Beast or Kingston?

My experience with the two basses in question: I owned two Beasts for a while this year. I've tried a Kingston in a store for a short time. I tried the Kingston a while before I bought my first Beast - I never directly compared them.

My observations and opinions: They are both well constructed and play well and sound pretty good. They do not, however, sound the same. The Beast has Bartolini single-coil jazz pickups. And you get what I've heard described as a "modern jazz" sound. You get extra depth from the neck pickup (if you use it) and get the traditional jazz-like clank and snap. I personally prefer the sound of a jazz setup to the single MM-style pickup. The Kingston does not sound like a Stingray (hey, it's passive). It had a tight, focussed sound that was closer to a jazz bridge pickup sound than a precision sound. It's a good sound and encouraged me to pickup a G&L Climax (single pickup in the MM sweetspot) bass because it sounded nice.

My personal preferences are to the Beast - I like the sounds from the jazz config better than the MM sweetspot pickup (however they are gone because I prefer my L-2000 and am getting a P-style G&L). The materials are a bit nicer (poplar body, wenge fingerboard, Bartolini pickups). The craftsmanship/quality is "supposed" to be better with the Beast being manufactured in the Czech Republic but that gets into the whole "where is it built" as opposed to "how does it feel & perform". I liked the intangibles of the Beast better (it just "felt" better and more "lively" to me) but like I said the pickup config is more my personal preference and I never compared them directly.

At the same price I think the Beast is a clear winner, but personal preferences apply.

 

Hey flatwound did Mike Tobias mention if any of those Beasts were fretless versions? I would love to have a fretless Beast.

I own the Beast and I am very pleased with the quality of it. craigb probably covered most of what I would have said. I think the bridge and the control knobs could have been better. The sound is major! I can't compare it to the Kingston as I have never had the opportunity to try one but if you prefer Jazz style basses, you will probably love the Beast.

 

flatwound

is that last bunch going to be sold thru the same distributor (adrian's contact) or a different route?