Product: Ashton ARB-4
Price Paid: 300 odd (Australian)
Submitted
10/20/2005
at
01:34am
by
Mico
Email: adam_micolich<at>hotmail dot com
Features
:
7
Saw no review for this, thought I'd add one.
Made 2004, this bass is Aussie designed but made in Asia (Vietnam I think). Four-string with 34" scale, 20 frets, dual pickups, J at the neck and P at the Bridge. Passive electronics. Pretty much a basic beginners bass, I picked it up as a starter pack with a 15W amp, some cables, a strap and a bag.
Sound
:
7
This sounds like a beginner class bass really, you get what you pay for. Probably no different to the base model in most brands (or the whole range made by cheap-arse squiers :) ). The two pick-ups are kind of nice, lets you vary the tone a bit, unlike Ashton's AB models. The tone is cheap and buzzy, I ended up running it through a box (Digitech BP-50) to get a half-decent sound from it. BTW, the factory strings on these things are shite (well known), if you buy one, restring it immediately.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
6
Pretty good, the only real flaws I found were that things come loose, especially the knobs and the cable-jack, I had to do these up every few weeks, real annoying. The factory strings are bad too. Otherwise the workmanship is good.
The factory set-up was awful (actually, maybe not their fault, I restrung it last night and it messed the bridge settings up completely - like I said, everything is a bit loose), and I immediately restrung it and reset the whole thing. You'll want to err on the side of a high action on this thing, its the only way to kill the buzz.
Reliability/Durability
:
7
This bass is pretty tough. I dropped it more than a few times and it was ok. Once you get over everything coming loose all the time, its pretty solid. Finish is good, no scratches/dents despite the falls.
The bridge is cheap and nasty (a la Squiers), when you restring, you WILL have to reset the whole instrument.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Haven't dealt with them
Overall Rating
:
8
Bought this bass as someone who played bass a little in high school and wanted to get back into it. As a beginners bass, this thing is pretty good, but after a year or so, you will be yearning for better tone and quality. The dual pick-ups are nice though, definitely better than having just a single J- or P- (esp. in the cheap bass range). Worst feature is everything working loose.
In the beginners bass category, this is an 8, but if you're a serious player, go buy something better.
