Hi All,
I'm kinda new here, but today, after reading a fair bit of info from TalkBass, I decided to buy myself the Orange O Bass. I saw a black one in a shop in Sydney yesterday, and thought it was a cool looking bass. So I rang the shop, and they said another shop, closer to me, had one in the Tear Drop sunburst, which I wasnt to keen on, but went down and played. And straight away I was like wow! So I hoped on a train to the music shop I saw the black one in, RRP here in Australia is $599, I got it for $479! Apparently these are the only 2 in Australia, as I was really after the orange one.
Anyways here are some pros & cons, I thought I'd share, for anyone who was looking at buying one!
Pros: For a bass Made in China, the finish I could not flaw on either of the 2 basses I came across. They look and feel better constructed then any squier or epiphone bass, in any price bracket. It comes with a really nice Orange gig bag, which feels like it would protect the bag from small accidents. Also came with a spare scratch plate, which I changed straight away, the original is an off white / black / white. The spare is a reddish tortoiseshell. The bass feels sold, sounds amazing for pretty much a precision bass for less then $500, I played it against my Fender Japan Precision, and was quiet impressed at the sound. Also, after spending abit of time doing a complete setup, which I will get to in my cons, the bass plays fantastic! Nice low / medium action, great neck, no crazy frets, like you get on some cheaper basses. It is a really awesome bass. I think if you wanted to gig with it, pretty much off the shelf, you'd be fine. The sound is kinda like an aggressive precision, but at the same time, you can get almost a rickenbacker sound, or hollow bodied sound out of it.
Now the bad...
Cons: I admit I am a snob when it comes to basses, and guitars. I usually will buy high end gear, and not touch anything under being Made in Japan. And this bass is not without its issues. It neck dives badly. I think maybe if you put a bad ass bridge on it, it might help, only for the weight, but it can be quiet annoying. The electronics... well lets just say, I'm pretty sure I will rip them all out, maybe put a Fender Custom Shop pickup in, but the pots for the volume and tone are rubbish. You do get abit of grounding noise. I think the pickup is fine, it just needs new pots, but hey its a cheap bass, what do you expect? Also the tort scratch plate, is a joke I'd give it 6 months of real use, and the colour would be gone. Im again thinking of swapping it over for a black / white / black scratch plate. Now the setup issues... Ugh! What setup! The bass comes with your bridge saddles in a row, so you have to setup the internation completely. String height on mine was crazy high, and neck was prefect, but I had to do a complete setup on the bridge, and saddles and even the pickup, as it too was set flat.
I mean this is me just being picky I know, but even squiers and epiphones have better setups off the self. However once it was all setup, wow its an amazing bass. But if you really want to gig with it for a long period of time, I'd at least swap out the 50 cent pots.
I have also swapped the chrome volume and tone knobs for top hat knobs, which to me, makes it look alot better, but I guess it goes on what you want to do with the bass.
Orange have made it so you can go in and do what you want, there is enough space to really get in and work on all the electronics with easy, yet doesn't compromise the bass at all. Its still has abit of weight to it, not as heavy as my all ash fender, but its not a light bass their.
Anyways thanks for reading, I'll post some photo's up tomorrow. And I hope this helps anyone who was looking at this bass, because the info I found wasn't much. And for under $500AU its worth getting for a unique and rare instrument, from a company who doesnt really make basses or guitars!
I'm kinda new here, but today, after reading a fair bit of info from TalkBass, I decided to buy myself the Orange O Bass. I saw a black one in a shop in Sydney yesterday, and thought it was a cool looking bass. So I rang the shop, and they said another shop, closer to me, had one in the Tear Drop sunburst, which I wasnt to keen on, but went down and played. And straight away I was like wow! So I hoped on a train to the music shop I saw the black one in, RRP here in Australia is $599, I got it for $479! Apparently these are the only 2 in Australia, as I was really after the orange one.
Anyways here are some pros & cons, I thought I'd share, for anyone who was looking at buying one!
Pros: For a bass Made in China, the finish I could not flaw on either of the 2 basses I came across. They look and feel better constructed then any squier or epiphone bass, in any price bracket. It comes with a really nice Orange gig bag, which feels like it would protect the bag from small accidents. Also came with a spare scratch plate, which I changed straight away, the original is an off white / black / white. The spare is a reddish tortoiseshell. The bass feels sold, sounds amazing for pretty much a precision bass for less then $500, I played it against my Fender Japan Precision, and was quiet impressed at the sound. Also, after spending abit of time doing a complete setup, which I will get to in my cons, the bass plays fantastic! Nice low / medium action, great neck, no crazy frets, like you get on some cheaper basses. It is a really awesome bass. I think if you wanted to gig with it, pretty much off the shelf, you'd be fine. The sound is kinda like an aggressive precision, but at the same time, you can get almost a rickenbacker sound, or hollow bodied sound out of it.
Now the bad...
Cons: I admit I am a snob when it comes to basses, and guitars. I usually will buy high end gear, and not touch anything under being Made in Japan. And this bass is not without its issues. It neck dives badly. I think maybe if you put a bad ass bridge on it, it might help, only for the weight, but it can be quiet annoying. The electronics... well lets just say, I'm pretty sure I will rip them all out, maybe put a Fender Custom Shop pickup in, but the pots for the volume and tone are rubbish. You do get abit of grounding noise. I think the pickup is fine, it just needs new pots, but hey its a cheap bass, what do you expect? Also the tort scratch plate, is a joke I'd give it 6 months of real use, and the colour would be gone. Im again thinking of swapping it over for a black / white / black scratch plate. Now the setup issues... Ugh! What setup! The bass comes with your bridge saddles in a row, so you have to setup the internation completely. String height on mine was crazy high, and neck was prefect, but I had to do a complete setup on the bridge, and saddles and even the pickup, as it too was set flat.
I mean this is me just being picky I know, but even squiers and epiphones have better setups off the self. However once it was all setup, wow its an amazing bass. But if you really want to gig with it for a long period of time, I'd at least swap out the 50 cent pots.
I have also swapped the chrome volume and tone knobs for top hat knobs, which to me, makes it look alot better, but I guess it goes on what you want to do with the bass.
Orange have made it so you can go in and do what you want, there is enough space to really get in and work on all the electronics with easy, yet doesn't compromise the bass at all. Its still has abit of weight to it, not as heavy as my all ash fender, but its not a light bass their.
Anyways thanks for reading, I'll post some photo's up tomorrow. And I hope this helps anyone who was looking at this bass, because the info I found wasn't much. And for under $500AU its worth getting for a unique and rare instrument, from a company who doesnt really make basses or guitars!
