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Are SX Basses Any Good?
- Thread starter rimmry
- Start date
It's also full of people who are so ridiculously full of...oh nevermind...it's not worth getting banned over. You're so good looking...
If you have a point, feel free to make it.
Yes SX basses are good enough & they're fun to work on--that's what they're for. You wouldn't modify a Fodera
Buying a cheap SX is fun if you get a good one, and I've found a few that I keep and gig. Their Andromeda series is actually pretty nice and has the novelty of a single piece ash body too. For the rest that I don't keep however there is the "pain in the arse" of having to find someone to give them to since selling them isn't worth the effort.
Thanks; that's what I was ripping off. Only my voices are in my liver... Say-innnng, "Put down the Sto-liiiiiiii."
EDIT: Off topic, but that guitar sound in my clip is the "Police" patch on the Zoom G3. Just for those who might care.
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To be entirely fair, in the '70s the VW Ghia was easily comparable to the Porsche Speedster, and eventually replaced by the VW-Porsche 914 and the '00s Porsche Cayenne isn't all that different than the VW Toureg and is built on the same platform.
I don't have much experience with high end gear, but I know where you're going with this: You're right, a $99 Chinese clone isn't going to replace a $1500 Fender, but at the same time at a fifteenth of the cost, it provides a fine platform to find your sound and gives you room to work on detailing the insturment to your wants, and not having to worry about trashing your four figure investment.
That's a very good point that most people should understand. I'd take one to open mic/jam night for others to play instead of my high end stuff.
I have two, and I'm strongly regretting buying them. I bought one fretted, and it's now being upgraded as we speak, and the other is a fretless that I just want to burn. The fretless pickups quit working a single day after the 30 day return policy and they wouldn't take it back. Then again it was after the 30 day period, but still. I strongly don't recommend this company unless you're looking for a bass that you can fool around with and upgrade.
Well, so many of your posts are "internet tough guy" posts, it's more than likely not worth it really. I expect nothing more than "bootstrap" posts from you, and you regularly deliver. It must be awesome to be so hard-edged all the time. Or just really sad.
If no one has pointed it out, the OP can do a search for "essex" since two-letter words don't work on the search function.
I've owned two. Liked them both. The necks aren't quite Fender-jazz slim but I wouldn't have called them baseball bats. Neither was the SX take on a P-bass though, both were jazzes. The electronics sounded great - what they really needed was decent strings. Most of the problems you find are QC things like bad fretwork or a misaligned neck. Some of that can be fixed at home, and if not, Rondo is pretty good about returns. At any rate, neither of the two I owned had any of those problems.
Would I prefer an SX to a $500 bass? No. For me they were backup basses, or to have a cheap 4-string to noodle on back when I was only gigging 5s and it wasn't worth blowing money on a new 4. They weren't crap. They weren't amazing. They were just decent cheap basses.
I've owned two. Liked them both. The necks aren't quite Fender-jazz slim but I wouldn't have called them baseball bats. Neither was the SX take on a P-bass though, both were jazzes. The electronics sounded great - what they really needed was decent strings. Most of the problems you find are QC things like bad fretwork or a misaligned neck. Some of that can be fixed at home, and if not, Rondo is pretty good about returns. At any rate, neither of the two I owned had any of those problems.
Would I prefer an SX to a $500 bass? No. For me they were backup basses, or to have a cheap 4-string to noodle on back when I was only gigging 5s and it wasn't worth blowing money on a new 4. They weren't crap. They weren't amazing. They were just decent cheap basses.
I like mine a lot! I bought it with the intent to mod though. The only thing I have done so far is change the strings. I have one sharp fret, and the pickups are a little weak but sound good. The neck is super comfy on my SX.
These are my two current faves. They beat out my late 90s Fender P, and my Ibanez. The Jaguar is an amazing bass. I would suggest getting a used VM bass if you don't want to do some modding. Or try your luck and get an SX. They have an excellent return policy. I do not regret buying my SX, especially for the price.
These are my two current faves. They beat out my late 90s Fender P, and my Ibanez. The Jaguar is an amazing bass. I would suggest getting a used VM bass if you don't want to do some modding. Or try your luck and get an SX. They have an excellent return policy. I do not regret buying my SX, especially for the price.
Having purchased 3 SX basses, and 2 SX guitars I can say with reasonable certainty that they can be exceptional instruments for the price point.
However, a couple did have minor issues that required a varying degree of work. One had a neck pocket that wasn't exactly the tightest of fits, as well as the pickguard not sitting tight to the control plate. This issue didn't effect the playability or sound in any sort of way (and actually stock it sounded great... the Pups are surprisingly good). Another had tuners that were absolute garbage... again this didn't effect the playability of the instrument, one of the guitars has components that were installed slightly wonky (not overly noticeable).
That's 3/5 with small issues, and had they been deal breakers Rondo has an excellent return policy.
So in essence all of my experiences have been cosmetic, and easily fixable. I purchased my first one with the intention of learning how to do my own setups, mods, and upgrades. They are fantastic platforms for mods, and the woods utilized for the bodies are very good. The finishes are quite outstanding in my experience, and the neck's are very comfortable and fast for what I believe is a heavily polyurethane finish.
Very good instruments on the average, great with a little bit of work.
However, a couple did have minor issues that required a varying degree of work. One had a neck pocket that wasn't exactly the tightest of fits, as well as the pickguard not sitting tight to the control plate. This issue didn't effect the playability or sound in any sort of way (and actually stock it sounded great... the Pups are surprisingly good). Another had tuners that were absolute garbage... again this didn't effect the playability of the instrument, one of the guitars has components that were installed slightly wonky (not overly noticeable).
That's 3/5 with small issues, and had they been deal breakers Rondo has an excellent return policy.
So in essence all of my experiences have been cosmetic, and easily fixable. I purchased my first one with the intention of learning how to do my own setups, mods, and upgrades. They are fantastic platforms for mods, and the woods utilized for the bodies are very good. The finishes are quite outstanding in my experience, and the neck's are very comfortable and fast for what I believe is a heavily polyurethane finish.
Very good instruments on the average, great with a little bit of work.
The SX Andromeda series is a step up from their regular stuff. Here's the thread I did when I got one on sale a while back marked down to $169:
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/nbd-new-headstock-sx-andromeda-w-single-piece-ash-body.1028784/
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/nbd-new-headstock-sx-andromeda-w-single-piece-ash-body.1028784/
I disagree to a point. I do like the SX body woods over the VM's but that's about it. Most SX's need a significant amount of work to be playable too. That is an SX in my avatar BTW.
Agreed. I still enjoy mine quite a bit. Set it up to my liking out of the box and didn't have to mod a single thing. Even the strings on it were pretty decent and I didn't change them for quite some time. In fact, I find myself picking this bass up over my Fender American Standard most of the time. I've used the Andromeda for a number of gigs and it sounds absolutely killer. No regrets.
So to the OP: "good" is rather subjective, IME. If an instrument suits your needs, then it's good enough.
"Good" is exactly how I'd describe my new Ursa jazz 5 string. No cosmetic issues or functional issues out of the box. Only weighs about 8 pounds, and has a flattish neck radius that I prefer to Fender's radius. I changed to my favorite strings immediately, set it up (very slight adjustments, mostly to the intonation, which you'd expect with different strings) and it's a keeper. $179.95 a few weeks ago, and I see they just raised the price $10 on the jazz 5's that showed up today on Rondo's website. A great deal for the money. I also got the $64 tweed case (they have a slightly less expensive one) that's quite good looking and reasonably made. I will definitely gig with it.
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