Bass Roundup 2025: Essential Gear
Published on 16 May 2025
Looking to get caught up on all of the hottest bass guitars of 2025?
You’re in the right place! This roundup brings together the most popular basses around right now with some fresh new pieces and even some bass technology too!
If you are looking for a one-stop reference to what’s happening with bass, this is the blog for you. Dive in!
Contents
Ashdown Saint Soap & The Capri
Fender USA
- Still the number one choice for most bassists
- A huge range of classic basses
- As retro or as contemporary as you want
Fender are on every bassists’ essential list. They created the instrument as we know it through their original Precision and Jazz basses, and they remain the world’s bestselling bass brand.
Today, I’d like to focus on two Fender areas in particular: the American-made ranges and the boutique Custom Shop. Fender offer basses at literally every price point that exists on the market, so your chances of having considered a Fender bass during your life as a musician are 100%. In today’s blog, I’d like to focus on Fender’s American-made basses, because I believe those are the ones that most bassists will be aiming their sights at.
Why? Well, USA-made stuff has a certain aspiration attached, plus they are seen as the ‘industry standard’ for serious players. Also, whilst expensive, they will be within the reach for most dedicated players after a little while of saving: I know that a great many of you swear by American Fender basses, so I want to show you what’s out there right now…
- American Professional II: Here is where I would direct you first. These basses sit roughly in the middle point between retro vibes and modern performance. This is where most bassists will find their comfort zone, and it’s a good orientation point to compare with other ranges which swing more in a particular direction. In this series, you’ll find the Precision Bass & Jazz Bass, each in 4 and 5 string guises.
- American Performer: The most affordable USA-made Fenders, this range offers very good value. Precision (with PJ pickup configuration) and Jazz models here, in a range of gloss and satin finishes, with Yosemite pickups and ‘greasbucket’ tone controls.
- American Vintage II: This is where to go for the fully retro, authentically ‘dated’ experience. 50s, 60s and 70s models are catered for with period-correct colours, hardware and details. Necks may be larger, frets may be smaller, and so on. It’s really all about feel and aesthetic, so try whichever catches your eye and experience the difference for yourself.
- American Ultra II: The opposite of the American Vintage II series, this range is all about cutting edge modernity, albeit within those same classic bass models and shapes. Noiseless pickups, flatter compound radius fingerboards and active tone circuits will all help these basses meet the needs of contemporary players who want a modern sound.
Fender Custom Shop Basses
- Meticulous, high quality
- A bass for life
- Used by the best names in the biz
If you want the very best - with added historical authenticity - then it was to be Fender Custom Shop. Their hand-made masterpieces are amongst the most revered instruments in the business, and rightly so: the attention to detail, feel and sheer sound are pretty second-to-none.
The Fender CS offer a myriad of options, finishes and levels of decay, so it’s wiser to look at each bass as an individual one-off, rather than part of a series. Generally speaking, the order books at Fender Custom Shop are filled for years in advance, so there’s a huge wait in store for anyone who wants to spec up their own bass. Each delivery we get from California has been ordered years in advance, too, so you can ‘jump the queue’ and get your dream bass straight away by choosing one that we have meticulously curated for you. It’s no understatement to say that our purchasing team are obsessed with Fender history and lore, and each bass we order is very carefully considered!
Dingwall
- Something a little bit different
- Multiscale and extended range
- Original look
Now, maybe you’ve had our fill of classic basses and want something that feels fresh, different and futuristic? If this sounds like you, then I bet you already love Dingwall basses, right?
Dingwall specialise in multiscale, extended range basses, and therefore will cater very nicely to the most avant-garde of you. That said, one of their main endorsees is John Taylor, the slap-tastic bassist of 80s pop titans Duran Duran, so I’d say you can approach pretty much any music with a Dingwall!
If you haven’t tried one of these basses yet, then I think you’ll be in for a treat! The fit & finish is most impressive, but my favourite thing is just how playable they are. They are as ‘moreish’ as your favourite chocolate biscuit, and definitely more useful!
Ashdown Saint Soap & The Capri
- Affordable quality
- Cool and unique
- regular size and short scale models available
If your budget does not stretch to the likes of Dingwall and Fender USA, don’t fret! (sorry) I have a recommendation here for you from one of the bass world’s biggest amp builders, Ashdown!
Yes, it’s a new super-affordable range of basses with their own original design and vibe. You have the Ashdown Saint Soap, so-called because of the soapbar-sized alnico humbucker it’s equipped with. This comes with a roasted maple neck and is an excellent bit of bass for the cash, very playable and fun to use. It’s also nice to see a low-cost bass with an original design that isn’t also massively ‘niche’. Good effort, Ashdown!
Ashdown have also made a short scale version of this bass, with the name ‘The Capri’. It's a similar situation here, apart from a 30” scale instead of a 34” one. Try them both, I say: there’s something really addictive about short scale basses that may unleash something new in your playing, so don’t just go straight for the regular-sized version!
Sadowsky MetroExpress
Roger Sadowsky is somebody you most likely know all about already. The NYC luthier has built guitars for Lou Reed & Prince, and basses for Adi Oasis and Colin Greenwood. This is top end, American boutique stuff, the best of the best.
But wait! Sadowsky also offer a MetroExpress line of basses that retain much of that magical Sadowsky know-how but in a more affordable package. These basses are factory made in the Far-East to Roger’s very tight specifics, and they definitely bear the fingerprint of their maker. We currently have a number of wonderful Standard J/J models (Sadowsky’s take on the Jazz Bass) with roasted necks and a wonderful, tight sound.
Darkglass Anagram
No bass roundup of 2025 would be complete without a word or two on the new Darkglass Anagram.
Darkglass, though a separate company, come to us from the same people who created the Neural DSP plugins and Quad Cortex floor unit. Certainly flavour of the month in terms of popularity, but this is well deserved - their slipstream industrial design and straightforward functionality carries over here as well as the top tier modelling and impulse responses.
In short, this is most of the bass rigs you’ll need to cover almost all situations, in a sturdy little metal box that will fit inside the front compartment of most backpacks!
For anyone who has faced the daunting proposition of an SVT cabinet and a venue staircase, this is the dawn of a new utopia!
You don’t want one? I don’t believe you!
Bass is in a Good Place
That’s just a small window into the state of play for basses in 2025. It's a curated choice for sure, and we have a ton more great basses in-store and online. But these are relevant, significant and notable, and I think you’ll benefit from checking them all out.
Even the obvious stuff like the USA Fenders: they are so ubiquitous that it's sometimes easy to forget why they are the industry standard. It’s because they are great!
So, whether you are a beginner, a bedroom player, a pub circuit player or an arena-straddling pro, there’s hopefully something in the blog above that resonates with you and gets you excited! Why not swing by your local guitarguitar store and see some of these basses in the flesh?
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