• Good Bang for your Buck

  
  As reviewed by Kevin Golden on 6/6/2010

  The MTD KZ-6 is a solid bass guitar for the price. I purchased this bass about 5 months ago to compliment my Pedulla Thunderbass 5-string. I was pleasantly surprised with the ease of playability. Partly responsible for this is the quality initial setup and MTD's asymmetrical neck (gets thinner toward the higher strings). In addition, its surprisingly light weight for a 6-string has enabled my to give this almost equal playing time as my Pedulla (this matters if you're a gigging musician)! Now I must include that I'm somewhat less than impressed with the stock electronics. Even when you turn the bass all the way up, the lows don't come through as powerful as I would like. Played through a quality rig (mine is SWR SM-500 coming through a Goliath cab), you can still get relatively good tone, but it will not give you that punch that most bass players want. The Kingston basses don't come equipped with the Bartolini elec's that the more expensive American made MTD's (535, 636, etc) come with, which is why your sound capabilities wont be as good initially. However, if you play through a quality DI preamp or replace the on-board electronics for a couple hundred bucks more(perhaps Bartolini, Aguilar, or one of my fav's, Audere), you will be amazed with this instrument! To sum it up, great craftsmanship, beautiful finish, great playability, not so great factory electronics, but great instrument for the money.

  6 of 6 people found this review helpful.
  Was this review helpful?
  Thank You for rating this review!

• A good step up from beginner 6-string...

  
  As reviewed by Garrick on 5/21/2010

  Actual score: 3 1/2 stars Bought this bass a year ago with the natural gloss maple design. Coming from a lower level Peavey and with 1 year in, this bass mostly seems worth the purchase. Right off, you notice the clarity of the notes throughout. Chords are crystal clear, but if you want versatility, you won't get it with the stock electronics. I later upgraded my axe with an Aguilar OBP-3 preamp with passive bypass which fixed a lot. The weight is also nice for a 6 string bass. Not sure the exact weight, but I've played a few 6'ers and this is definitely on the light end. The Mahogany body also gives it a nice natural tone (which the new preamp allows you to finally hear). The action is also good for a 6 string. you can get the strings pretty low before buzz if you like that kind of setup. The 18mm string spacing is also a nice touch for the type of playing you may feel compelled to do with this type of instrument. Not too wide, not too close even if you have big hands. All the same, somethings with this bass are still troubling and can be fixed, but it is probably time to buy a better bass when you realize it (i.e. me, finally got a Sadowsky). It can't be denied, this is the mass production version of Michael Tobias' current products and it shows. The fret work leaves something to be desired at the ends (watch your fingers), and the gloss is a bit overdone. You can also look at how the pieces of wood have been glued and pressed together and know that you may potentially have issues with stress fractures and the like down the road (i.e. me again) Also, when I took it to a professional technician for Feiten tuning, he came back to me letting me know that the frets are not 100% correct for Buzz Feiten, so intonation, especially in the upper range (how ironic) will be an issue no matter what. Decent upgrade, but don't expect this to be the last bass you ever buy if you care about playing with top notch (or even above average) crews at some point in your career...

  11 of 12 people found this review helpful.
  Was this review helpful?
  Thank You for rating this review!

• Bood bass

  
  As reviewed by Jennifer on 6/9/2010

  This is an excellant bass, i quite enjoy playing it, the quality is really good and i like it with my tones all the way up, if you have the hands for it i would seriously consiter buying this product.

  1 of 7 people found this review helpful.
  Was this review helpful?
  Thank You for rating this review!

You must be logged in to write a review. Please click here to login.