Product: Applause P-Bass Copy Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 08/02/2007
at 01:34pm
by KBat
Features
:7
Solid P-bass copy, prettysure made overseas somewhere. Single precision style split pick up, 1 Vol. 1 Tone. Regular scale hard maple neck and fingerboard, standard 20 regular frets. Large, old looking tuners, the grip wings are wobbly but tuners worked great. Wood unknown but medium weight. Came with hard case, pawn shop special.
Sound
:8
Sound is very full and 'bassy' not a lot of variety but decent enough, a few flat spots. Going through an old Peavey 300W head with semi-parametric mid-shifter and a no name 2x15 cab, no effects. Plenty of bass for our heavier rock metal stuff. Resonates nice on the higher chord voicings (three-finger inversions up on the neck) without sounding too thin or guitar-like. That's about all I remember because it was my first bass back around '89 or so and I passed it on to a friend when I got my Aria.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:8
Well, I bought it used at a pawn shop. I only adjusted the bridge a little to even the string height some, but it played so nice, and was built very straight. Best I remember, so long ago, this bass was comfortable enough all over the neck to where I played literally hours at a time. A few flat spots tone wise, but not too bad, especially at the price. The tuning pegs were fine but the wings on the keys were loose some and rattled.
Reliability/Durability
:10
My only bass at the time. Very plain, just the black finish, a little flat but not faded, and the maple neck, chrome/steel hardware. This bass went on for hours on end in solo practice, it went on the road, it jammed at partys with other bassists just picking it up and playing it, played our shows without backup, got leaned up against the wall or amp and fell a couple times, the usual stuff but always played just fine, never suffered any real damage, not even scrathes that I can remember, never a single problem, you literally just plugged it in and played.
Customer Support
:No Opinion
Never dealt with them at all.
Overall Rating
:10
This was the right first bass, it practically played itself, I've been playing bass ever since and this one encouraged me. While it might seem like I've rated it high, I did try out a couple dozen other used ones at the time, all in the same $100-200 range, this one was the perfect choice, so I went back about an hour later and bought it. I prolly wouldn't just go buy another Applause now, because I have other basses now, but back in time I would buy this again.
Product: Applause P-Bass Copy Price Paid: US $70.00 used
Submitted 11/19/2004
at 02:47pm
by Anonymous
Features
:No Opinion
Mid eighties, Korea, 22 frets, 4 string, P+J pickups, 2 tone control 1 volume. Passive electronics. P-bass body.
Sound
:6
Well, it has the typical tone adjustment for a passive P-bass pickup it's either totally flat or totally bright. May as well have an on/off switch instead of a dial. However with some tweaking of the J pickup tone and full on P you can get a nice bright tone coming out which is perfect for, say, punk rock. Dial out some tone and it can get a little more of a hard rock sound, but I think it's fairly limited due to the lame/stock pickups. Slap some actives in it and I am guessing it would be awesome.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:7
No idea from the factory, but I have owned this bass for over ten years and it's set up pretty well right now, has suffered from finish flaws, there is a bit of a pint warp/drip on the back of the necl near the body, and paint has chipped off the body from lots of use where it rubbed against humans. Wiring has gone out once but rewired and since than no problems. It is very easy to play, and well balacned, if a bit heavy.
Reliability/Durability
:No Opinion
This bass is tough! It will forever be the backup bass. It's a good slab of Korean wood. I think the finish is a little cheap, but otherwise no complaints.
Customer Support
:No Opinion
Overall Rating
:10
I have been playing on and off for over 10 years, and also own a Hamer Blitz and Sarzo Washburn. If it were stolen, I would be a little unhappy about that. It's pretty rare and I'd probably replace with a Peavey T-40 or something of that nature. I think it's a similar kind of bass. It's very easy to play, very easy... Heavy, but when it's unplugged you can hear it sing very nicely. It has an inherently good feel and sound to it. If I were to put active electronics in it, it would probably outshine either of my other basses. But I do't since, I don't want it to be the best bass I have!!! I play it better than any other bass I have played. Funny to think I bought it for so little, and it is a practically unknown clone...
If it weren't for my love of pointy basses, this would do me fine forever. And when you consider the price... 70 bucks (in 1992 dollars), it's just plain stupidly good value. I'll doubt I will ever sell it. I was my first bass, and a fine player.