Product: Iceni Zootbass Custom Shop
Price Paid: 1800
Submitted
05/28/2008
at
07:24am
by
alan
Features
:
10
Custom made to my specs: 34" scale 4 string. Seven piece Maple/Walnut laminated through neck. Body wings wth Macassar Ebony facings (back and front) with thin maple dividers. Hipshot lightweight tuners (with D Tuner), Hipshot bridge with both top loading and through body stringing options. Two Aero soapbar pickups linked up to an Aguilar OBP-3 preamp. 3 band eq, pickup pan and volume, active bypass and passive bass switch which is effectively a trble bleed capacitor. I have to give this catagory a 10 as it was made to my exact specs.
Sound
:
6
Sound is good - although not spectacular and not a patch on my Alembic MK signature. Has a similar fundamental but the pre-amp is not clear and concise in the bass, like the ALembic, and a bit too thin in the treble. The pickups are very quiet for the system in place.
It is farly versatile and does lots of things quite well - but none that stand out. For two grand I was expecting better.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
3
Well, this is a sorry story. The woodworking and joinery was good, however I went through a number of frustrating issues.
1st up, the bass arrived and I could not get it to intonate, and the closest I got was on the G string with the the bridge saddle fully backed up to the back of the bridge. I measured from the nut to the 12th Fret and the frets were obviously cut for a 35" scale which the bridge placement would not allow. I got this checked with a local tech who confirmed this. The bass went back and got refretted.
When it returned, one of the knurled metal volume kbobs had come of in the case and caused damage to the finish. This went back again for the finish to be sorted out.
When the bass was returned again the finish was reapplied but now very thick and not particularly great compared to the original finish.
The finish was also applied to the side ebony fingerboard the second time around and the fret ends caused this to crack and peel when it srunk slightly.
Wiring job was one of the worse I had seen with so much wire stuffed into the control cavity without being trimmed to size. This caused the bass switch cap to come lose as I had to squash the wiring in the cavity to replace the cover.
The pick-up volume failed and started to cause severe volume drop (almost to nothing) when engaging both pick-ups. When returned they stuck on a centre indented potentimeter! Volume from the pickups remained too low for what I was expecting but with all the issues and bad service just gave up.
Fret work completely average.
I give this a three for the woodworking, which is good. Everything else is decidedly heath robinson.
Reliability/Durability
:
5
Well, pick up volume failed, trouble with pick-ups and lousy wiring job does not inspire confidence.
Customer Support
:
1
Appalling really. WHen I first informed them about the intonation scale length issue they wouldn't believe me. I had to pay for the bass to be shipped back to them (no refund) - and then they came out with some bull**** bout the the routing template moving halfway though fret seating. They could not accept they made a schoolboy error.
The other times the bass was returned it was obvious I was seen as an inconvenience and they gave no impression of standing behind their product. Yes, they got the major things fixed - but this cost me shipping everytime and I didn't bother them with the little things as it was far too much hassle and cost. After the second return I asked whether they would offer a refund but the answer was a resounding no.
Overall Rating
:
2
The quality of build and finishing for the price is poor. The customer service appalling. I could not recommend this bass to anyone.
