I play an Epiphone myself. But I really like Ibanez!

The AXL Company makes good guitars for the price, nice sound and sturdy. They're really more beginner-intermediate, but honestly, for around $200 they're really nice, I think. I dunno how much their basses run, but here's a link http://www.axlguitars.com/basses.html and I'm sure you can probably find more pricing on musicansfriend.com or amazon

I don't play bass, but my friend who does owns an Ibanez and really likes it.

I wouldn't touch Squier guitars, they're not very good from what I know. If you really want a Fender guitar, get a Fender. Otherwise, Yamaha and Ibanez are both good choices for lower-priced instruments.

I used to play upright bass...so I'm probably not too useful in this regard. Maybe you could try a late-model Fender or Yamaha Precision (or whatever the current descendant of those lines is), they were good enough for YMO, after all.

I will echo the comment about Squier guitars. It's Fender's cheapie line, and they are... as far as I've seen... substandard instruments intended for misguided parents to buy their kids which will convince them they have no music ability whatsoever because no matter how good they play, it will sound awful.

My basic opinion on this whole sort of subject is _do not_ buy the cheap crap instruments. You will only frustrate yourself. There are only two possible outcomes. 1) You get frustrated enough to quit playing entirely or 2) You buy a better instrument.

Therefore, provided you keep playing, whatever you spend on the cheap instrument will be wasted money because you soon end up also buying the more expensive real instrument you should have purchased in the first place.

If you want to get a decent instrument for cheap, look at the used market. You can find some really good deals... especially if you're more interested in how the instrument sounds than what it looks like. Scratches on the finish do not stop a good bass from sounding awesome.

I don't know much about Yamaha. I do have an Ibanez bass guitar, and it's quite nice.

Is there a music store nearby where you can try out the bass guitars in question? I wouldn't buy a guitar over the internet or otherwise sight unseen. You should try out the Ibanez and the Yamaha you're talking about and see what you think. It's worth it to make a road trip if you need to.

Also... two different guitars of the same type will sound different. Especially in the lower priced stuff. Much of what makes expensive instruments expensive is quality control. But you can find cheaper versions of those instruments that happen to be fabulous because they just happened to come out particularly well when they were constructed. Maybe only one in ten are turning out to sound that good. You get an instrument with better sound than it's price would suggest by weeding through them carefully. By the same token, you can also pick up an instrument which is a particularly poor example of its model.

So try out all the ones of the same model they've got... cherry pick the one you like. And buy it.

I agree with you on the point of not buying a cheap piece of shit, because I did a looonng time ago and it's the most horrid thing ever to be called a bass guitar. I want something decent, but affordable. I go to a music shop in the city where they let you play and play for as long as you want, which I love, and I singled out an FX pedal and a mid-range amp, so those are also being taken into consideration in terms of the cost. I read several reviews on Yamaha and Ibanez and I've seen those at the store so I know what I'm after. They dont have a terribly large range of bass guitars, but I can always order stuff interstate (their online store has a much wider selection though).

But taking everything into account, you never really know til you try it out yourself I guess.

Thanks for the advice!

Pretty happy with my Peavey Millenium. It's a lot better quality than I expected for the price. Sound is great and adjustable. They also look very good. I like to run it through a tube interface.

I have two Yamaha RBX 100's, and I Think They're fine basses, Was keen on a 270 a while back.

My school Had an SR200, and it was terrible, but that may have been just cause they didn't bother to set it up properly. I have another Ibanez and it's lovely, though.

I would go the Yamaha, personally, but, the absolute best thing to do would be to go into a music shop, play them all, and see what you think.

I have two Yamaha RBX 100's, and I Think They're fine basses, Was keen on a 270 a while back.

My school Had an SR200, and it was terrible, but that may have been just cause they didn't bother to set it up properly. I have another Ibanez and it's lovely, though.

I would go the Yamaha, personally, but, the absolute best thing to do would be to go into a music shop, play them all, and see what you think.