After waiting for nearly a week for it to clear customs and a couple of days as the UPS cargo plane had a mechanical failure, my Roasted Series Soap Saint in Onyx Green arrived today. I came from the United Kingdom and down here to Florida, USA.
It arrived in a Fender box, with a decent gig bag inside of that. Finally it was wrapped in bubble wrap. The box was obviously not stock. I don't believe the gig bag was supposed to come with it, but was used as packaging/protection.
They were officially released at NAMM Back in October (2023) Johnny Dibble did a a review of few the Roasted models, a Saint, a Low Rider and two Saint Soaps. He gave them favorable reviews. In December of 2022, there were some beta models sold and mid last year, there were some pre-production models sold, but their official release was NAMM this year.
As with most basses in this price range, it needed to be set up. The neck is very good. No sprout, polished frets, maybe a smidge thicker front to rear than my Squier Jazz and Sterling RAY4 necks, but only 1-1/2" wide. Feels like a U shaped neck. By comparison, my Squier Sonic Precision is just a hair thicker than the Saint, but still with a 1-1/2" nut. The neck is roasted Maple with a matching headstock and a thin satin finish front and back. Very easy to move up and down on. The truss rod adjustment is at the heel of the neck, with a notch to make adjustments.
The tuning machines are vintage style, open gear tuners. Not the best tuners, but far better than most other budget bass guitar tuners. I lubed them using 3-In-1 oil on a Q-Tip and let capillary action draw the oil in-between the shaft and mounting plate and wipe it over the worm and spur gears. I then spun the tuners a full 360 degrees in each direction and wipe up any residue.
It comes strung with D'Addario rounds. It has a nicely chrome plated stamped steel bridge with good quality brass saddles. The pickup is a Dual-rail Alnico Humbucker under a chrome cover. It measured 9.72KΩ. The pickup is positioned at the same location of the D/G half of a P bass pickup. As I was trying to adjust the pickup height and angle fore and aft, something didn't seem right. I pulled the pickup and found the chrome cover was detached from the baseplate. It was a cold solder on the cover. I reflowed the solder and now everything is fitting great. There was no shielding in the pickup rout, but this is a humbucker equipped bass guitar.
I haven't opened the back control panel yet, but the pots do feel like CTS pots as like the ones I have in my other passive basses. They are smooth, tighter than Alpha full size pots, but not as tight as Bournes pots, which I find too tight/stiff.
The tone is full and fat, with tamed highs. To me it sounds like a cross between a Precision and a Thunderbird. Fat low mid tones of the P, with punchy lows of the TB. The highs are rounded and controlled, no piercing highs, much like a mellow sounding P. The feel of the neck is great and is fast. The satin finish is smooth and not sticky at all. I don't have an accurate scale, but I would venture to say it weighs between 8 and 9 lbs. A solid feel and weight, but not heavy. I can wear this for a couple hours with no issues. It is slightly neck heavy and dives when un supported on my lap, it sits just fine when standing with my 3" suede strap.
I'm normally one to mod instruments to my liking, but this one has only needed a setup to my taste and the pickup cover soldered and it is great! The truth will come after playing it for a while and the newness/Honeymoon phase wears off, but I foresee this being one of my favorites.
It arrived in a Fender box, with a decent gig bag inside of that. Finally it was wrapped in bubble wrap. The box was obviously not stock. I don't believe the gig bag was supposed to come with it, but was used as packaging/protection.
They were officially released at NAMM Back in October (2023) Johnny Dibble did a a review of few the Roasted models, a Saint, a Low Rider and two Saint Soaps. He gave them favorable reviews. In December of 2022, there were some beta models sold and mid last year, there were some pre-production models sold, but their official release was NAMM this year.
As with most basses in this price range, it needed to be set up. The neck is very good. No sprout, polished frets, maybe a smidge thicker front to rear than my Squier Jazz and Sterling RAY4 necks, but only 1-1/2" wide. Feels like a U shaped neck. By comparison, my Squier Sonic Precision is just a hair thicker than the Saint, but still with a 1-1/2" nut. The neck is roasted Maple with a matching headstock and a thin satin finish front and back. Very easy to move up and down on. The truss rod adjustment is at the heel of the neck, with a notch to make adjustments.
The tuning machines are vintage style, open gear tuners. Not the best tuners, but far better than most other budget bass guitar tuners. I lubed them using 3-In-1 oil on a Q-Tip and let capillary action draw the oil in-between the shaft and mounting plate and wipe it over the worm and spur gears. I then spun the tuners a full 360 degrees in each direction and wipe up any residue.
It comes strung with D'Addario rounds. It has a nicely chrome plated stamped steel bridge with good quality brass saddles. The pickup is a Dual-rail Alnico Humbucker under a chrome cover. It measured 9.72KΩ. The pickup is positioned at the same location of the D/G half of a P bass pickup. As I was trying to adjust the pickup height and angle fore and aft, something didn't seem right. I pulled the pickup and found the chrome cover was detached from the baseplate. It was a cold solder on the cover. I reflowed the solder and now everything is fitting great. There was no shielding in the pickup rout, but this is a humbucker equipped bass guitar.
I haven't opened the back control panel yet, but the pots do feel like CTS pots as like the ones I have in my other passive basses. They are smooth, tighter than Alpha full size pots, but not as tight as Bournes pots, which I find too tight/stiff.
The tone is full and fat, with tamed highs. To me it sounds like a cross between a Precision and a Thunderbird. Fat low mid tones of the P, with punchy lows of the TB. The highs are rounded and controlled, no piercing highs, much like a mellow sounding P. The feel of the neck is great and is fast. The satin finish is smooth and not sticky at all. I don't have an accurate scale, but I would venture to say it weighs between 8 and 9 lbs. A solid feel and weight, but not heavy. I can wear this for a couple hours with no issues. It is slightly neck heavy and dives when un supported on my lap, it sits just fine when standing with my 3" suede strap.
I'm normally one to mod instruments to my liking, but this one has only needed a setup to my taste and the pickup cover soldered and it is great! The truth will come after playing it for a while and the newness/Honeymoon phase wears off, but I foresee this being one of my favorites.
