Dean Zone Bass: Unexpected surprise

[M.R. Ogle]

A friend dropped off their Dean Zone XM bass for me to adjust and set up. At first, I didn't think much of it... a $200 kid's "metal" bass, all flat-black and basswood, not to my tastes at all.
But, the pickup was pretty stout, reading 12.5K ohms or so, the hardware was acceptable, as was the fretwork... seemed okay, playable.

BUT... the big pleasant surprise was the neck profile. It was just about perfect feeling in my hands. Not too thin, not too thick, not too anything, it was EXACTLY how I'd spec a neck if I were having one custom built. Loved it!

Of course, I'm going to get one of these for myself, especially if the necks are ALL like that one, as I would suspect they are CNC'd the same.

Who would have thought a CHEAP bass would have such a perfect neck shape?

 

[Kirk Bryant]

I was in the Starving Musician, a used music store in San Jose in about 95' and fell in love with a 5 string red transparent Dean fretless. I kept coming back to play it for a month or two until I had to buy it. It had a great neck and was very nice, not just for the price. If anything the SD pickups might have been the only thing that wasn't great. I just sold it to a friend a couple of years ago because I hadn't been playing enough Jazz gigs. I've been playing more lately and I'm still second guessing that decision.

 

[jd56hawk]

Dean Hillsboro and Motto necks are incredibly smooth.

I owned a Hillsboro Single when I first got serious about playing and I bought a Motto for a girl I know...the scale was too much for her...so I returned it.
Big mistake, because the J-Hot pickups were very nice, too.
I just bought this in April.

The neck is painted, unlike the Motto/Hillsboro necks, but it still feels great!

 

[Maxdusty]

I had a couple Dean Zone basses, got it more for the colors- Neon Green and Neon Pink. Surprisingly not bad players- with a pickup change, maybe the bridge, they're pretty decent. You're right about the neck. I don't have either of them anymore, as the colors eventually got to me and to everyone around me. lol.