I have recently bought this bass for my son ,at his advice, as a Christmas gift and I can say it's truely an amazing instrument !
First of all, it came in a very nice case ( not sort of gigbag like in the picture from Thomann ) and despite the fact I was a little bit angry because it was 4 days delay between the ordering day, and shipping day ( maybe they have a lot of work now due to Christmas ), I was verry happy that it arrived safe and not damaged to Romania.
So...let's start with the pros features:
The look of the bass is really really nice, maybe nicer than in the picture.It looks really like a premium bass. It is totally balanced, maybe a little bit heavy ( it's swamp ash), but it doesn't feel so when you hang it to your neck. The body is very thin compared to other bases. Of course it needed a small setup ( action , trusrod, intonation, one fret a little bit higher) but this was something that every new instrument needs.
Let's go to the sound now....
First of all, a very nice feature : there-s no difference of volume when changing from active to passive. (other basses have a boost when switching , because of the preamp).
The overall sound of the bass is VERY BRIGHT ,for the people who like mids and treble, it has plenty of them (maybe because the strings are new too) but you can make nice solos and slapping with it.
The 5th B string sounds at the same volume like other strings .
The output of the coils is very strong , you have a lot of output signal both passive or active mode ! First time trying Bartolini humbuckers coils. I have on the other bass Seymour Duncan single coils plus Aguilar preamp, but the output signal is not so strong like this one.
Cons : The hole on the bridge saddles doesn't allow you to intonate it 100%,on B and G string but this issue can be fixed with a file, to enlarge the length of the sliding holes.
I don't like the blend pot ( I am used to have 2 volume pots separately) .In my opinion the blend pot kills a little bit from the signal of the pick-up coils when using both of them , but this bass has a lot of signal. Maybe I will change it to the classic style volume bridge and volume neck pick-ups knobs.
Also the nut, maybe is not the best one, but it can be changed as well in the future ( I like the brass adjusting height nuts).
Conclusion : Overall, it is a nice , beautiful and amazing premium instrument with very good price /quality ratio. It's a bass under 1000 euro, comparable to a 4-5000 euro bass. If you count separately the price of the hardware ,materials, case and electronics on it for these money, you will have a bass like a normal one, with nothing special on it ( except the logo) !
So my son made a good choice ( like always) ....and what is the most important ...he's very happy with it !
I recommend it ! It worth all the money !
