Dean Guitars Edge Improv 4

This is a 2003 Dean Iprov (Euro Custom Select). It was made in the Czech Republic, beautifully crafted. It was made in the same Spector factory. It is a 4 string , same spec's as other reviews. Grover tuners, active EMG humbuckers, controls are vol, pickup bal, bass, treb. Adler body with flamed Maple top, Wenge fret board, neck thru design. It is a dark blue color.
This bass is rock solid, and well built. I have a five string version of this bass also. See the review in the 5 string review section.

The sound is awesome..lots of growl, tons of sustain, excellent tone. You can set it for thunderous bass, or crisp treble sounds.
I use it through a Sans amp RBI, and a old Gailen Krueger 400 rb, and a Hartke 4.5 xl cabinet. In the studio I just add some DI boxes with the RBI and then right into the board, sounds great!!!

This bass is put together perfectly, I got it used obviously, so it had a couple of small scrathes, but the finish is amazing, the fit of all the hardware is outstanding.
It was setup by the guitar shop I found it at, so it was great.
I can't say any more than the other reviews already said, except that the factory over there in Czech makes some of the best basses ever.

I would depend on this bass without even thinking about it, the hardware, the finish, the electonics....all solid.
It will need only minor adjustments with the weather change.

Have not needed any, but I have talked to them on the phone and they were very nice.

Overall this bass rocks, like I said, I have the 5 string version of this and when I saw this one there was no second thoughts, I grabbed it right up(these are not made anymore).
I have other very nice basses(Rick 4003, Pedulla Thunderbolt, Carvin LB75, Fender Geddy Jazz Bass) and I love them all, but these Dean Basses are just fantastic.

Handcrafted in Europe in the Czech Republic at the same facility that Spectors were being produced. I have to agree with the other reviewer that the quality and workmanship of this particular Dean model is equal to if not better than USA Spector's. This bass is professional quality all the way.


Features five piece Maple/Walnut neck through design for awesome sustain - Exotic Wenge wood fretboard really looks nice not to mention Wenge is an incredible tone wood for basses - 24 frets with signature mother of pearl and abalone inlay on 12th fret and headstock - Alder body with a very nice Flame Maple top with matching tilt-back headstock. The Amber finish is beautiful.

They didn't scrimp on hardware & electronics either! EMG-CS Active pu's and preamp system w/master volume,pickup blend, bass cut & boost, treble cut and boost - High quality Shaller Tuners - Heavy duty bridge and brass nut - Gold finish on all hardware - What more could you want! I give it a nine because it did not come with a nice hardshell case.








The neck shape itself is perfect. Very similar to my 99 Edge 4 but a bit thinner and it is finished.

I play in a variety cover band so I need a variety of sounds. This bass delivers. The EMG-CS pu's were designed to have more of a fat vintage or warmer tone than other actives. They sound awesome. With the EMG active tone controls you can dial in crystal clear high end slap tones to deep fat thump and anywhere in between. Super quite. The pickup blend knob is a great feature. Very usefull when shaping your tone.

This bass was set up extremly well. I have looked it over from top to bottom and I can't detect a single flaw. Very nice fret work and detail with the inlays.

This bass is very comfortable to play. It is fairly light weight and balances very well. It seems solid as a rock. Would not hesitate to gig without a backup.

I have not had to contact them for anything.

I have been playing 15+ years. I have owned 2 Peavey Cirrus 5's, an American Fender Jazz, and a G&L L2500. I had using a Peavey Classic 400 Bass head through a Peavey Classic 8-10 cab but I have since downsized to a much smaller rig.

I played a Dean bass at a local music store I was impressed. I read the HC reviews on the Dean European Imrov 4 and I also read what a number of users said about this bass at talkbass.com. Everyone raved about this particular model Dean. The only thing was they were no longer being made and can be hard to find. I lucked up and found a brand new one that a music store had forgotton about in their backstock! Needless to say I jumped on it. It turned out to be everything I had heard it was. If you can find one I highly recommend that you snatch it up.

This bass is "chauked full of creamy goodness"! Absolutely beautiful quilted top. All the typical controls that you would expect with a bass that sports some very powerful, punchy, EMG pickups. (when shopping EMG's were a must.) The "very solid" gold hardware against the highly polished, stained blue finish look tops. (no cheap crap on this bass, believe it.) Neck through, WOW. Sustains like crazy. Although the bass is not as heavy as say a P-Bass it feels as solid as a tree trunk.

The EMG's pack a lot of punch. This bass suited me prefectly for my "Toolish" style. VERY rich, full sound that will fill every crack in the room. This bass will suit any style and sound. Slap it, pick it, thumb it. You name it.

This bass came with a stained blue, quilted top which was HIGHLY polished. You can stick your finger right through the gloss. Beautiful. The gold harware is very solid, high quality. I believe the tuners are Schaller. Very smooth tuning, and the bridge looks like it weighs a ton. Very solid.

I have been playing bass for 12 years. I sold my $1,300 Tobias with Bartolini pickups to purchase this $750 Dean Improv. You tell me! Yes, it's reliable, durable Etc. I Have been playing out with this bass for approx. 1 1/2 years. NEVER A PROBLEM OR ISSUE OF ANY KIND. (Except my lack of willingness to change the strings as often as I should)

I have never needed it. I have read some bad stuff about people calling Dean so my advice would be to go through your local music store. Let them deal with the hastle.

Been playing for 12 years. Been playing THIS Dean bass for 1 1/2 years. If it were stolen I would be extremely upset. I would most deffinately buy another one. I compared, Spector, Ibanez, Tobias, basses. I knew exactly what I was looking for in feel and sound. The beauty was just the icing. This bass fit the bill. I love Dean so much that I recently ordered a Dean Avalanche MQ online. I am expecting it today or tomorrow therefore I am getting very itchy. Just happened to be online reading reviews and thought I'd share. For those of you that think that you must spend well over $1,000 to get a quality, beautiful, great sounding instrument........you are being fooled! Kinda like this, buy a new Cadillac but pay the price of the Hyundai. No joke. Try one for yourself.

Reading this review you may think I work for Dean Guitars but as much as I'd love to be endorsed by them I don't, A LOT of time went into deciding what is the bass for me(actually a year and a half). I noticed around the internet thier isnt 1 review for the Dean Improv. Their also isn't many if any pictures or information regaurding the Improv around the internet or in any stores within the tri-state area that have them, and I dont know why after buying this work of art. now on to the info:

I bought the Dean recently it is a brand new model for 2002 although previous models seem unchanged. It was handcrafted in the Czech Republic and has better workmanship than a USA Spector.

It is a neck through 4 sting with a 24 fret wenge fretboard. The action is low enough for the bass to play itself without having any fret buzz what so ever! The wenge wood is better than any wenge wood I've ever played. The cutaway is amazing, similar to the feel of a USA Jackson soloist neck through.

It has gold hardware, and the color I have is Flame Amber. I think that is a lie because this flame looks like AAAAA quality QUILT, the bass is visualy amazing, you can see 3 things in the wood; the outstanding quilted body and matching headstock!,every single individual grain in the wood,and the pattern from the actual wood itself!

2 EMG active CS (ceramic and steel) humbucker pickups...need I say more? (if so read sound). An active preamp as well. The controls are(from closest to furthest) master volume,pickup balancer,bass boost,treble boost.

Another beautiful feature is the 2 chunks of abalone and mother of pearl on the bass. On the 12th fret as well as the top of the headstock and the "Dean" sign on the headstock their are beautiful peices of abalone bordered by mother of pearl.

The Alder body style is similar to the EDGE series but with more of a contour in the back. The 34inch neck through body consists of Maple and Walnut strips.

The neck shape itself is perfect. Very similar to my 99 Edge 4 but a bit thinner and it is finished.

The bass comes with Schaller tuners and a custom bridge similar to the USA and European Spector NS neck through series. And knowing Dean Basses it will NEVER go out of tune.

The Improv also comes with a 5 year factory warranty and a hard WOOD case, it weighs a ton, but it's worth the bulk to protect this bass. My store also gave me Schaller strap locks but the factory ones seemed really good for standard strap buttons.

I play progressive thrash metal in Exit To Eternity a semi-professional band in New York City, similar to Testament,Slayer,Iced Earth type of sounds. So I like a deep but clear bassy sound. I couldnt ask for anything more with this bass.

I only play through Ampeg and I use no effects, but at the studio I use an Ampeg SVT-3 Pro with a Hartke 4x10 cab(which is known for it's treble sound) and I get a great big deep and dark bassy sound with clear warm tones on any string.

The Improv came with GHS Bass Boomers on it, even thou I usually only use D`Addario Prism strings for the deeper bass tone these sound really great and feel just as nice.

My settings on the bass with the volume all the way up are: middle pickups,full bass and middle position treble, and I get the sound I love. But fooling around with the sound when I got the bass I can get nearly any style of bass out of it, especially slap bass.

The EMG-CS pickups are COMPLETELY noiseless at all times. Even when the volume is all the way up not a sound comes from them unless you hit the string. And the sustain is GREAT!

I usually always feel more comfortable playing with a thumb rest since I use my fingers only and play really fast but the pickips are raised a bit more than usual so that I wont have to drill a thumb rest into the beautiful body, thank god.

I have no dislikes with the sound. It's the best I've ever heard and played on.

The factory set up was great, the action as I mentioned earlier was as flat as humanly possible without causing ANY buzz at all. Out of the box it was perfectly in tune, which was really cool considering it came from Florida and Im in New York.

Pickups were awesome, a little more raised so that real bass players can feel comfortable but Im positive all those pick users out there won't be effected.

This bass is tight! Not one flaw at all. It feels like it took actual time and effort to build and it shows the hardware is perfect the body is perfect. The bass is perfect, hands down no flaws.

My previous bass was a Dean Edge 4 which could withstand everything and not be effected in anyway. It went through band after band, studio after studio and has NEVER given me a problem, and the Improv seems about 1000x more solid than the Edge 4.

The hardware is first class, looks like I'll never have to touch it, literally. The finish is here to stay, you can see the big piece of figured maple resting on top of the alder body thru the finish.

The strap buttons are solid and I was gonna keep the factory ones on but most stores will give you a free pair when you make a purchase like this and you never know if anything will happen, so it's good to play it safe and get a pair of Schaller locking strap buttons.

My old bass never had to be adjusted expect for the occasional string change even in extreme weather changes the neck withstands it shape. This should follow the same standards.

I would easily use this on a gig without anyback up. This could be my only bass forever and I would be more than happy and never worry about needing a backup,unless ofcourse a string breaks on stage. I just jinxed myself...

This is a great studio or live bass. It can do anything you demand from it with ease and instant gratification.

I've pestered Dean Guitars so many times over the past year, online and through phone calls and they have been incredibly helpful and friendly.

The people that work for dean are great, they have even helped me along with an endorsement as well as given me great tips and useful advice when looking to buy a product. Anything you ask of them they will help you. You can even talk to Dean Zelinsky himself, who is a great guy and loves to hear about happy Dean players.

I've never needed a repair and I dont think I ever will.
The warranty is 5 years, but they could offer lifetime judging by the quality of their instruments.

Overall Rating and other comments:

I've been playing 3+ years and own an Ampeg,and a Dean Egde 4(my first bass). I went EVERYWHERE looking for this bass no one carries it, the only way I got to try it before hand is because my local store was nice enough to order one for me. I would say if you can't try it out try out an Edge 4 or better and you should love this but the Improv blows away my Edge 4 so much I can't even compare it.

If it was lost or stolen I would hunt down the person who took it and put them in a world of pain...fair warning: Dont mess with my bass.

If I had to choose what my favorite feature is...I'd have to pick the playability. That was the main thing I looked into when trying to decide my bass and this shatters the competition in every aspect.

The other basses I was between before buying this bass were:

Peavey Cirrus - great bass $1400 but the feel wasn't as good as the Improv especially for playing with your fingers

USA Spector NS-4 - $2900 for this price why can't you just make something that doesn't make you want to throw it away when you plug in. Although the shape of the next was comfortable, everything else felt like it was assembled in a crack alley.

Carvin LB70 - $600-$2000 this bass is fully customizable,and only shipped through the website; it's really not good at all but It's popular and I know people who love it,those same people tried my Improv and dismissed the Carvin.

Email me for any other comparisons since I've tried everything out there including: MTD's,Modulus,Warwick,Tobias, etc etc. Everything compared to the Improv just seems like a cheap peice of wood.

The only problem with buying this bass is that you may be skeptical of buying it without ever trying it, but if I read a review knowing it was this great I wouldn't give a second thought. Please trust me this bass is better than anything out there, do not waste your money anywhere else. This bass is AMAZING!

My next bass: Dean Improv 4 or 5 in another color...maybe cherry sunburst or black.