Dean Guitars Edge 5 Fretless

2003 Dean Edge 5 Fretless made in korea, 5 string unlined fingerboard ,5 piece maple/walnut, neck basswood body, vol/blend/treb/bass controls, 2 dean passive soapbar pick ups, active EQ, beautiful amberburst finish, grover tuners, 35" scale. Hardshell dean case $85. 2 allen wrenches cheap cord. 10'? don't know never opened it.

I play mostley 50s 60s 70s dance music, jazz, and bluegrass. I play this bass thru an Ashdown MAG 250 head w/410 and 115 cabs, SWR Workingmans 10 w 110 ext cab and a Trace Elliot Commando. The soapbars are very weak but quiet, I have to floor the volume knob and crank up the amp to cut thru. But there are a lot of very good tones in the EQ. Pan to the bridge PU and roll off the bass for nice clean twinky highs roll to the neck PU and it really warms up. Really for a bass in this price range you can get some great tones. I would give this a higher rating if they could heat up those soapbars.

OK lets start by saying this bass was $370 bucks not bad for a fretless 5, that said the finish was beautiful, and it is a solid basswood body (4 or 5 pieces of basswood glued together) but the grain matches up pretty well. The neck heal looks like it had one to many passes through the saw as it's raised up a little above the body and still has some wood slivers hanging off. This dos'nt effect playability and I should just knock them off, nah mabye later. The D string and G string tuners were lose(no big deal,quick turn,fixed)the EQ modual was flopping in the cavity (add 2 sided tape done). The action was a little high but after a month of Colorado climet the neck bowed a bit 2 weeks later it bowed a little more, but a couple 1/4 turns of the truss rod and lowering the bridge barrels and now it plays like butta. If I had a real complaint it would be that the strin g spaceing is a bit tight for my big fat hands. (For $370 I ain't complainin).

I gig with this bass 2 to 3 times a month alternating sets with my surine so it gets out quite a bit. The finish looks a foot deep( did I mention it was beautiful?) and seems like no amount of spilled beer or wiskey could hurt it or stain it( if it does just send it through the car wash)Hardware seems solid enough just keep the tuners tight. It could probebly fall off the stand and be OK but bring a back up battery as the battery dies so does the bass (I think?) But I check the battery every gig thinking it's dying beacuse the pickups are so weak! I bought this bass to see if I could play fretless ( hey I can!) and already have an order in for a custom from another builder but for the money it's not a bad player but I won't get another. Maybe I'll give this one to my kid.

This bass comes with a 5 yr warrenty from dean but I don't think I'll need it. I have emailed the company but by the time they got back I'd forgottn the question.Oh yea do they make a 5 string fretless acoustic. The answer was no but by the time they replied I'd already gotton a Michael Kelly firefly (review forthcoming) Hey Deans a big company I'm sure they're busy.

I have been playing bass for 30 yrs (gawd has it been that long?)and have owned Fender Jazz, P and Musicmaster basses , Gibson EB0, EB3, and RD Artist V basses, Kramer DZ4000 Surine Quest series III a Michael Kelly Firefly fretless 5 and Kramer farrington bass. The Edge is one of the lowerend basses I've owned. For the price it's really a pretty nice bass but I don't think it will make a good road warrior that I'll keep for 20 yrs. But If you want to try fretless and don't want to spend a bucket of cash check it out.

Korean made in 2002. solid basswood body. amberburst paint job, nice. 2 active humbuckers. 2 tone controlls, one volume one pickup mixer. grover tuners. 35" scale. overall a great looking instrument

I'm playing noisy punky guitar type stuff with it and being fretless, it gives a unique sound that is very rich. I've tried playing through my zoom 3030 effects and that sounds pretty incredible. E-bow sounds cool too. There is quite a range of sounds possible with a quick tweak of the pots. the only complaint I have is that there is a bit of noise when turning the volume control (just leave it turned up full) and it is slightly buzzy when the treble is turned up full.

I havn't had to adjust any of the settings, the factory setup was just fine.

I havn't played a gig with it yet but have used it in several practise sessions of 4 hours or more and have had no problems so I dont see why I would need a backup for a gig.

Not had it long enough for anything to break and hopefully I won't need to be contacting anyone.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with this bass. The low B string gives a huge sound and slides from C up to E sound fantastic. I wanted to get some flat (ribon) wound strings for it but the scale length means buying longer strings which are in short supply. I chose this bass because I have heard so many glowing reviews of Dean products and the price just cant be beaten (even in the UK where its 50% more expensive than in the US. Damn those import duties)

New (99? 00?) model made in Korea. 5-string, fretless, 35" scale. 2 tone controls, 1 volume, 1 pickup blend. 2 humbucking soapbar (EMG-HZ?) pickups. Active. Solid basswood body, 5-pc maple/walnut neck, rosewood fingerboard w/fret lines. Transparent red finish (NICE). I think the tuners are Grovers--they work fine. My bass came w/2 wrenches and a cord.

I play mostly blues and classic rock, but am looking to learn more jazz and also solo some classical pieces for technique. This bass scared me when I first got it because it is very bright and twangy. But the bass came w/big GHS roundwounds, and I figured out the sound was mostly them. I'm looking forward to playing w/some flatwounds on it soon. I play through a Peavey head and no-name 115 cab. If I kill the treble on both the bass and the amp, it's very controllable. The bass isn't particularly noisy. In testing I was able to produce some hiss at high volumes w/the trebles up, but I have no reason to do that again. Dialed in, I can get any sound I want. Rich, full, dark, warm, bright, whatever. The low B is strong, kind of a piano sound. Very little difference between it and the E string. I haven't played out or recorded w/this bass yet, but I will be comfortable doing either.

The action was fine from the factory. I could prolly lower it a little, but I'm waiting for my flatwounds before I mess w/it. I do get a little string slap/buzz down low on the B and E strings, but I blame the strings for that. Pickups are in fine position. Fit/finish is pretty good. The neck joint could be just a little tighter. I found some very small flaws in the finish. Oh, yeah: the 5pc neck has some minor roughness when going between the maple and the walnut. I'm sure I could smooth it out quick and easy, but they should have done that in production.

I have no fear this bass will perform in a gig situation. I don't own a backup, but I will definitely bring a backup battery (nice popout compartment for the batt). Hardware seems fine. Finish seems a little thin for rough handling, but will stand up to playing just fine. Strap buttons are small but seem solid. I have only had this bass for 6wks, but I think the neck will hold up fine.

Well, Dean offers a lifetime warranty to the original purchaser, but you have to register the axe online and their scripts didn't allow me to register. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

I've been playing off/on for about 16 yrs. This is currently my only bass, which I play through a Peavey Mark IV and no-name 115. Sometimes I wish I had sprung for a neck-through bass, but this is what I could afford. If it were stolen or lost, I would think long and hard before replacing it. It's a nice bass, but there are SO MANY in this price range to consider. I love its features and range of sounds. I hate the 35" scale. It has really challenged my playing, especially closer to the nut. My favorite feature is that it is fretless. I tried Dean fretted basses, MIM Fenders, Ibanez SDGRs, and a Peavey. I didn't like the feel of the frets on the Dean Edge 4, but otherwise it was nice. I liked the MIM Fender and would have bought it but for concern about the neck. SDGR are nice playing basses but have too thin a neck, weak B-strings, and not enough growl potential. I chose the Edge 5-Fl mostly because it had the most features for the price. If I could afford an MIA Jazz or a Carvin, I prolly would have gone for one of those.