Applause AE-40

This Applause is an Ovation bass made under the Applause name. It's a 30" short scale with frets. Tehse models were available fretless as well. As far as I know, the short scale models are no longer offered.

Piezo pickup under the bridge; came used with bronze phosphor strings, which are the most easily available strings for A/E guitars. Natural finish top, black composite round back. This is the deep bowl model. Rosewood neck with 4 chrome tuners. Tuner action is very smooth with no binding. It holds tune very well indeed, so these appear to be good quality tuners.

The electronics in this bass are quite simple - just a tone slider and a volume slider. Later models may have more options. One drawback is that the 1/4" jack is located not on the side or end, but part-way around the back of the body, where it can get in the way. The jack placement isn't very convenient.

This bass came with a factory hardshell case, nicely padded with dark blue velour inside. This was a major plus and one reason I bought this one, because finding a case could get expensive.

Rated 8 for features, since it's not a fancy unit, the jack is in an odd place, and the only thing you could ask for is a better electronics box with a built-in tuner like the newer ovations have. Who knows, maybe you could swap one out if you wre willing to enlarge the mounting hole? I'm not going to try. I have a tuner and it works.

Acoustic sound is full and pleasing. It's a very nice, light, portable bass to play around the house. it's especially nice for playing with a single guitarist. It has good volume for an acoustic bass a well.

Amplified - I've tried it with tube and solid state amps and UNLESS you run it through a preamp, it sounds awful; thin, limited bottom, just nasty. However, running it through my ArtTube MP preamp, the sound is MUCH fuller and more pleasing. I would play this in public with the preamp between the bass and an amp, but NOT without it.

Common wisdom seems to be that the piezo pickup's output is not totally compatible with most amps, and that the best preamp to use is one made by K&K. Bob Gollihur sells this preamp and they're also found on Ebay. I intend to try one and see if that makes the sound even fuller and deeper.

Factory set-up is long gone. Frets and overall build quality are very nice indeed. The action is too high, and it's not in the neck - I've tweaked the neck and it didn't make much difference. the bridge is well fixed, so it's not due to the bridge coming loose and pulling upwards.

The bridge saddle (a long piece of plastic beneath the strings) is too high to be really easy to play, and there's no adjustment for this. I don't know if A/E basses are usulaly set up like this, but those I've seen in stores are not.

I'm going to lower the action by removing the plastic strip that seves as a bridge, tracing it, and making lower ones. I don't want to alter the original, and it only takes a minute or so to remove the bridge. I think I can make duplicates from plastic stock fairly easily, and by cutting them to various heights, I can try moving the action. A luthier could do this more quickly, but it's really not that hard to trim 1/8" wide plastic.

Fit and finish in all other respects is excellent, so if I can lower the action, I will have a superior bass that plays very smoothly. Rated 5 because of the action problem.

This is a well-made, durable unit. It's more than 10 years old now and has no neck bow, no sign of looseness or parts problems. I'm impressed with the workmanship.

No experience.

I've played bass on and off for 30+ years. This is my first A/E bass, and I think it's a very good one - and a great value for the price. I could spend $50 having the action worked (and may do so eventually if I can't fix it), and still get a good deal on the purchase. I like the Ovation-style rounded back, although some hate it. The only thing I could use that's missing is a built-in tuner like the electronics in my daughter's Ovation A/E guitar, but that's not a big deal.

If it were stolen or lost, I'd be likely to replace it with a similar model.