Fender Pawn Shop Bass VI. I just played one.

tdizzle · #1 01-15-2013, 07:11 PM

Ok, here is my honest opinion. I really, really wanted to like this thing, but sadly, I did not. I drove 30 minutes to play the thing, and I was fully prepared to walk out of the store with it, but it just didn't do it for me. First, it is an oddly balanced instrument, not particularly heavy (probably 9 pounds), but it had a reverse neck dive thing happening (it had a tendency to body dive). The sound had a strong piccolo bass vibe, which is not my taste at all. The overall feeling was, it's not a bass and its not a guitar, and seems rather unusable for what it is (it occupied a very odd space in the frequnecy spectrum). The whammy bar was virtually useless, as there was not enough space between the body and the bar to get any kind of good bend. I'll hand it to it in the looks department, though. It's almost worth buying just to look at (this was one was sunburst and tortoises shell). Sorry I didn't take any pictures.

Being that I was on a mission to spend $800, I walked out with this modded 2004 American 75 RI for that, plus tax.

MEKer · #2 01-15-2013, 07:26 PM

Thanks for the review. It was concise. I was also building some interest in the new Fender VI. There are a couple other baritone basses out there that I am keeping an eye out for, especially that Schecter Hellcat VI or Gretsch G5265 Jet (have never seen a bad review yet)----maybe next tax return.....

thedudebrah · #3 01-15-2013, 07:34 PM

What kind of amp did you play it through? I was just in a Sam Ash today and the guy told me the only way I can play one in store is if I leave a deposit and order one. I'd like to get one just to noodle on and stuff. Would probably never see action in my band.

tdizzle · #4 01-15-2013, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thedudebrah

What kind of amp did you play it through? I was just in a Sam Ash today and the guy told me the only way I can play one in store is if I leave a deposit and order one. I'd like to get one just to noodle on and stuff. Would probably never see action in my band.

I played it through an old Fender Reverb, and something more modern that I can't remember the name. My idea was that I would drench it in reverb and come out with something really cool. As it turned out, the low tonal range just made it muddy and hard to decipher.

thedudebrah · #5 01-15-2013, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdizzle

I played it through an old Fender Reverb, and something more modern that I can't remember the name. My idea was that I would drench it in reverb and come out with something really cool. As it turned out, the low tonal range just made it muddy and hard to decipher.

Was the other something a guitar amp or bass amp? I'd hypothetically be running mine through an SVT rig which I'm thinking could bet me a nice deep sound on the bass side.

tdizzle · #6 01-15-2013, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thedudebrah

Was the other something a guitar amp or bass amp? I'd hypothetically be running mine through an SVT rig which I'm thinking could bet me a nice deep sound on the bass side.

It was a guitar amp. I did also play it through a Markbass for two seconds, but I was not interested in it as a bass. I was looking more for the baritone guitar thing.

thedudebrah · #7 01-15-2013, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdizzle

It was a guitar amp. I did also play it through a Markbass for two seconds, but I was not interested in it as a bass. I was looking more for the baritone guitar thing.

Gotcha! My GAS isn't gone yet

**mjac28** · #8 01-15-2013, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thedudebrah

What kind of amp did you play it through? I was just in a Sam Ash today and the guy told me the only way I can play one in store is if I leave a deposit and order one. I'd like to get one just to noodle on and stuff. Would probably never see action in my band.

What?? he really said that? what an arse

**mjac28** · #9 01-15-2013, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdizzle

Ok, here is my honest opinion. I really, really wanted to like this thing, but sadly, I did not. I drove 30 minutes to play the thing, and I was fully prepared to walk out of the store with it, but it just didn't do it for me. First, it is an oddly balanced instrument, not particularly heavy (probably 9 pounds), but it had a reverse neck dive thing happening (it had a tendency to body dive). The sound had a strong piccolo bass vibe, which is not my taste at all. The overall feeling was, it's not a bass and its not a guitar, and seems rather unusable for what it is (it occupied a very odd space in the frequnecy spectrum). The whammy bar was virtually useless, as there was not enough space between the body and the bar to get any kind of good bend. I'll hand it to it in the looks department, though. It's almost worth buying just to look at (this was one was sunburst and tortoises shell). Sorry I didn't take any pictures.

Being that I was on a mission to spend $800, I walked out with this modded 2004 American 75 RI for that, plus tax.

Beautiful bass I think you made the right choice congrats.

thedudebrah · #10 01-15-2013, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjac28

What?? he really said that? what an arse

The way I typed it out made it sound worse than it was. I mean, yeah it's a stupid process, but he was nice enough and even apologetic about it. I told him I had interest in playing one and apparently with "odd" stuff they don't normally order, you leave a 20% deposit and if you don't like the instrument, you get your 20% refunded without penalty. Hopefully my local guitar center will get one in.

tdizzle · #11 01-15-2013, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thedudebrah

The way I typed it out made it sound worse than it was. I mean, yeah it's a stupid process, but he was nice enough and even apologetic about it. I told him I had interest in playing one and apparently with "odd" stuff they don't normally order, you leave a 20% deposit and if you don't like the instrument, you get your 20% refunded without penalty. Hopefully my local guitar center will get one in.

I played it at GC, so it shouldn't be long. I think they just got this one in today.

HenfieldJ · #12 01-17-2013, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdizzle

I played it at GC, so it shouldn't be long. I think they just got this one in today.

I played the same Bass VI that tdizzle played. I thought it worked very well as a bass, but there would be a big improvement if the strings were replaced by the D'addario Bass VI Flatwounds with the 0.95" low E. I also played with my fingers and did not use a pick, which probably helps with it sounding more like a bass. I also played through an Ampeg combo amp with a 15" speaker.

I will probably buy one.

D.M.N. · #13 01-17-2013, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdizzle

I played it through an old Fender Reverb, and something more modern that I can't remember the name. My idea was that I would drench it in reverb and come out with something really cool. As it turned out, the low tonal range just made it muddy and hard to decipher.

That might of been sort of the problem. As much as they look like guitars, they put out the same frequencies as basses, so a guitar amp probably isn't going to handle those very well. I'd like to hear one through a proper bass rig. But thank you for the review, it's nice to hear as much about them as possible