Schecter Stiletto. Opinions?

[Andy419]

I'm planning on getting a new bass soon and I saw the stiletto online on guitarcenter.com and thought i had to try it. i went into guitar center and played it and it had that really light, loose feel that i was looking for (great for slapping). does anyone who has played/owned this bass before have any opinions? I want to be sure this is what I want before I buy it.

 

[Tony G]

Welcome to talkbass, and please make sure to make good use of the search function.

A simple search of "Schecter Stiletto" comes up with: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/search.php?searchid=5214630

 

[prokfrog]

I've had my Elite-5 for about six months now and love it. It plays and sounds great. I can dial up whatever sound the particular song calls for. I get complements at every gig about it's look and sound, and I never get lost in the mix. Money well spent.

 

[peaveyuser]

Good bass, looks nice, good feel, sounds good. I would look into Spector too.

 

[EagleMoon]

I've played them at the music stores and I really liked them. The necks are great and the body is small and light enough that it's not a drag on your shoulder. I'd like to have one myself.

 

[Flintc]

Lots of bang for the buck. I've thought long and hard about buying one, and I still might. Great sound, easy to play. But at that price point, the competition is really fierce.

 

[meegosh]

the bass is great, but a stiletto custom 5 is

not good for harmonics
or/ slapping(unless you have hands the size of a 10 year old) lol
the strings are too tight for 5 strings or 6 strings, it just sounds messy.

but finger style and picking is okay in my opinion. the eq(knobs) are pretty okay except for the treble(kind of useless) the bass knob is great, and the blend knob impressed me the most because you "really" can tell the difference.


i don;t know which stiletto your getting, but for the custom, IMHO is worth an 8.5 outa 10.
the sound is bright(nothing like the fender jazz) i think it would make a great picking/rock bass/ metal bass because of the sound it "can" make.

the body is kind of heavy, but as heavy as the stingrays, the neck(5 string) is quite smooth and thin and small.

i am thinking of changing the pick ups sooner or later, but atm they are not the worst or the best for me. you should look into emg dc 40

 

[ihateusernames]

check the schecter bass thread...i love the look and feel of my stiletto custom 4 (natural) i just saw some new pictures from a recent show and the body looks a bit small but who cares. the only thing i'm not 100% thrilled with is the sound of the pickups aren't to my liking. overall though, i'd say schecter basses are a great investment new or used.

 

[robertusf]

I had a schecter on back order...so in the mean time i kept stopping by guitar center to check out some other basses. I liked the schcter enough to order it, but then i ventured over to the wariwcks. More money, but way better feel and sound! I canceled the shecter and snagged a corvette 4 active on ebay. I loved it so much that is snagged a 5 string corvette active a few months later

Schecters are decent for the price, but for a long term decent bass, spend a little more dough! +1 on the spectors too!

 

[alexofc69]

I have a Stilleto Custom 5. You will love it. Great slapper. My only complaint is the narrow string spacing. But, I just adjust for it. They are great basses for the money. You cant go wrong.

 

[alexofc69]

check the schecter bass thread...i love the look and feel of my stiletto custom 4 (natural) i just saw some new pictures from a recent show and the body looks a bit small but who cares. the only thing i'm not 100% thrilled with is the sound of the pickups aren't to my liking. overall though, i'd say schecter basses are a great investment new or used.

The pickups ar Passive EMGs into and active preamp. You can easily swap them out for another set of EMGs. I recently spoke with a tech at EMG. He recommends for the the 40CS for bridge and 40DC for neck for the Stilleto.
Easy swap. Unscrew the existing pickups. unplug quick connector, plug in new one and screw back in.

 

[HamburgerBrad]

the eq(knobs) are pretty okay except for the treble(kind of useless)

have you tried changing the settings of the switches on the treble eq? take off the rear cover and you can see two switches that adjust the eq frequency

 

[alexofc69]

the bass is great, but a stiletto custom 5 is

not good for harmonics
or/ slapping(unless you have hands the size of a 10 year old) lol
the strings are too tight for 5 strings or 6 strings, it just sounds messy.

but finger style and picking is okay in my opinion. the eq(knobs) are pretty okay except for the treble(kind of useless) the bass knob is great, and the blend knob impressed me the most because you "really" can tell the difference.


i don;t know which stiletto your getting, but for the custom, IMHO is worth an 8.5 outa 10.
the sound is bright(nothing like the fender jazz) i think it would make a great picking/rock bass/ metal bass because of the sound it "can" make.

the body is kind of heavy, but as heavy as the stingrays, the neck(5 string) is quite smooth and thin and small.

i am thinking of changing the pick ups sooner or later, but atm they are not the worst or the best for me. you should look into emg dc 40

hey, my hands are pretty damn big, and I slap plenty fine. I dont really like the tight spacing but make do with it. In fact I think it helps you improve your technique and accuracy. Harmonics are just fine. Better with DR-Hi beams.
Body is ligter than my Jazz5.
But, back to the string spacing. Too tight for me. So it wil be sold soon for another MTD.

 

[alexofc69]

I've had my Elite-5 for about six months now and love it. It plays and sounds great. I can dial up whatever sound the particular song calls for. I get complements at every gig about it's look and sound, and I never get lost in the mix. Money well spent.

+1

 

[cb56]

The pickups ar Passive EMGs into and active preamp. You can easily swap them out for another set of EMGs. I recently spoke with a tech at EMG. He recommends for the the 40CS for bridge and 40DC for neck for the Stilleto.
Easy swap. Unscrew the existing pickups. unplug quick connector, plug in new one and screw back in.

Just curious if you did this mod to your bass or know anybody who has. I was poking around the EMG site and noticed that the connectors for the Hz pickups were 5 pin and the ones used for the active EMGs are 3 pin. Are they compatable?

 

[eotpr]

I have the Stiletto Custom 5 and I like it. Because it is a 5 right now I don't play it as much.

 

[alexofc69]

Just curious if you did this mod to your bass or know anybody who has. I was poking around the EMG site and noticed that the connectors for the Hz pickups were 5 pin and the ones used for the active EMGs are 3 pin. Are they compatable?

Hmmmm..good observation. No I have not. I was planning on it, but probably wont since I will be selling the Stilleto to fund a new MTD coming out. The swap should still be fairly easy, but will require some soldering. Maybe I will email EMG support. They are pretty quick to respond.

 

[ricknote]

If you like the feel and sound, go for it. Schecter hasn't moved there
production to China like just about everyone else. Yet...
South Korea is making some really nice stuff these days.
Great bang for the buck and good fretwork.

Good luck,
Rick

 

[cb56]

Hmmmm..good observation. No I have not. I was planning on it, but probably wont since I will be selling the Stilleto to fund a new MTD coming out. The swap should still be fairly easy, but will require some soldering. Maybe I will email EMG support. They are pretty quick to respond.

Cool, thanks. Let us know what they have to say.

 

[ihateusernames]

Not meant to highjack, just keeping searches easier.

I'm growing tired of the sounds in my Stiletto Custom these days. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad at all - just could be angrier with more rumble, burp, growl, and snarl for my tastes. I've tried a couple strings (DR varieties) and find the bridge pickup not growly enough.

I tweaked the dip switches over and over, switched to 18v and no matter what I do it's just not changing enough. The bridge solo'd needs a lot of eq to thicken up appropriately, things get too muddy adding in the neck. The neck pickup is too smooth on it's own for my tastes.

Boosting bass on the preamp gets boomy, cutting treble and leaving bass flat is working best so far. Now I'm debating upgrading the pickups or trading into something different. I want to hear a blend of John Myung's tone on the Train of Thought albums and "the" stereotypical Warwick growl with a bit of Spector growl ala Mike Starr or Eddie Jackson.

Ughh, I hate the thoughts of getting into a new bass.