MTD Kingston 5-String

Korean. 2008 apparently a new model. See Musicians Friend or somebody for details.

Stock bass no mods.

About $900, I have no idea where you guys are getting these for 4 or 5 hundred.

Rock, Classic Rock, some Jazz.
sound is muffled and very dissatisfying even though it was active pickups. I thought something was wrong with the amp till I tried it on several other amps. Didn't matter. It still sucked. Currently running through an Ampeg STV-4 PRO, and it's still quiet compared to other basses.
3 band EQ volume and blend controls like a Bartolini set up used in the actual Tobias basses, now unfortunately made by Gibson who is apparently butchering everything they touch.

The pickups are definitely not Bartolini quality. Some Korean stuff that really doesn't have the correct sound or volume even with it being active.

Action was way too low and lots of fret buzz. Intonation was not even close. Crappy strings like Gibson puts on everything even if it is not made by them. Just an example.

Pickups were pretty high and close to the strings but no contact during playing that I noticed, still too close for comfort.

Hardware is black chrome and looks really nice for now. I suspect it will peel in the near future.

Pickups have a wood covering and look great.

Don't know about the durability of the unit yet.

I'll guess at a rating since it is hard to tell. It's a really pretty Bass but durability who knows. My rating here is really a guess and based solely on my perception of the guitar at this point.

It is really pretty though if that is all you are interested in.

So I called the guy I bought it from to try and find out how to contact the MFG. I had done a little research and discovered that there was a pre-amp change that had occurred and that low volume was supposedly one of the problems. I went to a store here that specializes in Bass guitars. He looked at it and said that it was the old design pre amp. They stopped carrying them specifically because of the problems I am experiencing.

The distributor that I was referred to for answers is Dana B Goods. http://www.danabgoods.com/ The person I spoke with was nice enough BUT, it was obvious that he felt his job was to be the interceptor for MTD and he has NO CLUE what he is doing and the service was piss poor at best.

I swear it was like talking to an Indian call center. It finally got to the point that I just wanted to know for sure how to check the pre amp so that I knew if it was the old one and if it was I wanted it replaced. Nope can't do that, you must send it in, oh btw it will be at your expense. I'm starting to get irritated so I kept asking, how can I identify it give me something, just anything that I can check.

Ohhh my goodness gracious me, I am very sorry sir it sounds like your Bass is ****** up, you must send it in.

Ok so how do you want to pay for the shipping on my new guitar so you can fix it since you refuse to give me any information.

No sir you must pay for the shipping, yet again.

To say that I am displeased is a grotesque understatement.

Screw it. I'll fix the damn thing my self by installing Bartolini parts. Now the guitar is premium cost for Korean made.

playing a while. wish I had asked if the company actually supported the product without an act of god and you first born.

Thieves liars and cheats abound. DanaBGoods and I guess MTD for using them to insulate themselves from their customers is on the list.

Stolen, jeeze let me think, how much insurance money can I get for it so I can buy something that works.

The only reason I give it a 2 is because it is a really pretty Bass. It looks great, past that, well you can see above.

I'm assuming it's a 2008 as I purchased it in October of 2008. It is a translucent amber version with maple fretboard and a wide (3/4" string spacing at the bridge) neck. Active tone controls (bass, mid, treble) and a single volume control. Single, MM style humbucker exposed pole pickup, a zero fret (very cool) and Buzz Feiten tunings sytem. Tuners are standard run of the mill. Bridge is a rolled metal bridge (not cast). Strings seemed to be high quality - the unplugged sound of the bass was great. Made in Korea.

The active tone controls may be new to this bass as some of the other reviews say passive.

A lot of great features at this price point.

I play a variety of music in my band, but mostly power pop, hair metal (80s and 90s fun dance music, etc.). I play through a Peavey BAM modeling head (SVT is primary setting). My main bass prior to this is a Carvin B5 with 2 J-style stacked humbuckers with active tone controls. Unfortunately by comparison to the Carvin, the Kingston sounded like it had a blanket over the top. I loved the bass so much - the way it played, the way it looked, all of the killer features, but try as I might, I could not get it to sound good at all through my rig. Considering I have a modeling amp that can sound like 10 different types of amps with 10 different types of cabinets and has a ton of EQ and effect options built in, I was disappointed to say the least.

I have played other single MM basses as well (have not played an actual Music Man though) and they've all sort of sounded the same so maybe it's the pickup style that doesn't suit my taste. It seemed to have much lower output, no distinction in the highs and lows, and no matter what I did with the tone controls, it never seemed to be able to get rid of that muffled quality. For me, I'd score it a 1 or a 2, but I know for players that are not playing rock, this may be just the ticket. Jazz and softer styles of music would probably dig this as it is a round tone that would fit nicely under a set of strings or brass section. So, I'll rate it a 6.

Out of the box, the action, fit, and finish were spectacular. The action was low, but not TOO low. No buzzing whatsoever and the frets were finished off well (no stoning of the ends necessary). The Buzz feiten tuning system works! This bass sounds unbelievable when you play chords - like nothing I've ever experienced before. The zero fret really adds a lot to the sustain of open notes and gives a great ringing quality that I hadn't noticed in my other basses.

Unfortunately, due to the sound not fitting with my style and taste, I returned the bass. It does seem extremely well built though and I would have no hesitancy in playing out with it and I think it would hold up well. Seems very well made.

N/A

It's a great bass...but not for me. If it had another pickup system in it, it may well be the perfect bass. Maybe I need to look at their Heir line which adds the additional J style pickup. This one was priced at clearance price though so that was the only reason I bought it to begin with.

This is an early 2000's Korean made MTD Kingston passive 5-string. Single Music Man style pickup--basswood body--35" scale neck with 24 fret maple board--volume / tone controls. Bass is candy-apple red with a mother-of-toilette-seat pickguard and the Buzz Fieten tuning system. Black hardware.

I've been playing bass for about 15 years and do mostly finger style with some slap. I play through several rigs: Carvin 600w combo--Avatar single 12" cab with GK 400RB head--Ampeg SVT350 with 1967 Fender Bandmaster cab (yes, it's original). This bass is quiet has a very broad sound. It sits very comfortably and is quite light. The Music Man pickup and pickup placement give it great presence and the sound really cuts through the mix with great balance. I had Mike Lull install a Bartolini 9v 2-band EQ and a passive tone control. This really took the bass to the next level and the tonal cabability is perfect to my ears. Not to mention that with the EQ the bass is now a MONSTER of low end rumble when needed.

I purchased this bass from a seller on Ebay. He had it set up like a lead guitar and it really sounded lame. Once the setup was done on it by Mike Lull there were no problems. Very well made and the attention to detail is first rate for a bass in this price range. Having seen Michael Tobias' work on his own basses it is easy to see why he chose this manufacturer in Korea. They truly have their stuff together.

No worries here.

Before I added the Bartolini pre-amp, I emailed Mike Tobias asking him his opninon. He responded in a couple of hours via email and said that that particular pre-amp is one that would be a good upgrade. It was nice to get a response from the man himself, and in the two other emails I sent him his response was equally as quick and informative. No worries here either.

If this bass were stolen I'd get another in a New York minute. I have a Sadowsky Metro 5-string and a Mike Lull P/J 5-string. Both of those basses sound fantastic, but I always seem to gravitate toward the MTD and play it the most. If you are looking for a great 5-string and don't want to spend a lot of your hard earned cash, look no further than the MTD Kingston series basses. Truly a bass for the masses.

Made in Korea, not sure of the year, sometime around 1999, 2000 or 2001 I'm thining. This one doesn't have the Buzz Feiten Tuning System, so I know it's one of the older ones. 5 string Fretted, solid top, basswood body, maple neck and fretboard. Single Bartolini-made MusicMan style pickup, in the harmonic sweet spot. Originally passive, I added a Bartolini NTMB 3 band preamp, so now it's active. Modern shape, the same one as the MTD 535, though the Kingston has a rather ugly pickguard though (which I promptly removed... much better now). 35" scale, 19mm string spacing, very comfortable assymetrical neck profile

I play a lot of stuff.. rock, funk, some jazz fusion... the Kingston 5 suits them all. I run it through a Sansamp Bass Driver DI and a QSC RMX 1850HD into an Avatar 2x10 and an SWR Workingman 1x15 with an Eminence Kappa Pro LF speaker.
The tone with the NTMB is very bright and cutting... this is an attack dog of a bass if there ever was one. Better suited to an "out in front" type of player than a more supportive one.
I strung it with DR Hi-Beams, and it can do a dead-on Stingray imitation. It's able to nail the bass tone on the song "Suck My Kiss" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It's a little lacking in lows due to the lack of a neck pickup, but it's nothing that a little extra bass boost can't fix. I will say that the lows were definitely not adequate when I had the bass in its original passive configuration... the sound was very midrangey, lacking in both highs and lows. This bass has an AWESOME slap tone... pure Flea. It's absolutely noiseless, which is nice... single coils are annoying for that reason. The tone is balanced across all strings, and the low B is like the voice of god thanks to the fantastic, well built neck and the 35" scale. I recorded with it once, back when it was passive, and the tone sucked, it got lost in the mix (which is due at least partially to the engineer, who didn't mike me up and only used a DI out from the Peavey head I was using at the time... tonal death for sure). I think this bass is a little bit better suited for live use than studio use, though it could probably do either well. You've got an uphill battle trying to get a really deep, full tone with one of these, since it's made of basswood and it has no neck pickup, so if you're looking for warm, rich, old school tone... look elsewhere. Very modern, defined sound.

I got mine used, so I can't comment on the factory setup. I do know that it holds a setup very well... I've had to make only minute adjustments to the action, which is set really low. The bass has no physical flaws... everything is very well made and just says "quality".

This bass seems built to last. There's nothing flimsy about it. It's comparatively lightweight (maybe 7 or 8lbs with the onboard preamp and 2 9 volt batteries), but it's not flimsy by any stretch. I'd use it without a backup in a second.

I haven't had to deal with MTD, but I've heard that Mike Tobias will respond directly to your emails himself if you have any issues/questions. That's cool.

I've been playing for 3 years. I own a shitty Jay Turser chinese-made copy of a Stingray (my 1st bass), and a DeArmond Pilot Deluxe 5 (another great, inexpensive bass). I like pretty much everything about the Kingston 5. it looks sexy as hell too with the pickguard off, I must say, and it sounds really, really good. This is a freaking GREAT bass for the money I paid. It's easily worth three times what I paid for it. If you are looking for a bass that cuts through the mix, one where every note you play will be right there out front... this is it. Get one of the new active Kingstons that are coming out in a few months, a preamp makes it tons better. If it were stolen I'd be pissed as hell and would probably want to beat someone's ass, but I'd probably get another... or maybe I'd whip out the old Guitar Center card and get a Warwick Corvette FNA Jazzman.... ok I gotta go play now

2003 model made in Korea. 24 frets, 5 string
Basswood body, white in color. Maple neck (not laminated) with maple fingerboard. 35" scale. Single Bartolini designed passive MM type pickup, volume + tone. All passive electronics. Bridge is hipshot, bent metal, not the machined billet. Does not have quick change string setup like the more expensive Hipshots. Non locking tuners, look like Gotoh. Spartan features, but what is there functions really well.

I play mostly funk and classic rock. It suits my style very well. I play thru a variety of amps, Beringer practice amp, Fender Bassman 100 wiht 2x 4/10 cabs, SWR SM400S. It has kind of a MusicMan Sting Ray sound. Bottom is really full, high notes cut thru the band really well. Electronics are surprisingly quiet. I have 3 very expensive boutique basses: An Alembic Elan, An F-Bass BN-5 and a Made in Chicago 2Tek Hamer. I wanted this bass to take to gigs so I would not be mortified if a $3,000.00 bass got stolen or damaged. I'm giving it a 10 for sound. It doesn't sound quite as balanced as one of the handmades that I have, but for the money it cost, It's addictive. You can get what you need for a lot of different styles out of it. I play a lot of thumb slap. The spacing is a full 3/4" between strings, so it slaps really well. It sounds as good as a lot of much more expensive basses I've played, and plays a whole lot better. Michael Tobias is really a great designer.

Was set up really well from the factory. I'm really fussy (been spoiled really bad!) and I was happy... EXCEPT that the frets were not trimmed at the edges of the neck. Had to use a stone on both the bass and treble sides all the way up and down to get the sharp edges off. It made a terrible mess of the really smooth white maple neck and finger board. Had to take 1 1/2 hrs of scrubbing the black filing dust off the wood with Pledge to get it presentable again. I bought it on eBay for a really righteous price, so it was worth it. The intonation was dead-on, it stays in tune, the truss rod was set perfectely for the strings on it. Just the fret ends were a problem...that's all. That's the only reason it didn't get a 10.

Hardware seems really stout. The tuners aren't the best, but again, it's not a $3,000.00 bass. They can be replaced if necessary. Everything else seems really bomb-pruf. I would gig with it without a back-up, unless it was a really important large club or concert gig. In that case, I would play one of my "good" basses and use the MTD for the back-up. I'm not afraid of playing this with no back-up. It's that good. I'm giving it a 10 here cause for the price, it's a really good piece.

Don't know about the warranty or how good they are to deal with. Never have had to. I've heard that you can call MTD and talk with Michael himself... impressive considering!

I've been playing since the mid 1970's with a 12 year hiatus. As I mentioned before, I have a variety of really special hand made basses that I really like. This is a great one to take to jam parties and smaller less organized gigs. The really great thing about it is that it's very close in dimensions and string spacing to my hand made basses, so it feels right at home what I play it. I compared it to a lot of different Ibanez, Epiphone, Fender Mexico and others. It was such a value and such a great design, I bought it. They make a model with a J pickup in the neck position, that would give the Kingston 5 more versatility, but all in all, the sounds I'm getting out of this one are adequate (and then some) for it's purpose. I can get some really good tones out of it. Kind of Ray-Like. The best feature of this bass is it's design. It's Tobias... later in his career Tobias... after a lot of years of designing really great basses. He really knows how to make something playable for a great deal. I never thought I'd consider a Korea-made instrument, but this one's a keeper. I stolen, I would definately get another... maybe two!

New. Made in Korea. 24 frets + zero fret. 5 strings. Basswood body. Passive volume and tone controls. 1 MusicMan-style humbucker. 35" maple neck and fretboard. Blue pearl finish. White pearloid 2-ply pickguard. 4+1 tuner config. Bent tin bridge with barrel saddles. Cable and allen keys for truss rod and bridge screws included.

There's no point in grading the features because Michael Tobias meant this to be a simple instrument. It's a good lookin' blue foofighter.

Sounds like a Musicman. With the tone control open, it produces an aggressive midrange bark that cuts through the mix very well (zero fret helps a lot too). With the tone control rolled off, the bass delivers booty but can get boomy, so I find it best to leave it in the middle somewhere. If you want the X-treme his-and-lows hi-fi smoovejazz Marcus sound, invest in a preamp or some new electronics.

The low B on this thing is terrific. Also, the pickup has a pretty wide dynamic range, which is great because I don't have to use a volume pedal.

Virtually flawless, except for one edge of the pickguard near the neck, which isn't quite straight, and nut slots, which are a little deep. Otherwise: low action, nicely crowned, nonprotruding frets (not perfectly polished, tho), filled kerfs, perfectly applied finish, very comfortable neck shape, even though this is a wide-5: full 3/4" string spacing at the bridge. The satin finished neck is great to move around on, and there's plenty of room to dig in if you're a spastic player.

Design gripe: if you play in 45+ degree poindexter position when standing up, there's a bit of neck dive.

Fellow boutique-makers-who-want-to-penetrate-the-low-end-market-by-shipping-manufacturing-overseas-and-selling-in-bulk, learn from this man.

Had it for 2 days. Hasn't let me down yet. But it's passive. Strap buttons are big enough not to worry about. Cheap, and therefore veryreplaceable.

You know, I don't know the man personally, but word is that if you email him or call him up, he'll talk your ear off. Even if you're a luthiery dunce!

There's something thrilling about playing the most expensive luthier's cheapest instrument.

For a cheapo, this is a great one. Sure, the electronics aren't exactly a Swiss army knife, but if you want something that's usable out of the box without tweaking, and a low-B that's good for something besides hanging laundry, get this.