Silvertone SSBE5430 5-String Bass

Bought it used in December 2003 for $180 US. I think it is a Korean bulit bass (the head stock says "Silvertone by Samick") but it is not a bad bass. This is a five string fretted model. The bass has three knobs. One for the "P" type samick pickup and one for the "J" bass type pickup, and the final knob is a tone control that works both pickups. There is no selector switch. The pickup are marked "samick" and are of the P & J styles and are passive. The body is an unknown wood with a very good looking red finish with gold hardware. The body is a very deep cutaway with a very comfortable curved shape. The shape is very good looking. The headpiece is faced in black with the tuners placed 4 +1. The neck is a curly maple and has a rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays. The neck is the flatest and thinest bass neck I have ever played. It is rather wide and is extreamly fast acting. Based on the used price I'm giving this bass a 9

I play classic rock. It is okay for that , but one of my sons is a slapper/popper and it works really well for his style of playing. The "J" pickup is VERY noisy and I never use it for that reason. I am using some tapewound strings (GHS) and they increasr the warm dark sound of the P pickup. I'm playing it through a Peavey Max 450 head and an old Peavey 2x15 cab. Lots of bottom in that setup.

Beautiful bass with no flaws in finish or fitting. I got it used and it was set up well, but I don't know who set it up. Very fast action and good playing feel.

Seems very durable. Another of my sons has gigged in Deep Ellum (a club district in Dallas) with this bass and has had good success.

Silvertone was ok in the 60's, and in the 90's I talked with Samick a few times. Never tried either warranty.

I have been playing over 40 years and have really owned at least one of everything Gibson made and basses by Rickenbacker, Fender, and Gibson. I bought this used based on the low price (an impulse buy one day when just killing a little time by walking through a neighborhood music store.) I would not buy it again, but that is not the bass' fault, just it is not something that I would need again if it got smashed or stolen. Not a bad bass if the new price was no more than maybe $250. I rate it low for the VERY noisy J pickup.

This 5-string is a fretted one, with 24 frets, deep cut sculpted body, 3 tone controls, split P/J configured samick pickups. Maple/rosewood neck, black finish. That's about everything on this thing. I'm a little miffed about the 3 tone controls, but no volume control, which is really odd for a bass, only one i've ever seen with that. I also thnk something either messed up with the bridge or pick-ups on it, something pulls the strings out, so everytime i've slapped and popped on it, the strings break pretty easily, might be the bridge is sharp and causes that...i don't know...

It sounds prett decent. I've gigged in a jazz group/brit rock group/ and now heavy rock group, and it sounds good, nice tone, and with the controls you can dial in a boomy bass sound, or a les claypoolian tone, or whatnot. Kinda weak on the volume though, newer pickup-s on it would be nice.

Action on this is great! This bass is playable as can be. I love the thinner neck of it, even though it's a five-string. Tapping on it is easy, harmonics are easy to hit, the set-up is nice, if only the sound was a bit better...

I think the neck is cracked a little bit, very tiny, but it'll b=probably grow. Other than that it's pretty durable as a whole...strap buttons weren't solid but i jammed a toothpick in the whole and screwed it back in, and it's been fine since then. This is the only bass i have, and it's been giggable, except for the fact strings break, but i'm versatile so i just play around on it without that string...it's actually really helpful, you learn more fretboard geograhpy from it...

don't have a clue

It's a cheap starter bass, but it's better than a lot of other cheap basses i've played, so i recommend it to begginers and intermediates on a budget. the bass overall playablity is the best factor, sound could use improvements, but tonality is decent at least. I'm getting a fender fretless to replace it soon, so...