Product: ESP F-254 Price Paid: USD 350
Submitted 06/22/2007
at 06:01pm
by Kyle Hardman
Email: kyle_h_2<at>excite dot com
Features
:10
Made in Indonesia in 2005.
Rosewood fretboard with 24 frets.
35" scale length.
Maple-walnut neck with agathis body. Neck-through-body construction!
EMG-35HZ pcikups.
1 Volume and 1 balance knobs.
3 band EMG B64 active EQ. (They now have some ESP EQ.)
Grover tuners.
For this price point, the features are pretty nice. The neck-through is simply amazing for this price.
Sound
:9
The sound is ok, but nothing to write home about. The pickups are very clean, but not very lively. I am planning on upgrading the pickups, so this doesn't really bother me. The fact that the bass is routed for EMG-35 pickups is really convenient, because I love active EMG pickups and will probably spring for EMG-35DCs.
The EQ and balance controls are very nice tone shapers. I don't understand why guitars don't have a balance knob instead of a selector switch.
However, for the price, the sound isn't bad. There's nothing "wrong" with it, it just doesn't suit me.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:10
The set up was alright, but I had to make some small adjustments myself. The intonation was off a little, but it only took me a few minutes to correct it by adjusting the bridge. I didn't have to adjust the truss rod or nut, so it wasn't bad.
My bass was a scratch and dent item. If they hadn't told me, I never would have noticed. There is a minor finish flaw where the neck meets the body. There is a little glue poking out around the nut and the end of the fretboard (that sticks out of the guitar vertically) has a little black paint on it. Other than these minor flaws, it is really good looking.
I'm giving it a 10 because these are normal problems and should be expected.
Reliability/Durability
:10
I haven't played it much in the year I've owned it, but this bass feels really solid. I wouldn't have any fear playing it live without a backup. It doesn't seems like it will wear out in any way.
Customer Support
:No Opinion
Overall Rating
:10
I don't really play bass; I'm a guitarist. I've been playing guitar for about 5 years. I own two LTD guitars, one of which I really like.
If I lost this bass, I would buy another one in a second. I looked for a long time and I didn't find anything that compares with this bass. It is a really good deal.
Product: ESP F-254 Price Paid: US $529
Submitted 05/01/2006
at 07:09pm
by chris kowaleski
Features
:9
24 fret, 3 band active EQ, EMG passive pickups, beautiful satin finsh!
Sound
:9
I love this bass. I've been playing for over 15 years actively and once I picked this sucker up, I couldn't put it down! Not to mention I was playing through a terrible bass amp and it STILL sounded awesome. Everything from slapping to finger picking just sounds great. This bass has PUNCH!
Action, Fit, & Finish
:10
This is by far the selling point for me. Not to mention it's looks, it's sound... this ESP plays like no other for the price. All I can say is it's very fast. The neck is fantastic and workmanship on the body is perfect. I'm tighter than tight and I bought this bass after playing it for 15 minutes!!
Reliability/Durability
:No Opinion
Customer Support
:No Opinion
Just bought it!
Overall Rating
:10
For the price, you can't go wrong. I have the SWR WorkingMan's 810 cab with the Yorkville XS400H 400W head. I can't get over how great this sounds!
Product: ESP F-254 Price Paid: 599 (Euro)
Submitted 03/15/2005
at 08:20am
by chrisss
Features
:9
Made in Indonesia:
Construction: Neck-thru-body
Scale: 35?
Body: Agathis
Neck/Fretboard: 5 pc. maple-walnut/rosewood
Inlays: Dots w/model name at 12th fret
Pickups: EMG 35-HZ set, one Humbucker and one Singlecoil looking like a Humbucker ;]
Electronics: Volume, balance, EMG B64 active EQ (Bass Mid Treble!)
Hardware: Cosmo black, Grover tuners
Bridge: ESP BB-604
Binding: None
Frets: 24 XJ
Color: Black :>
Well... Mahagony would be better than Agathis, like the b-404, but does'nt matter! Look at the Price!
Sound
:9
Well... Look at the styling, everyone thinks this is just a Metal-Bass! But that ain't right!
Because of the balance-controll and the active EQ u can get really EVERY sound u want!
We played everything with this bass... from Blues to Rock, to Metal, to Jazz... even FUNK! Yeah! This Bass has such an fast neck with a fast tone! It's THE Funk-Machine, because of it's great neck! :>
The variety of sounds is endless!
The F-254 goes through a Boss GE-7B into a Peavey Century Bass Head with a 1x15" Peavey Cabinet.
Only if u have FULL treble (at the EMG EQ) it's a bit noisy... but that's with every active Bass Equalizer the same, i think!
Great Tone... and then look at the price!
Action, Fit, & Finish
:9
Good, only the bridge pickup was not set perfectly.... but then look at "Customer Support"!
Reliability/Durability
:10
Everything great! We play it even without a backup!
Customer Support
:10
Yes... ;]
Overall Rating
:10
IT'S SOOOOOOOOO GREAT! Doesn't matter if it's used with the peavey head and cabinet or with the Behringer Head and the Hartke Cabs... it ROCKS!
Because of the great balance-controll and the equalizer it has such a number of variety sounds! That will take years to hear them all!
The best of all is the Neck! Such a fast tone... never heard such a fast not-bolt-on-Bass!
I compared it with a Music Man Bongo V, a few Warwicks and a few Ibanez Basses! This Bass has more sounds than the (original!) Music Man Bongo V... and, look at the price: It's less than 1/3!!!
That's amazing, how cheap it is! Really, it's a professional Bass for low money!
Well, perfect would be a F-404 with the same features except the body-wood! Take Mahagony and built a F-404!!!! ;]
Product: ESP F-254 Price Paid: US $490
Submitted 06/04/2004
at 05:57am
by Jesse
Email: farmfiddlin at msn<dot>com
Features
:10
Made in 2004?
Construction: Neck-thru-body
Scale: 35?
Body: Agathis
Neck/Fretboard: 5 pc. maple-walnut/rosewood
Inlays: Dots w/model name at 12th fret
Pickups: EMG 35-HZ set
Electronics: Volume, balance, EMG B64 active EQ
Hardware: Cosmo black, Grover tuners
Bridge: ESP BB-604
Binding: None
Frets: 24 XJ
Colors: BLK, TTM
(features taken from www.espguitars.com)
comes with allen wrenches, and cheap cable
the 3 band eq is very nice, and this bass actually has a pickup fade selector
Sound
:10
It works very well for my tastes, I usually play Death Metal (Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, etc.) and this bass works perfectly for these styles. This bass really shines in the upper fretwork and when I play slap and funk styles. It only has noise when I crank my amp all the way up, but you need to expect that with the 1200 watt Ampeg SVT-4 Pro. Sounds AMAZING on this amp, and with the 9 band eq and the basses 3 band eq, I can almost achieve endless sounds.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:10
The bass was set up very well, excelent pickup height, etc. Only problem was that I had to adjust the bridge to fix the fret buzz, but this is nothing because action can't be come factory-set perfect for everybody, since action is a matter of taste. The tuning pegs are grover, and they work wonderfully. The fretboard inlays were just the standard dots, but I really love the coloring of the inlays, looks beautiful in any light. I recieved my bass in the black finish, no flaws, looks great with the bevels.
Reliability/Durability
:10
Haven't gigged with it yet, but from my experiences with this, and other basses, this seems to be one of the most duribal basses I have ever used. Finnish seems nice and thick, and I love the strap buttons. The only reason why I'd get a back up bass is because I love this bass so much that I'd want to own two!
Customer Support
:No Opinion
Never dealt with them, but their website is helpful.
Overall Rating
:10
Excelent, I would recommend this bass to anyone. If it were lost or stolen, I'd kill the guy who stole it, get it back, and buy a new one also for the hell of it. I love the fret inlays, the finih, the 3 band eq, and most importantly the sound.
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