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FLEA STREET BASS REVIEW.. SHORT

L

Let It Fall

Inactive
Oct 15, 2009
488
3
Baton Rouge
#1
Just got my new street flea bass in, after a little set up it is one of the BEST sounding basses I have ever played. I have owned COUNTLESS. American fenders - every model of MM made. This thing sounds VERY similar to a stingray, but without the finiky highs I never could tame..

Ill probably still own a stingray but not at the moment with a wedding and new place and all.

+1 to cheap basses, as I said I owned multiple american basses, now I own a squire classic vibe and a flea street bass. WOW.
 
#3
I wonder why these basses didn't make it? Must have been the colors. I've read that they are way overpriced, aren't they around $500? That's in Brubaker Brute/MTD Artist/ESP/Yamaha territory. Is the quality really that bad on Fleabasses? I will admit that the pink and green ones look like $99 flea market guitars (pun intended), but I saw a silver and black one that looked pretty sweet.
 
#4
They didn't make it because they were badly built, atrocious instruments sold at the price of mid-level basses.
Most people who tried them didn't care for the tone either.
Maybe they got better afterwards, I don't know but first series were nothing to call home for.
 
#6
HMM, On the longer version of my post I WILL state the two flaws.

crack in paint at the neck joint and scratchy tone and volume pots.

Im surprised its a string through design and even the neck bolts are countersunk. I dont see bad quality. But I also couldn't pay the asking 500$ for it. Glad I got mine for 250$
 
#10
Let It Fall said:
where? ill buy another
Click to expand...

Daddy's Junky Music in my area has a bunch. Each store has two or three that look new but have used tags on them... Most have some sort of damage (cracks near the neck joint, etc.) I have to admit, i like the pink and green ones, but the quality vs price even at discount prices was not a good balance.

Every model of MM? That is impressive... I would love to try out a Cutlass or Sabre someday.
 
#11
Fresh Eddie said:
Daddy's Junky Music in my area has a bunch. Each store has two or three that look new but have used tags on them... Most have some sort of damage (cracks near the neck joint, etc.) I have to admit, i like the pink and green ones, but the quality vs price even at discount prices was not a good balance.

Every model of MM? That is impressive... I would love to try out a Cutlass or Sabre someday.
Click to expand...

I saw those at the Daddy's in Dedham. It's part of their "Manufaturers Used" program. Basicly they buy a large lot of 2nd, damages, scratched items off a manufacturer and resell them as used gear. You can sometimes score some good deals, but you have to know what you are looking at.
 
#13
Curious to know what you guys mean by 'didn't make it'? Am I missing something? I was under the impression that Fleasbass was something of a success story (so far). They've now expanded distribution-wise (finally easy to pick up in the UK) and are still listed as bestsellers on Musician's Friend (which is about as far as my knowledge of US distribution extends!). Everybody I know who's tried one said they were decent kit.

Also the prices quoted above are off in comparison to the MSRP listed on the Fleabass website. There are different models - the Streetbass is listed as $299. They're all decently priced over here. There is a more expensive 'touring' model with better hardware which is MSRP $499 though.
 
#15
Stolen from a thread started by TB'er Harper:


From the October 2011 issue of Bass Player Magazine...

"I started to make my own basses, the Flea Bass. But the business side of things was so frustrating that I just couldn't continue. It was so hard for me to do what I wanted to really do - to make a quality, affordable bass for kids. I love the idea of it, and I really wanted to try to give something great to bass players, but I didn't enjoy the business in any way at any time." - Flea
Click to expand...
 
#17
logicman69 said:
I saw those at the Daddy's in Dedham. It's part of their "Manufaturers Used" program. Basicly they buy a large lot of 2nd, damages, scratched items off a manufacturer and resell them as used gear. You can sometimes score some good deals, but you have to know what you are looking at.
Click to expand...

I spent some time with those basses a couple of weeks ago (a band I am in practices in Dedham.) They had three, all different colors, all different prices, and the most damaged one was the most expensive! Hee hee.
 
#20
Kwesi said:
I'm not saying it's a bad bass but when I see glowing review made less than a month after getting the bass, I chalk it up to the honeymoon phase.
Click to expand...

The 'recently' no longer applies. Bought in April.


I recently got hold of a FleaBass Streetbass, bought unseen and unplayed. I opted for the silver finish, but that's just personal preference.

Out Of The Box:

Packaging: Cardboard box with molded foam holding the bass in place. The bass was secure and the packaging was fairly trusty. Bass came with instructions and a good quality lead, so good I still use it now. /8

Set up: Action and intonation were spot on. Like SPOT on, which I've never had before :P It came strung with GHS Boomers Flea's. These are actually the strings I use on all my basses (NOT! because they're 'flea's', but because I like how they sound) so no need to change anything. Neck had too much bow in it for my taste, but that was easily fixed. /8

Neck: VERY fast neck surprisingly. Profile-wise, somewhere between a P and a J, more towards the J though (I've not played enough basses to give an accurate comparison). Very smooth finish on the neck, not glossy at all, just how I like it. Some really nice figuring on the back too. Nut is cut perfectly, fretwork is fine it's a gorgeous dark slab of rosewood for the board. On the other hand, there's some discolouring by one fret, not sure what it is. /7

Hardware: Everything is in good nick, I love the bridge, when I polish it up it really stands out. Not overwhelmed with the knobs/jack. The volume knob is off centre, like it's at an angle, so when it turns, one side of it goes up or down slightly. The input jack was a bit loose, but simply turning it tightened it up, so no worries. Control cavity is a bit crudely cut, and the input jack connector thingy (bent piece of metal on the inside, can't remember proper name) was not connecting properly, but a push in the direction of the jack fixed that. /6.5

All amped up: Out of the box, this thing sounded a million dollars, and that's not just the 'new strings zing' (which I love, FWIW) or the 'omfg I haz noow bayz' effect. However, through play (I play a) a lot b) agressively) Something seems to have come loose as there is preposterous amounts of hum coming from it and the tone is empty and hollow, very tinny. Laptop-speaker sound, if that makes sense. If the orignal tone was what the bass SHOULD have sounded like, then /9, but as it is, /4


Extra infoooo: the finish of this thing is flawless, I've got lots of compliments about it. It's also very comfortable to play. However, there's bugger all support for them, and little information online.

Hope you enjoyed this, or at least found it informative. As there's no warrenty on this, I'm saving up for an EMG, and I'll get the whole internals ripped out, shielded, grounded, the whole shuzzam and then throw an EMG-35 in it. Then I'd gig it, because at the moment, although I'd love to, I simply can't!
 

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