Bass Guitars for Newbies

[MetFish]

right - I've been wanting to get into guitars for ages now - and I've set myself to buy an electric bass and amp.

I was just wondering what you lot might reccomend in terms of bass itself and amp - so far I've been reccomended a Squier Prescision S-Bass Special - http://www.squierguitars.com/squierbasses/squierbasses_stdpbass.html

and a B30 Marshall amp - top one on http://www.marshallamps.com/images/bass/bassframe.htm

any horror stories about these or anything? If you play bass, what did you start off with and did you regret it?

Is it better to buy new or second hand, bearing in mind a somewhat limited budget?

Finally - what should I look for when buying a bass guitar and having a go?

cheers guys, if you could help it'd be smashing...

[-Haggis-]

my first Bass is a Peavy Milestone 3 which isnt a bad guitar for the cheap price it was at.

If you know that u are going to play guitar and you know that you will keep playing it then get a new one, if ure not sure then get a 2nd hand one, but make sure its in good condition beforehand and that the connections are ok and stuff.