I still hold true to my philosophy for beginners of getting the cheapest bass you can find regardless of brand and sound and quality. Only thing to look for is a smooth neck and fretboard so you don't get splinters in your fingers when you play.

The cheaper the better.

that's a good start, but im kinda into getting beginners to start with the lower-midrange items instead of complete beginner stuff.
that way when they improve they wont have to blast more cash to upgrade for something more suiting to their current ability.

that only applies if you're dead ass serious about taking up the instrument though

just buy whatever and play and when u got the skillset and a ear for the type of tone u prefer than invest in somethng that u are comfortable in playing

maybe the EBMM? Tobias? Wick? Lakland? Spector? Shadowsky? Jazz?

The main difference is active is more transparent and volume and tone are independent of one another. Passive instruments tend to change their tonal characteristics when you adjust the volume knob on the bass. This effect is however not to be seen as a minus point. In fact many people go after passive basses just because of this effect. All depends on music style and taste. There is no general rule that active is better than passive. Any salesman who tells you that doesn't know anything.

new comer to the thread...

i'm a beginner with limited budget and can't find cheap bass amp for practice/learning..

how bad does it sound if we use guitar amp for bass??

i play both passive and active and now i am slanted towards passive more, the active bassist signals might get too hot and screw up my sound when it goes thru the pedalboard. Passive wins for me right now.

yes and singapore got very nice basses, extremely nice basses for all soft of budgets and are so much cheaper than most stores in KL but Yamaha store the prices are reasonble and carries almost the same price tag in singapore so buying a yammy stuff guarantee not heart pain when u see the price different from sg to kl,  but bear in mind you get what you pay for. LTD's are good, Fender Squier are great. not sure abt how u like it when u play it, ultimately u need to pick one up and test it 1st and see how u confortable with the neck, weight, bass contour, test playing standing up and sitting down. a lot of difference.

how many watts btw?? and which outlets?? thansk

thanks.. i'll check them out later

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Added on July 13, 2008, 7:24 pmwent to TGS at damansara today and check out that smarvo amp.. the sound is pretty good i guess (at least for my newbie ears) and the tag is at RM360

I have a stagg fretless. Paid an equivalent of about RM750 for it. Can't really complain apart from the fact that they glued the 3-piece body senget. But soundwise it's ok. Although i did completely do away with the electronics. Now i'm running a bartolini on the bridge. But even the original PUs were decent enough to begin with.

Sorry can't help you there. I'm in germany and got mine off ebay.de 

well then, where else do u recommend for shopping for basses except bently.. 

that offer the good cust. service + choices.. and cheaper laa... 

You can pm ''satchman'' ( A user in LYN ) ... He sells it ... He do postages as well.