Essex Bass Club - Part 11

[THand]

Hard to beat a good piece of ash!

[Billy Low]

Originally Posted by xaxxat

More trouble...



http://www.rondomusic.com/product3651.html

Yeah, I almost typed in sum words that would have the mods coming down REALLY hard on me!!!

[badboyb]

both that jazz and p are beautiful basses!

[oyobass]

I have a couple of SX guitars (killer axes both) and a Douglas WEB 826 (now my main bass). I just ordered my first SX bass: www.rondomusic.com/ursa2mn63ts.html

www.rondomusic.com/photos/bass/ursa2mn63ts1.jpg

I can't believe they only want $150 for a 6 string this beautiful.

[Sijjvra]

Originally Posted by JoeVictim

I wanted to try an active bass, so I wouldn't look at the Defiant. Is there some Brice or Douglas owner's club around here? What Ibanez basses did the Brice beat out? It looks like a smooth enough instrument. I know the Ibbys have a fast neck, how does the Brice compare?


BIG +1 for a side by side comparison of these basses.

There are a lot of Brice reviews on the review section.

I've owned several Ibby's, SR 1996 405 and SR 1997 406, SRX550, ATK300, SR 305, 1997 SR 300. With the exception of the 405/406's (which were higher end back in those days) and the ATK 300 most of the Ibby's have been "lower end", so I can't say how they compare to ...say...an Ibby SR 500+ BUT...

the Brice beat those other Ibby's hands down in terms of sound and build quality. The neck isn't quite as "fast" as an Ibanez, but it's not at all some thick huge baseball bat either.

In fact, lemme dig up my thread on it. Here ya go.

NBD! (with pics)



Also, yes, as soon as I get my Defiant today, I will be doing a review on it since I know a few people are interested should be here in a few hours.

[Gord_oh]

Originally Posted by xaxxat

Uh oh...




http://www.rondomusic.com/ursa2mnnaash.html

i may have to sell something to make room for one of those...damn. anyone wanna buy a custom sx 4 string? i post pics on page 1.

[mookie20hz]

Anybody notice that TB slipped a new moderator in on us? I miss the old guy...what'sisname. He contributed so much!...lmao.

[THand]

Originally Posted by Sijjvra

There are a lot of Brice reviews on the review section.

I've owned several Ibby's, SR 1996 405 and SR 1997 406, SRX550, ATK300, SR 305, 1997 SR 300. With the exception of the 405/406's (which were higher end back in those days) and the ATK 300 most of the Ibby's have been "lower end", so I can't say how they compare to ...say...an Ibby SR 500+ BUT...

the Brice beat those other Ibby's hands down in terms of sound and build quality. The neck isn't quite as "fast" as an Ibanez, but it's not at all some thick huge baseball bat either.

In fact, lemme dig up my thread on it. Here ya go.

NBD! (with pics)



Also, yes, as soon as I get my Defiant today, I will be doing a review on it since I know a few people are interested should be here in a few hours.

I, for one, look forward to your review!

[Sijjvra]

UPS just brought me something

The Defiant is on the right. Please excuse the crappy camera.








Ok, so quick review.

Overall: Very nice bass. I like it. The neck feels a little more comfortable to me than my other Brice, but that might be because it's a -smidge- wider.

Fret job, fit and finish, etc - seems a-ok. I couldn't find any major flaws here. The bridge and tuners seem sturdy enough. No knots or cracks or sharp frets.

Sound - It's got a nice growly modern tone. The coil tap and passive pick ups actually remind me a bit of my ATK. Not exactly the same, but I can get a similar tone from it, and that's good. Plus it's a passive, so no battery changing The strings are "meh" as usual, but I'll change those soon enough. It has a nice full sound with a good metallic edge, if that makes any sense. It's not as tonally versatile as the other Brice, but it's not a one trick pony either.

Set up: Not bad overall. There's a little buzzing at the 12th fret on the D string, so I think there's a high fret there, as it doesn't buzz anywhere else. The B string saddle needs raised a little, as it's pretty low. Other than that, it's got low action and plays smooth.

Cons: On the Rondo site it advertises this bass as coming with a brass nut. It does not it came with a plastic nut. I emailed Kurt and let him know they should update the Defiant specs to reflect this. Not a huge deal, but a bit of a bummer as I would have liked the Brass nut in it.

Is it worth the extra 100 over the other one? Ehhh, not really, unless you're set on a set/through neck. Which is nice, don't get me wrong, but personally not so important to me I'd pay extra for it. If it came with a brass nut I'd say it was worth it. HOWEVER, it's leaps and bounds better than the Washburn T-25 through neck bass I owned briefly, which was a -mess-. So on that note I'm very pleased with the quality.

All in all a very nice player. I like the tones and the feel of the bass. It weighs a -little- more than the other Brice, I'm guessing close to 9.5-10 pounds, likely do to through neck. But nothing awful. No neck dive or anything, "hangs" comfortably on a thick strap, etc.

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Originally Posted by mookie20hz

Anybody notice that TB slipped a new moderator in on us? I miss the old guy...what'sisname. He contributed so much!...lmao.

The last new moderator was added over 9 months ago

[THand]

Originally Posted by Sijjvra

UPS just brought me something

The Defiant is on the right. Please excuse the crappy camera.








Ok, so quick review.

Overall: Very nice bass. I like it. The neck feels a little more comfortable to me than my other Brice, but that might be because it's a -smidge- wider.

Fret job, fit and finish, etc - seems a-ok. I couldn't find any major flaws here. The bridge and tuners seem sturdy enough. No knots or cracks or sharp frets.

Sound - It's got a nice growly modern tone. The coil tap and passive pick ups actually remind me a bit of my ATK. Not exactly the same, but I can get a similar tone from it, and that's good. Plus it's a passive, so no battery changing The strings are "meh" as usual, but I'll change those soon enough. It has a nice full sound with a good metallic edge, if that makes any sense. It's not as tonally versatile as the other Brice, but it's not a one trick pony either.

Set up: Not bad overall. There's a little buzzing at the 12th fret on the D string, so I think there's a high fret there, as it doesn't buzz anywhere else. The B string saddle needs raised a little, as it's pretty low. Other than that, it's got low action and plays smooth.

Cons: On the Rondo site it advertises this bass as coming with a brass nut. It does not it came with a plastic nut. I emailed Kurt and let him know they should update the Defiant specs to reflect this. Not a huge deal, but a bit of a bummer as I would have liked the Brass nut in it.

Is it worth the extra 100 over the other one? Ehhh, not really, unless you're set on a set/through neck. Which is nice, don't get me wrong, but personally not so important to me I'd pay extra for it. If it came with a brass nut I'd say it was worth it. HOWEVER, it's leaps and bounds better than the Washburn T-25 through neck bass I owned briefly, which was a -mess-. So on that note I'm very pleased with the quality.

All in all a very nice player. I like the tones and the feel of the bass. It weighs a -little- more than the other Brice, I'm guessing close to 9.5-10 pounds, likely do to through neck. But nothing awful. No neck dive or anything, "hangs" comfortably on a thick strap, etc.

Thanks for the review! It sounds like, unless it grows on you, you may like the older Brice a little better.

[Sijjvra]

At this point I do, if only because I have it all set up and adjusted the way I like. The neck on the new one does feel better to me though, but both are good. I'll have to wait and see going to play with it today for a bit. I'm going to have to say that even if it's a little more expensive than the other Brice 5'er models, it's still a heck of a nice bass for the price and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it.

I admit I do really like my active Brice 5er though

[heb9_28]

I remember when I first started out playing bass, I saw a Candy Apple Red Fender Jazz with a maple fretboard in a bass player magazine and I thought it was the most beautiful instrument I'd ever seen and that someday I'd have one.



While I definitely like the Fender headstock more, I definitely like both the blocked and bound neck and especially the price of this one more.

Is it too early to start asking my wife for early Christmas presents?

[mookie20hz]

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

The last new moderator was added over 9 months ago

Well who's this "SMPerry" guy on page one of this thread then?

[WaskoDS]

And now there's a 4-string version of that new 5-string.

http://www.rondomusic.com/URSA2MNNAs.html

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Originally Posted by mookie20hz

Well who's this "SMPerry" guy on page one of this thread then?

He's been a mod in the Basses forum since the beginning of last November. A very active one as well- he's been a huge help.

[C.Linton]

Originally Posted by WaskoDS

And now there's a 4-string version of that new 5-string.

http://www.rondomusic.com/URSA2MNNAs.html

Well, I already have the Squier VM Jazz that looks like this, so this doesn't tempt me. I did find the fiver version interesting though ...

[etechstan]

Still can't get past that ugly head. WHY RONDO WHY!!

[mookie20hz]

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

He's been a mod in the Basses forum since the beginning of last November. A very active one as well- he's been a huge help.

Thanks for the info, Bryan.

[dakpluto]

Originally Posted by etechstan

Still can't get past that ugly head. WHY RONDO WHY!!

Don't blame Rondo, it's SX. Kurt has no control at all over what SX does with their headstocks.