Evening Chuck,
I couldn’t find a place to give a review, so I’ll give it here and you may do with as you will.
Blessings to you!
Dave Hildreth
I purchased the Ace 5-String Bass in Honey. When I opened the case up, I was drooling all over myself. The quality, the finish, the looks, it begs one to pick it up and play, yet almost afraid to touch, this thing needs a showcase!
It is a beast with a lot of spunk just waiting to be unleashed by the master.
I actually loved the position that the bass settled in at with factory strap locations. It placed the mid register right at the fingertips, no digging or binding up; it was just there. The upper register is a breeze to play in, no restrictions. With just a slight reach, nothing uncomfortable though to thumb the bottom end.
B string is not a “flopper” and won’t leave you buzzing or cringing that you went low. It’s got you!
The neck is through body, has an adjustable Trust Rod but didn’t have to adjust as the neck was dead on! It flowed into the body seamlessly smooth and fast, not fat and thick, not skinny and can’t find it; again, old shoe and built well.
Frets and soundboard were dead on also. No buzz, no waves, and the soundboard has a nice coating on it that should add life to both the sound and life of frets, especially using round wounds.
The finish on the body and neck are amazing!
String spacing, nut, and bridge, width is very comfortable and very easy to just slide right in and play like old shoe.
The monolith tuners are a joy to tune and again was dead on out of the box. It held it’s tune even after it came to room temperature and humidity after shipping in the cold. Other than string stretch, I believe this would just stay in tune all the time. It’s a beast!
The controls were easily accessible, smooth, and accurate.
The buttons worked great, I had my concerns about the forward button on the back making it uncomfortable or digging into the chest. Never felt it.
Those alone above should make you want to make this purchase this! If you are looking, this covers from beginners to advanced players even recording or on big stage, it won’t leave you stranded at the audience.
Solid piece of work!!
Now, what I didn’t like and this is mostly just personal preference so unless you dabble here, you have absolutely no worries in the purchase.
Starting at the nut and moving to the bridge.
The bass was very neck heavy, despite not having a head stock and tuner head. It’s a bit of a change, but after playing a bit you adjust easily. It lets you know, it needs your support to keep it from diving. But not a deal killer at all.
The frets at the “G” side of the neck on the cut ends needed some attention as they tend to grab my playing glove, and slightly irritated my fret hand when playing without a glove.
A quick check and then a file I feel should be in order on each fret on each side before it leaves the factory should be in order.
The tone control didn’t have much tone adjustment, maybe rectified by a different capacitor?
I found myself playing almost behind the bridge pickups. I usually like to stay directly on top of neck pickups, but easy adjustments in playing it.
The string heights were set to the lowest possible position on the monolith tuners and the strings were to high for my likings with no adjustments left to lower them. This I feel could be handled by inlaying the tuners just a bit allowing 50% adjustment in height either up or down.
I would encourage while changing strings, you bend them and cut just past the bend. I feel if you don’t you’ll loose the string pulling inside the windings.
So why are you still reading and not buying?
I give this a 4.7 out of 5 and the 3 tenth’s off would not matter to maybe most players. I’m pretty picky, it has to be great for a 5.
This was close.
Here’s to the fat bottom girls, they make the rocking world go around!
Keep it low, and let it roll!
Blessings to ya Chuck, ya got a winner
