Dillion VSGB

This is a Vietnamese made copy of a Gibson Eb-3L (that's the longscale SG body style) bass. It's all mahogany, body and neck, with a rosewood fretboard and a set neck joint. It's pretty much laid out just like an Eb-3, 2 pickups: a big 'Mudbucker' at the neck and a little humbucker at the bridge. 2 Vol., 2 Tone, and instead of a Varitone knob this bass has a rotary 3 way pickup switch that works good and looks just like the Varitone on the orignals, but I had it taken out and installed a pan pot that will blend between the 2 pickups. Pretty much does the same thing, but is more intuitive and fun for me to use. I like the bridge, not massive like a Badass, but not dinky like a lot of Asian made bridges I've seen, I think I'll keep it. The tuners are the standard Asian models, but I think I'm gonna swap them out for some Schallers or Gotohs that look a little more like the originals and are more stable, these ones look fine and stay in tune pretty well, but do slip a little from time to time. The neck is good for guys who are used to playing a P-bass, as it's about the same dimensions, but the frets do seem to be quite a bit bigger and I never thought I would get used to them, but I did, and now they don't bother me at all. The wood it's made from seems to be very solid, it looks nice (nice grain), smells nice when you take the back access panel off, and the finish is glossy, well applied and beautiful. This is a very classy looking bass, and like all Dillions, it has the Egyptian goddess Isis inlaid on the 12th fret. A nice, personal, and tasty touch.

First, I wanna say that I think a lot of Guitarists and Bass Players make a big mistake by spending a lot of money on a nice instrument and wonder why it doesn't sound as awesome as they thought it would cause they're using the wrong amp for their application or just a plain crappy amp. I've made many middle of the road instruments sound great with a great amp over the years and I firmly believe that the amp is at least 50% of your tone and presence in the music, sometimes more.

That being said, I just finished assembling a really nice little bass rig recently (Acoustic 120 head and an Ampeg 1x15 SVT cab), and I've been playing around with the VSGB and the EQ circuit on my head and this bass is way more flexible than I thought it would be. At first, it seemed kinda flat, dull, and generic sounding. At best, a 2-trick pony when I played it thru one of those garden variety modern kick back combo bass amps at the store, and I kinda bought it just cause it looked so cool. Don't get me wrong, it sounded good, it just didn't sound like anything special. BUT, just as I suspected, when I took it home and played it thru a well designed/matched up head and cab with good EQ options, it really came to life and you can get all kinds of different little variations. Great lows and mids, especially in the 850K range, that's where it's voice really is. It is very low, fat, and round, and it's dying to be the bass in a reggae band, but would do great at salsa as well. Of course the midrange sound it has will make it great for really loud classic/stoner/garage rock kind of stuff (don't forget your Big Muff!), and it could also be dialed in to be a great bass for jazz too, if you know what you're doing. The amp I use was designed and built when basses like this were common, and the cab I have is a good match for both the amp and the bass, so for me it sounds very good!

Ok, here's what you need to know if you have the option to buy this bass: It is Vietnamese and it is apparent that they did not have the best quality control at that time. This bass sat around at the store I bought it from for over a year, and I think that's partly because it definately needed some TLC from a good tech. The frets were not filed at the edges of the neck properly, and it was buzzing a lot because the bridge pickup was too high and made contact with the strings. One of the pots was also broken, and I had them all replaced with nicer ones when I had the blend knob installed. I realised all of this from the get go, and knew that my very competent tech team could take care of this in an afternoon for less than 100 bucks. I had my guys set it up nice and now I'm it plays great! I think this factor is gonna vary from bass to bass, so you may find one that is better, you may find one that is worse, it wasn't that big of a deal because the actual construction of this bass (body and neck) is very solid and well executed.

Like I just said, it's very solidly built, all mahogany (which means it's pretty heavy) and would take some abuse, but it is a nice instrument, and it's not like you can just go out and get a new one, or, for that matter, just go out and buy a new neck and bolt it on. So, this bass deserves to be well taken care of. If you do that, it will last a lifetime and surely become a classic and most likely a collectible item.

When I get the tuners replaced, I'm also gonna get straplocks put on and have one of the buttons moved from the neck joint to the top cutaway in hopes of minimizing some of the neck dive it has from having such a small body/long neck ratio. I'm also gonna get the nut replaced and tune it to B-E-A-D to take advantage of it's ability to sound really LOW.

I think this question they ask you for these reviews about using a back up is funny. I guess it's just cause no guitar player could ever use just one guitar on a gig...but, if you like this bass, it's the only one you'll ever need. You don't need a backup, what you do need is a good hardshell case (it fits fine in the TKL model for generic solidbody, longscale basses) and a concept of how to take care of your instrument. Once you get that, I suggest you throw this thing in the back of the van, get out there and make some good bass!

Dillion is a small company that works with factories in Asia to make quality instruments that are affordable as well as gig and road worthy. I emailed the company to see if I could get the specs on this bass, and within 24 hrs. I got a response from the founder of the company, John Dillion, and he was very cordial and professional. I could tell he read my email all the way through and has been really cool in listening to some ideas I've had for basses I'd like to see his company build. I bought it used, so if I needed it repaired, I'm the kinda guy who'd just rather take it to the guys I have a personal relationship with here in my town , and not have to ship it/wait weeks and weeks etc.

I'm a drummer who's played semi professionally for 22 years and toured extensivly in the US and the UK. I've always had a massive case of bass envy and have been playing bass in local rock bands for about 13 years now and love it very much.

Most of my basses are Asian copies of classics, both newer and older, and I'd been looking for a good SG style bass for a long time. This one beats out the others cause it's got a set neck that is longscale, and the big frets and bridge pickup seems to balance out the lows and give it a more usable sound than the shortscale, single pickup models. I think this bass has beat my old 70's Rickenbacker copy in terms of sound, looks and playabillity to become my favorite solid body bass.

Made in Vietnam
21 frets
Laminated top
volume (1) tone (3) Pickup selection
Dual Humbuckers
Passive electronics
Maple neck
Standard body
NON locking tuners
Jumbo Frets
No accessories

I play Heavy metal
I am using a crate amp
great noise control
It has a very rich/warm sound when both pickups are active
Bass makes very low sounds
I really like the bass's sound

The action is awesome from what I am feeling (I got it used)
The pickups were in great shape
I saw no flaws

This bass can do EVERYTHING
The hardware will last a very long time
The finish is really good
You could depend on this bass for everything
I would use it without a backup

Never Tried, got it used.

Great bass
Kind of heavy though..
I would buy again if stolen