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Kramer 650b Artist Series
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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$200.00
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8.0
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Description:
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The Kramer 650b pictured is a 1977-1980 model. Features 2 Mighty Mite pickups, 5-layer bubinga-rarewood body with bolt-on aluminum neck w/ ebony fretboard and mother-of-pearl Crown inlays. 2 vol, 2 tone knobs.
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Author
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Earwigger
I'm a Roland man now.
Registered: August 2005
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Posts: 1973
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Review Date: Tue August 23, 2005
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $200.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Great vintage tone, incredible dynamic response, never goes out of tune, even with new strings
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Cons:
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Heavy, short neck, some electronic hum in studio settings
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I got this used from a friend of mine. It was sitting in his basement gathering muck and grime, and I figured I could use a backup for my 5-string Ibanez so I bought it from him.. after having the bridge pickup rewound (it had died) I found that this bass sounded 500x better then the Ibanez. It has a clear, defined tone with lots of bass thud. The action is low and very fast, and it is incredibly sensitive to your fingering patterns, making it ideal for funk or prog. When you damp, it stops, when you hit, it will hold sustain for ages. The electronics aren\'t particularly great, being 1980s standards, but the sounds you can make with this bass are phenomenal. I don\'t know what accoustic attributes aluminum has, but it gives a great snap and infinite sustain. A good set of DR\'s only makes it better.
Disadvantages are the extreme weight of the bass, which is nearly 20lbs, and the neck is heavy and tends to want to fall away from you when its on the shoulder strap, but its a minor annoyance. The VintageKramer site says that it has humbuckers, but no matter what settings I dial in I can hear a slight hum when Im in the studio, but its not a real big deal. The bass sounds great. The aluminum neck is a real conversation piece too, and isn\'t the fastest in the world, but dosen\'t impede you much. The Fretboard is Ebonol, and the fretwire is aluminum. When I took it in to get repairs no one had ever seen one like it before.
All in all, a beauty. Prices run around 400$ u.s. for one of these on Ebay, I\'ve never seen one in a shop.
I found out most of the info about it at:
http://www.vintagekramer.com/alum.htm
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Gear: Warwick $$ NT Bubinga 5-string -> Roland D-Bass 210 -> Roland D-Bass 115x
I am RDSR's and Halcyon Days' bassist. Check em out! || Ohio Bassist #77
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