Top 10 Best Bass Guitars
There are many different bass guitars, and here we can vote for our favourites. (Mine is a tie between the 1974 fat-style Gibson Ripper and black-pickup style Gibson G3.) Fender, Jazz, and Precision will probably win, but who knows? I've added a few to get you started. By the way, if a bass has had dramatic design changes (like the Ripper's body changing, or the P bass going from single coil to split coil) it counts as a new bass. Vote away!
The first good bass ever made. It hasn't changed since 1957 for a reason: it's perfect.
Black Sabbath's first album.
The Fender Precision Bass is the best bass guitar ever created.
Mike Dirnt of Green Day used it on "Dookie."
The BEST bass, hands down! I also love the Jazz Bass!
Best prog rock bass, hands down.
Classic design and sound.
A guitar is a matter of personal choice. Sounds and tones are also special to each piece of music. The Fender Jazz (Pre-'75) is capable of producing such a wide range and is therefore my favorite and the best.
- Ian Pittwood
Bright and perfect for slap.
I wish this was #1.
Innovative and cool. I prefer the black-pickup version, but the clear pickups are good too. Plus, this is the Green Day bass.
The earlier version with tan-pink pickups.
No other bass like it.
At one time, the biggest complaints some bassists had with the Spector bass were its weight (full maple, which indeed is a very dense tone wood, then coupled with a brass bridge) and its aggressive tone from the combination of maple and active EMG pickups. It's no wonder that the vast majority of bass players back in the day found the aggressive tone positive because the music style they were playing was also aggressive. Fast forward to today, and Spector now offers more options to choose from, including various price points as well as choices of tone woods, pickups, preamps, and bodies. So, with these additional options, players who were having issues with the weight and/or aggressive tone now have many options to choose from!
I've owned and played them all. The absolute best rock bass is the Stingray. No bass on the planet has more teeth than this monster! I also love Jazz and P basses, but if I only played one guitar for the rest of my life, my Music Man would win hands down.
Simply the best. Super smooth to play. Nice spacing. Beautiful tone.
You feel the quality the moment you pick it up.
The weapon of choice for John Entwistle.
The bass behind the Beatles.