Brice sixers revisited: a lengthy review

Hi everyone!

Couple of months ago I picked up a Brice sixer (HB406) as my backup bass. I intended to use it primarily for the outside gigs when the heat index is over 100 and humidity is around 90% (yeah welcome to South Carolina ) or any other place where I would not feel comfortable bringing any expensive gear with me. Since I've had it for a little while now, I thought I'd write a review on it. As you can not play it before buying it, it is helpful to know as many details as possible.

Most TB'ers who have reviewed this bass always agreed that "for the money" they are pretty good. Well, I'd like to take out "for the money" part and just look at this bass from the player's perspective: how it performs on daily basis and what to expect from it live or in a more controlled environment.

When I initially got this bass I was quite surprised, as the workmanship was pretty good - no rough edges on the frets, smooth neck, decent hardware. The neck is very comfortable - the profile is quite slim front to back - and fast if you are accustomed to narrow string spacing (16mm). It is not heavy and can easily be used for extended sets without breaking your back. After closer inspection though you can definitely tell that corners were cut to keep the price down: the neck pocket is not too tight - you can slip in a business card between the sides of the neck and the body. The body itself is not too ergonomic: it is not rounded much and feels a bit slab-like. It does not interfere much when playing, but it definitely is not as comfortable as many other basses.

Out of the box it requires a thorough setup. The nut was way too high and needed to be filed extensively . It is as if it was pre-slotted, but not fully finished. There were couple of high frets - not too high, but once you lower the action, you can spot them. I was very happy to find out that there were no dead spots on this bass. On the other hand, the neck needed to be shimmed in order to achieve even moderately low action. It is acceptable if you use tapered strings and like medium action, but if you like standard strings with low action, shimming may be necessary. In other words, you can hardly call it gig-ready on arrival. After some work though, it can be set up to play comfortably and you do not have to fight it when playing live.

The B string though is exceptionally week. Given that it is 35' and has dual truss-rods it borders on unacceptable. There are standard cures - heavier gauge strings, etc - I am still in the process of figuring out what works best for it. But if you expect a good B string out of the box, you'll send it back right away. It has overall a little bit peculiar attitude towards stings. It can be strung through the body, which means it needs extra long strings. DR Longnecks (tapered) fits it perfectly, but most other strings would have to be strung through the bridge. It seems the design team threw all features that look good on paper, but no one took the time to balance it out and actually test it.

It sounds OK. Not good, but not too bad either. Generic would be appropriate term I guess. I works great for a smoky bar, but it is does not have much character or growl. It is on the darker, warmer side. If you have a decent amp which can color it enough, it can work. But it definitely needs some help in this department. Pre-amp is noisy and does not do too much. Bass boost adds a lot of mud, high boost peak is set between highs and high-mids, so it ends up boosting both and does not add character to either. Once again it is generic. Pickup and preamp upgrade would be very high on the list if you want to keep it.

I have decided to keep it. It is good enough to be a backup, and solid enough to last (or so it seems). I will most definitely upgrade pickups if I am able to completely solve the B string issue. The jury is still out on that matter but I think I will be able to figure it out. Overall I think it was a good purchase, as long as you do not expect the quality of a boutique bass. I this case you get what you pay for.

Thanks Pointbass! I'll update the review once I reach my conclusions on the B string issue. It is possible that DR Longnecks have to do something with it too, as their overall tension is not too high. We'll see

Hi everybody,

A quick update on my previous review:

I played this bass all summer long and started noticing the string buzz becoming more and more prominent. I do my own set-ups and usually I am able to achieve a very low action.Thinking that temperature changes may have impacted the wood, I tweaked it to the best of my ability. After several hours spent on it I had to admit my defeat and decided to consult a luthier.

Well, the news weren't that good. The frets were not glued in, and not properly seated. Consequently due to exposure to heat and humidity they were sprouting left and right. It was so bad, that you could push the fret with your fingers in, and after you release it, it would just pop back up. Unfortunately it was not one or two frets, but almost half of them. The estimated repair cost? I am glad you asked: $200, which corresponds the two thirds of the original cost.

Needless to say I do not own it any more. I hope that it was just this particular bass. Maybe other Brice owners, who prefer very low action can chime in and let me know their experiences.

As far as I am concerned, I do not see myself owning another Brice any time in the future. They are cheap to acquire, but way too expensive to maintain. Once again, you get what you pay for.

Good Luck!

V.

Thanks T.B. Player and Showdown for chiming in. It's great that other Brice owners have had better luck with these instruments. However I did not choose the route of repairing/modifying my brice based on the following calculation:

After the fretwork, new preamp and pickups I would have spent around $700 ($300 for bass, $200 for the repairs and $200 for pickups and pre) For $700 you can get much higher quality used gear - a wide array of instruments are available to choose from. Using TB classifieds as an example it is safe to day that almost all of them will be much higher quality than brice.

Also I have a suspicion that in order to keep the price down, most "budget" bass manufacturers use the wood that has not been properly cured. It is a working theory, as I can not prove it. It would explain the fret sprout and it would also explain why other backup basses, which I acquired for similar amounts and played in the same conditions did not exhibit the same behavior. E.g. Yamaha BB605 and Spector Q4. They shared the same humidity and heat, required neck adjustments, but did not go belly up like brice. And I am not talking about high quality gear (say Warwick or G&L) which in my experience has stellar reputation of performing under the same conditions.

I can understand modifying brice if it had some unique quality that I could not find in other basses but I was not able to find it. This quality is very subjective, so I can see how other people would reach very different conclusions than I did.