Recommend a good beginner bass?

[Diynot]

So having put some investigational time into bypassing active electronics in my Ray34 I have to offer this tidbit. Most pickups used for active basses are not wound to function as a stand-alone passive pickup. If you bypass the active circuitry, you will be very disappointed with the tonal result. Also, unless you add in stacked knobs to handle passive volume/tone controls, you will lose that control too. I know Joe Dart did it, but you have to seriously crank your amp to get any usable volume.

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

unless I decide to do some surgery on it.

If you're anything like me "void any warranty day" usually comes around a week after "new gear day."