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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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$580.75
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8.4
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Description:
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Figured maple body
Maple/wenge 5-piece laminated neck
Neck through construction
Bartolini mk1 pickups
Bartolini mk1 3-band EQ
Hipshot lic. tuners
EB12 bridge
EQ on-off switch
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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 March 21, 2006
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $899.00
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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Tone(s), playability, ergonomics, versatility
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Cons:
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Minor intonation problem, plastic tuner heads rattle
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The Good
This bass is fantastic, I love it. The neck is ultra-narrow and the string spacing is nearly uniform all the way to the bridge, so your fingers don't need to magically get longer as you reach the 20th fret where the strings start spreading out like on most basses. The action is low, the neck is fast, the head dosen't dive, its pretty much everything you could want. This bass is made for finger players and it shows. String tension is average, on the good side. A brass nut and solid neck give it a ton of tone.
The tone is a pure, rich neck-through hardwood standard, with a good amount of sustain. The attack is a bit muted as with all neck-throughs, but the uniformity of the tone more then makes up for that. The pickups and EQ are great. You can dial in nearly anything you want to hear on the bass with the pickup selector and Bass/Mid/Treble cut/boost knobs - the Artisan really isn't pulling your chain in advertising that it can fit almost any sound. The treble is surprisingly well done. It has absolutely no harshness and the bass has absolutely no deafening thumpiness, you can hear exactly what note is being played no matter what EQ settings you put in. From muted, jazz style sounds to hot and deep rock it works well in any situations. The pickups are noiseless and have almost no hum unless you're next to a huge power source.
Great feature! - there's an EQ shutoff switch. This physically bypasses the EQ on the bass, which while it is a good EQ, does cut some of the bass' sound when active. You can turn it off with the flip of a switch and get a much "wider" tone (more frequencies) and then EQ on the amp if you want. While the switch is in the OFF position the pickup selector still works and gives a good amount of control over the tone, as does the volume.
The Bad
The bridge does not enable you to get the B string sounding anywhere near as intonated as the other strings, and in the full back position gives a lot of the tension on the B string up. I'm replacing it with a Badass V bridge when I can get some cash, and that should give me a bit more control. Its not the greatest bridge in the world.
The tuners are standard Hipshot in the mechanics but the heads are plastic, presumably to save weight. While it does save weight, the plastic isn't attached flushly and can rattle when you hit the B string - a minor annoyance.
The Mid pot on the EQ is a bit uneasy, the frequencies it alters are a bit too wide and end up being overbearing. In Default or Cut setting, it works fine, but boosting Mid will result in an unpleasant sound.
Final Thought
A really, really great bass. Replace the bridge for a spectacular bass. Don't let the fact that it was made in Korea turn you off either, I played nearly every bass in the store including Ernie Balls and Spectors before settling on this, and it wasn't a pricing issue - this bass was just a great instrument. I don't reccomend it if you're going to use a pick, as the way its made is almost entirely catering to finger players, and the EQ seems fit for that as well.
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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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richardn517
Registered User
Registered: February 2006
Posts: 66
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Review Date: Sat April 1, 2006
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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everything the first guy said and more but i would like to add that the tuning machines are not plastic, they just look like they are Trust me if you see one in person you will know what i am talking about
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Cons:
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so far none that i can find however right off the shelf it does need some setup work
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All in all for and intermediate to professional bass i would definetley recomend this bass
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davvo
Registered User
Registered: April 2007
Location: Milan, Italy
Posts: 1
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Review Date: Thu April 26, 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $470.00
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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average light and with a good action
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Cons:
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sometimes is difficult to tune the B string
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This is my second bass, and I found it excellent. I owned another Cort before but this strike the first.
I adjusted the diapason and now every fret is well tuned, even if the B string is very difficult to tune. But maybe it's due to the Ampli that doesen't enhance the very low frequency.
On the other side all is perfect.
This is a used bass, so I think that durability is excellent too.
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Fenderjazz6823
Registered User
Registered: December 2006
Location: Chelmsford Ma
Posts: 146
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Review Date: Thu September 27, 2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $279.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Looks Awsome Plays Great with a Set Up
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Cons:
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I had to replace the electronics
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I have own this bass for about 6 months and I have already had to replace the Active electronics the main board went dead on it and I do plan on replacing the pickups in the bass I mostly bough it for the looks and the play ablity The electronics are not stock active/passive you need to have a battery in it at all times the new electronics are passive/ active with a push pull pot I also made it 18 volts I got My Parts at http://www.bestbassgear.com/
Brian Was a lot of help he was the only person that had the parts for the bass I will be going there for all of my bass needs 
The Bass is light sits great on your soulders and get I compliments everytime I use it live people think that it's a super expensive bass but it's looks that way thats what I was looking for in a bass
If you need Help with the Eletronics Drop me and email I beleving on sharing the wealth of Knowledge
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Cort A5 , Fender Jazz, Ibanez Acoustic Fret less
1 15's,2 10's Cort Club #9 Fender Club #154
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lohz
Registered User
Registered: June 2006
Location: Charlotte, NC
Posts: 67
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Review Date: Tue December 1, 2009
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $675.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Great playabilitiy (fingerstyle/pick), beautiful, lightweight, well made instrument
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Cons:
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Tight string spacing, no passive mode switch
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I really like this bass. Playability is excellent as long as your fingers (or a pick) are are doing the work. Thumb slapping can be a challenge due to tight string spacing. I usually don't slap much anyhow except for fun. The music I play doesn't usually call for slap and if it did, I would dust off the Fender P Bass Special. I have had zero functionality problems, although once my battery died unexpectedly right before a worship service. I had left the battery in for about 5 weeks - a "weak battery" idiot LED would be a nice addition - (the battery is very accessible and easy to change). Unfortunately their is no passive mode. There is a "flat EQ' switch that I personally find useless. I guess if you wanted to run a sans amp driver or the like, it may be OK. Love the neck, very slim and easy to play. Drummers love it, the highs really zing and the lows are warm and syruppy. I am not a tone di-secter, but I like the available tones this bass has. Sustain is very good, no dead spots on the neck. Excellent value for the money.
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The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.
Marcus Aurelius
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