Vester Maniac 5 Lefty

This Vester left handed electric 5 string fretted bass was purchsed new recently, however it has been sitting in a box in a stockroom and subsequently in a show room for 13 years. The quality inspection tag shows it was made in 1993.

It is a creamy white color and has a two octave neck made from laminated Maple and Walnut. The fingerboard is a VERY thick slab of Rosewood. I believe that the body is made from Ash or Alder (its heavy!!), but i am not certain. This bass has active electronics and accepts the usual 9V battery. There is a master volume, a pan pot and controls for Bass and Treble. The pick ups are Vester humbuckers. All hardware is black. The bass would get full marks here if it was not for a very awkward battery compartment.

I play contemporary jazz, rock, pop and blues. This bass can handle all those styles with ease both in terms of sound and looks. I play it through a Nemesis NC210, a great little combo thats powerful, precise and most importantly easy to carry :-). This bass has a rich full, dark sound with tons of bottom end and good sustain. I have not noticed any particular parasite noise. I am not a huge fan of KORN, but I think Fieldy would love it, Gary Willis too in Fretless. When I plugged it in for the first time I put the active pad on my amplifier and was initially dissappointed so I tried it with the active pad off and was blown away by the affect of a Turbo Charger! The signal from this bass, though extremely strong has not caused my amplifier to pop or fart even at high volume. The speakers handle it well too. The EQ is very delicate to handle though, slight movements seem to change the sound radically, but either way don't try to get the sound of a J bass, a P bass or a StingRay, this bass has it's own charcater no matter how you play with the EQ and panning system.

The neck is ultra slim for a 5 string (about the width of a 4 string P bass) and exactly what i was looking for as I don't have long fingers. I used to own a Yamaha TRB 5 and could not manage anything with it due to the width and shape of the neck. I sold it and had since moved back to 4 chord basses. Back to the Vester 5. The action is perfect for me, the finish is flawless, everything works great. Last but not least this bass has a relatively small body (looks very much like Ibanez Soundgear 5 strings) and though heavy is extremely comfortable to play. In terms of comfort and easy of use (apart from the ultra sensitive EQ) I have never owned a bass like this one, i love it!

This bass shall become my main bass playing live. I shall take a Fender passive bass along too short-term, just until I feel totally confident with it. However, no complaints to date, everything looks solid and works great, I can't find any faults other than the access to the Truss Rod being covered by a Vester logo plaque. That and the battery compartment awkwardness mentioned earlier. Those points shall bring it one short of full marks

Unfortunately Vester went out of business many years ago. I read that Fender may have contributed to that through a law suit, and if so, from a musicians perspective (rather than a business one) thats a real shame. I do hope they come back one day, and if they do, that they make a lefty fretless version of this same bass. In fact I am so impressed by this bass that if I had the money and a good business plan I would buy the company, bring back this model (and some others too) and put some Marketing behind getting this brand and it's guitars known!

I was a drummer for over 20 years and switched to bass 8 years ago due to moving into an appartment mixed with getting sick of lugging gear around from concert to concert. I own Musicmans and US Fenders, also a headless Hohner B2A. I have no regrets about purchasing this bass. Because it is vintage new stock I got a really great deal on it and would have also purchased it had it still had its orginal price tag (about EUR750) or cost 3 times as much. I love the neck, I love the shape, I love the color and the general aspect (its a sexy babe :-)). More than anything I love the comfort and "ballsy sound". My only dislike is the awkward battery compartment, but I shall make an investment and have a different design replacement made to measure. I believe that this bass may be "the one" for me, so overall TOP MARKS. Note: Vester went out of business shortly after this bass was made, and as they only made a few in lefty I shall not be able to replace it if it is lost or stolen... and if it is I won't get over it easily!