OK, maybe this'll be of some help:

Under $500...a re-tired high-school orchestra bass....Plywood back and sides...Kays and Roths are pretty good.

$500-$1500...new plywood bass of the same quality as above.

Solid wood bass...Begnner grade starts around 5K, up to 25K+. Sound wonderful, but out of so many folk's price range.

Obviously, most folks use the plywood basses...which have the dual advantages of sounding very good amplified and being MUCH harder to break in travel...BTW, ever see the hard-cases for these?

The above info's why so many bassists use electric bass guitars.