Product: Hamer Scarab Bass
Price Paid: US $200 used
Submitted
02/08/2002
at
03:55pm
by
the Raging Aardvark
Email: aardvark at fubarm<dot>com
Features
:
10
1983 Hamer USA Scarab. Mahognay body, set neck, rosewood fingerboard. Passive Hamer P-J pickups, Hamer tuners. The finish is a beat to hell deep blue, was probably lovely when new, but whoever had it before me beat the tar out of it. No serious damage, but chips, and wear spots all over the place!
Since I don't tend to use active electronics, this bass has everything I'm looking for.
Sound
:
10
This bass sounds awesome. I like a punchy, in your face sound (I don't cut any part the sound), and with only my BassDriver through any amp, it sounds great! I use the P pickup by itself, as the J is a little weaker and doesn't give me the sound I'm looking for. Plenty of lows, but the highs come across quite well. This bass replaced my old Ibanez as #1 before it was even set up properly!
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
Seeing as how I found it in a Music-Go-Round, I can't comment on factory setup. However, with a mininum of fuss, we got it playing GREAT!!!! Fretwork barely shows any wear.
The finish, as stated before, is toast...however, given the obvious abuse it went through the parts that haven't been mangled look great! ;) Only an 9 due to the dead finish, which will probably get redone in the future.
Playing, this bass was a huge surprise. Such a weird body shape, but it balances amazingly well! It's lightweight, but sounds and plays great!! I can't believe noone snapped up this baby before I did.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
I haven't had it very long, but my other Hamers are rocksolid. This one just FEELS solid. So far, so good...of course, I put strap locks on right away.
Customer Support
:
10
I've talked to Kim Keller from Hamer several times. Great guy, very knowledgeable, very helpful!
Overall Rating
:
10
Been playing bass for 15 years, and this was the first bass that made me put aside my trusty Ibanez..the neck is totally different (more like a J-Bass than my flattish Ibanez), but it was instantly comfortable. My band plays heavy fast rock, and this bass fits in beautifully. In addition, it has gotten compliments from all sorts of people, including my retro-grouchy Fender freak friend. The best part? $200 including HSC! UNBELIEVABLE!!! For that price, I'd buy another in a heartbeat. People are fools. They'd rather pay much more than that for a cheezy import with bad fretwork, bad pickups, and bad service. I love my Hamers.
