i play guitar and bass plus several other instruments. i always thought it was fun to come up with my own stuff, then add other instruments on top of it and see how far i could take it just by myself. playing with other people is always great but sometimes i just get that spark in my head that nobody but me understands...
i'm not a big fan of the epiphones or squiers really, but thats just a personal prefrence. ibanez also makes quality basses for reasonable prices and you can get them used for real good prices. just find one that feels good in your hands. they make them in varying widths and thicknesses in the necks so you don't want one thats too small or too big for your hands and fingers to navigate across, replace the stock strings immediatly and look for a quality amp. relating it to drums, your neck is like your sticks, gotta feel good and play good. strings are like your heads, stock ones are just crap, break, don't sound very good. the amp is like your drum shells, go cheap and you get muddy thick distorted sounds but you also don't need to go top of the line to get a quality sound. i would suggest a nice solid 1x18 combo amp, maybe a 100 watter or so but you don't need a 8x10 1000 watt super stack either. stay away from the cheap little practice amps, they have a lot of static and a lot of times sound hollow and pathetic.
and again like drums, lessons don't hurt either. no subsitute for an experienced player to show you exactly how things are done and tech you exactly what you need to know.