i believe that is the reason, yes...
i bought an SRX400 due to this thread and what follows is my review, from a n00bish perspective (though i bought my first bass in 1993, it has taken me this long to decide to get halfway serious):
first off, american musical is great...i ordered it late at night and they had it in the mail that morning, came nicely packaged and all that (also includes two allen wrenches and a cable in the factory box, a $2.99 value!!!) via UPS (which took five days from jersey to florida, but that is of course due to the general suck that is UPS)
now for the good stuff (for what it is worth, i will be using my squier hecho en china pee-bass as a point of reference):
fit and finish:
this is really a VERY nice instrument...it is made in indonesia, if that matters to you...i got the "dark stained flat finish" as depicted in the original post's link, and it is a really a very pretty satin cherry-ish finish (see proof below) that looks like that coffee table your grandma used to have in the living room...everything fits together nice and tight, and the whole package has a very solid feel...it is a wee bit heavier than my p-bass (due to all the maple i suppose) but nothing that would fatigue anyone over the age of six, good size and balance as well...the neck is a little skinnier and narrower than my p-bass and i am finding it to be much more comfy and playable (i have never touched a jazz bass, so i don't know how the SRX400 compares there)...the 24 frets are nice to have i guess, and the frets themselves seem to be pretty much perfect (all the notes ring out true and evenly, beautiful intonation and harmonics)...it came set up nicely, the action was a good bit lower than the p-bass, which feels really nice, and the bridge is VERY beefy, especially compared to the stamped soda can fender style bridges...the tuners also feel like nice quality, pretty gun metally finish that matches the bridge...the only thing i do not like is the pickguard, nothing wrong with it, i just prefer black to that checkered pearly plastic stuff (i am going to blast it with duplicolor vinyl/plastic dye like i did the p-bass)...the knobs are plastic also, but nice quality and i kind of like the vintage look
tone and playability:
i am even more impressed with the tone...remember that i am more or less a beginner, but this thing definitely has that fancy pants active bass sound (that active EQ masquerading as a tone knob, which BTW cranks up the bass as well as the mids and highs)...if you like that cutting tone, this thing has it in spades...even with the EQ dialed all the way out, it has more upper range than the p-bass (but not so much that it is really twangy and sproingy and obnoxious, like a stingray with the mids cranked up)...the SRX400 has a very musical and pianoish sound when you (for example) slap the open E, whereas my MIC p-bass is more thuddy and whump-whumpity (yes, i like making up words), the slap tone is just unreal...the first time i popped that skinny string at the bottom i got chills from the GANK GANK noise it made, sounds like money...for those of you that do such things, even an incompetent like me is able to play harmonics all the way up the neck across all four strings (i was rather amazed to discover that, though i'm not sure if it is uncommon)...the feel is just wonderful and now i see why ibanez has such a good reputation about their necks...it has a nice slick finish (just oil i think) that i'm sure would allow for blazing speed, if i didn't suck...the only thing i could find fault with here is probably mostly due to that same thing (my suckiness), and that would be a good bit of string noise off the roundwounds...keep in mind i am playing through a GK combo (400RB-III 1x15") which is an RTE (******** tone enabler) in and of itself...but i like the feel of flatwounds anyway, so i think i will invest in a set of TIs or DRs or something regardless...
so, in summary...i doubt you could find a better beginner (or gig) bass for the money, unless you are in good with a pawn shop owner or something...plays like butter, has a great and very versatile tone (nevermind this "hard rock bass" gibberish) which really does have that poor man's musicman sound (if you want it to)...really great warm thick tones by the neck, and approaches that farty jazzy noise back by the bridge (and it has a thumb rest on the humbuckler, which i forgot to mention before)...what else does one need? (maybe another one as a spare, you know...i just noticed they have the blue one in stock now, which is of course my favo(U)rite colo(U)r, and would match my bike...hehe)
proof:
the rig of doom (not sure which is louder, but i like trying to find out at 2am, MUAHAHA)
better pic of the hawtniss
