The Hofner is wonderful. Light and easy to play (action is low and a nice neck). Great for old people and beginners (I am both)!!

Gretsch is the best by a country mile. Really impressed with mine and sits next to my p bass, dark ray and Warwick as a great different tone and resource

The G2220 Electromatic Junior Jet from Gretsch is equipped with two single coil pick-up's even though they looks like mini humbuckers. I'm playing one myself and agreeing on your comments. A easy played bass with a great sound.

I have two Mikro basses. 66 years and a lot of basses, I settled on these 5 years ago. I made a fretless out of one, and got rid of all my heavy, long scale basses and do everything I need on the Mikro's. Great tones and very playable.

They are not "Humbuckers" or even "Humbucking." They are single coil. Gretsch is offering compensation for even saying so. But I own one and I put D'Addario flatwounds on it and I love it. So I will forgive Gretsch.

I’ve owned the Gretsch for several months now. It’s a lot of fun to play.

I had a Squier Mustang bass. It was the biggest neck diver in all of neck dive land.

Cheers, Sam! I've been thinking about picking up a short-scale for a while, and this video was helpful. I'm really impressed with the sound of that Gretsch.

I'm not a fan of the Beatles at all but I feel that the Hofner totally fits retro sounds like surf rock, psychedelick rock, old school jazz... it can even be good for some kind of old school hip hop beats like Tribe Called Quest

I have the Mustang on order. I've seen a lot of video's complaining about it being weak sounding, but it actually slays every other bass in this demo. I was quite surprised it sounded better even the Hofner, which is one of my favourite short scales. Feel confident now that I made the right choice. ( Btw, the Hofner demo has to be taken with a grain of salt, because you had not removed the protective foam from underneath the floating bridge)

This is an excellent sound demo. I've owned all but the Hofner (I did try one) and this is exactly how they sound! Nice job.

I have a Squire Vintage Modified Jaguar Short Scale. Similar to the Mustang, but with an extra pickup. It's fun to play and easier to transition from guitar, my main instrument. I rarely take my more expensive full-sized bass out of the case anymore.

Short scale basses are awesome! They generally sound more 'bass-y' than 34-inch basses and the ergonomics are so much better. I absolutely love my Ibanez GSRM-20B MikroBass! Edit: bought the Gretsch as well and it's a beast. 🤘😎

Really good comparison of sounds and features, thanks. I wish you would have played standing up too, and talked about balance and ergonomics standing, with a guitar strap. I play in a bar band and literally never play sitting down. Thanks again, it was a great shoot out other than that.

The Gretsch sounds great, but if U can afford more money, the Sire U5 is unbeatable and equallly beautiful too. Stanley Clarke played a short scale Alembic, though we are outside the price range here.

Nice but you missed the Squier Mini P which is one of the best short scale basses to be released in years. I love Fender/Squier but that Gretsch is awesome. Just played one today. The build quality is noticeably better than most Squier basses, the pickups sound huge and its a steal at only $299.

Imagine the sound of the hofner without the foam under the bridge!

My favorite out of your selection is the Ibanez MiKro. I own one of these, which I bought after getting my first full-scale bass in about 40 years. The full-size beast was killing my fingers, so I got the small one to help strengthen those digits till they are strong enough to handle the long bass. They both still need setups, though ...🤔

BEST video of shorties. Why did not this video appear as the first result? It's super good!.

Short scale basses, in terms of sound, have its place when you want a vintage soul percussive uprightbass-like sound, so Höfner, with its easy of playing, great variety of sounds, is a logical choice for that. All other options here are good replacement for 34 inch scale in case that you wish lighter, easier to play bass, or when you have smaller hands from whatever reason. In my opinion, a guitar that absolutely must be in this list is Eastwood Classic 4 or cheaper clone - Harley Benton HB-60 WB.

Interesting to think that, as of late, we have reason to suspect those Gretsch mini humbuckers aren't exactly as advertised.... That being said, if they are single coils, I still love mine!

Our ears are amazingly subjective! I thought the two best sounding were the Gretsch, and surprisingly, the Hofner. I will say there wasn't a slouch among the 5. They all sounded good. I have noodled on all 5 and liked them all. IMO, the Gretsch plays and sounds the best, but they are all great for the price!

I go back and forth from day to day about what guitar I would consider to be my favorite...but when it comes to bass, mustang is the only answer (PLEASE, Fender, make a lefty mustang bass, take my money)

My second bass was a Fender Musicmaster that had the pickup replaced with a couple of Demarzios and a 4 saddle tail piece. I LOVED that bass and wish I’d never sold it. Years later I bought a NOS 1964 Italian EKO 995. Similar to a Hofner. It’s pretty fun but it’s not my old fender from high school and college.

Gretsch best bang for your buck hands down

Ibanez Talman TMB30 major contender!

Although not on this list, my favorite short scale bass under 400 has to be a Danelectro 59 short scale. They have a huge sound with 2 lipstick pickups. You can probably find one for 400 or under on the used market. Maybe even a longhorn too.

I just bought a Sire u5 Marcus miller which is one of the few short scales that have a lefty version. The Hofner is the only bass in this video that has a lefty model (I think).

Had them all except the Squier. All have their own sound, The Mikro is sweet sounding and comfy to use (small) 28.6 inches I believe, can get lots of sounds, it can almost sound like a jazz bass with round wounds. No neck dive, balances very nicely. The Hofner, sounds like a Hofner, very light and neck dives due to the very light body and the way the neck extends. The Epiphone is beefier and has plenty of neck dive, personally I don't like its sound stock. I currently own the Gretsch, even though it does NOT have humbuckers, it is a tone beast and it is hefty, mine weighs in at 8 pounds, has some neck dive but not excessive in my opinion, reacts well to different strings, pick your flavor. I like it with black tapes. I'm not a pro and these this is just my opinion; I have had the opportunity to own many basses in the lower $ range, none of these will ever sound like a long scale bass which I prefer but depending on your type of music I can see many gravitating towards a shorter scale.

I love my Ibanez mikro bass

The ultimate real short scale bass is the Kala UBass fitted with roundwounds….got one and use it live all the time. Try it!

I bought my first gretsch today I love it so easy to play and it sounds so sweet.

I have a Hofner and I love it. It's the perfect bass for someone like me, who primarily plays guitar and doesn't consider themselves a bass player.

That opening jam narrowed it down 50% (to the Mustang and the Hofner) for me. Amazing what someone who knows what they're doing on an instrument can help a newbie like me just by playing.

I started to learn bass 2 years ago. Started with a Hofner shorty. Now, I go back and forth between that and a Squier affinity jazz.

Just bought the gretsch . Checked out most of the rest of these. It wasn't even a contest. Very comfy great tone and light enough to not kill my back and shoulder.

It's the Ibanez for me, available in lots of colours as well

Great video. I love that you played the Low E strings. Low E strings can be a problem on shorties. Well done. I don't love the fretboard, but that Gretsch wins this for me, followed by the SG Epiphone.

Every time I see one of these comparison videos I always like the Hofner tone best. Maybe it's just a lifetime of listening to the Beatles, but i like it.

The original Gretsch 2022 bass is the best. hard to find but get one!

Thanks so much for this. I want a bass for around £400 and ideally a short scale one. I like the tone of the Mustang so will probably go with that.

I have an ibanez mikro bass black I put quarter powder pickups in it

I had a 3/4 Harley Benton Precision which was fantastic for a few months. Then ALL the frets started to sprout!

The Gretsch and Squier sounds best to me in this demo. And next the Höfner. But honestly, I've just surfed around for demos, and in this both the Mustang and Electromatic sounds significantly better than in any other demo. So what amp and/or interface did you use?

I realize that this was never made or at least to my knowledge but I think that an Epiphone EB-O SG style bass would look amazing if it had a wood grain finish similar to the Ibanez GSRM20.

Great sounds! I love my Hofner Cavern bass - cheap Ignition. Great sound.

I'm thinking of buying the Ibanez one. I'm gonna start Bass lessons pretty soon so i think it would be a cool bass to start with.

The Hofner still sounds great, even with 1mm of foam under the bridge!!!😂

I have a Junior Jet Gretsch and yes it does NOT have humbucker pickups. Gretsch got in trouble with that product description but now, accurately, product description says single coil pics

I'm a guitarist at heart, but just bought a bass for recording purposes. I own an Ibanez mikro guitar, and while I love the thing it has tuning problems so I went with the gretsch g2220 in pink. The mikro guitars don't have very good tuning heads, and the ones it uses are a unique diameters, meaning you would have to re drill the headstock to upgrade to better tuners.

Somebody probably mentions it in the comments, but the Gretsch G2220 Junior Jet Bass II has single coils.

You are an excellent sales person, lad. Kudos!

After looking at short scales. Does not fit in this price range, but for tone, I'm settled on the G&L Tribute Fallout. That thing has tone.

Excellent summary - thank you.

The gretsch stands out to me as having the least amount of fretbuzz which is the bane of short scale.

Hofner sounds so warm and wooly.

Great video. May I suggest watching LowEndLobster’s channel. He discovered that the Gretsch Junior that advertised it’s pups as being minihumbuckers is not true. Because of the tone, he removed the pups and found that they are single coiled pups. He caught Fender and Gretsch in a fraud situation. Since they were caught after many years of producing this bass, they started to offer owners $100 towards gear. Just prove ownership by giving them a serial number. Who can you trust anymore!!

I enjoyed all of these basses, but the violin bass stood out to me, followed by the Gretsch and then the Mustang. What about the Jackson Minion? Nice video!

Thank you for your descriptions.

I got an Ibanez Mikro a year back and was surprised at how punchy that little thing is for being almost weightless.

I have the sterling by musicman stingray 30 inch bass. $599. Great bass.

I love my Fender mustang with the exception for a little neck dive.

This was a great video. Just what I needed. I played 6-string electrics and acoustics for decades. What has the neck shape closest to a 6-string? And what are the weights if you don't mind? Thank you so much!

I just got my wife a Mustang bass. She is going to hold down the low end!

I think the G&L FallOut Short scale bass is the best in my opinion. Followed by the Marcus Miller short scale.

DANKE for a really good videö on these cool instruments!!

I regularly play short scale basses (Höfner, Revered Dub King), but even to me, the Ibanez Mikro bass feels really small with its 28.6” scale. I don’t know why 1-2 inches difference in scale matters, but the 30” scale on my aforementioned basses don’t feel that much different from my full scale (34”) basses. Maybe the 4mm narrower nut (smaller than most 6 string guitars) plays a part in it. Having said all that, I love my Ibanez basses, a SRH500F and TMB105.

Thanks for your demo. I was convicted it's for me, so I bought one. never played before and am looking forward to thumping something other than myself 😂

I have own 2 of these and may pick up the EB0 the hofner is ok, I Probably wouldn't take it on the road though the neck is way too clunky as well😊

If you're not a bass player but need one to record and can get by playing bass lines for your songs...get a Mustang. The full size can be pretty brutal.

Just want to add that the Gretchen doesn’t have mini-humbucker pickups but single coiled ones. They changed that very important detail on their website too.

For me, the Höfner sounds the best, though I'm not a fan of the look. And I'm not sure how much the handling will differ from the only bass I've played for a couple of years, a Fender Musicmaster. I want to start playing again and I can only handle a short scale bass (guess my arms ARE a bit shorter than average, even for a female). Since I'm not in a band anymore, a cheapish one will suffice for my needs. Which one will come closest to the sound of the Höfner? Squier - Jaguar or the cheaper Bronco -, or Ibanez Gio Mikro? Or...? I'm so confused!

I have a travel sized guitar. I love it, but I also love bass guitar. I want a travel-sized short-scale bass.

They're not humbuckers on the Gretsch. They're single-coils. Gretsch got into some trouble not too long ago for mis-labeling them as humbuckers on their website. They ended up giving credits to customers who bought one thinking they were getting humbuckers. Hey, as long as it sounds good, I don't care. And in your hands, that Gretsch sounds good!

Check out the G&L Fallout bass,(tribute series).......great passive bass with a nice tonal range.

Really liked the gretsch junior & hofner and I was really surprised by the epiphone eb-0. This would my podium. Still not convinced by the Mustang

Posted on my birthday!

The Hofner Club Bass sounds better due to its shape and is more comfortable than the violin bass, especially when sitting. Unlike the violin bass, the Club bass is leg-friendly due to its design. It has a cutaway for higher notes and a distinct Les Paul-like look. I own both a sunburst and red one.

I like the Gretsch and Gibson the best. They were deeper and punchier. The Hofner nope, thanks anyway Paul. I just purchased a Gibson Les Paul tribute DC and it’s light and sounds fantastic. I’m not happy with my 3 Fender jazz basses. The best being the made in Japan Fender “ Ventures model “ was made in around 1996. Beautiful for sure and heavy as hell. It’s sounds fantastic but alas it’s not leaving its locked vault anymore. One Jazz goes as a backup that’s it

I wish that you'd given the A,D & G more play on the Ibanez like you did on the Mustang.

this demo was really helpful, thanks! i like the sg but it sounded the weakest. i like the mustang but i JUST got a regular guitar that looks that way (white, but still). good sound on it though. the ibanez - the wood look is really cool for a base and WOW you weren't kidding when you said it is versatile. *violin bass* i remember the first time i saw it, like, "WTF is that?? what is this, another weird guitar?" which was about how i felt the first time i saw a 335 style. both times i was like since when are people doing a guitar violin fusion????? (i might be slightly obsessed with both by now) anyway, i was going to straight up buy the violin one when i saw it in a store. then i realized it was a bass. and i don't play bass (yet?). and Gretsch is a favorite brand. can't quite say why, just is. naturally i'm rooting for it. but here we go, let's have a listen! ---dannnng ok yeah that sounds good!! hard to say if i would go for it or the ibanez. the ibanez is more versatile but the Gretsch's tones all sound good whereas not all of the ibanez's did, to me. overall i'd probably have to go violin bass just because i WANT ONE. after that, it'd be a little bit of a tossup.

I'm 31 and just started bass on one I borrowed, I'm thinking of getting a short scale cause my index fingers go inwards, and I'm always playing with 3 fingers on the fretboard, my pinky can't reach most of the time and just doesn't have enough pressure on the string. My hands are just like the average male as I looked up, I don't have "Trump" hands lol.

I assume the Ibanez was not properly set up cause, when it was being played, there was a lot of string buzz making it sound terrible.

All of the basses sounded very acceptable. One thing about the Hofner style basses is the neck dive issue that a lot of players might not expect. Just a watchout - I had one for a while and it played/sounded great. But I ended up selling it because the neck dive became more of a distraction. I had the same issue with the Epiphone Wildcat - cool guitar, but the headstock wants to constently slide toward the floor if you're not carefull! Another short scale to consider is the Danelectro Longhorn bass - Very well balanced, excellent playability, nice punchy sound. I hate the way it looks, but it does exactly what it's suppose to. I could be wrong, but after the Fender Precision and Jazz Bass, it's one of the most recorded basses in 60's classis rock.

I like the Cort Action Jr. It looks similar to the Ibanez.

You forget the excellent Sire U5 from Marcus Miller and the Mini Precision from Squier

I have the Gretsch... very comfy to play. Interested in the Mustang. Thought the Ibanez was a bit rattle-ly?

SX makes some brilliant short scale basses.

The Hofner and Gretsch both scream at me to own.

for me Ibanez, Gretsch, Hofner

Having played an original mid 1960s Gibson EB-0, I would lean toward that bass based on playability. The main problem I would have is the mahogany body, it's probably heavier than my bad back would like. I'm sure that the Hofner is the lightest of these 5 basses but it might not have as aggressive of a tone as the solid body basses with humbuckers. I played an early 1980s vintage Gibson Q-80 base in a local rock band for 15 years, and I really liked the sound of it, but it just weighs way too much these days.

The gretsch is a winner by a country mile

Thank you!

Mustang ❤

The HOFNER is really cool and sounds best.

Whaaat!?! The Jackson JS1X Minion Bass didn't make the cut, yet the Ibanez SRM20B Mikro WNF did? Well then, aren't I glad the short scale Bass I just bought myself is the Ibanez Mikro in Flat Walnut finish. 😅 Do you have a video comparing just the Ibanez vs Jackson? Ii is gonna have to look for that now. LOL BTW, Tonewood is a myth where Electric Gtrs & Basses are concerned. 😅😅😅😂 The Tone from an electric instrument is mostly affected by the Speakers in your Cab, followed by the Pickups & the Mic you mic your Cab up with, & placement of said mic. 😘 Ain't you seen Jim Lills' "Where does the Tone come from..." series? ??? He puts string across a gap between 2 benches in a test & it sounds the same as many electric gtrs... 🤔

The Epiphone Viola-Bass would have been another good one to have a look at. Any thoughts on it?

Surely the Hofner with its hollow body would be very prone to 'neck-dive'?

I'm a bigger guy but the EB-0 was still WAYYYYY too neck heavy for me. Why get a short scale that weighs the same as a full scale? We hated the Epiphone and sold it. The Gretsch sounded like a toy, and the Hofner obviously feels like a toy. The Ibanez Mikro is amazing and we won't get rid of it. Light as a feather. But we've since upgraded to the Sire U5, which is hands down the best short scale in it's price point.

a great Video !!!