What's so Bad Ass about the BadAss?

[bizzaro]

I think it is the Bad Ass price That is what is so bad ass, about the Bad Ass

I have a Gotoh. It is a very well made, high mass bridge, for much less. But a better bridge IMO

[lo-end]

Originally posted by old_skool
And what happens when you change string gauges?

You take a poll here out of all the BA owners and see how many have actually filed there slots.

Nothing. The slots are just guides so the strings can sit in one space on the saddle. If you use bigger strings, good for you, it'll still sit on the same groove. Filing them is very easy as well.

I got my Badass II bridge from marsmusic.com for $40.

[lemonadeisgood]

Is the badass II bridge worth it?

I'm thinking of getting one for my P-bass.

[LA]

The reports of the Bada** promoting more note sustain and clarity are no baloney. I've had mine on my Kingston for a month and so far, so good!

[allan grossman]

Mike N said...

The Gotoh 201 should be half the price of the BA, and Ive heard good things about that bridge.

I have a Gotoh 201 and have owned BA bridges in the past. I prefer the Gotoh.

[Funkster]

I have used both the 201 and the BA2 and liked them both but I always go back to the original.
I have a BA2 on eBay right now in decent condition, I offered it here for 25 bucks shipped with no takers.
I put it on the Bay with no reserve and it's up to 15 bucks.

[kip]

I've got an old P-Bass (1959) that I put a bad ass on. (yea I saved the original). The reason was not for sustain, which it does provide, but because the original saddles could not be moved back far enough to tune the harmonics. The screw holes to the bass line up same as the original bridge, but the throw is greater in both directions w/ the badass.

[rumblethump]

The BAII may have come out in the late 70s, but I put my BAI on my gibson in 73. With the original BAI you had to route the body on a Fender to get it low enough to work. Thus the BAII was designed. My slots were cut by the luthier who installed it and it hasn't seem to make any difference what gauge string I use. We can thank Leo Quan for being the first aftermarket bridge. He inspired many designs since. On my EB3 bass it made a monumental difference. I was told that it was the EB0 and EB3 bridge (terrible design), that inspired its invention.

[4Mal]

On the fretted, round wound basses I seem to stick with the Badass II. For fretless or for flatwounds I use the stock Fender. I find that the BAII has great harmonics a very piano bass sounding bridge. Lot's of sustain. If nothing else, the extra weight can help with balance...I have a fly weight body from USA Customs and the BA is just heavy enough to hold it down very cool as I hate neck diving!

Nice aggressive sounding, well made bridge IMO.

[geezer316]

When I got my Japanese jazz special it had a thin,coroded,pitted beat down bridge,I was recomended to put a new bridge to replace the old tarnished one.So i went with the Bad-Ass and could'nt be happier with it,it did what it claimed to do,more sustain,higher treble and mid's ETC.Now i could'nt put it in writing that another "performence" bridge could have done the exact same thing,or the increased performance was due to an in-ept stock bridge,maybe any bridge would have been an up-grade over the beat down original one,but it certainely made a huge difference to my bass no two ways about it. Its an opinion like anything else,some people prefer Fenders,others Ibanez.But the bottom line both are makers of great basses which cater to different people with the same tastes who just seem to prefer different brands.Is one wrong and the other right ? or are they both right because of preference ? If you get what you need from a stock bridge, then lucky for you ,now you dont need to spend money on an up-grade while others need to,If a Gotoh gives you what you need and is 1/2 the price well than kudos to you,less money being spent needlessly,more for other things.Me it has'nt let down,i could'nt ask for better results.I will continue to use them on all my basses.While the slot issue is a choice,i had mine done and it works better(i tried it both ways).Give one a try its the only way to decide what works FOR YOU.