Reverend Rumblefish 4-String Bass

American made fretted bass with maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, two J-bass style pickups slanted towards the first string. Volume-Volume and Tone controls similar to a J-bass. Like all Reverend guitars, body is phenolic plastic with hollow chambers with a solid block running through the center for rigidity and sustain. Standard tuners, basic J-bass style bridge. Due to its construction it is very lightweight and nicely balandced. In general, very straightforward, no fancy bells or whistles

I'm a part-time base player, so maybe I'm not as critical as true bass players, but this is a very good sounding instrument. The tones are full, clear, with lots of clarity, but not overly bright. Very little fret noise comes through the amp, and the sustain and resonance of the body is very good. The neck pickup is also in a perfect position to act a as thumb rest. It produces mostly medium-weight sounds with a good amount of percussiveness. Rolling either volume control off alters the sound nicely, but not radically. Never quite as full as let's say a P-bass, but overall very useful tones. Compared to the only other bass I'ved played a lot -- A G&L ASAT -- it's less flexible, but getting a good sound is less complicated

Excellent. While the materials are unconventional, and certainly do not display exotic woods or finishes, the overall workmanship is top notch. All joints and edges are flawless, and because the finish is somewhat matte, it does not show fingerprints and smudges. The back of the neck is silky smooth, and the fingerboard and fret finishing are as good as anything I've played. The action is better than my G&L ASAT, and the thin profile of the neck makes it easy work for a guitar player who needs to pick up the bass now and again. My only complaint is that the bridge is very basic and not particulary massive. It works, but could have come off any old imported P-bass clone

Hard to say, but it should hold up. The top and sides are essentially like a countertop, so it is very resistant to minor scratches and dings. I have not owened it long enough to have any negative comments.

I've been playing guitar for 30 years, but in the past couple years have started to play bass part time(My band has no luck finding reliable bass players). The reverend is a cool looking, excellent playing instrument that covers a good variety of tones with little fuss. Some people my have a hard time getting over the Danelectro type construction, but this is not a cheesy instrument. For someone looking for a USA made instrument with excellent playability but does not want to lay down a grand, this is a strong candidate. I plan to sell off my G&L ASAT bass -- beautiful, but too rich for my level of playing -- and just keep the Reverend.

Semi-hollow body, 1999. Mine is the original J/J version with the Kent Armstrong pickups, skunk stripe kneck and vol/vol/tone knobs. All passive. Jazz-style neck. See reverenddirect.com for more info regarding Reverend guitars. The finish on the neck is lighting smooth. Feels like a pre-CBS Fender that's been played for years. Has light weight tuners. The entire bass only weighs about 8.5 lbs. Gig bag is pretty much no frills. Only one shallow pocket for cords, etc. The ones they sell today are much better.

This bass has about the liveliest sound I've ever heard. Big-time BOOM for a bass with two Jazz pups. Sound is similiar to a Jazz, but without the low end growl. Lower notes are fairly clean sounding (piano-like). High notes are nice and round. Very unique, high quality sound. I have a pair of GHS Pressurewound strings on it now and I'm running it through an SWR WM15 with a Hartke 2x10 ext cab. The pickups are set fairly far from the bridge. I think this contribute to the big boomy sound. The pickups are slanted. This is my only complaint about the bass. Erogonomically, it just doesn't work. Gets in the way of my picking. Thinking of repositioning the bridge pup by making it straight like a Jass. Shouldn't be too tough to do since the pickup cavities are huge. Won't require much wood work.

Love everything about it except for the position of the pickups. I'd love to see the bridge pickup closer to the bridge form trebly growl.

Seems to be build solid. The body materials are extremely resistant to wear. Much more so than wood. It's hard to scratch this sucker.

Joe, the owner of the company and inventor of Reverend guitars, is only a phone call away. It's a long-distance phone call (no 800 number), but he's very accessible.

These things look cool, sound great, they're light weight and play like a dream. The sound isn't for everyone, but I love mine. Construction is incredible. Plays like a $1,000 guitar. Try a set of GHS Pressurewounds on one. I think they're the perfect marrage.

Even tho the Rumblefish is basically a Jazz Bass clone, it deserves good marks in the "Features" dept. The body construction, being mostly man-made materials, makes it refreshingly light on the shoulder and allows for the unique look & vibe. The cavities inside the body help create tonal aspects outside the scope of solid-body basses. The two J pups are mounted on an angle, which probably makes sense sonically, but not ergonomically. Like most finger-pickers, I like to plant my thumb on the pups, but with angled pups this is not comfortable. I know this sounds like a chicken-shit gripe, but when your thumb slips off the sharp corner of the pup, and you miss a note, it IS embarrassing. The bridge is standard Fender-like fare, adequate and good quality. Tuners look like some type of mini-gotoh units, and to be honest, if I were going to order a new bass from Reverend, I'd definately upgrade to the Hipshot ones if they were still available. The neck....probably the best in the business, with lots of attention paid to the set-up. There are two different neck versions for the Fish. The older "skunk-stripe" one feels a little better to me(I have both types), but the newer version, with its re-enforcement rod may be more stable. The early gig-bags are cheezy, the later ones are much better. The HSC is too cool to pass up.

The sound is rich and sweet mostly. Best tones are found in the lower register, as they should be. Notes played above the 12th fret can get a little harsh sometimes, but really, who cares? I own three Rumblefishes and all three sound different. One is an XL, so it's supposed to. Surprisingly, of the two "standard" ones, there is a huge difference. The older one sounds smooth and creamy, while the slightly newer one has more gain and gobs more of treble. In fact, any more than 8-9:00 on the treble control will create raspy surface noise and unwanted harmonic overtones that refuse to be hand-muted. I think they may have different tone capacitors, and possibly pups. Anyway, a set of flats on the raspy one solved the problem. Pretty versatile tone-wise, no problem cutting thru a live mix. Have'nt been near a studio in twenty years, so can't say how the Fish will record.

Reverend really shines here. My three Fishes and one Brad Houser 5 have come perfectly set up and adjusted. I like the action low AND buzz-free which requires a perfect balance of truss rod setting and fret leveling. It aint easy, and can take a lot of skill and time that big-volume guitar makers can't be bothered with. Naylor knows this, it's his edge. You don't find flaws on Reverend instruments. However, occasionally they screw one up at the factory, in which case they may sell it as a "blem". Blems and demos are posted on the web-site at a discount, but they are rare.

Build quality is high. The body material resists the little dings and scratches that wood-body guitars love to collect(really stands up to buckle-rash), but the phenolic surfaces are surprisingly thin and will not take a serious shot without consequence. One of mine has a two inch crack on the top, aquired during shipping. This would not have occurred if it had the HSC instead of just a gig-bag. If these bags were designed for safe shipping I guess they'd be called "ship-bags". This is not a complaint, as I bought it this way, NOS from a former Reverend dealer, at a discount so I am happy. I called Reverend and asked about paying them to repair the little crack. There is no repair for this, short of making a new body.

I've called them a few times with questions, they seem friendly enough. But there was no toll-free number, and their web site instructed me NOT to e-mail them with questions, but to call only. Even when I have called there to order things(twice), I have to wince at the idea of paying for a long distance call. My take on this is that they are not interested in having to answer an ass-load of non-profitable e-mails. Judging from other reviews, it appears that Reverend will stand behind their stuff, especially if you buy direct, which is the only way to buy anymore.

Since 1970, I've been thru lots of bass gear, especially old Fender basses. I can honestly say that my Rumblefish basses play and sound as good or better than any Pre-CBS Jazz bass I've ever owned, including 61 stack-knobs thru L-series. Reverend offers a wide variety of finishes, from plain to whacky, so you have to love the different vibes you can get. It takes stones to produce something as off the beaten path as Reverend instruments, so kudos to Naylor.

These basses are made by Joe Naylor in Michigan. My Rumblefish is a 4-string in Turquoise. The controls are volume/volume/tone. Mr. Naylor is also very proud to say he only uses passive pickups in his basses, and I can say they sound great (but don't know who makes them). My bass came with a Reverend gig bag. All other features should be mentioned in the other reviews.

I mostly play fingerstyle modern rock/jam band-type music, and this bass is incredible in my opinion. It cuts through the mix nicely! Right now I'm actually using it through a very cheap Peavey Basic 60 combo amp, but soon I'll be running it through an Eden CXC-300 combo. There is a slight hum when one pickup is soloed, but I don't see it as a problem at all. The sound is very clear, and the tone is just right! There isn't as much variety in this bass compared to the XL version, but it suits me fine for now. Besides, I can always ship the pickguard and pickups into Joe and have it upgraded to an XL for minimal cash. I haven't done professional recording with it, but I have used it for live recording and gigs, and the sound is great for both. I really love my Rumblefish, but I may have to upgrade it to an XL at some point.

The bass came setup perfectly (even from Musician's Friend), and I have not touched the action or the pickups at all since I received it. In fact, I thought the action was going to be too low when I first looked at it, but I played it and no fretbuzz! There were no flaws on any of the components. You can tell Joe really cares about his products. The neck is extremely comfortable.

I think this bass will be very durable, but I would like to install straplocks on it at some point. It may not survive hard falls very well. The bass, however, is built solidly. I do take a backup to most gigs, but I haven't needed one yet. I've never had to adjust the neck or truss rod or anything on this bass.

Joe always answers his e-mails fairly promptly, and he is always friendly. There is a one-year warranty on the bass, but I don't foresee ever having to use it.

I've been playing for about 7 years, and I also own a Carvin B5 and Carvin LB70 (used). The Rumblefish is my main bass, and quite possibly the most comfortable and best sounding basses I've played (I haven't played high end basses). If this were lost or stolen, I'd cry, and I would order a new XL directly from Reverend. I love everything about my Reverend. It looks, plays, and sounds great for an amazing price. What else could you ask for? I've played several other basses in this price range and above such as the Fender American basses (J and P), a Schecter Custom Jazz Bass (which was also nice), a Musicman Stingray, a Spector, Warwicks (Fortress and Streamer Standard), and others. I love my Reverend! As I said before, if there's anything I wish my bass had, it would be the XL versatility, but that can be done.:-)

I bought this bass new in 2000 and it was hand manufactured in Detriot USA. I ordered it with the maple neck and light blue finish. All of the components are high quality, high standard parts...bridge, tuners, jazz style pickups, knobs ect.

I play in a blues band and with an americana female singer and this great instrument easily fits both styles. I use it on a regular basis in the studio and on stage and it has never been lacking in any respect.

It arrived very well set up, but I like to fiddle with the string height and pickups so I did that just a little. The quality was first rate all the way around.

I use it live and in the studio a lot and in two years I haven't had a bit of trouble. I love the finish, but after a while I got tired of the light blue and I went to a sign store and bought $4.00 worth of peel and stick vinyl and changed it to black in a couple of hours. I can easliy change the color to any color that I want!!

This instrument has been so good that I haven't had to deal with the company at all, but they are a smaller company with the owner on the premises and I feel like I would have no problem with them standing behind their product 100%.

I've been playing for 30 years and own many basses. I really like the sound, it's light weight, it's durability, style, hardware, case, neck...really there's nothing I don't love about this bass. I do wish that they had continued the cool lookin chrome arm rest all the way around the front of the body...that would look really great.

handmade in the good ol' USA in 1999. retro look
phenolic body with a maple block that the bridge is attached to for more resonance. 2 single coil pickups both angled like the dingwall. maple neck to die for with rosewood fingerboard, jumbo frets 34'scale bolted neck smoothest neck ever played gotoh tuners neck signed by joe naylor
included gig bag

this bass has its own sound full/rich it rings out cuts through and digs in deep. nice highs cutting mids with rumble on the bottom. its a ressurected jazz
bass alive with tone what fender would sound like today if leo still owned the co. 2volume 1tone control give you a wide variety of sounds from a steinberger l2 to a rick to you name it. i use an octave divider and stereo chrous with it as well as delay i run it through a bass pod in the studio and on stage i use two amps 1 straight the other with effects awsome sound. the only thing i didn't care for was the bridge. it was a cheapy. i replaced it with a badass.

i got this from musiciansfriend. the bass was set up prefect right out of the box. it was even in tune.
everything was tight. the aqua body w/silver pick guard is great.

i've had this a year now and its my main 4 string bass. i use it 5 to 6 nights a week. every week. i have never had a problem. the neck has never needed adjustment and the passive electronics are solid and quality. i trust this bass to perform.

you can call there and talk to joe personally

i started playing bass when i was 11yo. i'm 46 i've owned alot of basses. the thing that got me interested in this bass was it looked COOL. i hadn't tried one before i bought it. i had researched it on the net and heard good things and i figured if it did not live up to my expectations i could always send it back. to be honest i wish i had the money to have one in each color. don't waste $1000's of dollars on those pretty wood basses i've been there done that. try one of these.

This USA "handmade" features a bolt on maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. The body made of a composite top and back (made from wood fibers and phenolic resin), are laminated to mahogany center block. Two single coil (jazz) pickups with seperate volume controls and one tone control. Check out http://www.reverendmusical.com for more details.

It's piano like tone is great. Melts perfectly with the real piano of the trio I'm in. Lost of warm low and nice high, without lack of mid. Versatile like a jazzbass. verry quiet with both pickups on.

I like the low action on the perfect seated frets. Everything on this bass looks nice and clean. What more to say!

Feels like a solid build bass. Reliability will be OK. Durability, time will tell.

Mailed the company, answer within a day.

Playing bass for more than 10 years. 7 years on a MM Stingray. This Rumblefish is more versatile and beter fits my playing style. Great bass for a great pice ($748 incl. OHSC). I would buy a new one if stolen. (Anybody out there who wants to import these basses to The Netherlands so I don't have to fly to the states again) Thank you Reverend for building this bass!