Product: Dean Guitars Edge 8
Price Paid: GBP 300 USED
Submitted
08/18/2008
at
07:29pm
by
the red baron of bass
Email: savill<dot>work at googlemail<dot>com
Features
:
8
Manufactured in mid-00's. 8-strings in octave pairs, 24 frets, active pick-ups. Basswood body with black gloss finish. Bolt-on maple/walnut neck with twin truss rods. Rosewood fingerboard. 2 volume pots (one per pickup), one treble pot, one bass pot. Grover non-locking machineheads. Weight about 90Kg/200lbs after about half an hour into a gig. Thinking of hiring some umpah-lumpahs to hold it while I play.
Sound
:
8
I like to play split notes/chords with the paired stings (playing the bass string with thumb and high string with finger).
Makes a very big & full sound, the pre-amp is very effective, but overall not very versatile... it could be me but it seems to have but one sound and that loud!
Tends to work best without effects (too muddy and indistinct with effects).
I use a miked Laney Linebacker 120 amp when gigging.
It is one heavy lump of wood, esp. when playing a long set... and I'm a lot shorter after a gig.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
5
When I got the guitar the action was bad, real bad! About 3/4's of an inch at the 12th fret worth of bad. I suspect the previous (first owner sold it for that reason (he having only owned it a couple of months from new).
Setting up the action with twin truss rods was a bit of a ***** but I finally got there.
When I first got the beast it ate batteries, turns out that the soldering on the cut-out wasn't all that special - a quick bit of home soldering and... problem fixed.
5/10 - must do better.
Reliability/Durability
:
8
Had the bass for nearly three years now, seems to be holding up OK and finish is still good, it's still early days. My Yam RBX550M is 15 years old regularly gigged (once or twice a month) and it still looks like new.
Having finally set the bass up the way I like it it seems to be stable; be it winter, summer, hot sweaty venues or cold empty halls it's not required any further fettling.
Only non-standard modification I've done is to fit Schaller Strap Locks, basically to save mankind - if this thing falls it's not going to stop when it hits the ground but it'll carry on to the ultra dense core of the planet.
Because of the limited variation in sound I tend to use it as my second bass and only for certain songs in the set.
Customer Support
:
3
Do you enjoy being ignored, not receiving replies to your emails then try contacting Dean Guitars customer support... maybe they're friendlier in the States?
Bar Stewards!
Overall Rating
:
7
I've been playing bass for about 18 years.
Currently got 6 guitars, 2 of which are basses, Yam RBX550M & Dean Edge 8.
Bass amps are Laney Linebacker 120 and Hartke A25.
Current effects are GT-6B and DD-3, CS-3 & CE-5 in a BCB-30 box.
IF you're only going to buy one bass don't buy this one, if you've got a quiver of basses going on then this is a handy addition if you want to have a big, full sounding bass.
It looks mean, moody and impressive.. Did I mention that it's quite heavy?
