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Dean Bass Guitars

Mike151

Mike151

Dec 22, 2008
547
16
Sherman Texas
www.myspace.com
#1
I am wanting a spare bass for gigs and I really like how this bass looks.
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I don't know why the price is bothering me as it appears really cheap. Does Dean make good Basses? Does anyone have any experience that they can share regarding Dean?
Photo's would be cool if you play one.
 
#2
I always feel like a $300 bass is a $300 bass. You get what you get, may be great may be a piece....who knows. You can count on cheap pups and hardware for sure, but if you're just thrashing with it live who cares as long as it gets the job done.
 
#3
I have a Dean Sledge Hammer that I bought for the same reason, I liked the look of it. I was really surprised by the quality, fit and finish when it arrived. If you like it, what have you got to lose--I'm sure it will be well worth the money. You can always send it back...

Billy-Bob
 
#4
That bass is a P.O.S. I've played it. The old saying holds true...you get what you pay for.....

However...

If you can find one, check out a Jeff Berlin sig model. I have never played a bass with better action in the $450 price range. It's pretty smokin.
 
#5
About a few months ago i bought one of those new dean 'evil d' signature basses. Retails for around $1300 aud. The sound of the thing was really awesome, aggressive as hell, and growled like a lion, but... that was the only good thing, i was very dissapointed, the neck was crap, kept moving and going out of wack within an hour of being adjusted, the fretwork was crap, no matter how many times my local guitar shop adjusted the neck, there was fret buzz nearly everywhere, even if the guys managed to get rid of the fret buzz in the 1st to 8th fret, there was always really bad fret buzz past that, it could never be fixed. Was horrible. And to top it all off, it was equipped with one of those 2 peice (saddle and tailpeice (i think thats what you call them) were seperate) warwick bridges that you can find on like $7000 aud warwick basses. I thought this bridge was going to be awesome, the bridge just fell apart, the saddles kept coming loose, the strings would just flop off, was amazingly CRAP.

I was soooo dissapointed beyond beleif, so i traded it in for a Cort B4 ($300 aud cheaper), and can i tell you, the cort craps all over the dean, even though the cort was alot cheaper than the dean, it is sooo much better.

Therefore, from my story above, you can probably guess i am pretty much against dean. Except...the guitarist for my band just recently bought a dean hardtail (rrp around $1700aud), and it is REALLY good. And dean does have a good reputation for there guitars, but i havnt heard anything special about there basses.
 
#6
Hi.

I have no personal experience about Dean instruments, other than playing them occasionally in a music shop.

The problem most of the people face when trying out an instrument in a shop and then ordering it on-line, is that there's usually setup done in the music shop specimen. When the on-line treasure arrives, it usually is quite far from the show-floor model. So expect at least a set-up charge on top of the on-line price.

As for the looks, IT IS A KILLER ;). The original moderne series V headstocks Dean and a few other companies and luthiers chose to use instead of the later scimitar, looks so much better. The Explorer shape itself, almost as good as Firebird/Thunderbird ;), a close second as my preferred instrument shape.

Regards
Sam
 
#10
I've had less than favorable results with Dean stuff.. Just blindly behind the name.

I'm not a gear snob (yes I commonly gig $50-5000 guitars).

Overall about 1/2 of the Dean stuff I've seen has construction issues that can not be filed smooth or wrenched straight.

The acoustic sounds good.. unfortunately it's limited to begin with.

For just random guitars, you'll be amazed at the stuff I've picked off Craigslist to have around. .. always have a $40 bass in the truck just in case.. yes it stands up to my custom shop $4k bass...
 
#12
i play a dean metal man v witch was my first bass money being tight i just bought a killer looking bass that was cheep i honestly had someone knock it off the stage after our show and it held up i have to screw the jack back in but other then that it still plays nice ive gotten alot more costly basses sence then but i still get alot of time in on my dean id say buy it up!!
 
#13
I've had 3 so far.
The first was a Dean Rhapsody 8 string. The EMG-Hz pickups were its only drawback. a bad match in this case. Fit and finish was excellent.

Tried out a Demonator not too long ago and wasn't impressed. Kind of slapped together. Looked cool though and had nice abalone inlays.

Today I just got a floor model Hardtail 5 with the aformentioned EMG-hz pickups. Other than some minor factory paint flaws this thing is awesome. Plays great right out of the box. Love the individual saddles, brass nut, 3 band eq. Grover tuners. I think its a keeper!
 
#15
I'd like to try one of those Dean Edge fretlesses. Except for the headstock (to me), they look really nice.
Are the side dots laid out correctly for fretless? Or did they just slap a naked board on a stock neck stamped for fretted positions? I mean, a two octave, blank plank with relevant side markings, and a sub $400.00 tag isn't an everyday find.
 
#17
MD said:
I'd like to try one of those Dean Edge fretlesses. Except for the headstock (to me), they look really nice.
Are the side dots laid out correctly for fretless? Or did they just slap a naked board on a stock neck stamped for fretted positions? I mean, a two octave, blank plank with relevant side markings, and a sub $400.00 tag isn't an everyday find.
Click to expand...
The side dots were laid out correctly on my Edge.
 
#20
i've owned quite a few Deans over the last 14 years.. and the lower priced imports are hit and miss.. some are really good, some are stinky.. the main problem is the electronics, they are basically useless.. so, when you get one, it's almost that the pickups and electronics are there for show.. you have to pull the pickups and pull the "less expensive" switches, pots and input jacks and toss them out..

the other problem that i see with Import Deans are that the tuners are not aligned all the time.. the Korean factories just pop them in, then zip the set screws.. and they are always tilted..

finish flaws are another common thing.. from rough sanding marks on the primers, to slight runs.. to horrible masking issues..

as for frets.. i've always had to deal with the frets on all the imports, with the exception of 3 of them.. the issues run from not being level.. to not being pressed in completely.. the fret ends.. so, essentially, you'll have to level and polish your frets, and deal with the fret ends..

the other deal is, microscopically thin veneering.. the veneers are so thin, that the dyes bleed out.. similar to a marker on a sheet of paper.. and it ruins what could have been a nice looking top.. it becomes flat looking.. reminiscent of Fender's FotoFlame tops..

and the issues about how all the basses are made of basswood.. and yes, the Demonator has basswood wings.. it's the whole "Asian Mystery Wood" issues.. where Luan passes for Mahogany and other woods are marketed as known woods, but aren't..

but, like anything else.. you have good imports and bad ones.. i wouldn't complain about the imports, if they were priced at the same price they were about 7 years ago.. but, the prices have risen, and the quality has fallen..

and the fact that Dean continues to ignore bassists.. stale designs, stale basswood, stale electronics.. like week old bread..

these problems do NOT reflect the USA models.. (of which there are NO USA basses) supposedly, they are tooling up to release USA models..

i'd like a HardTail 5, but there were issues about recessing the knobs like on the proto and they are not recessed in the same way.. and the individual bridges are never aligned correctly.. they are always tilted, spaced unevenly, etc.. and the only color it's in is black..
 

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