Lace Music Products Helix 4 String Bolt-on Bass

2007 Lace-Helix 4 sting Bolt-on neck, as opposed to neck-through, which they also make. I bought #19 (almost a prototype; there have been upgrades since mine was manufactured). Cost was $419. It would be hard to lose out at that price, but this bass completely surprised me for the price. Body and neck are manufactured in China, pickup manufactured in USA and all is assembled here in the USA. This is a single-pickup version, with volume and tone knob. Through-bridge stringing, mahogany two-piece body. This bass only weighs 7 pounds, so is comfortable to wear. Neck is pretty big and chunky. I love 'em big, but this one may be too large for some players. The newer ones will be made with a slimmer profile. The new passive Alumitone pickup is the true star here. This pickup is unlike ANYTHING available elsewhere on the market. It ROCKS. More on that in the "Sound" category. Comes with a GREAT gig bag that has a velcro strap to secure the neck -- nice touch!

This is where this bass excels. This bass cuts through a mix like no other bass I've ever played. I've been playing professionally for 38 years and have had many boutique basses, but this one cuts them all. Even with the volume on the amp at a whisper, it still has great definition. Due to the nature of the pickup design, I can back the volume way down and not lose tone. If I roll the tone control all the way off, the tone is just HUGE and not muddy. This is, once again due to the radical pickup design. There is NO MAGNETIC COIL; NO COPPER WIRE AROUND A BOBBIN. This thing is great. You can get a LOT of useful tones out of one pickup just by using the volume and tone controls. I play mostly blues and jazz; this bass does very well with these genres, but this bass is really made to ROCK. It has a very aggressive tone that works fabulously well for rock material. And zero noise from the pickup to boot!

The bass arrived in generally playable condition. It did need a bit of fretwork and I had trouble with one of the knobs, but got this handled quickly with Lace Music. See "Customer Service" below for a surprise.

The bass is ultra-simple to use and has no reliability issues. Where I used to bring three basses to a gig, I now just bring this one.

Here's the real kicker. When I wrote in and said that I'd bought one of the early basses and had issues I wanted to discuss, Don Lace, Jr. himself called me on the phone the NEXT MORNING and we spent 25 minutes going over my experiences with the bass. He listened attentively and was was truly interested in my viewpoints regarding the bass. This is as good as customer service gets. He also told me that certain things had been upgraded on the bass since I'd purchased mine and that he'd ship me the newer parts for my bass. I'm sold on Lace basses and wish him and Lace Helix the best.

Bottom line is, for $419, this is an incredible value. If I'd paid $1200 for this bass, I'd nitpick about the assembly bugs, but for the price I paid, I really don't mind spending an extra hundred bucks for some fretwork. The bass was very playable when I got it, just not perfect. It's the best $400 I've spent in a long time. I plan to buy one of their 5 strings when they become available.