Schecter C-4

bought this bass on e-bay from a music shop as new old stock, so it had a few light scratches. bass has a great look to it, dark cherry with black chrome hardware and nice inlays and binding. has emg-hz pick ups-9volt. very thin neck at the nut. so look and playability seem good.

not sure if i like the sound yet, seems more punchy than low end for rock but it seems clear to me and right now i'm playing thru a small practice amp.

and now to the problems, action was very low when i got it which was good, but starting noticing some buzzing, even clanking on the E and A strings if you weren't pulling directly up on those strings. took it to local shop and ended up having the plastic nut replaced with a graph teck because it was so low and strings were hitting first fret. maybe that's why it was new old stock. so i ended up putting another $100 into a new bass for a set up and nut. {there was a no return on the e-bay purchase] schecter now seems to use graph tech nuts on their basses now acording now to their web site. also the bridge set up is a pain too many small parts as staded by others.

i can see this bass showing a lot of ware down the road with gloss finish and dark color. bridge hardware seems to be questionable with all the small parts and those tiny allen screws coming loose and if you over tighten you may end up stripping them trying to get them out.truss was super tight when i got it, shoptech said it was tough to break loose. sems to stay tuned fairly well. I would have back up at all times

i've only been playing for about 18 months but i am older player and was a drummer before. i did research on basses before got stared and have low end bass as a begining instrument and decided to move up. i think the flash look of the bass sold me. i had tried the c-4 at some shops before i bought and found it very comfortable to play.the overall features of the bass seem pretty solid, but they seem to have cut back on small items.

I am not sure what year my c-4 bass was made, maybe 2003 or so. It is a Schecter Diamond Series C-4.

Body: Mahogany with a figured antique amber maple top (looks like deep red tiger stripe with golden amber highlights) and cream binding -- The top is arched (subtly, not much) The body style is Schecter's own and used with C-4, Omen, Hellraiser and Damien basses.

Neck: 3 piece multilaminate maple/walnut hardwood with complimenting tight grain for a strength and a rosewood fingerboard -- 24 jumbo frets -- 34" scale -- vector abalone/pearl inlays

Pickups: EMG HZ (they are EMG 35HZ) - passive pickups

Electronics: Volume, Pickup Pan Knob, Treble boost/cut, Bass boost cut -- the tone controls are active (with a 9-volt battery) and there is a dip switch for dial in the tone.

All gold trim hardware

Tuning pegs - nothing fancy but they work great

bridge/tailpiece: individual pieces for each string - not the best construction - adequote, but a little cheesy - I took a point off for the bridge.

Others have said that this bass is not good for the blues. Others have said the tonal quality is not good.

Au contraire. I could not disagree more. My C-4 bass delivers an amazingly rich tone. It is extremely versatile and sensative, from deep thundering bass, to crisp tight tone, to warm and even soft and mellow. You can pound out hard rock, walk a warm blues line and fill a nice bottom behind some soft acoustic music. You can even get this bass to rip out some great funk, plus popping and slapping.

The original strings were ok, but not so hot. I use D'addario half-round string which produce amazing tone and resonance (and they are a little easier on the frets and fingerboard).

The original bridge/tailpiece was ok, but I replaced the 4 individual bridge pieces with a gold Bad Ass III bridge. This improved the resonance between the strings and the body, which improved the resonance in the mahogany body and really brought out its tonal quality.

The dip switches in the active tone circuit provided a significant advantage for dialing in the sound I wanted. That coupled with the active treble and bass controls, provided a wide range of excellent possibilities. Also, the pickup pan knob, instead of a switch, allows you to dial in the perfect blend of bridge and neck pickup.

There is no static and no unwanted sounds.

With a few minor adjustments, my C-4 bass sounds great.

The guitar finish on my C-4 was excellent - flawless. It is a beauty.

The pickup pan knob was set properly, which was easy to adjust.

NO guitar is setup perfectly when it is new. With that said, my C-4 was pretty close.

The C-4 bass neck was perfect
The jumbo frets were smooth
The rosewood finger board was tight grained and straight.
The nut height of the strings was perfect
The bridge was set a little higher than I like it (when lowered there was no string vibration on frets not pickups - very nice!)
The pickups were set perfectly

There is one screw on each tuning peg, and I had to tighten each one down a little

The six bolts on the neck needed to be tightend (very minor).

The original bridge is ok, but not the best.

With the requisite professional setup, and a few minor tweaks the bass was ready. Of course, there is the small issue of the bridge. I replaced it as noted above.

I took a point off for the bridge and the minor tightening that was required.

This bass is solid. Nothing has gone wrong with it in over five years. The bass has travelled cross-country well and not suffered one but.

I will take a point off for the original bridge - it would have caused problems - but I replaced it and have no problems.

I don't no idea. I have never needed support because I have never had a problem.

This is not and intermediate bass. Sure, it does not cost $2,000, but I do not think you will find a better sounding 4 string bass with this level of quality at any price.

Spending more money simply means you spent more money.

Investing the money to replace the stock bridge with a gold Bass Ass III bridge did improve the sound of the bass, but is sounded good in the first place. Too bad the C-4 bass did not come with a Bad Ass originally.

With the minor adjustements I made to this solid instrument, this bass is a 10. It is truly a fantasic value.

Nice looking bass

If you like EMGHZs and there 9 volt tone pump I guess its alright. I'm not a big EMG fan . I kept this thing, for about two weeks hoping it would sound better. It never really did it for me, so off it went back to GC, and I replaced it with a Fender Jazz MIJ, and never looked back.

Typical overseas quality, Uneven Frets, crappy plastic nut, the worst bridge I've ever seen, cheap tone woods. I can go on , but what's the point.

I took it back after two weeks. If one wanted to though, this bass could be made into a really great bass by. 1. Replace the plastic nut with a bone or a brass nut.
2. Replace the bridge with a better bridge { Leo Quain Bad Ass Bridge II, Schaullar, ABM, or a Hip-shot }.
3. Have the frets leveled, and have the truss-rod adjusted.
4. Replace the the pickups with some Bartolinis.
5. Replace that cheap tone pump with a Bartolini NTBT pre-amp, and wire it to 18 volts.
After doing these mods, you'll have a great bass that will sound really great, cut through any mix, with plenty of head room too , and you'll get lots of complements on your tone.

Don't know , I never used them.

With out the mods maybe a 4 or a 5. After the mods an easy 10 plus

IMPORTANT INFO Hello!!! HELLO now!! THE EMG HZ pickups in the C-4 are NOT active. ( simple research will confirm this ) The reason you need a battery is for the ACTIVE EQ on board.
Yet some of the reviews below state that they applied the 18 volt option and saw a change in the sound.
Folks if we are going to review then lets do it in the scope of reality!!

active emg -hz are nice (in this bass--other basses with same pickups may be shitty)

great overall sound-- more modern and hard rock slap funk whatever more percussive

good factory setup

something small always f's up like a loose knob etc, but if your not a dingus- you can easily fix these things

this is good bass for $400 and under.

I like the two active EMG pick ups, the 24 fret neck, the creme binding on the neck, the super cool inlays, the narrow width of the neck, the low action and the long body horn that balances the guitar nicely when strapped on. These are features I was looking for.

I don't like that there is no pick up selector switch or a master volume control. I'll need a seperate volume control to operate this guitar. Les Paul certainly had a better idea when addressing volume knobs. I suppose I can rewire this like a Paul.

As many have stated, the C-4 is great for slapping, spanking, popping, and picking but I favor a pick and just love the sound for grunge and metal. For blues this guitar is just not a good replacement for the warm tones a P bass or Jazz bass can give you.

But I don't play blues or classical or all that. I like Alice In Chains and Tool and Rage Against The Machine, etc and the C-4 is the best way to nail that sound on a budget.

I played all kinds of basses for not having to think twice about buying the C-4. Others might have sounded as good but none sounded better and the C-4 just plays and looks so good and was the lowest price of the good sounding basses.

Those guys in South Korea must love to play bass or something because this guitar is so very nicely made. The action and intonation was set up by USA Schector employees suppossedly according to a little sticker on the back of the body. I took the guitar home to find the intonation was spot on and the action very low and nice. There is the proper amount of bow on the neck and there is no buzzing of the frets.
I was thrown for a day when I looked down the neck and thought it to be warped or twisted. I later reliazed it is just the way Schector cuts the nut at the headstock. Actually, the neck is as straight as can be.
The frets are nicely polished on the sides and makes for a smooth slide up and down the neck.
I did play with the action on the bridge and I don't know why some people are complaining about the bridge. People, just unlock the saddle before trying to adjust the height and then remember to lock the saddle back in place after you set the height. There's no reason for saddles to fall out.
Same thing for the intonation. There are little locking set screws that need to be loosened before making saddle adjustments.
The paint and clear coat are thick and very smooth. Nicer than my $1300 Fender Stratocaster.
The tuners do an excellent job of keeping the bass in tune.
The Elixer [plastic coated] strings sound and play great. I won't use Elixers on my electric or acoustic guitars but they sound a little dead but on this bass they sound great.
I did take a look inside the pot cavity and while all the wires are tight the soldering skills are less than great. [I have a military soldering certificate]. The sheilding isn't really great either but I must say that the pick ups are still dead silent. I can't say that for my Stratocaster.

I've only owned the guitar for a couple weeks but besides the questionable soldering the guitar looks strong and reliable.

This guitar would cost over a grand if made in the USA. It's that nice! If fact, I've never played a nicer bass and it was one of the least expensive guitars in the store.
It's antique amber with gold hardware and I'm thinking I might like the black cherry with chrome hardware better.

It's a rather light weight bass especially when compared to the USA made Fenders. I'm 46 years old and I can easily stand for 3 hours with this guitar around my neck [good padded strap].

The two volume knobs are annoying as we have to turn them both to kill the volume.

The neck is first rate.

The tone is first rate.

Well balanced on a strap.

24 frets!!!

Beautiful UFO looking neck inlays!!

$399!!!!

Hey President Bush, please don't bomb Korea!!!!

CONSTRUCTION:
6 Bolt-On

BODY:
Mahogany w/ Figured Maple

NECK:
Multi-Laminate Maple / Walnut

FINGERBOARD:
Rosewood

FRETS:
24 Jumbo

SCALE:
34"

INLAYS:
Vector

BRIDGE:
S-Tek

BINDING:
White binding on body and neck

TUNERS:
Gotoh type enclosed

HARDWARE:
*see finishes

PICKUPS:
EMG Hz

ELECTRONICS:
2-Vol w/ EMG, Active 2-Band EQ

FINISHES:
Antique Amber (ANTQ) w/ Satin Gold Hardware

The sound of this bass is very good, and has a great slap tone. As with all EMG eletronics, they are very quiet. The HZ pickups aren't quite as 'scooped' sounding as other EMG pickups I've played, with a little more midrange. Neck pickup is very warm, and even though the bridge pickup is a little honky sounding, it is still quite usable--especially blended with a little neck pickup.

I bought this bass used and there were only a few minor issues, mostly cosmetic. I basically checked everything over when I got the bass home. Schecter USA did the setup when the bass was new and it was still pretty good. The sheilding in the control cavity was not perfect (as with most imports), but the EMG electronics are still quiet and the bass is grounded correctly. The only problem I had was with one of the brass-insert screws on the battery compartment. It looked like someone had dripped some shielding paint into one of the inserts before putting in the screw, so when I went to change the battery it took quite a bit of force to loosen it. It's fine now, and other than that one little glitch---no worries. The Koreans are doing some really nice work these days on the instruments coming from their country.

No worries here. I don't jump around when I play--I'm too old for that--so the bass should work fine as long as I don't mistreat it.

Unknown how Shecter is with their customer support. I usually fix my own instruments if I can. If not I take them to Mike Lull.

I've been playing bass for about 15 years, and guitar for about 48. I teach both for a living, and my live playing is mostly in church these days. I own a number of instruments--some vintage, some new. The Shecter C-4 from their Diamond Series is a solid bass. The neck plays great, and the electronics are dead quiet. I lean mostly towards passive instruments, and even though the Schecter has an active circuit, I'd buy another one. The only thing I wish it had was an active/passive switch in case a battery dies (the HZ pickups are passive). I rate this bass a 9 overall. You would be hard pressed to find a better buy at this level of quality.

i wont go into much here it's already been said ecept for the bridge peing a pos it's not all that bad it is hard to set string highth and intonation at first but once you figure out the tricks (takes 1-2 btimes it's not really that hard but it could be easier. THe strings that come on it are elixer nano garbage first thing you have to do is get rid of them I use GHS ground wound med. they give it awhole different sound more bottom and not so muddy sounding also play with the switches on the active tone contol and add a 2nd batteryand your bass will be awsome.

see above for changes to make this bass can be absolutly awsome with a little work 200% better than stock. it has a bunch of mid punch and crisp clean top end but without the changes you probubly wont like the btm end with them you'll love it.

perfect

for as light and maybe even fragile apearing as this bass looks it's a tank but still I would not gig any bass without a bu I have three basses so thats not a prpblem a gibson EB2 a thunderbird and the C4 It fits perfectlt between the two others.

don't know

been playing off and on for 30+ years If it were stolen yes i'd get another one.

2004 Schecter C-4
24 Frets
EMG Hz Passive "Soapbar" Pickups

This bass is extremely light. Unfortunately, with most basses, amps, and everything else, heavier is usually better.
Neck is very very thin. Very large neck radius (flat fretboard). Frets are OK.
Tuners have this little rubber o-ring that I always worry is gonna fall off.
Really bad bridge design (black pieces fall out easily, aren't solidly in place)
Good active electronics.

I play jazz, funk, rock, alt, slap, pop, fingerstyle, harmonics, tapping, everything.
Played on Ampeg 210 watt 2x10. Great punchy mids. Muddy lows. Highs are kind of piercing. Slap sounds great if eq'ed right. Can get a good Jaco type tone. Tapping is hard to get a decent sound (weird fundamentals happen).
Good on stage, but really feels like you're "missing something". Kind of hard to support a 20-piece jazz band with this baby. Also hard to get a solid low end, P-bass kind of tone out of.

Ah, made in Thailand I think. So of course they don't care how it's set up. Don't blame em. Feels alright, moreso from the 7th fret to the nut. Higher notes really become muddy and lose any kind of quality. Which makes soloing difficult. It sounds completely different in these two areas of the neck. Odd.
Only real gripe is the horrible horible bridge design. Stupid black connectors (where the strings are actually connected to the bridge) are very unstable and loose.

Actively gigged with this bass for a year now. It's held up fine. Finish will get lots of scratches if you play slap. Other than that it's pretty solid.
Unfortunately it feels like you're playing a piece of plastic.
Strap buttons are pronounced & great.
Truss rod is great, reacts to adjustments well.

Never dealt with em'. Probably won't have to.

As a closing, I play a Warwick Thumb 5 Bolt-On now. It has the "guts" this bass was missing, if not the "soul". I think I'm going to convert this bass to a fretless, because I still dig it. Sweet!

Playing for 5yrs.
If it were stolen, I would try something different. Maybe a Fender P or J.
Great mids and ok highs. Lows suck.
Great for it's price range.
Most bassists start off with a low end bass, then move up to a 2nd one, then settle on a higher end one finally after a few years. This bass makes a great bass-after-my-first-bass.

Hi

This is an update on my review dated 07/06/05. See customer support section for details.

It took till 07/11/05 to finally get a reply via email from Schecter from their online form. I was contacted by Derek who is their Diamond Series Production Manager. He did mention that the black metal saddles for setting the string height could fall out and offered to send me a set at no charge. He asked me exactly which parts I was inquiring about so as to be sure and I emailed him back detailing my concerns about not only the inserts but the complete saddle as well. I let him know that I was concerned about gigging with the bass without having backup bridge parts in case a saddle got lost.

He replied back via email the next day and said that he would send me a set at no charge and to be sure to keep the single screw on the saddle tight to prevent loss.

I received a "full" set of replacement saddles with inserts on 07/21/05 so I'm covered with a back up set.

I'm raising the rating on this catagory to an 8 due to the fact that Schecter did finally contact me and send me the parts.

Now that I have a set of bridge saddles for backup, I'm going to keep the bass. I really do love the way this bass plays and sounds and the looks are great. While wating for Schecter to return my email, I found out a couple of things about the C4 bass.

If you have the XXX model or another C4 that uses the one piece bridge, you can get a complete replacement bridge from guitarpartsdepot.com for $30.00 their part number is Code:GSBC4. I ordered one and the shipping was fast had it three days. The bridge seems to be a knockoff of the ABM bridge.

While Googling aroung trying to find out where to get a bridge, I stumbled across this web site in Korea at www.yhim.co.kr/fdata1.htm. They are called Price Korea Music Co. and list themselves as the top guitar builder in Korea. They state they are "OEM base of your favorite brand name". They list the exact bridge used on the Schecter C4 as their number BB001. This probably is the maker of the Diamond series instruments.

I'm raising the overall satisfaction rating to 8.