Alvarez Villan Bass

I picked up this bass about ten years ago; it's the second bass I've bought. 24-frets, 4-string, bolt-on neck with the dots on the left til the 12th, then on the right til the 24th. P/J Active pickups, volume and tone for each. Decent cutaway and no neck plate. Transparent finish over what I think is mahogany. Sounds like mahogany. Thin bass, very light. About half the weight of my Fender Jazz. Serial number says "Korea."

I always played metal on this bass, and I now swear by the active pickups. The mids are tight and punchy. Lately, I'm playing a lot of blues and reggae, and the low end is very thick. The overall character is a dark sound, like I said, mahogany. With the neck pickup rolled back the mids shine through like sun through black clouds, is the best way I can describe it. Bright but wet.

I don't know how it was out of the factory, and I've never had it adjusted the whole time I've had it. But the intonation is still pretty precise, and the action is only slightly high. It's a very comfortable bass to play. I adjusted the pickups as high as I could, but that's just to taste.

This has been my main bass for more than ten years. I've played all kinds of shows with it, taken it in all sorts of cars, trucks, buses, cabs, airplanes, jam rooms, studios, booked it as luggage, dropped it, used it to hold the door open, broken up week on it, lived with it, let it sleep on the couch. I have no complaints. The jack has always been a little noisy, and it's just my laziness and unwilling to part with it for a week or so that keeps me from having the jack replaced. The tuners are tight, a single 9v lasts years.

Everywhere I go, I go into the guitar stores looking for a bass with a neck that I like as much as this one. I have never, NEVER found a bass with a thinner, more comfortable neck, no matter how expensive of a bass I try. I am very serious. There's a Cort that's almost as thin; the very, very small one. But it's not as comfortable and a little flimsy. Alvarez makes an Ibanez feel like a baseball bat. I cannot stress enough the neck on this instrument.

Never called them. Never had to.

I've been playing guitar for almost 20 years and bass for about twelve. I have a Fender Jazz and Fretless Jazz Special, and a couple of guitars. If this were lost or stolen, I'd be heartbroken. For about five years I've been trying to find a second one, so I could have two. I still haven't found one. Favorite feature? The neck can only be described as seductive. If you're looking at this because you're considering buying one, please let me know where it is so I can beat you to it.

I don't know much of this bass's background, but I'm pretty sure it was made in Korea. It has 22 frets, four strings, and a P/J pickup configuration with a volume knob for each plus one tone knob. Passive electronics. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard, and though I can't tell what the body's made out of, it looks very cool through a transparent black finish that can look anywhere between gray and purple. It's shaped somewhat like an Ibanez Soundgear body but is noticeably lighter. The bridge is pretty standard, but has never given me much trouble except for a few ridges which were probably the previous owner's fault, and were easily filed down. The tuners need to be adjusted every once in a while, but that may be because I subject it to frequent detunings anyway. The neck is bolted on, standard length, with jumbo frets and is pretty easy to play. I bought this with a free gig bag and cord included, but that was probably just a deal the store had at the time. Overall, good features for its price range.

I play a number of styles ranging from punk, metalcore, and ska to mellow praise music at church, and I've been able to get a number of good sounds out of this bass. You can make it sound warm or bright depending on how you mix the P and J pickups, respectively, though the tone knob doesn't seem to do a lot unless you crank it either way. You can get some good, bitey punk sounds out of it with a pick the J pickup and tone turned up. It seems to sound a little "honkey" played with your fingers direct through a PA, which is my church setup, but I suppose you can't expect too much going direct with a passive bass. It sounds fine through my dad's old Gallien-Krueger amp head, though. I haven't had much experience with other basses, but in my dad's opinion (and mine) it sounds better than his late-'60s Gibson, which says a lot for a cheap bass like this.

I'm sure the previous owner did some adjustments, but when I got it there was nothing wrong with the action and only a very slight (easily rectified) bow in the neck. The pickups were adjusted fairly well, although I did have to raise the right P pickup slightly because the D and G strings were a little quiet. There are some slight flaws with the finish around the neck-brace, but that can be expected on a Korean-made instrument, and you really have to be looking for it.

I've unintentionally beat this thing up a few times and it's stood up to it well, with only a few hardly-noticeable dents. The finish and hardware both seem solid enough. The strap buttons have never given me any trouble. Overall, both from my own experiences and what I've heard from others, I would say that this is an unusually durable bass.

Never had to deal with them.

I have been playing bass for two and a half years, at first on my dad's Gibson and now on this, and this is better in my opinion. My dad's been playing for 30+ years and he has a very high opinion of it as well. I was choosing between an Ibanez Soundgear and this and chose this simply because of its cooler finish, and I'm glad I did. It was an amazing deal for only 200 bucks. If there were one thing I would change about this bass, I would probably make the tone knob more balanced, but I usually play with it all the way up anyway, and that's a small complaint. If I lost it I probably wouldn't be able to find another one if I tried, but I'd want to.

This Bass was made in 1998 I belive. I'm not sure what country it was made in mabye Indonisea, however I am not sure I know it is forigen. It has 22 frets and four strings. There are Two pickups one P-style and one J-style, with a volume knob for each and a one tone knob. The pickups are black Alverz bass pickups. I'm not sure what kind of wood the body is made of but it gets decent sustain and is very solid. It has a transparent orange finish. The body style is like a P-bass but smaller. The bridge at first looked flimsy to me but has proven itslef very solid. The tuners need to be tightened every once in a while but they are still pretty nice they are non-locking. The neck is a standard scale rosewood neck with Jumbo frets. Over all there is nothing that special about the feaures on this bass except in 98' it was impossible to find a P/J pickup configuration but now they are everywhere.

I jump from style to style. Really I play anything from punk to jazz and this bass works damn well for that. Right now I am running it through a fender bassman ten from the mid seventies. This bass and amp combonation is orgasmic to my ears. Although I am not big on over produced or really expensive sound. I like more a more raw sound I'm a big fan of punk rock and fifties music. It does a pretty good job with a warm sound with out the J-style pickup turned on, but turn that bitch on and damn you have yourself one bright sounding bass. It is a nice live sounding instturment.

I beat the living hell out of this bass. Sometimes I'm suprised I dont bust it in half. So I'd say it could withstand live playing. The hardware is all pretty solid. Like I said the pegs need tightening every once in a while. And the strap buttons are crap or or at least I think someone was high when they screwed them in. At first the top strap button kept coming out. I fixed that by using the old golf tee trick. But other than that I'd say it was pretty solid.

I really don't know if it had a warranty. I never needed to deal with the company.

I've been playing for four years. This is a great bass for beginers and for the more experienced (in which I am not) If it were lost or stolen I would probabally never be able to find another one but even if I could I would probabally buy a fender with the same pickup configuration becuase I really like fenders. I'd say it is comparable to the Fender Califoria special P-Bass. I played one of those in a store once and I thought it sounded similar.