Carvin XB76P

wow. okay, where to start...lets just start by saying the features that carvin offers are the best around for the price, without a doubt. i got exactly what i was looking for, great quality, real nice looking, solid, nice bass for FAR less than youd expect. just about anything you could want in your instrument carvin can do for you. (obviously nothing too crazy..) but you choose it all..woods, hardware, construction (hidden 5 piece neck, 5 piece neck, one piece neck, neck throgh, bolt on, ext.)

just look on their webside for an idea of what they can do for you. (i STRONGLY suggest calling to order and ASK QUESTIONS! some things that they CAN and WILL do for you are not on the site, so be sure to ask questions!)

oh man. the sound..well, considering the woods, and the pickups you choose, just expect a very high quality bass, and keep in mind what you ordered. my bass is a walnut XB76P and it does it all. i play mostly jazz, latin, funk, but of course on weekends do the rock gigs, so the biggest thing when i was choosing a bass was versatility. and trust me, i got it! i get compliments on my sound quite often, but most importantly, the sound is up to my standards, and i tend to be REAL picky with all equiptment..even straps, cables, ext. so the actual instrument i'm using..thats a big deal!

the bass came from california to new york, and was (as i've heard rumors about..) COMPLETELY in tune with itself..and only a little off from being perfectly in tune. wow. having said that it was IN TUNE after being shipped across the country, yeap, you guessed it, it was set up perfectly. pickups adjusted perfect and all. there was ONE flaw with my bass..the coil splitter for the bridge humbucker diddnt work quite so well, just a bad switch is all. i bother to get it fixed untill months after i owned the bass, i contacted them and they sent me a new switch no problem.

this bass holds up to anything. ANYTHING. i feel like thats really all i need to say..i never use a backup, everything is real solid, everything is holding up to the (extreme) abuse i put it though.

the people at carvin tend to make mistakes often, BUT, dont hesitate to do anything they can to fix their mistakes. when i ordered my bass, a few weeks before it was supposed to be done, they called me and told me there were problems with the one they had built for me (problems with the finish they said..) and he told me that they have a bass in stock thats similar to what i ordered, only it had options that i diddnt pay for on it. long story short, i got a bass with MANY options on it that i diddnt pay for! (including a 5 piece neck, abalone inlays, piezo upgrade, gold hardware, matching claro walnut headstock, gold logo on headstock.) i believe that adds up to something like $300 worth of options that i got for free!

oh, and he said right away that if for some reason i did not want the bass they had in stock, they would redo the finish on my bass and i'd get exactly what i had ordered..but, all the options that were on the in stock bass were things i had wanted, but couldent afford..so i got lucky. but it shows how great the people at carvin are, they really stand behind their products, they gave me replacement parts (the coil splitter i mentioned earlier) without any hesitation. A+ carvin!

overall...these instruments are where its at. i play it into a old GK 400RB and i'm completely in love with my sound. the only flaw with carvin is that they tend to be a little "ditzy" at times..when they told me my bass was shipped they accidently gave me someone elses tracking number, but of course fixed it when i called them, and when i had asked for the coil splitter, the first thing i for was a three-way pickup selector in black, when i had asked for a gold coil splitter. i told them they made the mistake (and never even requested the right switch- just asked how to go about sending it back) and two days later got the right switch, and they let me keep the wrong switch..

Made in USA. 6 string, 35.25in scale. Maple neck-throu construction with alder body wings. Double-cutaway body style. Ebony fingerboard. Black hardware. piezo bridge with an ernie ball style humbucker and a jazz pickup at the neck. Three-band active eq with a mag and piezo blend, magnetic pickup blend and a master volume. The master vol.pot can be pulled to make the 18-volt system passive. There is also a coil tap for the humbucker.

The sound is great. the variety is great and all settings are usefull. Playing dynamics are very good, and resond well to playing techiques. I wish the piezo bridge had a bit more adjustment, but the sound will sound better if i could run it into an amp with a tweeter.

Absoulute perfection. I did not have to change anything for my personal preferences. the finish is flawlessand much better looking than ihad expected.

It seems like it will hold up well.

Carvin has a great website and you can find all the info you need there.

I have been playing guitar for about 12 years and this is my first nice bass. I also have a squier p/j bass. I only have a CRATE 25 watt practice amp, but ibought the bass for use in computer recording and things of that nature. I chose to start with a 6 string instead of working up to it. I haveonly had it a few daysbut the bass is more than i could have wanted and a neck-thru 6string bass for about 1000 is a great deal.