Ive narrowed it down to either the ibanez starter package off of guitarcenter.com or the Squire package from the same site. The ibanez is 279.99 and the squire is 299.99. From what i can gather from reviews, descriptions, etc., the squire is a little better quality and the amp included is also a bit better.

My situation- Iv'e barely ever touched a bass guitar in my life. I can play a little bit on a regular six string guitar, if that matters. Once i mastered basic rythm i would join my friends' metal band.

so based on my situation, which would better suit me? The 20 dollar difference isnt a big deal. I dont wanna have to do a lotta work on the bass once i get it and i dont wanna hafta upgrade to a better one for the band. Would these be good choicess? Which one the better of the two?

Thanks people

you couldn't just keep your other thread going?

both sound like ideal beginner packages, personally i don't like squier, ibanez is also better known for playing metal than fender. as for upgrading it doesn't really work that way, i've seen people playing $100 pawn shop guitars and sounding fantastic and i've seen morons with $5000 guitars who had a hard time chugging out a zeppelin riff.

the amp might be a little small when trying to play over a metal band though, i'd advise setting it up on a chair and angling it upwards so that the sound is projected towards your heads rather than your feet.

so basically it comes down to the amp. from what i'm seeing and generalization on the brands, the ibanez is a light bass so it'll be neck heavy which means any time you let go of the neck it's going to swing towards your knee. the squier has a heavier body so it's less likely to drop as much if you relax your grip on the neck but it'll strain your shoulder a bit more. aside from that both basses will probably be pretty similar.

It sounds to me that the ideal thing to do would be to get the ibanez, and then buy a better amp. time to go look at amps...( i should anyway so i know more about them). Do i have the right idea?

there's no real right answer but keep in mind, you'll be looking at spending at least another $150 for a band practice amp.

I personally would go for the Ibanez. It's a more flexible brand than Squire, and you'll be needing that if your a beginning bassist. Though, I would never trust a starter pack. If you want a good bass that will last you a long time, I would go for a ESP LTD Viper 104 4-String Bass. It's around the same price of the starter packs at guitarvision.com but without the extra stuff... but if you can hold off on that, I would recommend this one.

personally for a beginner instrument i'd go for a peavy malstrom this is what i had and it was excellent and increadibly cheap