Dean Club!!!

[barclaybass]

 

[B-Mac]

Ok......
So there were basically 2 versions of the Razorback bass from the limited information I could gather online.
The first version was made from around 2007 to 2011 or 2012ish.......
That first version was:
1.Neck thru body construction
2.Active 2 band eq
3. 35 inch scale
4. String thru body Bridge
5.Basswood used
6. The bevels were painted silver
7. It had a Huge "DIME Razorback " on the headstock

They stopped making them in the early 2010's.........
In 2017 they re-issued the Razorback bass.
This version was,
1. Set neck construction
2.Active pickups but not active eq
3. 34 inch scale
4. ABS bridge, not string thru body
5. All Mahogany construction
6. All black, bevels not painted
7. No obnoxious DIME on the headstock

So, you can see that there are actually a lot of differences between the 2 versions, but I haven't mentioned the biggest one that is the best improvement yet.
The placement of the pickups.
On the original, a lot of reviews said it sounded thin and not-very-bassy overall......I attribute that to the bridge pickup being right against the bridge and the neck pickup being right up against the neck!
Thats terrible placement! LOL.......on the reissue they moved both pickups toward the middle which sounds 100 times better at least.
I obviously have the 2017 version, which is an frigging AMAZING bass....... top notch all around, seriously.
This thing is just bad as hell.... ..
I want to spend a few days with it before I really give it a review, first impressions can be deceiving (in this case I doubt it, but it can happen)
Pics in next post.....

Still MIK ?

 

[B-Mac]

View attachment 4171117View attachment 4171117View attachment 4171120View attachment 4171121View attachment 4171122View attachment 4171123View attachment 4171124 View attachment 4171124

What pups are those?
Can you show the beginning part of the S/N please?

 

[jd56hawk]

My new Exotica...now I own all three colors.
Sounds good even with ten year-old stock strings.
(I have a set of Fender 9050 ML flatwounds for it... D'Addario black tapewounds on my other two...just to be different.)

 

[ElBecko59]

What pups are those?
Can you show the beginning part of the S/N please?

to me they appear to be Ibanez CAP EXF or EXF-N2 soapbar pickups

 

[B-Mac]

My new Exotica...now I own all three colors.
Sounds good even with ten year-old stock strings.
(I have a set of Fender 9050 ML flatwounds for it... D'Addario black tapewounds on my other two...just to be different.)
View attachment 4171397

Nice! The 'Exotica Trifecta'!

 

[barclaybass]

What pups are those?
Can you show the beginning part of the S/N please?

All I know is that they say CAP on them!
Are they not the stock ones?
I know none of my other Dean basses have that on the pups.......hmm? They are supposed to be DMT pickups, right?

 

[B-Mac]

View attachment 4072747 View attachment 4072748

I haven't found anyone who makes mirror PG, but @armyadarkness is making some really cool sparkle PG.

 

[ElBecko59]

All I know is that they say CAP on them!
Are they not the stock ones?
I know none of my other Dean basses have that on the pups.......hmm? They are supposed to be DMT pickups, right?

CAP EXF or EXF-N2 soapbar pickups are Ibanez made pickups used in certain models of Ibanez SR300 & SR375 basses to name a few - here's a Ibanez SR300 .note the Ibanez CAP pickups

 

[B-Mac]

All I know is that they say CAP on them!
Are they not the stock ones?
I know none of my other Dean basses have that on the pups.......hmm? They are supposed to be DMT pickups, right?

@ElBecko59 's info is interesting.
The reason I was asking for the S/N info or anything on the back of the headstock is that Dean has been moving things to Indonesia. Cort is in Indonesia and makes some Ibanez models.
The 2017 catalog specs for this does indicate DMT, but the resolution of the image file doesn't make it easy to actually tell what is on the pickup cover. I'll add the Dean DMT pups are usually marked on the lower right corner of the pup and not the upper left.

It also looks like there were 3 different versions of this rather than 2? Notice different placement of pups between all 3.

2006 catalog page

2008 catalog page

2017 catalog page

 

[ElBecko59]

@ElBecko59 's info is interesting.
The reason I was asking for the S/N info or anything on the back of the headstock is that Dean has been moving things to Indonesia. Cort is in Indonesia and makes some Ibanez models.
The 2017 catalog specs for this does indicate DMT, but the resolution of the image file doesn't make it easy to actually tell what is on the pickup cover. I'll add the Dean DMT pups are usually marked on the lower right corner of the pup and not the upper left.

It also looks like there were 3 different versions of this rather than 2? Notice different placement of pups between all 3.

2006 catalog page
View attachment 4171925

2008 catalog page
View attachment 4171926

2017 catalog page
View attachment 4171927 View attachment 4171928

those Ibanez pickups had to have been swapped into that Dean when noone was looking !!!!! then again will we ever know ?

 

[B-Mac]

those Ibanez pickups had to have been swapped into that Dean when noone was looking !!!!! then again will we ever know ?

From the 2017 catalog page it definitely looks more like CAP rather than DMT even though the description says DMT

 

[ElBecko59]

From the 2017 catalog page it definitely looks more like CAP rather than DMT even though the description says DMT

Yes you are right I zoomed in on amother site and yes they are CAP pickups -

 

[B-Mac]

Yes you are right I zoomed in on amother site and yes they are CAP pickups - View attachment 4171950

what website?

 

[B-Mac]

Found these on Amazon page.
Definitely CAP

 

[ElBecko59]

what website?

I just google image searched the bass , saved the picture and zoomed & cropped away - try this Dean Razorback Bass Review , Gotta get off TB and go perfect my bass & guitar skills !!! see ya B-Mac PS all sites seem to list DMT soapbar pickups--- The CAP pickups are Ibanez pickups , they also make CAP for Ibanez guitars and they state they are Ibanez brand pickups ...from Ibanez guitar fandom info site: "Ibanez-made CAP pickups. They cover a wide range of guitar series"

 

[B-Mac]

Definitely looks like these used on the Ibanez SR300
Ibanez parts catalog

 

[armyadarkness]

I haven't found anyone who makes mirror PG, but @armyadarkness is making some really cool sparkle PG.
View attachment 4171946

Lol... FYI, the whole reason that I started making PG's, is because I couldn't get mirror for my LB100. Mirror is my FAVE!

 

[armyadarkness]

I haven't found anyone who makes mirror PG, but @armyadarkness is making some really cool sparkle PG.
View attachment 4171946

 

[barclaybass]

Found these on Amazon page.
Definitely CAP

View attachment 4172034 View attachment 4172035

Yeah dude, the CAP pups seem to be stock!
They are in the stock pictures of the bass that came from Dean at the time.......weird!
Every pic from the 2017 run, when zoomed upon, has the CAP pups in it.
Also, you are correct to point out the very early 2006 catalog appearance of the bass and the closer together pickup placement, but I don't think they ever actuality released any with that configuration.......perhaps they changed it between pictures of the prototype for the catalog, and the first run of basses, because I've never seen a picture of an early run Razorback bass with silver bevels and that pickup configuration from out in the "wild", as it were.......not from that era