Austin Eclipse Tour Pro 4 String

Ok this is the same guy who submitted the above review being kind and considerate for what was perceived as a factory defect that was being looked after. My review remains unchanged but for new information on customer service. After all the bass itself is a beauty for fit, finish and action. Please read on.

?shis bass sounds like a dream at low volume.

The faulty wiring from the factory has proven so?@bad that I am no longer playing it. I have replaced it with a Yamaha BB605.

Here`s where the rubber meets the road and the poop hits the fan. When we first noticed the flaws in the wiring and contacted the company, they sent?@out another bass. Upon using the replacement in the shop it was discovered to be wired the exact same way. This one was sent back?@and we waited. And waited. The company was contacted. We were told they had sent a new bass two weeks prior to?@our call. And we waited. And waited. We called again and were told THAT time that a replacement had been sent out two weeks prior to THAT phone call.I guess they thought we`d buy that excuse because we are just dumb Canadians. Well, Mr Austin (although the parent company may not be the actual culprit here, but the people they rely on to distibute thier products may more directly bare the blame) you have lost a customer as I have returned the bass for a full refund. The music store has now returned ALL Austin stock?@and you may kiss our collective butts. We have been waiting 5 months for action and have been blown off one time too many. Lesson learned here? Do not assume that a manufacturer of garbage instruments can change enough to compete with the big dogs. Save your money and buy something tried and proven.

If anyone stole this bass I`d still hurt them because of the money invested. But then I`d let them keep it and see for themselves how stupid they were for stealing it. Piece Of CRAP !!!

This is a Korean made bass. Brand new in 2004. The Pro model, unlike other Austins,is actually made of real wood as evidenced by removing the cover for the battery (active pickups) and electronics. But, having also owned a Washburn headless (Steinberger copy) I have come to appreciate the need for good quality electronics over and above the material the bass is made from. Wood is wood is wood unless you are using an acoustic or semi-acoustic. This bass has 4 controls... 1 volume, one neck pick-up (treble), 1 bridge pick-up (bass) and 1 blend control. The pickups are humbucker bass style and also unlike some Austins, they are the real deal, not just "hubcaps" covering up single coil pickups. The bass has a two toned natural wood body and a mahogany fingerboard. ( No,I don't know exactly what type of woods make up the body. Nor do I care. It looks pretty under the lights. lol ) The tuners appear to be PRS knockoffs BUT then again, according to my guitar tech at Signature Music, these particular basses are made using PRS approved components. This bass is also neck-thru body, which was a real selling feature, for me, on a bass costing just under a grand in Canada. I really want a Spector NS4, but as they top out at $4900 US, I figure I came in $4000 richer and with a bass, though perhaps not as durable (time will tell), at least comparable. And,yes, I HAVE in fact played The Spector NS4 and for me to say "comparable" I know of which I speak. The neck has only 22 usable frets and I miss my 24. But, hey, after 30 years of playing bass, I could cut two fingers off my left hand and still count the number of times the 23 and 24th fret came in handy.

I play everything. I listen to everything. I like a lot of things. My main style right now would be called "70's mainstream meets late 90's alternative. Our band plays all originals and as we are of various age groups and influences, from The Beatles to Greenday, our style reflects these influences when we play. I recently switched from using a '78 Peavey 400 head over a 15" Black Widow at 4 ohms to an '82 Peavey Centurion Mark IV over a Refrigerator sized bass reflex cabinet loaded with a Celestion 18" at 8 ohms. When it comes to bass, I have learned over the years, the smaller amps and combos can cut it in small clubs and taverns and even larger venues if you use the PA, but to move air you NEED a big cabinet. A Hartke "Kickback" 10 is a bass tone monster, but you can't rumble the floor and lets face it guys... when it comes to bass, the ladies in the clubs WANT the floor rumbling.
Anyway, sorry for the rant... the Austin Eclipse Tour Pro has exactly the right combination of tones that make it suitable for any style. You can set it in the midtones ,as I do, and, depending upon your attack on the strings this gives you mellow, ringing tones all the way up to Funk slap punch. Its not rocket science to set this bass for country, country rock, jazz, hard rock, funk or metal. I have used this bass for all those styles and found the sound more than adequate. It is not a noisy bass, but I will get into electronics later. I haven't used this bass for studio work, but it is awesome in live situations. This bass cuts through guitar, vocal AND our incredibly loud drummer to display your riffs and chops rather than hide them in the background. This bass makes all the years of practice worth it in "presence". There is nothing soundwise I do not like about this bass, other than I had to change amplifiers, which I was going to do anyway, as the active EQ on this bass is LOUD and the tone can get away on you if your amp doesn't have a good EQ. The Peavey 400 has a lousy EQ. But that is not the bass' fault.

I played this bass when it came out of the box and the action was almost perfect. The Tech at Signature Music did very little tweaking to get it just right. The height of the pickups is just where I like them without any adjusting. There is one small pit in the wood on the body, but as it is real wood, I won't complain about that. The finish on this bass and the fit of the components is awesome. This bass is a beauty from stem to stern. The neck is thin at the nut the way I like it (no, you freakazoids who care about such things... I don't know what it measures.lol) It is easy to play up and down the neck. And it stays in tune forever. Much like my Ibanez 960 which has been stored as long as 6 months and rarely needs tuning.
Now , ahem , ahem , onto the "cons" of this bass. In the amp at the store (a new Fender Bassman Combo) this bass had plenty of volume compared to my Ibanez. In MY amp (Peavey 400) full throttle bass and volume caused gigantic distortion and not the pretty kind either. And the active EQ ate my battery within a few hours. My tech called the company's US warehouse. After finally speaking to someone who understood English, the problem was revealed. THIS entire run of basses was wired improperly at the factory. The battery pack was wired backwards ( re:always on )and they left out a tiny resitor that was supposed to regulate the pick-up power and calm this puppy down. With some thought, a newer amp and a bit of luck, we were able to make this bass the tone machine I had heard in the store the first day. Below I will address customer service.

I haven't owned this bass long enough to adequately comment on its reliabily or durability. I WILL gig with it without using backup in the future.

Ok as mentioned above.... customer support was contacted, they explained what had happened during production and offered to ship a new bass put together the proper way now that the problem was rectified. What arrived a couple of weeks later was a bass with an older serial number (this bass is a 2004 model so how far back can they go?) than the one I have, with the same exact battery eating, distortion producing problem. After again finding someone who speaks English, the Tech shipped the replacement bass back and they assured him a new, corrected one was on its way... and so the waiting begins.... It has been over a month and a half and we have seen no new bass. Fortunately for me, my tech is intelligent enough that if they do not send a proper replacement, and as I LOVE the way this bass plays, we may opt to rewire the battery pack and install the resistor ourselves, most likely voiding the two year warranty in the process. But, as with most things bought in Canada from foreign manufacturers ( and sometimes even US maufacturers, which is also a foreing country by definition ) the warranty probably doesn't apply in Canada anyway. I give customer support a 2 as they did try to rectify the problem at least once. They could have told us we were crazy and to go fly a kite. lol

I think that after years of just making cheap knockoff guitars, Austin has, like automaker Hyundai before them, decided to show us that they really CAN compete in the medium price range semi pro guitar market. After years of unsuccessfully trying to find a bass to replace my aging Ibanez 960 this may be the one. True, the Spector is better known, at least for now, but I am very serious when it comes to bass and picky regarding feel and sound and the Austin has both hands down. I have tried many many Fenders and those that sounded good played poorly and those that played well sounded bad. Ibanez' new basses faired no better for the same reasons. Gibson.... same deal.Warwick, ditto. Danelectro...are they SERIOUS?? (serious garbage) Cort... don't even waste my time. I was beginning to think NOTHING would match the feel and sound of my 960 when I first played a Spector... woohoo. That was it!! The sound, the feel!! Then I asked the price and literally heard the bottom fall out of my vision of bass heaven. That is until I played the Austin Eclipse Pro Tour. Can it stand the comparison to a Spector? You bet your bippy!! And at a price $4000 less than my preferred Spector model, you can bet your bippy 4 more times.... C'mon..SNAKEYES!!!
I guess mathematically speaking this bass gets a 7.40 out of 10. I have been playing bass semi-pro for 30 years. During those years I used, in order of thier appearance: a Mansfield Fender Jazz copy, (which I loved as it was my first baby)a 1968 Fender Mustang (which was a great bass after I had it refretted) a 1984 Ibanez Roaster 960 (which I used as my main bass while occasionally playing the following) a Washburn Steinberger copy (which taught me that electronics are more important than what a bass is made of) A 1974 Rickenbacker 4001 (a nice bass if you have king kong's hands and like the 20 fret style). As my Ibanez was becoming worn out, I purchased a Digitech BP5 and using the amp modeling feature I was able to put some kick back into it. After upgrading my amp and purchasing the Austin, the BP5 will be relagated to "effects only" status as I won't need to model my amp to make this bass sound sweet and dangerous. And, fellow bass players, lets get one thing straight... IF you NEED effects to make your guitar OR amp sound good.. you need a new guitar OR amp. True a pedal is a cheaper alternative and I am guilty of the same indulgence, but never again. If I want my Peavey bass amp to sound like a Fender or Ampeg.. I'll buy a Fender or Ampeg amp.
If my Austin were lost or stolen, I'd buy another one, but, pray hard that I never find you if you stole it. Those years of Aikido lessons need to be put to use sometime. lol.
The wiring is the only beef I have about this bass other than it isn't a Spector. The wiring can be repaired and Mr Spector can supply me with an NS4 when I hit the big time with my new Contemporary Christian Band.