• Excellent Fretless Tone in an Acoustic Package!

  
  As reviewed by Cory Brown on 11/4/2011

  While I love all of my electric instruments, sometimes it's easier to just bring acoustic equipment to a small gig. Less wires and stuff to set up, plus a different kind of sound to it. I already own an acoustic guitar, as does another player with me, but none of the three of us have any acoustic basses. I've heard mixed things about acoustic basses, that they sound great, but that they are also quiet. Even so, I decided to try this bass out. The tone on this bass is nice. You can get an awesome fretless "mwah" or even an upright-like "growl" to the sound depending on how you play. One thing that took a little getting used to was the absence of having a pickup to rest my thumb on. If you are used to doing this while playing, you may want to consider this before purchasing. I did eventually get used to it, but it is an interesting transition. While it sounds great and feels smooth, its volume is a tad limited. If I'm playing in a medium-sized room with some others, I'm confident that I can be heard. But I'm afraid that on a large stage, I would need to plug in to give the sound a boost. If you're willing to deal with this, though, this bass is a beauty! An acoustic bass definitely adds a nice spark to an acoustic guitar combo!

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• Decent sound, but very poor quality control.

  
  As reviewed by Jacob Page on 11/7/2011

  Features: Good weight, nice feel and sound. Quality: Very poor. Quality control from has much to be desired, see below. Look and feel: If this would have had better quality control the look would be OK. The feel is actually pretty good. When I got this out of the box it looked and felt fine, but when I looked at the neck and bridge to tune it I noticed very poor quality control. It looked like too much lacquer was put on the neck before the paint/lacquer was dried. I was unable to see the false frets due to the poor paint/lacquer job on the side of the bridge. The lacquer actually had a drip bubble,like when you paint a wall with too much paint and do not correct it. The bridge pins looked very cheap as well with access plastic that needed to be smoothed out. There was also a small dent on the bridge, but I could have lived with that. The glue in the inside was hastily put on and sloppy, holding the guitar together, insuring a short life of regular use. The sound was nice after I tuned it, but the strings seemed cheaper than any other guitar I have seen. Understanding this is only a cheaper bass made in China, any amount of money is too much for any item this shoddy. I need to see the false frets without having to tilt the guitar. This is impossible with this one. Maybe I got a lemon, as I really liked the style and sound. Finally, it would have been nice if there was more than one color. Unfortunately I had to send the guitar back to get another brand as a replacement, as I just could not accept this poor quality. Fortunately Guitar center was very helpful with outstanding customer service and assisted me with the exchange/return with no hassles or extra charges. I will definitely use them again. Hopefully the replacement guitar will be better quality, as this will be my next step to a full acoustic/upright bass when I can afford it. Guitar Center rocks!

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• Ibanez AEB5FE

  
  As reviewed by tim adorno on 12/6/2011

  This bass was the first bass I ever bought but certainly not the first I have played and I am proud of my purchase. I think this is a great guitar for the price It is not a very heavy guitar Id say the weight is pretty comfortable the intonation is great nice and low but not too low. The only thing that is slightly unpleasant is that I would have really like it to be natural in color and that is not even an option it gives you black night which is their way of saying black paint with sparkles. some very small blemishes in paint on neck and where neck meets body. The fretless neck is wonderful and I love the sound of this bass it is worth the money. built in tuner is a nice feature as well so overall pretty good deal id say.

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