Steinberger XZ-2 Standard

This is the cheapest headless bass I could find - I was looking for something easy to fly with, and got it as an experiment. After a very necesarry pickup change and set up, I completely love it, but all my ratings are based on the "original pickups" version, with upgraded ratings at the end of each section. It has a body, which I prefer to the traditional Steinberger "paddle" shape. It was made in Korea probably in 2002, and came with passive EMG select pickups, which I switched out for some old active EMG SS pickups (original Steinberger), (see comments under "Sound"). It has a beatiful "honeyburst" finish, separate volume controls for each pickup, a passive tone control (switched out with the new pickups), sleek and compact body shape, and a standard scale 24 fret neck (for complete specs, check musicyo.com). Even though some of the stock features were pretty cheap and needed immediate replacement, I give it a 7 because the Steinberger headless tuning system is so cool, and makes it vastly easier to travel with (especially when it comes to carrying it on to an airplane these days).l

I liked the acoustic sound and feel right out of the box, but couldn't live with the EMG select pickups once I plugged it in. They were warm enough, but lacked any punch, definition or brightness. I switched the pickups out with active some EMG-SS pickups which I scored used, extensively tweaked the set up, and now I LOVE this bass! It sounds and plays as good as basses retailing for quadruple it's cost! With the active pickup upgrade it is fat, warm, punchy, super clean, just bright enough: pretty much the EMG P sound. I play everything from jazz standards to funk slap, and find it excellent in all genres. I haven't found as much versatility through pickup selection as I would like (and as I find with a Jazz or P-J configuration), but I get a killer "Precision" active sound from the neck pickup (the EMG pickups are essentially a "P" pickup in a standard guitar humbucker housing). I don't get enough warmth from the bridge alone, but can get some versatility by dialing it in & out. I'm extremely happy with the sound I get from turning both pickups up all the way (just a little phase cancellation to tune out some mids, and added bridge sound). I play almost all styles in a working band, and am completely happy with the sound. (note: the SS pickups are discontinued, but EMG is still producing an EMG-HB pickup which is supposedly pretty similar, though I haven't heard them yet). The rating I'm giving here is based on the bass with the stock pickups, but after the pickup change it is a solid 9.

The factory set up was just ok (playable but kinda buzzy), but needed minimal set up to make it right, and it has stayed right through many climate, humidity, and temperature changes on the road. The bass contained no flaws at all, and the finish is great and real purty.

This is my workhorse on the road - I travel without a backup. I've even dropped it on concrete (in the gig bag), and though it made a scary clunk, it didn't even go out of tune. It stays in tune far more than a bass with a traditional tuning system, and holds up extremely well.

I tried contacting MusicYo with some questions about pickups, and got a useless generic answer. There is no way to contact someone directly, only through e-mails, but I guess this is one of the ways that they can keep their prices so ridiculously low. I have had all of my questions answered very well by searching the Yahoo steinberger users group, and excellent resource, which I give a 10.

I have been playing bass for only a couple of years, having played guitar and other instruments for many years, but I've actually been gigging on the road on bass for a year and 1/2, learning as I go. I was using an Ibanez Soundgear SD800, an old Fender P-Bass, and a Mexican Fender Jazz, and this is my favorite of the lot! I'm frankly shocked and pleasantly surprised at how much I dig this instrument. I will reiterate that I absolutely had to change the pickups to make it usable, which tacked on an additional $125 to the overall cost, and I also had to purchase the gig bag from musicyo for $50, as the one that they ship it with offers as much protection and less comfort than a shopping bag, which brings me to a total cost of $455 (not including new strings - the musicyo ones are pretty crappy). I still consider this an excellent buy, especially considering the ease of travel with a smaller instrument, and how beautiful an appearance it has (very cool - lots of compliments). I would replace it in a heartbeat. I beleive that one of the reasons that it is so inexpensive is that they build a good instrument with the Steinberger bridge system, then put in the cheapest pots, pickups and strings they could find. It would be nice if they sold a version with upgraded hardware and pickups, to save the trouble of doing it myself, but I like to mess with my instruments anyway. I'd also love to put a J pickup in the bridge position, but I'm so happy with the sound I get that I probably won't ever do it. It would be nice if it came with a more standard pickup configuration, so that there could be more options for pickup replacement without doing any routing, but again, I'm very happy with the EMGs, so no big deal.
It's not a "real" Steinberger in any way - first of all it's a Korean "Spirit by Steinberger", second of all it's all wood (excellent swamp ash, by the way), and thirdly it does not have the traditional paddle design, but has a more standard bass body, but these are all plusses for me - the first because being a Spirit makes it cheaper than real steinbergers by a factor of about 10, the second two because I love the sound, feel, and look of wood and more traditional bass bodies. One more improvement that I intend to make (which I learned about on the Yahoo Steinberger users group) will be to replace the washers on the tuners. The existing ones aren't that smooth, although I must say that this bass stays in tune far longer than any bass I've used with the traditional tuning system. The rating I would give on this bass after the pickups get switched out would be a 10, but as it required some changes, I give it an 8.

Steinberger headless style bass with bolt-on 24 fret maple neck (never checked a guitar for intonation at the third octave before!). Solid swamp ash body with a compact but conventional electric bass shape. I ordered Honeyburst which looks more like Cherryburst to me (a little two red on the edges) but the finish is high quality. Two EMG Select passive pick-ups. Comes with gigbag (not too deluxe...), short cable and very cursory instructions.

Sound was weak on the G string when using the bridge pickup and low treble (I'm a 60's guy who likes the booming bass sound). There is more output when cranking in the bridge pickup and more treble. I raised the pickups on the G string side and that helped a lot.

My XZ-2 arrived in unplayable condition (no neck relief, string height and intonation way off). This surprised me since the workmanship itself is very good and I also have an Epiphone Joe Pass, made in Korea and the condition on arrival was excellent. I set the XZ-2 up using Fender Bass specs (same scale length) and the instrument now plays very well. One picky problem I have encountered is a tendency for the E and A string blocks to raise slightly (which changes string height) when tightening the set screw to lock everything down. One has to be very careful to keep the blocks flat by adjusting each of the two set screws in each block exactly the same number of turns and to press down on the blocks when tightening. Also, the design makes it hard to slide one block (to change intonation) without moving the adjacent block. I expect one gets better with experience and once it is done, it's done unless changing string gauge. In summary, the condition on arrival gave my instrument a bad rap; it actually is a nice bass and the compact size is a real plus. However, if I hadn't known how to adjust the instrument I would have returned it. The instructions supplied are very poor and the technical information on the MusicYo web site not much better. Given the quality problem that the manufacturer apparently has with set-up (according to web reviews and my first-hand experience), I'd strongly suggest that MusicYo put clear, detailed step-by-step instructions on the web. I think Fender has done the best job in this regards, buyers may want to check their web site out. It's not hard to learn the fundamentals of set up (neck relief adjustment, string and pickup height, intonation); one saves a lot of money and the instrument (and one's playing) improves!

Bass seems to be very solid, durable and well built. It's really too new for me to tell but I expect it will be a reliable performer.

Good ordering procedure and my order was delivered on the day promised. However, I ordered an extra set of strings and guitar strings were included instead. I emailed MusicYo, asked for a credit (I found strings locally but are flatwounds made for Steinbergers?). They responded right away with a credit and told me to keep the guitar strings.

I have a P-Bass, Strat, Epiphone Joe Pass, Ovation. Music is a hobby (for about 35 years...). I bought this bass because of the size, price and it looked eclectic! The compactness is outstanding; put it beside the P-Bass and I can't believe it! The neck is narrower than the Fender although the same scale length which a guitar player (even with fat fingers like me) will like. Tuning and string changing is just what you hear about Steinberger-outstanding. I am glad I got the slightly larger, more conventional XZ body that the "wedge" model; I think that design would be almost too small to handle and the wood finish on mine is prettier.

I bought my XT-2 in late winter of 2000. I do believe this is a Korean made bass. 24 frets on a dark Rosewood fingerboard that I took 0000 steel wool to. It lightened a shade or 2, but feels much smoother now that the frets and fingerboard are polished up. 2 EMG passive pickups with volume control for each, and a master tone control. The bass is made of Maple (both neck and body). I bought a white one as a back up to my Gibson edition of the Classic Stienberger L2 (my mid 80's New York made XL-2 needed fret work and Gibson replaced it rather than repairing it in 95. This Graphite composite bass is no longer being produced, so I wont be gigging with it.) The neck on this bass feels much wider than the XL-2, but those of you with large hands will probably not even notice. The bass was shipped with a cheap-o gig bag, Allen wrenches for neck and bridge, and a rinky-dink patch cable along with an instruction sheet.

The XZ-2 is a cool looking bass, as is all of the Steinberger line. I have been playing through my trusty 1985 Solid State Peavey Mark IV Bi-Amped with another Peavey head into a 3 cabinet setup (1 Peavey 18" Black Widow enclosure, 1 Peavey 2 15" bass speaker enclosure, and 1 Peavey 4 10" guitar enclosure for the highs). The EMG's make this bass sound pretty darn good. EMG really does make a quality product regardless of price. With the neck position pickup I can get the low end I want and the bridge pickup is very bright. Great sustain as usual from the Steinberger design. No noticable noise while rotating any of the control knobs.

The bass came with a medium high set-up. A little adjustment of the bridge and a set of La Bella S100l extra light double ball Steinberger strings brought it down to where I like it-with no major buzzes. A few tweaks on the pickup height and then a quick polish with 0000 steel wool on the fingerboard got this bass just like I like it. The construction on this bass was great for the price I paid! Are these things made by computerized equipment? Some of the washers on the bridge string adjustment knob rods were very brittle and crumbled upon the first string change, but a search of the local hardward store resulted some nylon washers that I doubled up on each rod (similar to the the double metal washers on the XL-2). A few squirts of oil on each tuner rod and this bass tunes with little or no effort at all.

I just wish they made a bass that was this good and this affordable when I was starting out. I would gig with this bass without a worry.

The bass was purchased from MusicYo.com so all my dealings were via E-mail. They had no idea where to obtain new washers for the bridge and only offered a return authorization for the bass. So much for E-tailing!

I have been playing longer than I would like to admit. Ok, 22 years ;O} If lost or stolen, I would probably get another Steinberger Spirit model. Steinbergers stay in tune, play true, and and sustain for days. I just wish the neck was cut more like my other basses, the gig bag provided more protection (I hear MusicYo now has a better bag-sold separately of course), but other than that I was pleased.