- Aug 21, 2003
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The Damien Elite 5s are hidden jems...
The sound and play like a bass that coast 5 times the price (serious).
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What's wrong with schecter basses??
- Thread starter Bass beard
- Start date
The Damien Elite 5s are hidden jems...
The sound and play like a bass that coast 5 times the price (serious).
A past guitarist had one of their 5'ers. Neck wasn't to my liking (thick gloss and chunky), sound was sort of meh, and it didn't sit well on the strap. If someone cares for all those things and likes them, nothing wrong with that. I just have very specific taste on things like necks.
I believe they still have a custom shop located in California, but I may be wrong. They were actually making instruments in Texas up till 95 or so after they relocated from Van Nuys. They also had a Japanese division, iirc.
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Yes, they still have a US custom shop located in California and a Japan division that both put out some really amazing stuff.
It's in the Outlet section of the website, meaning they're clearing it out. So it's probably being discontinued to make space for new models.
I also picked up a C-5 Custom. It's a great chance to get mid-range Schecters for budget prices. I like budget Schecters, and they sound and play just great, but the models at $600 and above are clearly better with better appointments. They tend to have nice things like battery boxes, EMG HZ pickups, high mass slotted bridges (easy to change strings). So overall they have worthwhile upgrades.
I also picked up a C-5 Custom. It's a great chance to get mid-range Schecters for budget prices. I like budget Schecters, and they sound and play just great, but the models at $600 and above are clearly better with better appointments. They tend to have nice things like battery boxes, EMG HZ pickups, high mass slotted bridges (easy to change strings). So overall they have worthwhile upgrades.
Am I the only one on here who thinks Ibanez is fairly overrated across the board? Other than their high-end I think they're mostly really bland lifeless instruments that need fret work IME. Meanwhile, I ran a music store for 2 years and Schecter guitars and basses I think rival most of their competitors that cost several hundred more. I agree that they don't separate themselves from the pack, but I think they're good at what they do and generally played well straight out of the box which I could almost never say for most slightly more expensive brands, Ibanez included.
To each his own I guess. And I'm by no means a huge Schecter fan. I don't own one and never have, but I've considered it and would if I found the right one at the right price on an impulse. I just really can't understand the fanaticism for Ibanez. I've played dozens and have yet to be wowed by one.
Geddy Lee Jazz Club - Member #222
At that price, I think it annihilates the competition. It's a bass I would even have bought at $1200, though I probably wouldn't have been able to afford it so quickly had it been that price. It really hits all the spots for me.
I love the stock EMG HZ pickups, I love the bridge, I love the neck, I love the body, all that. I love the tight spacing. It's great for a pick player like myself, but it's also not absurdly tight that I can't pluck on it, and it's not that much tighter than on a Music Man. Speaking of Music Man, the only other two basses at a sub-$2000 range that I'd even consider as true competition for the Damien Elite 5, if you want that aggressive rock sound traditionally associated with Music Man, are the Stingray HH and Lakland Skyline 55-02, and really, those basses are at a completely different price range altogether, and there are good reasons to pick the Schecter over either of them. For one thing, Stingray is 34" and I prefer 35", and Lakland has 19mm spacing and I prefer tight spacing. Don't give me Ibanez ATK, the Schecter feels like a much more luxurious instrument.
It's not the lightest bass in the world (9.5 lb or so), but the weight is so well distributed that I barely feel it, and I'm a 125 pound skinny dude. The only thing I haven't liked about a lot of Schecters is that the weight balance isn't quite perfect on the Stilettos and Raidens (IMO), so even though they're lighter, they seem a little neck divey and prone to tire me out. On the Damien body (same as Omen, C-5, Hellraiser), though, the weight distribution is just perfect. Also, the tool-free battery box is a nice touch.
The only thing you might change on the bass are the electronics. I thought that the HZ pickups were a bit muddy out of the box, but it took 5 minutes (and no extra parts) to wire them in parallel, and now they sound perfect. If you do need different MM pickups, there are so many choices out there, from Nordstrand and Delano to Kent Armstrong and Seymour Duncan to cheaper replacements like, you know, Wilkinson, and the EMG HZ pickups will have decent resale value that would help pay for some of that.
I think their entry level instruments feel and play really well.
However, I think they sound kind of meh.
And their cheaper basses aren't easy to upgrade without going boutique at $150+ per pup, and until you go that route, it's hard to get one of the three basic classic bass sounds (P, J, and MM) out of them. Schecters are a lot easier to upgrade since they tend to use EMG routes, and EMG offers a dizzying array of different sounding pickups, some of which have a rather classic sound.
NICE!! I just ordered one
Thanks for sharing that with us man!
I saw the price and i was like. OH SHEET!!
Nope, he's 100% correct. It's a huge issue here (Canada) and has gotten to the point where the federal government actually changed the laws regarding immigration being streamlined if you come here and launch a new business.
One of my company's merchant customers is gradually going out of business because their entire model was built upon immigrants from a specific nation coming here and launching one of their pizza franchises. Several months ago the flow of new immigrants ended due to the changes noted above and the entire 80 location chain is rapidly going broke.
That is one example of thousands across Canada.
There are dozens of similar immigrating initiatives that have not yet been fixed but are known to be seriously flawed.
Anyhow, back to Bass!
I've owned several Schector basses. The first was a US made J bass that was a wonderful player and was the prettiest bass I've ever owned. Divorced and sold it. Years later I bought one of the offshore Elite 4's and it was OK but kept needing neck adjustments and just didn't fell nearly as nice. I see they have brought back the California Custom Shop but it looks like a "ME TOO" Jazz for 3000.00. Hate to take that chance without playing one. I'll stay with the one that got me here, my Fender MIA standard jazz.
I had one Schecter and LOVED the neck, but the devil body was too cheesy for me to get used to so I moved it. The irony of a twee bassist rocking a Gene Simmons-esque ax wore thin almost immediately. But I've missed that neck ever since. I've been eyeballin the 004 for years and finally the stars aligned and one popped up on the boards at the same time I actually had money to spend. Should get it this week. Played a few in the stores and seriously Schecter makes some of the most comfortable necks I've ever played.
This Hellraiser is giving me wood. Just had to give a nod to a gorgeous bass. Cheers.
This Hellraiser is giving me wood. Just had to give a nod to a gorgeous bass. Cheers.
This is my main bass these days, it's a Hellraiser Extreme-5. Made in Korea with factory installed EMG 40TW pickups which are individually switchable to Humbucker or Single Coil mode via the volume knobs which are push/pull. It's just a killer all around bass. Anyone who'd crap on this doesn't know what the hell their talking about.
TD
I have never liked 1.5" nut widths for many years now but for some reason the Schecter Robert DeLeo sig feels great to me and it is the only 1.5" nut bass I have ever run across that I will own. It is one of my never giving up basses. Running a heavy gauge set of DRs on it and have it setup for C# and it handles it amazingly. Schecter necks are some of the most comfortable necks no matter the price range. I really love Guitar Premier's series on youtube of the Schecter custom shop. Really impressed with their whole building ethic.
