10 Best Bass Guitar Reviews For 2022 & How To Buy Guitar On A Tight Budget

Part rhythm, part melody, one can’t simply deny the importance of the best bass guitar in modern music. Unfortunately, most people blindly jump into the world of bass guitars without knowing which can be the best choice. From small hands to large hand bass guitars, from beginners to professionals, there are countless bass guitars available on the market for every musician. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should buy it without considering your needs. A wise buyer always tries to find the best product within his budget. Well, we are here to share the best bass guitar list with you to help you find the right one for your needs while keeping the price within your budget. We have tried our best to find the best bass guitar for every budget based on brand, features, price, and Amazon customer reviews.

Best Bass Guitar Reviews – Top 10 Picks

1. Best Choice Products Acoustic-Electric Bass Guitar – Best Bass Guitar Under $100

Quick Features

• 4-band EQ-7545R Bass Preamp
• 4-band Equalizer
• Chrome Die-Cast Tuners
• Mahogany Body

This full-size bass guitar comes with a beautiful color mahogany body, including rich black, natural, and blue to choose from. To make the guitar even more attractive, the manufacturer has added a decent inlay. The cutaway designed body completes the fantastic image of this electric acoustic bass guitar. Features like glassy and smooth surfaces make it an ideal choice for modern guitar lovers.

The guitar neck comes with 22 fret rosewood fretboard, die-cast chrome tuners, and also an adjustable truss rod. The best thing about this bass guitar is the premium quality materials used in manufacturing. Although it comes pre-adjusted, you can regulate strings and neck using the tuners and adjustable truss rod. This feature helps to avoid unnecessary sounds, such as buzzing, to focus on your performance.

Despite the full size and strong body, this best bass guitar is neither bulky nor uncomfortable. The cutaway design is excellent to give you effortless access to the last frets of the fretboard. If you are not comfortable with regular-shaped guitars, then this can be an ideal pick for your playing style. The best weight to strength ratio allows you to perform without fatigue for a more extended time. Also, the ergonomic body shape makes this guitar easy to play both standing and sitting.

If you are worried about buzzing, then this bass guitar is your best friend, as it allows you to adjust the truss rod effortlessly. Its exceptional mahogany body not only gives its gorgeous appearance but also more brightness and mid-range tones. The guitar shape results in reducing the bass profile of the musical instrument. Volume controls along with a 4-band equalizer allow you to be regular every time you play.

2. Goplus 4-String Electric Bass Guitar – Best Bass Guitar Under $150

Quick Features

• Maple Neck and Rosewood Fretboard
• Built-in Tone Control
• Adjustable Truss Rod
• Chrome Die-Cast Tuners

For beginners, it is crucial to have all the essential accessories when learning a guitar. This bass guitar from Goplus comes with all necessary accessories that a beginner guitarist looks for, including an amp cord, shoulder strap, pick, and bag. The functional bass guitar is manufactured with laminated and solid wood. Featuring the tremolo bridge system along with the piezoelectric pickup configuration, the guitar offers excellent sound with a smooth tone.

You can easily customize the tones using the double tone controls. Though the guitar is durable, yet it is lightweight enough that you can perform without any fatigue for longer time periods. The surface of the guitar is polished and smooth to give it a fantastic appearance. Available in two vibrant colors, you can choose from blue and white or black and blue.

The fingerboard and bridge of the guitar have been made from rosewood. For travelers, this guitar is the right choice as it comes with a travel bag to help you carry it around easily. Overall, this bass guitar is an excellent choice for aspiring musicians or bass enthusiasts with reasonable prices, fashionable designs, and excellent built quality.

3. Ibanez 4 String Bass Guitar – Best Bass Guitar Under $200

Quick Features

• Agathis Body
• Rosewood Fretboard
• One-Piece Maple Neck
• Pearl Dot Inlay
• Fully Adjustable Bridge

One of the most popular guitar brands, Ibanez has been successfully producing affordable guitars with innovative features and excellent built quality. Ibanez GRS200 is a standout model with a warm tone, great features, and above all best budget option for beginners. In fact, it is one of the most straightforward bass guitars on the market. Manufactured with Agathis tonewood, the shape of the guitar has been slightly modified with a basic type of solid color finish.

The guitar neck comes with a cookie-cutter maple design and decent rosewood fretboard. Whether you are looking for expensive bass guitar of affordable bass guitar, the reliable function is the original key.  GSR200 features a standard fixed bridge with an adjustable roller saddle, die-cast tuning set, and synthetic nut. Remember, they are best for light use, if you become more aggressive, they will give away soon. But for beginners, they are perfect.

When it comes to electronics, the guitar has a split-coil pickup at its neck position, which is followed by a single coil at the bridge. To be honest, for such a price, seeing the active electronic is pretty unusual. This entry-level bass guitar offers a decent amount of warmth, low-end response along with precision. Overall, this best bass guitar is a perfect gift for beginners.

4. Squier by Fender Affinity Series Precision – Best Bass Guitar under $250

Quick Features

• Satin Finish Neck
• Slim and Comfortable “C”-shaped Neck Profile
• 4-Saddle Bridge
• Split Single-Coil P Bass Neck Pickup
• Vintage-Style Tuning Machines

Best known for producing entry-level instruments, Squier is a go-to band for beginners. Offering a variety of tonal options in an elegant and familiar package, this is one of the best budget electric bass guitars for beginners. These guitars come with a P Bass body and Pickguard that offers easy access to a single-coil J Bass pickup and a split-coil bass pickup.

The PJ pickup combination provides versatile tonal options with volume control for each pick and also a tone knob rounding out the Pickguard. Though this bass guitar offers decent sound with little muddy and heavy bass, it is still good enough to cut through its mix. The tuning stability of the instrument is exceptional. Thanks to the thick strings that hold a better tune as compared to other bass guitars. The Indian Laurel fingerboard looks perfect with reliable durability.

The Olympic White finish with black Pickguard adds to the look of this beauty. You can choose from metallic red, black, and race red. The neck comes with s standard C shape profiled maple design and medium jumbo frets n the rosewood fretboard. It also features a fixed vintage-style bridge and four fully adjustable saddles. There is a set of standard die-cast tuning machines located on the headstock. In simple words, Squier is a reliable brand that offers excellent instruments for beginners to learn and polish their guitar playing skills.

5. Glarry Electric Bass Guitar – Best Bass Guitar for the Money

Quick Features

• Adjustable Bridge
• High-Tensile Strength Fretwire
• Basswood Body
• Portable Bass Bag

This Glarry Electric Bass guitar comes at an incredibly low price. To be honest, when you compare the features and price of the guitar, you won’t believe that any guitar can offer such great features at this price. Featuring a full-sized jazz bass with premium build quality, this is one of the best bass guitars for the money.

The straight neck is comfortable to hold and easy to play with. All of the notes up and down the complete fretboard perform perfectly. There is no less volume, squeals, or buzzes. There are two solid knobs on the bottom for tone and volume. Manufactured with rosewood and basswood, such wood is designed to keep the instrument last for a long time.

This bass guitar comes with a standard string spacing, which gives you fantastic touch. When compared with standard guitars, it has thicker strings with larger tension. The sound quality is simply amazing, with both warm and rock tones. Equipped with a portable bass bag, you can easily carry the guitar wherever you want to. Other notable features include an adjustable bridge for solid tone and high tensile strength Fretwire for durability and smooth playability.

6. Ibanez gsr205 5-string bass – Best Ibanez 5 String Bass Guitar

Quick Features

• Mahogany Body
• B15 Bridge
• GSR5 Maple Neck
• Medium Frets
• Rosewood Fretboard w/white dot inlay

The affordable Gio series by Ibanez is famous for its great style, sound, and value. This outstanding budget 5 string GSR205 comes with a pretty basic robust design. Featuring a smooth curvaceous double-cutaway body created of solid famous and finished in a variety of colors. From the moody weathered black to an elegant Walnut, you can choose from your favorite finish.

This bass guitar has a slim maple neck with a 34inch scale length securely bolted onto its body. It also features a jatoba fretboard and 22-inch medium frets. When it comes to playability, the GSR205 is fun to get around. Offering reliable electronics with decent components within such a price range is one unique feature of this Ibanez bass guitar. It comes with a double Ibanez-designed Dynamix passive humbuckers at its bridge and neck. The guitar also has four controls, including an individual volume for every pickup along with the master tone control. To give an active bass boost for a little extra beef in the low end, there is a Phat ll EQ.

The sound of this best bass guitar is no other than its features. Producing a bright tone with exceptional power for stock pickups, the guitar is versatile for different tunes. Overall, the tone is an excellent choice for small performances and practice sessions.

7. Yamaha TRBX305 BL 5-String Electric Bass Guitar – Best Bass Guitar under $400

Quick Features

• Solid Mahogany Body
• Performance EQ Active Circuit
• Die-Cast Tuners
• Rosewood Fingerboard

With Yamaha’s unique combination of precision engineering, advanced design, and time-honored craftsmanship, the Yamaha guitars have created this best bass guitar for bass lovers. A guitar with perfect tone, unparalleled comfort, high durability, and incredible playability, this 5 string bass guitar is the right gift for both beginners and professionals. TRBX305 comes with a sculpted solid mahogany body, mass optimized 3D design for perfectly balanced tone, and ideal weight distribution for maximum comfort.

The neck designs combine with a fast, ultra-comfortable profile, 5-pc maple/mahogany laminated manufacturing for exceptional stability, and versatile tone. YGD designed M3 pickups have oversized polepieces along with ceramic magnets for a bright crystal tone. The definition and depth of the tone are merely fantastic. Also, the hum-canceling design ensures noise-free performance while the integral thumb-rest offers unrivaled playability.

When it comes to electronics, this Yamaha bass guitar has an exclusive Performance EQ active circuit with 5 performance-tuned full spectrum EQ curves optimized to offers instant access to vital sounds. It also has a robust 2-band equalizer to define your tone. The precision fitted bolt-on neck joint gives you perfect adjustability and a bright, punchy tone. Another notable feature of this best bass guitar is the well-refined neck joint for balancing strength, vibration transfer, and upper-fret access.

Yamaha’s metal plate-mounted jack socket provides supreme durability and effortless maintenance. Its 43mm nut width gives quick, comfortable playability for any style. A high-mass die-cast bridge transfers string vibration to the guitar body for rich tone combined with great adjustability and durability. Overall, this bass guitar by Yamaha is a perfect choice for those who are looking for flawless performance at a reasonable price.

8. Ibanez Talman TMB100 Electric Bass Guitar – Best Bass Guitar Under $500

Quick Features

• Wide, Chunky Maple Neck
• Dynamic P & J pickups
• Classic Ibanez Body Style
• Ibanez Custom 2-band EQ

Featuring a big tone with a gorgeous retro look, this electric bass guitar by Ibanez is one of the most stylish guitars on the market. It comes with a distinctively curvy double-cutaway mahogany body with a vintage vibe going on. You can choose from the myriad color options, including mint green, soda blue, and coral red. The typical Ibanez maple neck comes with a full-size 34inch scale length offering a comfortable profile and fast feel.

To be honest, for such an inexpensive bass guitar, the finish and fit are very commendable. It has two dependable pickups, including a Dynamix J at the bridge and a Dynamix P at the neck. There are two control knobs for master volume and mast tone placed conveniently at the lower bout. It also has a set of chrome tuners with a fixed chrome bridge. All these features combine to makes this bass guitar a real gift for both experts and beginners.

When it comes to sound, it’s incredibly versatile and robust. The heavy-hitting punching tones are excellent for metal and punk rock. The straightforward control offers improved versatility with the maximum comfort level. The superb sound, comfort in play, and retro design make it an incredible purchase for the price.

9. ESP LTD B-206SM 6-String Bass – Best Bass Guitar Under $1000

Quick Features

• Spalted Maple Top
• 5Pc Maple/Rosewood Neck
• Extra thin U-shaped 5-Piece Maple
• An Active ABQ-3 3-band EQ
• ESP Designed SB-6 Pickups

Featuring exceptional quality and excellent tone, the LTD B-206SM is one of the best 6 string bass guitars on the market. The bass offers a wide variety of choices for tone and can handle anything you throw at it. First of all, the simple design makes it easy to play with a lot of tonal options. The spalted maple top provides an exciting and aesthetically pleasing appearance that stands out among a lot of basses.

The neck of this best bass guitar is very smooth, and its comfortable curve makes it easy to play for a longer time. However, as compared to 6 string bass guitars, the neck is a bit smaller. No matter whether you hold it standing or sitting, the guitar is easy to play with its slightly heavier weight. The extra weight is due to the body and ash. Use a thick strap to distribute the weight properly and prevent your shoulder from hurting.

The Rosewood fingerboard produces a slightly warmer tone, but still, you can easily create bright sounds with the EQ controls. The dense ash body allows the notes to project every clearly. Also, the ESP designed pickup capture every note entirely, which means you have more control on the instrument. The balance and 3-way EQ allow bass helps to create any tone you want in various situations. Such a combination of an ash body and rosewood fingerboard is ideal for creating a large variety of tones, including Latin jazz, funk, and metal.

10. Schecter OMEN-4 4-String Bass Guitar

Quick Features

• Basswood Body with Quilted Maple Top
• Graph Tech Black Tusq Nut
• Maple Neck
• Rosewood Fretboard

Schecter has been in the business for some time and working hard to produce some quality musical instruments. Featuring a premium build quality, tone, and exceptional features, the Schecter Omen 4 is one of the standout models of this guitar brand. It comes with a standard body shape that allows you to comfortably hold and play it for more extended periods. Mahogany maple top and neck with rosewood fretboard makes it one of the best bass guitars for beginners.

The thin C neck of Omen 4 is an excellent choice for small-handed players. The guitar also features a bridge design with a standard Diamond Bass model. It has standard die-cast tuning machines made by Schecter. The best thing it, entire hardware of the guitar comes in black chrome. When it comes to performance, the bridge offers excellent sustain and maintains intonation accuracy.

Another notable feature of the Omen 4 is the pickups pair and active preamp. The two Schecter Diamond Bass pups are good enough to produce a warm tone. Thanks to the EQ section, that makes tone shape easy. You will not feel any buzz even at the peak. The pickups of the guitar are hot enough to provide an adequate output for more aggressive genres, such as metal.

Buying Guide for Best Bass Guitar

There are many important things to consider when buying a bass guitar. For both beginners and experts, this buying guide can help to cover critical information you need to know before purchasing a bass guitar.

Types of Tonewoods

There are various factors to determine the tonal functions of the wood. Many experts believe that the top wood of the guitar us the single most crucial factor in determining the quality of tone. Whether you agree with this or not, but you have to believe, tonewood is vital for the tone of any guitar. Let’s take a look at different types of tonewoods.

Mahogany

Mahogany basses are famous for their full-bodied and warm sound. The loss resonance and medium-density give the lower register of the bass guitar a prominent emphasis and roll off the snappier string attack.

Maple

Maple is a dense wood best known for producing excellent sustain and a bright, crisp tone. Most bassists and recording engineers prefer maple due to the clarity and definition it offers to bass guitars.

Ash and Alder

Both ash and alder are the same and offer a sustained and perfectly balanced tone that is rich in harmonic overtones. One of the prime reasons why manufacturers choose ash is because it has a more appealing grain, which is prominent under a semi-transparent or transparent finish.

Basswood

Basswood is another favorite body wood for bassists who love to play a variety of music. One of the prime reasons for this basswood is its extreme softness that can absorb variations. This basswood has a shorter sustain, which makes it an excellent choice for more complex playing techniques.

Fretted or Fretless

There are two different fretboard layouts you can choose from that are fretted and fretless. A fretted neck is a typical guitar neck featuring steel frets that divide each half-step of the chromatic scale. It helps to find the right notes comfortably, especially for beginners.

A fretless bass comes with a neck that doesn’t have any steel fret. It is a smooth wood just like a violin or upright bass. Many bass players like the fretless bass as it offers a smooth and warm sound. The pitch of the note that you are playing depends on the finger position. Experienced players depend on muscle memory to place the hand at the right place, but it’s the practice that makes you perfect.

4, 5, or 6 Strings?

Commonly, 4 string bass guitar is used by musicians. Standard 4 string bass guitar comes with a narrower neck as compared to 5 or 6 string bass guitars. They are also tuned in a typical E-A-D-G format, which makes it easier to handle and learn quickly to play.

But, various styles are best to play with 5 string bass guitar. Modern worship music and country have more songs that root in B, so it’ B-E-A-D tuning is an excellent choice. Regardless of style, both 5 and 6 string guitar offers more room to expand creativity.

Acoustic Bass Guitars

Acoustic bass guitars are made for those who don’t want to be slaves to an amplifier. With a similar feature of a 6 string acoustic guitar, a bass guitar offers sound through a resonant hollow body. It helps to play unplugged with a robust sound and full-bodied, which is sometimes excellent for acoustic music. But, many models of an acoustic-electric bass guitar available gives you a hollow body that sounds like an acoustic guitar.

Bolt-on VS Neck through Body

There are different thoughts about the construction style of the bass guitars. The bolt-on design is a typical and traditional manufacturing method in which its neck is a separate piece of wood bolted onto the body. There are various advantages of the bold on design, such as the ability to replace the neck if needed.

On the other hand, the beck through body design is different from the previous one. It this design the neck of the guitar wood spans the complete length of the tool. The bodies of these basses provide excellent sustain and more direct energy transfer. Such basses are made of many pieces of wood that are glued together. One of the prime benefits of the neck through the body is the wood is a premium quality that improves the quality of the guitar.

Passive VS Active Pickups

There are two types of guitar pickups, including passive and active pickups. Passive picks offer dynamic sound with a warm, full tone. The odd side is, you have less overall control over the tone of the guitar. If you like fat and punchy tone, then passive pickups are great for you.

Active pickups are new as compared to passive pickups. Most modern bassists love to go with the active pickups. The tone of such pickups is bright, percussive, and clear. Also, active pickups have a built-in battery-powered preamp that produces much higher output as compared to passive pickups. Don’t forget to periodically change the battery.

Precision VS Jazz Basses

Without any doubt, Fender’s Precision and Jazz basses are dominating the world of best bass guitars. Leo Fender invented the first electric bass guitar more than fifty years ago. The instrument went through many modifications for more than five decades. Now we have models like the new P Bass or J Bass with the tradition of the classic originals. But how are they different, and what to consider when choosing between the two? Here are the key differences between these two types.

“C” Shaped Neck

Many Precision and Jazz Bass production guitars come with a modern C-shaped neck. Each model’s neck is maple along with maple rosewood or pao ferro fingerboards. Besides the similarities, the Precision neck keeps the constant thickness and also tapers in slightly because it approaches the nut.

The Jazz begins with its strings in a prominently narrower spacing at the nut that offers a unique tapered feel for what most players feel easier in fingering.

Body Design

In 1951, the Precision Bass was a radical design. In fact, the world of the guitar had never seen the deep double cutaways with forward-raked design. 1954, the Precision bass adopted the new Stratocaster body. Such sculpted recessions at the top and bottom made it ultra-comfortable to hold. The genuine precision body was ash, and you have options to choose from ash or alder bodies.

In 1960, the Fender Jazz Bass was released with an offset-waist body. This moved the body mass forward and out of the way of the right arm. As with the PS Bass, both ash and alder body guitars of the J Bass are available.

Different Pickups

The first Precision Bass came with a single-coil pickup and chrome-plated cover. It took only a few years to release the split-coil pickup with a more defined and robust bass sound. The Jazz Bass was introduced with double 8-pole humbucking pickups that offered a wide variety of tonal possibilities.

Conclusion

Every bass guitar has its own unique features and values. It depends on your needs, such as playing style and budget, to select the best bass guitar. Investing in bass guitars may seem easy, but to be honest, you have to make the right decision wisely to enjoy the excellent sound quality. Don’t go for expensive bass guitar but for the best one with essential features that fit your budget.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How long it takes to learn the bass guitar?

Well, it depends on your interest and dedication to learn the bass guitar. However, for a beginner, it takes about six months to learn the bass guitar. Expertise may take years because the world of music is diverse, and you have to keep in touch with modern techniques.

2. Is Bass the easiest instrument to learn?

Bass is one of the easiest instruments in pop and rock music as compared to other instruments.

3. Is a bass guitar harder than a guitar?

To be honest, Bass is easier to start than the guitar. However, it takes some time to become a good bass player. The bass strings are thicker, which makes it harder to switch between the notes.

4. Is Bass Guitar fun to play alone?

Bass guitar is an excellent solo instrument. Indeed it is fun to play bass guitar alone. The large frequency range from very low to high of the bass guitar, especially 5 or 6 strings, is fantastic.

5. Should I Play the bass guitar using my fingers or a pick?

Ideally, you should try both as they offer different sounds. Other ways of playing include slap bass and palm muting.