Companies are mostly irrelevant, except for those companies that only make cheap instruments. Basically, do a little research on the net (http://www.harmony-central.com/Bass/#pro) and then go play basses and look at the price tag. If you don't know the first thing about bass, it's probably fine to buy a crappy but cheap no name bass so you learn the feeling of it and then when you know what you like after a while, go buy a decent one.