Cheap basses for recording

Nope, baritone guitar, there are many out there but Fenders was the first

SX Bass's

These are very inexpensive, but play with a big sound.
I bought one of these a couple of years ago because there was a lot of
praise for the SX. I figure what is $120 for a 4 string bass? I'll give it a try to see
if the hype is real or not.

Surprisingly, this bass delivers just that. I was weary of the price (china made)but the sound and feel of this piece without a doubt is a great instrument for someone starting out or just having a spare bass on hand. Lightweight (about 7.5 lbs.)and holds / retains it's tuning.

Now for the negative aspects:

Wiring was a bit too small, thought they could of used a bigger size. Soldering wasn't horrible, but wasn't great either. I had to make adjustments and improvements in this area.

The Frets edges were rough, as in a meat grinder kinda rough. They were never polished down from the factory, an easy fix if you have a polishing wheel at home or suffer through the carnage of playing it as is.

That is it for the negative parts - minor, but for a $120 jazz bass that sounds and feels good. I can handle and deal with this kind of workmanship.

As for as I know, the only place to buy these at are at Rondo Music - 5 string bass page http://www.rondomusic.com/bassguitars5.html

Don't let the price fool you for thinking these are a piece of shit - they are anything but that.
Obviously not the top of the line of quality, but they will deliver to your needs.
Check out TalkBass Forums and others like it - seems to be a lot of people have good things to say about the SX Bass.

I do. Bad back from car accident makes it difficult to hold some 20lb two by four for a couple hours at a time. My Fender is just about right and the Ibanez is light.