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What's the best reggae bass ?

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If you’ve asked yourself, what’s the best reggae bass?  Then you have come to the right place for the answer.  

The reggae bass sound is so distinct, that finding the best reggae bass becomes a very easy task.  So what’s the best reggae bass?  Simple!  Look at the bass the top musicians use and you will get the answer. 

If you haven’t found it, then the best reggae bass in my opinion is the Fender Jazz Bass. But I am a little bit prejudice because my favourite reggae bass player is Aston Barrett Family Man and he prefers and plays the Fender Jazz bass, sorry! 

It’s not only Aston that thinks the Fender Jazz Bass is the best reggae bass.  Check out the bass players in Rebelution, Iration and others and you’ll see that they all mostly use the Jazz Bass for reggae.  It has that deep warm reggae bass sound. 

The next best reggae bass would be the Fender Precision Bass.  It’s very popular and you really can’t go wrong with this one, since many top reggae bass players use it (Denis Bowell who played for many reggae artists uses one).   

The two bass instruments I’ve just mention are by far the two best reggae bass.  They are the closest to the upright bass (the bass sound the reggae musicians back in the day tried to emulate).  The Jazz Bass especially comes very close, as pointed out by Aston Barrett.  

Now everyone has their personal preference when it comes on to the best reggae bass and I have seen many reggae bass players using various brands. 

One brand that springs to mind is the Steinberger.  Their XT and XS series were very popular in the 80’s and 90’s for reggae and dancehall and are still very popular.  To me they’re the third best reggae bass.  

In fact you would be hard pressed to go to a reggae or dancehall show back in the day without seeing one.  They’re very light, which makes for comfortable use when doing long shows and they also produce a deep and one of the best reggae bass sound (strange for their small size). 

The Music-Man StingRay is the fourth best reggae bass.  It’s of very good quality and many reggae bass players over the years have used it. 

You can also look at the Paul Reed Smith brand.  Robbie Shakespeare has been using one of them for years, and we all know what his bass sounds like.  I will make this one the fifth best reggae bass, only because I can’t find the model he uses.  If you do know please drop me a line.  

There are others like the Ovation Magnum, Ibanez SG, Warwick Corvette, Yamaha TRB and Etc.  But based on tradition these did not qualify for the position of best reggae bass, but I am sure some of you will disagree.    

Feel free to rearrange the order, sign in below and tell us what your best reggae bass is.  Thanks for stopping by! 

  

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