I've got everything from an American G&L to a shitty $80 acoustic bass off Amazon. My favorite that I purchased instead of built is currently a mid level Alvarez, followed very closely by a butterscotch Squier 51 that I've had since they first came out (for under $100).

The biggest problem with low end guitars and bass guitars these days is mostly QC. Sharp frets, super high action, and bad tuners are fixable as long as your neck isn't complete garbage. The problem comes in when new folks really have no idea what it should feel like and they don't want to take it down and pay half the cost of the instrument to have a good setup done. So they suffer and quit when they could have spent $45 and turned a garbage $80 no name special into a reasonable beginner instrument.

To be fair, QC has also become a problem with much more expensive guitars as well in some cases (looking at you, Gibson).