Bought a $99 CAR 6-string Jazz a few months ago. Expect to invest some time and $ to get it to it's potential, but they do have potential. Biggest problem was fret sprout, took a lot of filing. Otherwise, the neck is quite good, although the 10th fret needs to be taken down. The strings were awful, you can't judge these instruments without changing them. The bridge is pretty good, tuners adequate. Finish is perfect. I added a S/P push-pull pot and shielding. It's definitely giggable in its current configuration, but will upgrade the pots and electronics and maybe a black guard. Overall I'm very pleased with it, but if you don't enjoy bass hacking you may want to pass, unless you can get a used one that has been given a makeover.
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Are SX Basses Any Good?
- Thread starter rimmry
- Start date
I bought two of them a few years ago, a P and a PJ. Was surprised that they weren't horrible. I've even gigged them in front of thousands, and nobody booed me or anything 
Both basses gave me the same general impression.
Pros:
---Sounded really good. The pickups were surprisingly good sounding for cheapos.
---Stayed in tune and the necks didn't move in the pockets.
---A far cry better than the ultra-cheap beginner basses I had to deal with as a kid in the 70's.
Cons:
---Neck's too flat and the fretwork is lousy. Had to do a fret dressing on both of them before I could play them out successfully. Fortunately, I can do light fret dressing so it saved me some money there.
---The polepieces stick way up out of the pickups and are easily clanked.
---Generally feels cheap, with cheap pots, bridge and tuners, very thick poly finish, and a bigger and blockier feel in the hands as opposed to the sleek feel of a nice Fender or some of the better copy makers. And unless they updated it, the stock string tree also must be removed and replaced or you will break strings. A good one isn't too expensive, like $15 or something. The one on the SX's I had have sharp edges.
I ended up selling both because they just can't compete with a good US Fender. I like the pickups in the SX basses more than a lot of the more recent Fenders out there, but there are replacement pickups out there that sound better than the SX pickups and the polepieces don't stick way up, so I don't sweat it.
Both basses gave me the same general impression.Pros:
---Sounded really good. The pickups were surprisingly good sounding for cheapos.
---Stayed in tune and the necks didn't move in the pockets.
---A far cry better than the ultra-cheap beginner basses I had to deal with as a kid in the 70's.
Cons:
---Neck's too flat and the fretwork is lousy. Had to do a fret dressing on both of them before I could play them out successfully. Fortunately, I can do light fret dressing so it saved me some money there.
---The polepieces stick way up out of the pickups and are easily clanked.
---Generally feels cheap, with cheap pots, bridge and tuners, very thick poly finish, and a bigger and blockier feel in the hands as opposed to the sleek feel of a nice Fender or some of the better copy makers. And unless they updated it, the stock string tree also must be removed and replaced or you will break strings. A good one isn't too expensive, like $15 or something. The one on the SX's I had have sharp edges.
I ended up selling both because they just can't compete with a good US Fender. I like the pickups in the SX basses more than a lot of the more recent Fenders out there, but there are replacement pickups out there that sound better than the SX pickups and the polepieces don't stick way up, so I don't sweat it.
You mean like Geezer Butler EMG's?
(I just couldn't resist).In Europe, you have the Harley Benton's (housebrand of Thomann musicstore), which is something like the European counterpart of an SX. For the money, it is a good, decent and playable bass, giggable for sure, but they need a little bit of tweaking.
Being a primarily 30" scale player they put out a great workable platform to mod that are hard to find elsewhere. The necks are genuinely stable. Much like any bass make a initial thorough inspection to make sure the construction is fine. I own 1, it needs some work but I could completely rebuild it with a new neck and everything for what a Mustang would cost me. The Brice brand is pretty good on its own.
OK. 1) I'm playing to buy it for my friend, who just started playing bass. 2) Not really...
Love them
Affordable and easy to upgrade
Purchase Short Scale Fretless Jazz in mint condition from a locale TBer for $100
Replaced the pickups with a set of American Fender pickups from TB classifieds for $40
It's a keeper
Affordable and easy to upgrade
Purchase Short Scale Fretless Jazz in mint condition from a locale TBer for $100
Replaced the pickups with a set of American Fender pickups from TB classifieds for $40
It's a keeper
I'm my opinion it is a pretty good bass make. I might be a bit biased by saying that as I own one myself. To be honest when I first got my girl, she sounded beyond Crap! But I took her into the music store where I bought her and passed it on to a guy who works there and who is a bassist himself. Got her back a few weeks and she sounded like a million bucks to me.
I would recommend getting a SX if you are a beginner. As said before there are up and downs to the SX, but as a beginner -- the lessons you'll learn about the pros and cons about basses. And also what to do if something goes wrong.
But it's up to the individual bassist to decide whether or not it is a good bass. If you want to get one for someone as a gift, go into the shop and test her out. If you feel it something you'd like as a start up bass by all means go ahead. If you decide other wise, well then you're in the shop... Test out the other babies in store.
I would recommend getting a SX if you are a beginner. As said before there are up and downs to the SX, but as a beginner -- the lessons you'll learn about the pros and cons about basses. And also what to do if something goes wrong.
But it's up to the individual bassist to decide whether or not it is a good bass. If you want to get one for someone as a gift, go into the shop and test her out. If you feel it something you'd like as a start up bass by all means go ahead. If you decide other wise, well then you're in the shop... Test out the other babies in store.
Looks like a great beginners bass to learn on and if you want to do some upgrades you don't have much invested so you haven't lost much if you screw it up.
Exactly it. I consider SX basses as cheap "bass modding and setup lessons". I much prefer them over my Squier because the SX use real tone wood like ash or alder and the stock pickups are really quite nice. My Squier PJ for example has an agathis body that is just somehow not quite there. And pickups were nasty and had to be changed for real Fender USA versions.
So SX gives a lot of bass for little money but they always need new strings and shielding. Sometimes frets are good, sometimes not. Sometimes (for natural finishes) wook grain is positively boutique and others it looks like a zebra. String trees suck and must be replaced. Pots are cheap but work (I run them until they quit and then replace with high quality ones) Bridges on "expensive" SX versions are fine, those on cheaper versions work but are rather primitive. But you can change a bridge a really decent replacement that can be had for about $20. As boomy says, neck is fat, but I like that in a bass. And poles DO stick up that can lead to clanking.
But hey, for the cash it rocks. I own about 9 of them! Like I said, "cheap bass lessons". If you are a bass noob, or even if you just want to try short scale or fretless or 6 string (see avatar) you get a pretty decent playable bass that you can live with for a few months to decide if that is "you" or not. If not, you flip it. If your "modding lessons" go wrong and you mess it up beyond repair, you don't have a ton of cash invested in it and you've learned some valuables lessons for the money.
The only place that SX doesn't work out is where the noob can't handle the tweaks and mods. Then the cost of getting things up to snuff offsets the low price. In that case you'd be better off looking at something higher end like an ESP LTD etc. which may run twice as much but will not have the "lessons" needed in bass setup and repair.
As much as I've wanted to buy one, this is the exact reason why I haven't. Their fretboard radii are just too flat for my hands…emphasis on "for my hands". It is a subjective twist of ergonomics which, to some, is no big deal. Some prefer it and others can't work with it.
rimmry; What kind of bass has your friend been practicing on? Are you looking at them so you can specifically get an inexpensive, but brand-new bass? Because if a used bass is a viable option, I'd recommend checking out Guitar Center's used database. For example, I've seen Squier Classic Vibes going for only a little more than some new SX's, and they are killer instruments.
Ya, I know...You mean like Geezer Butler EMG's?
but they really are that good.
My new Ursa 5 string jazz has a perfectly good string tree across all 5 strings and the part that contacts the strings is fully rounded. Someone earlier said the trees will cut your strings eventually but that must have been a previous type of string tree since mine is fine.
Dang, this SX Ursa jazz 5 is impressing me...rehearsed with it tonight for church on Sunday (got some funky tunes in the program) and I really dig it. Nice aggressive tone when I dig in, and smooth when I back off. I use TI flats and it still has zing and snap--nice! Great tone and it was dirt cheap at $180 (they're $10 more now).
I don't know the Rondo Basses but i'm talking about the SX Basses (Spain):
http://www.sxguitarspain.com/sx_vintage_p-bass.htm
These are very good in my opinion (except the factory strings).
No problems with sharp frets, finish or electronics.
http://www.sxguitarspain.com/sx_vintage_p-bass.htm
These are very good in my opinion (except the factory strings).
No problems with sharp frets, finish or electronics.
Rondo is the authorized distributor/seller of SX basses in North America. The headstock sold in NA is typically different from that sold in Europe, probably because legal challenges are more effective/likely here.
Rondo sells other brands to, mostly house brands.
