Ok, I have a friend who is looking to buy his first bass and bass amp. I dont know shit about bass stuff, but I suggested an Epiphone Embassy Standard IV 4-string ($250) and Behringer Ultrabass BX600 Combo (60W 12 " $143) in an effort to pretend I knew what I was talking about. He has $450 and has to stay in that range. He would like to eventually gig on this without having to buy much else. He wants to play mainly metal and some clasic stuff. Any advice?

You can't get gig-grade gear with $450(unless you find it real cheap). He can always buy a $100 bass that will sound like shit and a $350 amp, which could be decent. Just don't think about making a lot of noise, it will doubtlessly suck.

With that much money, as Local_Hero said, he doesn't have enough to even think of playing live. I'd say spend most of it on a bass and start playing first, a piece of shit amp will be good enough until he can afford real equipment, but it's good to have a bass that is somewhat easy to play. If he buys a very shitty bass, chances are that the neck will be warped (or become warped pretty quickly), and this will either give tons of fret buzz (the string hits the frets as it vibrates) or it will force him to raise the strings (which makes you have to puch harder to play).
Simply put, he should buy a bass that is easier to play so that he doesn't get discouraged and so that he can improve his playing faster so that he doesn't quit, thus having wasted all of the 450$. Also tell him to start saving money if he wants to become a musician and play shows.

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I'd just buy a decent bass, and say screw the amp for now. Save the leftover money and save it up till you can buy at least 100 watts of a quality bass amp, and if you're lucky find an ampeg on sale like my friend did. Personally, I love Fender products so I would go for a Squier P or J bass. Ibanez also makes pretty good basses if you want more of a "metal" look. I've also seen people happy with a Peavy Millenium bass, although I don't know much about it.