ESP LTD F-204

Made in Asia (Korea), date unknown, 4 strings features a solid mahogany body, a five piece maple/walnut bolt-on neck with rosewood fingerboard, 24 frets, a 35 inch scale, dot inlays with model name at 12th fret, black hardware, a pair of EMG-HZ 35 pickups, EMG B-30 active EQ, volume and balance control, color: sparkling silver

I play a wide range of styles, from blues and classic rock to death metal and grindcore. This bass is really flexible when it comes to sound! With the right EQ and PU settings, you can get any tone you want. Be it a deep, warm and round tone for blues or reggae, or a mighty growl with a lot of bottom end for stuff like Carcass or Exhumed, this bass can manage it all. Personally, I prefer the balance control to be flat (so that both of the pickups are at the same volume) and the deep mids and basses to be boosted (Amp EQing) for the perfect mix of growl and warmth.

Oh, and I play Low B. That means my tuning is B-E-A-D, and the bass has no problem with that, at all (because of the 35 inch scale and the EMG pickups, of course). In fact, this bass is built for alternative tunings! Highly recommended for everyone who wants to detune their bass without wanting to play 5 strings.

I bought this bass used, so I cannot comment on factory setup.

But there are no flaws I could think of.
The neck is a dream, really slim and nice to play on. The tuners do what they're supposed to do and they do it great. No sharp edges on either the tuners, the saddle or the bridge whatsoever. The tone, volume and balance knows work fine. No complaints at all.

The finish doesn't have any flaws, either. It's a nice sparkling silver (if you like that color is up to you), and there is no sign of wear on the paint.

The only complaint would be the battery access, because you have to remove some screws to reach it.

This bass is built like a beast and definitely built to last!

I would definitely use it without a backup.

Never had to contact Customer Support.

If this was stolen, I'd definitely get a new one. Maybe in a different color, because I kinda dislike the sparkling silver, but you know the three Fs: form follows function. And this bass is functional, all right. I picture myself using this bass for years, because I don't see a reason to sell it.

Korean made, 2001, 24 frets, solid Mahogany body, single passive volume control with pan/balance pot for 2 EMG HZ pick-ups, 3-band active EQ, 5-pc maple neck with rosewood fretboard, hi-gloss black finish, unique "gothic-looking" body styling, non-locking tuners, relativley thin (Ibanez type) neck w/ jumbo frets, 35" scale. All the hardware seems really solid.

My present work situation is in a band doing a variety of covers (Early Beatles and Elvis to Nickelback) and some originals. Requires a huge tonal range. This bass delivers. I am running it through a Peavey T-MAX head with a new Peavey 410TVX cabinet, also D/I to our PA system. Delivers a real pro sound. My band-mates, all experienced artists in their own right, love the sounds this bass has brought to the table. It can be a really warm bottom dweller or as bright as you want. From the low end of the spectrum up through the upper-mids, it never looses it's sledge-hammer punch. Slaps really nice, too. Works beautifully both in recording and stage environments.

Found the action off the rack to be right on target. Pick-ups seem to be set up really nice. Finish is spectacular, but scratches easily. I rest my thumb on the upper corner of one of the pick-ups and my thumbnail has already left its marks. The finish is very unforgiving that way. But if that really drive you crazy, opt for the one of their other colors, probably wouldn't show as badly as the black. Battery access for the active EQ could be more accessible for quick change during a gig, but I change mine beforehand, so no problem here.

As I said above, scratches easily, but from the hardware standpoint, seems tough enough. I always have a back-up on stage especially w/ active electronics. My back-up is a Fender P and is always at the ready if I need it (now worry about active electronics), but would I be comfortable if for some reason I left the Fender at home, yeah I would, really. Haven't really had this one long enough to know how often adjustment would have to be made but for the 4 weeks I've been working with it on/off stage, I'm extatic with it's performance thus far!

n/a at this point in time

I've been playing for +25 years and as I said earlier also own a Fender P-Bass, had a Peavey T-40 (since traded away -- very foolish move), a Peavey T-MAX head, Peavey 1-15BW cabinet, 410TVX, no effects. If this bass was stolen, as soon as the cash became available, I'd buy another one in a heart-beat, different color....maybe. Really like the black, really works really well with it's unique gothic body design. My love for this bass really centers around it's playability and the "sledge-hammer" punch it delivers. Really would like to see a quicker access to the battery compartment and maybe seperate volume pots for each pick-up. I LOVE THIS PIECE!

its an asian 2000 bass guitar
a 24 freter
with a solid top
it has 5 kick as pre mps to give u bass or trebal and it also has vol.
this awsome bass has 2 emg pick up the best shit around
its a nice mahogany i think wood
and so on, the features......are great

damn good sound
good for rock or jazz anything
u can get a large varity of sound from this

it hauled ass

ive had it for a while, no probelms

i dunno

good at everything
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

2000 made in Korea 24 fret 4 string bass. Mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard. Its loaded with 2 passive EMG HZ Soapbar pickups with active tone controls (bass,mid,treble) pickup pan and master vol. Its the tone control that's active NOT the pickups themselves evidently which does make a difference, later on that. It was the body style that attracted me to this bass. Its very "gothic" for lack of a better term...very, shall I say "vampiric"...looks like a big bat wing, very impressive and eye catching. If you haven't seen one take a look at http://www.espguitars.com/html/f-204.html Mine is...or I should say was (I returned it..again more later) in a color called Black Cherry, which they evidently don't offer on the 2001 models. The finish is top notch. But when I removed the back control cavity cover I could clearly see the unfinished body wood inside was NOT good grade, in fact it looked like plywood! I'm not going to waste time going over every asthetic detail, if you want details refer to the site http://www.espguitars.com/html/f-204.html Bottom line, looks wise...this bass kicks ass. However, that's ALL it has going for it. For features I give it a 5 and that's ONLY because it has killer looks, a flawless finsh job, and decent hardware. Marks off for the obviously really cheap body wood.

I'd say this bass is more suited for new school grind, metal, or any other (insert hard music genre here) It certainly has the looks for metal or goth as I mentioned above. It really didn't suit my style...but I was smitten by its appearance. I'm from the old school of goth and punk, rooted in the 80's...bands like The Damned, Bauhaus, Cure, etc who all used "traditional" instruments like Gibsons and Fenders. Even the modern bands I like such as Tool/A Perfect Circle use the same and not something like this. But again, I really liked the bat wing looks, and did I ever get suckered! In the store I ran the bass into one of the new Fender Bassman 100 combos. The store's floor model was set up nicely and played smooth and easy...it had obviously had some major set up work done to it though. When I got mine home and out of the box totally different story. I use a Peavey TNT 130 combo with 15" speaker..classic warm rock bass sound. This bass sounded pretty weak actually for having EMG's, then I found out that they were passive and only the tone control was active. Sneaky. The bass can go from deep and bassy to nasal and trebly with the controls. It excels at tight low growly rock sounds but not slapping. Does an ok Thunderbird approximation. Over all though is sounded pretty dull. Perhaps an upgrade of the pickups would help. I give it a 5..for "Eh, its ok"

As they say...here's where the s#it hits the fan. When I got mine home and out the box I was REALLY annoyed. Right away I found 2 dead spots on the neck. Just totally dead...fretted the note and got nothing but a dead "thwack" This was mainly because of the completely piss poor job on the nut. The G and D string slots were not cut correctly at all. For a $500 bass this is REALLY unacceptable. After trying to get it set up decently I finally got some sound out of one of the dead spots...the other still DOA due to the crappy nut slot. Like I mentioned before, the finish was flawless. The only redeeming quality here. I took the back control cavity plate off to have a look at the electronics and discovered that the screw holes were stripped! I had to use the edge of a flat head screw driver to lift the plate up as I unscrewed the plate screws in order to remove it. The wiring was clean but again, as I mentioned before the exposed wood cross section that could be seen in the cavity indicated that very cheap wood had been used. ESP says these are mahogany. I've never seen mahognay look this much like plywood! Another indication is the weight...this bass is fairly large yet its light. I'm not impressed with the contruction of this bass in the least. In my opinion it comes close to being a toy.

The finish is the only redeeming quality. Otherwise this is a cheaply made bass that I doubt could take a beating like say, a Fender could.

ESP has NO customer support link on their website. Only a phone number. I find this highly irritating. ALL the big name guitar makers from Peavey up to Gibson have a customer service email link on their site. I've read other reviews on HC that mention how bad ESP customer support is so it appears to be justified. I haven't dealt directly with them but just based on their lack of the email customer support I'm really not impressed.

I returned this bass 2 days after I bought it. I explained to the salesman at Mars the problems it had and oddly enough TWO of their own employees shared similar complaints! They too had bought one of these basses only to get theirs home and have problems due to dead spots and crappy nut slots. When they inspected mine to make sure it was ok for return the guy just shook his head and rolled his eyes saying they'd be sending it to the repair shop before they would return it to stock. Basically this bass, is just short of being a toy or beginners bass in my opinion. Its not much better than a Squire...just dressed up with a brilliant (I will give it that) body design and nice finish. Underneath however, is total junk. ESP is trying to make up for lacking quality and playability with snazzy asthetics, I fell for it. Luckily I got my money back and a better bass...a REAL bass, a Fender, which kicks the crap out of the ESP with its tone, punch and growl. I know this bass probably appeals more to younger new school players, but honestly kids...don't get suckered. Spend your hard earned/saved money (or your parent's) on a REAL bass. Basses like these might look cool but they don't stand the test of time and tone like Fenders etc. I'd even put Epiphone over the LTD series. You can do a LOT BETTER in this price range. If you want a bass for around $500 that has a modern look go after an Ibanez, you'll be much happier, trust me!