Ibanez GSR200BK
- 4.6 Customer rating
- Body: Agathis
- Neck: Maple
- Jumbo frets: 22 medium
- Fretboard: Rosewood
- Price: $$
- Yamaha RBX170
- 4.4 Customer rating
- Body: Alder, Agathis or Nato
- Neck: Maple
- Jumbo frets: 24 medium
- Fretboard: Rosewood
- Price: $
- Schecter Stiletto Custom-4
- 5 Customer rating
- Body: Mahogany
- Neck: Maple/Walnut Multi-ply, Thin ‘C’ shape
- Jumbo frets: 24 medium
- Fretboard: Rosewood
- Price: $$$
Six Best Bass Guitars
Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar
Fender electric basses are every bit as iconic as a Fender electric guitars. From jazz to rock, from blues to R and B, and from pop to country, perhaps no bass manufacturer has been better represented.
The Squier modified Jaguar is the younger, more affordable cousin to one of Fender’s most popular electric basses — the Jaguar. Since Squier is a subsidiary of Fender, this bass is very nearly the same instrument as the more expensive Fender, albeit considerably pared down. It features an alder body, a maple neck, and a rosewood fretboard. It comes standard with one precision, split-coil pickup in the front position and one jazz single-coil pickup in the back position. The precision/jazz pickup combination is indicative of this style of bass guitar, and, lying somewhere between the equally famous Fender Precision and Jazz basses, makes this bass extremely versatile. It is capable of round, smooth tones on the precision pickup and more pronounced, more biting tones one the jazz pickup.
Fender American Special Jazz Bass
The Fender Jazz Bass is a classic, and for good reason. Used by many more than just jazz bassists, it has a distinctive sound and a great feel.
The American Special Jazz Bass features an alder body, a maple neck, and a rosewood fretboard. It has two jazz pickups — one in the front position and one in the back position. These single-coil pickups have distinct tones. They are marked by clarity and punch, and have a highly-defined bottom end. This Jazz Bass also features a unique, Fender-designed tone circuit, which adds to the definition of the low-end of the basses tone.
This is one of those basses that people rave about. Its owners consistently rate it among the best basses they have played. Whether you are on the market for an iconic instrument to play in the confines of your bedroom or a gig-worthy, professional quality bass, and whether you want a jazz-style bass as your primary instrument or as a complement to a precision-style bass, this is a great buy, whatever the price.
Epiphone Thunderbird PRO-IV
Like Squier, Epipihone is a subsidiary of a major company: Gibson. And like the Squier Jaguar, the Epiphone Thunderbird is modeled after an iconic electric bass guitar. The Gibson Thundirbird is by any measure one of the most played electric basses of all time, particularly in rock. It’s distinctive shape is synonymous with rock bass playing. Equally as distinctive is its sound — round, beefy, heavy. The Epiphone version of the thunderbird is the distilled essence of the Gibson — it retains most, if other all, of its most important qualities without any of the frills that come along with paying much more.
The Epiphone Thunderbird PRO-IV features a rich mahogany body, a mahogany neck, and a rosewood fretboard. All of that amounts to a sound that is rich, warm, and resonant. Its pickups — 2 Gibson-style humbuckers — deliver the Thunderbirds iconic high-output, warm tone. For classic as well as modern rock sounds, there is no better choice than a Thunderbird.
Ibanez GSR200
Sometimes you don’t want an icon. Sometimes you want something more modern. With modernity comes some serious perks — after all, a lot of progress has been made in the last few decades. Many of today’s players choose not to play Fenders or Gibsons, and Ibanez is a very popular choice among such players. Ibanez basses are versatile, reliable, and they’re a great value.
The Ibanez GSR200 is a quality instrument. It is modern, but capable of mimicking closely the sound of classic Fender basses. It features an agathis body, a maple neck, and a rosewood fretboard. That amounts to a lightweight instrument that is capable of sounding warm, snappy, or somewhere in the middle. It has one precision pickup in the front and one jazz pickup in the back, which means that it is capable of producing tones similar to both the Fender Precision and Jazz basses. Finally, it has a responsive, active EQ, which means that the player can dial in just the sound he or she wants.
Yamaha RBX170
The Yamaha RBX170 is another versatile, modern-style electric bass guitar. In many ways it is very similar to the Ibanez GSR200, and it costs roughly the same amount of money. In each case, you are getting a quality, modern bass, capable of producing an array of Fender-like tones. But there are some differences between the Ibanez and the Yamaha.
The Yamaha, like the Ibanez, features an agathis body and a rosewood fretboard. Also like the Ibanez, it has one precision pickup in the front position and one jazz pickup in the back position. That means that this bass is versatile – it can sound round, similar to a Fender Precision bass, or sharp, similar to a Fender Jazz bass.
There are two volume knobs on both basses, but the Yamaha has only one master tone control whereas the Ibanez has a separate tone knob for each pickup. The biggest and most important difference between the Ibanez and this bass is the EQ. The Ibanez’s EQ is active, meaning it runs on a battery and is both more responsive and, in general, hotter. The Yamaha’s EQ is passive, which means it does not need a battery and sounds a little less hot and more “woody.”
Schecter Stiletto Custom-4
If the Ibanez and Yamaha basses on this list are modern examples of Fender-style basses, then this bass – a Schecter Stiletto Custom-4 – is their Gibson-style cousin. While modern sounding, this bass can produce many of the rock tones that make Gibson basses classic instruments.
The Schecter Stiletto Custom-4 features a mahogany body, a maple neck, and a rosewood fretboard. It comes with two humbucking pickups, two volume knobs, and two tone knobs. Its EQ is active, so it runs on a battery, but that means that its tone knobs are very responsive and its EQ range is broader than it would be otherwise.
Best Bass Guitars Comparison Chart
| Product name | Body | Neck | Jumbo jets | Fretboard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar | Basswood | Maple, "C" Shape | 22 medium | Rosewood |
| Fender American Special | alder | maple, Slim "Modern C" | 20 medium | maple |
| Epiphone Thunderbird PRO-IV | Mahogany | Mahogany, Classic through-neck | 20 medium | Rosewood |
| Ibanez GSR200BK | Agathis | Maple | 22 medium | Rosewood |
| Yamaha RBX170 | Alder, Agathis or Nato | Maple | 24 medium | Rosewood |
Bass Guitar Buying Guide
Anatomy of a Bass Guitar
As you survey the landscape of electric bass guitars to decide which is the best one for you, you will need to understand the anatomy of an electric bass guitar. Described here are the most important parts of a bass.
- Body: The body of a guitar – any guitar – is where it all starts. It makes up the biggest, heaviest part of the guitar, and it is where a lot of its tone comes from. When it comes to bass guitars, the body may be thicker or thinner, and may be made of a heavier wood (like mahogany) or a lighter wood (like agathis). The thicker the body, and the heavier the wood, the more robust and round the tone of the guitar is, and the heavier its deep end will be. Conversely, the thinner the body, and the lighter the wood, the sharper and more cutting the tone will be, and the more carved out its bottom end will be.
- Pickups: The pickups are maybe the most important part of an electric bass guitar. There are, in general, three types of pickups, and two positions the pickups can be in. There are single-coil pickups (jazz pickups, for example), split-coil pickups (precision pickups, for example), and humbucking pickups (like the pickups traditionally used in Gibson basses). These pickups can be in the front position or in the back position, and sometimes there is only one pickup (somewhere in the middle). Single-coil pickups sound bright and cutting, split-coil pickups sound smooth, and humbucking pickups are round and heavy sounding. In addition, pickups in the front position sound woodier, rounder, and bassier than pickups in the back position.
- EQ: The EQ system that a bass guitar uses is also important. Passive EQ’s are traditional and do not require a battery, while active EQ’s are more modern sounding and require batteries. Active EQ’s tend to be more responsive, and they add some “hotness” to the sound of the pickups.
What to Look for in a Best Bass Guitar
Knowing the anatomy of a guitar may not be enough to tell you which best bass guitar to consider buying. You may know that you want to play bass that sounds like this or that player or in this or that style, but you may not know how that translates to the basses you are selecting from. Here are some things to consider when looking at a bass guitar. These are the things you want to look for in an electric bass guitar.
As we have said, there are three different kinds of pickups. And there are, in general, four different configurations you will see those pickups in: The first is modeled after the Fender Precision Bass and it consists of one split-coil pickup placed roughly half-way between the bridge and the base of the neck. The second is modeled after the Fender Jazz Bass and it consists of two single-coil pickups. The third is a combination of those two (often referred to as a P/J configuration), and it consists of one precision pickup in the front and one jazz pickup in the back. Finally, there are pickup configurations modeled after Gibson basses, and these consist of two humbucking pickups.
In general, if you want to play jazz you will want a bass with a jazz configuration, if you want to play pop or R and B you will want a bass with a precision pickup, if you want to be able to get a wider range of sounds you will want a P/J configuration, and if you want to play heavy rock you will want humbuckers.
Once you have figured out the type of bass you are looking for, you will want to consider some things that will help you decide exactly which bass to buy. One of those things is action. Action is the distance between the strings and the frets, and in general, the lower the action (the shorter that distance is) the easier the bass will be to play. Most players prefer low action to high action, and higher-quality basses are capable of having their action set very low. Other things to consider are the quality of the electronics, the way the instrument feels (including its weight), and, of course, the price of the instrument as compared to similar instruments.
Conclusion
There are a lot of things to consider when buying a bass. This list of the best electric basses was meant to make it easier to sort through the very many instruments available to you. The bottom line is that you have to figure out the sorts of sounds you want to make with your bass. Do you want to sound poppy and bright? If so, maybe consider a jazz-style bass. Do you want something versatile? If so, maybe consider a bass with a P/J configuration. Are you going for a modern sound? Then maybe consider one of the more modern basses on this list.
Once you have figured out how you want to sound, it will be easier to figure out which sort of bass you are on the market for. And then this list will help you nail down a selection. After all, the less time you spend agonizing over which bass to buy, the less time there is that stands between you and your new bass being in your hands. If you are looking for your first bass guitar, check our article on the best beginner bass guitars.
Playing bass isn’t for the faint of heart. With so many to choose from it can be daunting as articles point out. You need to play them whether it’s your first one or your hundredth. I’ve played many and I’ve found there is a difference even between same models even though they were set up pretty much the same. Some and I’m sorry to say are not much more then a 2X4 with strings. Another place to look is a pawn shop. I found my dream bass at one, for about the price of a lower cost one. My caution if you choose that route is to be patient, and look at a lot of them read and research the bass you have in mind, look at all the repairs on the internet about them and be able to find out why they are there. Know when to buy and when to walk away. Happy playing.