I purchased this a fortnight ago. I wrote a review on another page but will include it here below.
I'm writing this because I purchased this bass (the SR870) recently. There wasn't a lot of online feedback about it from either pros or users, so I'm chipping in my two cents in case other people are thinking of buying it.
I'm a hybrid beginner / intermediate player. I played a lot of guitar when I was younger and messed around in a "band" for 6 months playing bass (borrowed from someone), some years ago. This is my first bass.
Overall I really like this bass. I think I've made a good purchase.
- It's really beautiful in both sound and looks.
- The bridge and neck pickups have their own unique tone, blended together they sound pretty muddy and flat, but not in a bad way. I find myself using the bridge pickup the most.
- The active EQ is powerful and lets you dial in heaps of different tone options. The Bridge pickup with heaps of mid & treble gain gives you a bit of a J bass sound. The Neck pickup with a mid & treble cut gives you a P bass sound.
- The action is low, it's a treat to play and sounds terrific.
- Sustain is good, particularly on the lower frets.
- The neck is nice and narrow and is great if you're coming from guitar.
- I can't comment on slap performance, because I'm terrible at that.
Like all things, it's not perfect.
- It's pricey. At AU$1400 it was a real treat to myself and I had to make some compromises on the amp, but I mostly play with headphones at the moment so thats ok.
- It's heavy, but I think most basses I tried were heavy.
- The treble pickup when in the heavy + settings, inputs a shrill noise into the amp. It's not a big deal for me. At flat and - settings, you can't hear it. But if you want a super bright sounding bass, with heaps of treble, maybe check this before buying.
- I'm getting a tiny bit of fret buzz on the top string but that's probably because it's new and needs a bit of an adjustment.
- The strings when I got them were super "zingy" and the pickups, being active, would heavily amplify my fingers moving around the strings, sounded a bit acoustic guitar-like. But since playing it over the last fortnight, that has tapered off slightly. Maybe it's just a new string sound. Or maybe my technique is improving.
Again, overall, I really like it. I'm glad it got it. I find myself losing heaps of time on this, and really the thing about a good bass is you just love playing it. 9.5 / 10.
