Looking for advise from musicians...

[Maitreya]

I've been looking to upgrade my bass for quite sometime, and I've been wanting a p-bass until last night, when I went to guitar center and decided to try out something else, I just grabbed the closest bass to the ampeg setup and I just about fell in love with it, it had the sound I'd been looking for. Now I'm only a little skeptical about it because of the price, I know some things can just be that cheap, but I also know that sometimes if it seems too cheap the quality will reflect what you paid for. The brand is OLP, if you're not familiar with it it almost looks like a fender design with a round pickguard, and a single bridge humbucker, and I was just wondering if there's any sort of design or long-term problems or anything of that sort.

[coma]

I am not familiar eith that brand, but if it sounds good, it sounds good. Though some of the problems with cheap instruments are Crackly pots Loose tuning keys Easily screwed toggle switches Wires that fall off the input jack. Though if you really love the sound, that other stuff is easily fixed and you may stll be well in the black after repalcing Pots and keys (as it comes up, but they may never break/go bad on you)

[bassman]

From one bassist to another....I've tried several different brands of basses. The one that I ultimately go back to and have a great admiration for is Warwick. It's the best versitile bass you can find. They're made from exotic woods and the in-board control features enamble you to find any tone you want. Mind you, they're not very cheap. They do have a cheaper brand called "warick rock bass", but I wouldn't recommend it. If you go with the higher grade Warwicks, you're looking at a bill around 2,000 to 5,000 dollars. It sounds steep but I'll tell ya, man.....it's damn worth it. And another side note....They're made from straight exotic woods with no finish or outer boody protection. So if you do get one, they come with a can of wax that, at first, you need to apply weekly. Over time the wax coat will build up and you will only have to wax about once a month. This is vital(especially if you play gigs where you tend to sweat alot - the wood can begin to rot and deteriate), so if you're not into maintanence, You might not want to go this direction. But as I said, the tone, features, and look of the bass are enough to cause a little happiness in the pants. If you're looking for something good and at a more moderate price, I would say either Ibanez Soundgear(the higher grades.....the lower aren't too good) or Peavey(higher grades, as well). For amps, I would recommend either SWR(my personal favorite) or Ampeg. Ampegs are a bit cheaper, so if you're strapped for cash, I would go with those. The sounds you can get from SWR are top notch, though....I gotta tell ya. Hope this helps. "Just my four strings and me" - Victor Wooten