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Unimpressed with Lakland

#41
jasper383 said:
I have owned a 5501, a Glaub, and a DJ4. I also have not been as blown away as others.

The Korean Skylines, to me, feel like all the other instruments made there: the Fender Jazz 24s, the Cort Artisans, some Ibanez basses, and the Laguna basses at GC. Same feel, same materials. Well made, well done, but nothing spectacular. The Indonesian Skylines, I have no experience with.
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My experience exactly. I tried a DJ4 and a Duck at Sam Ash in Ontario Mills - both were setup pretty well with fairly low action. They look beautiful, but tonally, nothing above and beyond a Fender.

Maybe I just had unrealistically high expectations based on the raves I've read here on tb, maybe they just needed a new set of strings. I thought they would blow me away through an Eden 550/212 rig, but I left the store thinking my Fenders sound better.
 
#44
About a year ago I was looking to buy a new bass. The only store anywhere close to me is a GC and a small one at that so the only stuff they carry is the cheap beginner stuff. After a lot of online searching and reading lots and lots of reviews, I had narrowed it down to a few possibilities one of which was Lakland but I could not try them anywhere.

So I had a business trip to Southern California and I took some time and went to a Sam Ash to try a Lakland. After reading so many good reviews, my hopes were high. Well the 55-02 at Sam Ash looked beautiful but it had the fret sprout talked about and it just didn’t play very well. It had obviously been abused. I was a little disappointed but I didn’t give up as I had another stop. Next I went to a real bass store, BassExchange. Now this place has just about every high end bass you can think of and the people there are great. They also take good care of the instruments they have in stock. They let me try out several different basses and explained all the electronics and controls. Man what a difference. This time the Lakland really shined. It was very clearly superior to any of the other bases in that price range and some that were much more expensive.

After deciding Lakland was it, I ordered a 55-02 Deluxe from a local guy here in Colorado. (www.guitarx.com) I was able to order it with some slight customizations and it shipped straight from the factory to my door never having been abused in a big box store. It came perfectly setup and plays better than any other bass I’ve played.

I guess my point is a bad experience at a big box like Sam Ash or Guitar Center should not deter you from a particular bass weather that is Lakland or any other brand. Try out a few and at a small shop if you can.
 
#45
Johnny Alien said:
Did you happen to notice what the country of origin was? The new ones are supposed to be Plek'd so I would be curious if this was one of the "PLEK" models or an older one.
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Does the PLEK do anything to the fret ends? I've watched the PLEK at G&L and at Mike Lull's shop and it looked like it only did the surface of the frets. Maybe there are different ways to set the PLEK program.
 
#46
when i first got my 55-02 i didn't get impressed by the tone straight away like i did with some other basses.
it sounded too smooth and polite for my tastes.
but of course since it was my new bass i was in denial :p
it was until i swapped the stock strings, played it thru EQ preamp pedals, that i started to truly appreciate the tone more.
i dont think i truly love the sound when my lakland goes straight to a combo amp but i really really love it when there's some EQ pedal between it to make it truly shine to my likings.
 
#50
Thanks guys for the feedback. It looks as if a serious Lakland buyer would need to go to a more reputable dealer than one of the mega music stores. I understand and respect that. I guess I am surprised by the fret sprout issues because of all the other basses I tried, only the Laklands had this problem. Ibanez, Fenders, Trabens, Tobias, MusicMan, etc. I just couldn't believe this. I trust that the new PLEK process and the indonesian made models might result in a better end product. I just wish there was another small, local dealer that had some that I could try out. Maybe when I visit Florida I'll stop by Bass Central and see if they have some in stock.

Occasionally, I go to LA and SF so I might try to check for some dealers in those areas.

I just can't believe for all the love that these basses get I had such a bad experience.

I LOVE my heavily modded Marcus Miller Jazz bass and for me, it would take a lot to get me to love something else. My trips to Sam Ash and GC helped confirm my love for my MM.

Not to say I cannot be "converted" I used to be a die hard MusicMan fan (I still think they're good basses) but after playing the "classic designs" I just couldn't get as excited about EBMM's anymore. To each his own.
 
#52
I owned a Skyline JO, and it played great, setup was great, sounded great....... but it was HEAVY. I'm a big guy, and not little wuss, but the weight on it was ridiculous.

As far as fret sprout goes..... my Sadowsky Metro is the best playing bass i've ever owned. But once it experienced its first winter, fretsprout.... big-time. Got it filed and has been incredible ever since.

Dying for a US Glaub.
 
#53
I haven't been to Bass Central, but they always seem to have a killer assortment of Laklands on their site (and their customer service gets rave reviews).
 
#54
GregC said:
I haven't been to Bass Central, but they always seem to have a killer assortment of Laklands on their site (and their customer service gets rave reviews).
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I was at Bass Central back in October 2008 and yes they had a wonderful selection of Laklands, not even counting what was back in storage. But all of the models that I tried appeared well taken care of and had great quality of construction. The only thing that seemed off was the neck pickup height on one of the 5 string models but I have every bit of confidence that they would have adjusted if I asked about it.

Regarding the tone, that's a different story. Like others have stated the 55-01/02 electronics never really did it for me; they sounded fine, just not my thing. Now the model that really impressed me was the Darryl Jones jazz bass. This sounded wonderful and I was very impressed with both 4 and 5-string models. I'm still considering one of these in the future.

But I've had similiar experiences with the original post in that I could never find a Lakland that was setup to my liking. I even stumbled upon USA models that had horrible action and dead strings. But I didn't judge on these examples knowing full well that they could sound better.

Interesting story, I was at a local music store a couple years back trying out a Lakland Skyline JO 4-string. Sounded and played great. One of the salesman had his USA JO 4-string with him (he had a gig later that evening). So I had the opportunity to demo the USA and it's Skyline counterpart through the same rig. The setups were fairly even as well. Nothing to do with this thread but thought it was a cool experience.
 
#55
If you don't dig laklands or have had a bad experience I won't blast you, but I had a pre-plek 55-01 korean that stayed perfect for the 10 or so years I had it. I bought it brandy new and it was among the first years of the skyline series (as far as I knew anyway). It did have the rosewood board, which might have been a factor in preventing fret sprout (don't know), but it was stored in case and in the open in NC, Maine, and mass for all that time without any issues. I'm guessing this was a fluke. I have an Elrick that sprouted fret edges in less than a year, and it is (price wise) leaps and bounds above the lakland skyline. I cna see not digging the skylines, but don't give up on them over this.
 
#57
GregC said:
I haven't been to Bass Central, but they always seem to have a killer assortment of Laklands on their site (and their customer service gets rave reviews).
Click to expand...

My first (and so far only) Lakland was bought there buy a buddy of mine (who then sold it to me) and it was perfect - I still wonder why *I* sold it.

Bass Central also used to have an eval period, so if you aren't happy with the axe, you send it back. I think there stand up guys, for new gear.
 
#58
I tried a DJ Skyline 5 at the MESA Hollywood store and I'll agree that the set up and care of the instrument has a great deal to do with it.... I was impressed with the playability, tone and feel of the instrument...

If you shop at the "big box" stores like SA and GC, MF, M123, SW, et.c it's like buying a bass at Costco or Walmart.... Only problem is they don't have the best prices anymore... They're being held to M.A.P. and other stores have way more room in the price...
 
#60
When Laklands first appear in Sam Ash my heart dropped.

I new they would be throughly abused, not maintained and people would get a bad impression.

When I see them on hangin on the wall, covered in grime and finger prints, I walk by like I don't know 'em.

I've had 4 Skylines (JO5, 2 - 5501's and a 5502). All of which are/were phenomial instruments.

The JO5 and the 5502 were hand picked at the factory. The 5501's I bought from mom and pop music stores.

They all have been excellent basses in all respects and they've been a blast to play and own and I gig 'em every weekend...
 

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