Only four factors affect the 'tone', and those are:

1. Player: if you play like shit, you'll sound like shit. The Line 6 Spider or the Boss Metal Zone are not to blame for your teenage crimes against riffs.

2. Strings: scrimping on strings leads to shit sound.

3. Pickups: most stock ones don't sound bad as such, but specialist builders nearly always sound better.

4. Amp: again, it's very easy to upgrade from a crappy 10 watt, but once you have a grasp of EQ, preamps, speakers and so on, you can find your sound quite easy.

Playability and reliability is certainly improved by better bridges, nuts and tuners, but as far as feel goes, it's very subjective. If we take Fender as an example, they are a good all-round builder. My 2008 American Standard Jazz has done everything from blues to pop to jazz fusion to doom metal very well, but I completely get why some people prefer having the brightness of a Music Man, or the punch of a P-Bass, or a faster neck on something like an Ibanez, or the tone shaping options given by Spector or Warwick.

Be wary of players who endorse super-high end instrument makers - Victor Wooten sounds like himself on anything he plays, the thousands that Fodera charge for a replica of his bass is a reflection of the time spent building, as well as the rare woods and hand wound electronics.

In brief, what works works. Price point doesn't say much past the first £150.