Here’s a roundup of the best budget beginner basses for 2024. If you are tight on cash or don’t want to commit to a higher quality/price instrument than this is the list for you. All of these basses are between $200-$350 at the time of this post! If you feel like you will be a dedicated student and will commit to the long haul, then I recommend spending more money initially on a bass that will last you longer.
The Best all around Budget Bass for 2024
Ibanez TMB30 Electric Bass
What qualifies the Ibanez TMB30 as the overall best budget bass for 2024 is the build quality for the price. The TMB30 features include a Mahogany body for a warm, punchy tone, a Maple neck with Jatoba fretboard, a Standard bridge, and a black pickguard to complete the classic vibe. Electronics consist of an Ibanez Dynamix P neck pickup and a Dynamix J bridge pickup for that rich, vintage sound. The TMB30 offers a “short-scale” 30” neck. The shorter neck is often preferred by players of smaller stature who find a long-scale instrument to be unwieldy.
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Best short scale budget Bass for 2024
Ibanez GSRM20B Mikro 4-String Electric Bass
The GSRM20B is a great starter budget bass for youngsters or adults that have smaller hands. This bass features a shorter 28.6” scale neck and small scale SR body, but cranks out big tone with its Dynamix P and J style pickups. Besides the smaller size; the materials, construction, and setup remain the same as its full-size counterpart.
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Best Budget Bass for Jazz and Rock for 2024
Squier Affinity Jazz Electric Bass
Fender Jazz basses have a distinct mid-range punchy tone that cuts through just about any mix. My personal go-to bass is my 5 string Fender American Jazz bass, it seems like less of a “character bass” and more of a work horse that always sounds great and is awesome for slapping. The Indonesian made Squier Affinity Jazz, while not the same quality and caliber of its American counterpart, is a great buy with its maple C shape neck, 20 fret Indian laurel fingerboard, and dual single-coil jazz pickups.
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Best Budget Bass for slapping for 2024
Sterling by Music Man Ray4 Electric Bass
With their distinctively growly mid-range tone, Musicman basses have become the bass of choice for some of the top bassists including Flea, John Deacon (Queen), Tony Levin, Louis Johnson, and many others. SUB is Music Man’s lower price entry level line that don’t quite match up to their flagship line, but are regardless pretty nice for the price. The Sterlings feature solid basswood bodies, maple necks with rosewood or maple fingerboards, and a passive humbucker pickup with 2-band eq. Note that these basses sell for closer to $300 at the time of this post.
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Best Modern Style Budget Bass for 2024
Yamaha TRBX174EW Mango Wood Electric Bass
Yamaha is known for offering quality musical instruments at all price points and with heavyweight bassists such as Nathan East, Jimmy Haslip, Will Lee, John Patitucci, Lee Sklar, Billy Sheehan, and Michael Anthony on their artist list, they are a force to reckon with. The TRBX174EW represents a price breakthrough for the TRBX range with a maple neck, sonokeling fingerboard, exotic mango wood body, and one single coil/one split coil pickup configuration. If you were to choose a bass on looks alone, this would be a top contender.
About the Author
Mark Hamrock has been Orange County’s premier guitar and bass guru since 1995, teaching students how to excel in every genre including rock, blues, classical, metal, funk, and country. After studying rock guitar with Rusty Anderson (Paul McCartney, Elton John, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Willie Nelson, Santana), classical guitar with David Tanenbaum, Scott Tennant, Ricardo Cobo, John Schneiderman, and Jazz with Alan Rowe (Stan Kenton Orchestra, Keith Jarret); Mark has gone on to tour extensively and perform in concerts featuring Jazz Legend Larry Carlton, Tim Reynolds (Dave Matthews Band), and Dave Mason with Traffic. He currently produces, composes, engineers, and teaches, and is working on developing a series of instructional books and videos for guitar and bass. In what little free time he has, Mark enjoys traveling, culinary arts, scuba diving, and entrepreneurial pursuits.
