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Washburn Taurust 5 string (T25) bass

I

Incubus

Mar 28, 2005
30
1
41
NY,NY
www.purevolume.com
#1
I am saving up for an Ibanez K5 bass BUT i really need a five string soon... so i found the Washburn T25... im low on cash so that looks to me like the best bass for its price (I can get it for $350)... i heard that it was not manufactured well and that the frets were not filed down...

the link to the website is Invalid Link Removed

does anyone own or has anyone played this bass? any opinions would help a lot. Thanks!
 
#2
I owned one, they are pretty much crap. The construction quality is very poor, the neck was unstable, the fret dressing was awful, and the electronics were a joke. I will say, that if you upgraded the pickups, the tone could be pretty good. It had a dark, focused tone. The bass looks pretty good in my opinion too, (after all, the body is pretty much straight jerzy drozd). One other thing to consider is that this bass is HEAVY. You can also try a search, there have been several threads on the taurus basses. Bottom line: this bass was my main for about 8 months and for the price, it kept me satisfied and it served as a solid rung on the ladder to higher end basses.
 
#3
I have to say something here. I could possibly be the biggest NON-Fan of Washburn. I must say though, the Taurus and the Force basses are some of the best things they have come out with since the 70's. Heavey - Yes, but they have a feel to them. I have the Force 5 and I love the feel and the playability. The electronics SUCK :hyper: !! Plain and simple. If you buy any Washburn, change the electronics. You will be much happier. IMO you could do worse than the T25, but you probably could do alot better. :scowl:
Good Luck! :D
 
#6
Well Washburn must have been listening because I walked into a Music-go-Round store in Kenosh Wi. and saw one with a Duncan Basslines MM pup in it positioned in the sweet spot! This was not a project bass either, it was factory routed just for that Basslines. It also had gold hardware and a different bridge. It may be a NAMM piece. Many of the flaws of the origonal where corrected such as the sky-high neck profile and the cheesy oil finish, this finish actually looked good. The frets were dressed pretty good but a look into the cavity revealed that the pickup was wired incorrectly. This bass I havent seen on the website so I dont know, mabey its an overseas model. Music-go-Round had no information on where it came from.
 
#7
Actuall, IIRC that bass was a precursor to the T24/25 and they are very rare. I think there were like 250 or something made. Every once in a while one pops up on e-bay. There supposed to be built better than the T24/25 basses too.
 
#11
Incubus said:
I am saving up for an Ibanez K5 bass BUT i really need a five string soon... so i found the Washburn T25... im low on cash so that looks to me like the best bass for its price (I can get it for $350)... i heard that it was not manufactured well and that the frets were not filed down...

the link to the website is Invalid Link Removed

does anyone own or has anyone played this bass? any opinions would help a lot. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I picked up a T24 (same thing in a four) recently for a sweet (used) price. The construction seems very nice. In fact, BP mag gave it an "outstanding construction" award in one of their shootouts, as seen here:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

But beware on those pickups; the ones that come with the bass are ratty, and they're a unique size. Regular jazz pups won't fit - these are longer, and the mounting screw "shoulders" are wider apart. :scowl:

Just a couple of days ago, I opened a thread in Pickups to see if anyone's found a pickup swap that fits without re-routing; so far, no responses. I'm also pounding the ground via Email to vendors and manufacturers, to see if there are any possibilities (Bart 57 bridge pup is a maybe; trying to get the c-to-c of the mounting screws).

Not looking good. :hmm:
 
#12
I had a bantam 6 string and it was awesome. I had to let it go due to the really tight string spacing :scowl: . I had an mm and j pickup configuration with the large pole pieces. It had some bite too but it was kinda heavy on the shoulders.
 
#13
Incubus said:
does anyone own or has anyone played this bass? any opinions would help a lot. Thanks!
Click to expand...

And I like it. A lot.

Here's my first impression, right out of alt.guitar.bass ;)

############################################
So, as I told you guys a few weeks ago I bought the damn thing.
Five string mahogany bodied neck through thing, for a VERY LOW price.

I wasn't particularly impressed with the 'bedroom tone', i.e. playing
on my own, although it is pretty enough that my wife made me buy a stand
to put in on display in the living room. (She already put the fender
practice amp as part of the decor :).

Last saturday I brought it to rehearsal. DAMN does it sit well in the
mix. Never had the slightest problem in hearing myself, and when the
amp wasn't crapping out I had a nice tone(*) going along. Pickup upgrade
drops to the lower rung of the gas list, it was that good. The B string
spoke with authority and the band loved it. Overall, a great bass for
the money. Neck didn't get sticky with my sweat, I think I might have
to buy a tin of beeswax or something like that, feels like the warwicks
I used to own.

(*)As a side review, here's my one-paragraph take on the Behringer 1200
combo: Not strong enough to keep up with two guitars and drums, and
the 12" simply WON'T appreciate the fact that you have a 5-string.
Farts galore. And the aluminium coned-speaker doesn't produce a decent
bass tone. I think next rehearsal I'll propose a different rehearsal place or
borrow an amp to carry there... I got some nice growl out of the bass,
but I think what tone I could be achieving with my just-sold ampeg combo
and drool at the prospect. Oh, and this was with factory strings... I'll
post again when I put in a good set of DR HiBeams... the T25 might turn
out to be one of the great sleeper basses out there... (less that US$300!)
############################################

A few days after:

############################################
The good:

I restrung with DR HiBeams and man, the B string is THERE!
Deep as the voice of god, but now it also is articulate! You
still have to play it with a little more care than the rest
of the strings, but it doesn't sound floppy anymore. I am
truly AMAZED at the tone coming out of this... kinda like
halfway between vintage and hifi.

The bad:

It is HEAVY AS HELL. Kinda solid-maple-warwick-with-baseball-bat-
wenge-neck heavy. (I know, I owned one :) Wear a BIG and WIDE strap.

Washburn's bridge 'encourages' taper core B strings... the ****ing
ball end of the DR wouldn't fit through the @#$# bridge! Now I have
a B string that is peeking out of the bridge, about half an inch :p

Next string change I'm taking a drill bit to that hole or something
like that...

Overall: With good strings the tone is great n huge. BUt the little
details give away the fact that it is a US$280 bass and not a more
expensive one. I'd recommend it for starter/budget 5 string. I'm
keeping this ****er :)

(and yes, I am wondering how the hell did I get along without a B string
:)

(whole thread here: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed])
#############################################

Today:

I feel the bass is an awesome value for the money (paid about US$280 new). Minor nitpicks in the craftmanship and the pickups. I wired them in series last night (and burned myself in the process :p) and I'll try it with the band tomorrow and get back to you. Great articulation on the B string though, when you string it with proper strings, not the factory crap. Fretjob could be better (had to try every one in the store to find one with an acceptable fret job). Do NOT buy this bass without testing. I also found that the finish varies from bass to bass, in color, so
look at all the ones the store has to offer and find the one with the better neck and looks.

I'm keeping this one until I can get my hands on a real high-end bass. Nice enough. Wish my starter bass had been this good.
 
#14
Well, I'd like to add my 2-cents here. I'm an older player. I used to play quite a bit back in the 70's and 80's. At that time I played a Fender Precision and a Rickenbacker.
I stopped for over 15 years and 3 years ago began playing again. Not looking to break the bank, I settled on the Washburn T25.
First of all, it looks stunning. And yes, it has heft.
For the price I paid ($350.00) it was a no-brainer for a neck-through bass. Took it to a good tech, paid $75.00 to have a few of the frets dressed and the guitar set-up properly. This was two years ago.

I've been playing regularly now and I go through a Hartke3500 amp and Behringer paper-cone speakers (2x10 and 1x15). I use a Digitech BP80 processor. I even use Hartke bass strings (very inexpensive). So all in all I have probably have one of the cheapest rigs in all of recorded history. BUT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This bass is the NUT!

The bass has as wide a variety of sounds and textures as one could want. Motown? No problem. Metal? A cinch, Blues/R&B??? don't make me laugh. Reggae, Progressive, Latin? C'mon...throw me something this bass cannot do, willya?
The B-string is outstanding. The Midrange has great meat and crunch, the low end is 8-levels deep, and it has a great Entwhistle high end to it. I don't get the complaints of some people.
I get compliments all the time on the sound and overall projection and bottom-end of the bass (even by someone who spent 10x the $$$ on a Modulus!?!).

Remember one thing: Many times its not the instrument that makes a player sound good. The opposite is more true...the player makes the instrument sound good. Now I am not saying I'm a good player (there are millions out there better than me), but I know what kind of sound I want, and I know how to get it. My bandmates never complain.
I would not trade this bass for anything else.
 
#15
paintandsk8 said:
I owned one, they are pretty much crap. The construction quality is very poor, the neck was unstable, the fret dressing was awful, and the electronics were a joke. I will say, that if you upgraded the pickups, the tone could be pretty good. It had a dark, focused tone. The bass looks pretty good in my opinion too, (after all, the body is pretty much straight jerzy drozd). One other thing to consider is that this bass is HEAVY. You can also try a search, there have been several threads on the taurus basses. Bottom line: this bass was my main for about 8 months and for the price, it kept me satisfied and it served as a solid rung on the ladder to higher end basses.
Click to expand...
 
#16
Kind of want to start poopie maybe. But I hear alot about heavy basses. I have had a few that were said heavy basses. Really ! The bass is heavy! I really don't understand I got a lite bass I guess but it really don't make a impression on this . Plus even more amusing is your playing the bass. Something that can literally move poopie. With the power. I don't know I always wanted to bitch about this. Look it's my time of the month. I'm feeling very sensitive.
 
#19
Incubus said:
I am saving up for an Ibanez K5 bass BUT i really need a five string soon... so i found the Washburn T25... im low on cash so that looks to me like the best bass for its price (I can get it for $350)... i heard that it was not manufactured well and that the frets were not filed down...

the link to the website is [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

does anyone own or has anyone played this bass? any opinions would help a lot. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I somehow woke up naked with a T24 in the bed. I overslept so I called my boss said I'm going to be late. I regret not knowing her but her shape had me. She sexy little figured thing. But getting back to you. I think Warwick, Washburn. And epiphone make mid bass. That is my experience. I gravitate towards Deftones and Chevelle Helmut. So consider that.
 
#20
BassWarrior said:
Well, I'd like to add my 2-cents here. I'm an older player. I used to play quite a bit back in the 70's and 80's. At that time I played a Fender Precision and a Rickenbacker.
I stopped for over 15 years and 3 years ago began playing again. Not looking to break the bank, I settled on the Washburn T25.
First of all, it looks stunning. And yes, it has heft.
For the price I paid ($350.00) it was a no-brainer for a neck-through bass. Took it to a good tech, paid $75.00 to have a few of the frets dressed and the guitar set-up properly. This was two years ago.

I've been playing regularly now and I go through a Hartke3500 amp and Behringer paper-cone speakers (2x10 and 1x15). I use a Digitech BP80 processor. I even use Hartke bass strings (very inexpensive). So all in all I have probably have one of the cheapest rigs in all of recorded history. BUT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This bass is the NUT!

The bass has as wide a variety of sounds and textures as one could want. Motown? No problem. Metal? A cinch, Blues/R&B??? don't make me laugh. Reggae, Progressive, Latin? C'mon...throw me something this bass cannot do, willya?
The B-string is outstanding. The Midrange has great meat and crunch, the low end is 8-levels deep, and it has a great Entwhistle high end to it. I don't get the complaints of some people.
I get compliments all the time on the sound and overall projection and bottom-end of the bass (even by someone who spent 10x the $$$ on a Modulus!?!).

Remember one thing: Many times its not the instrument that makes a player sound good. The opposite is more true...the player makes the instrument sound good. Now I am not saying I'm a good player (there are millions out there better than me), but I know what kind of sound I want, and I know how to get it. My bandmates never complain.
I would not trade this bass for anything else.
Click to expand...
I'm feeling it. I understand. I can't play for poopie o poopiie but sometimes you nail it and it great.
 

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