Wesley PMAA Acrylic 5 string bass

No idea when or where it was made, but I can tell it wasn't built by anyone who cared. 24 frets. 5 strings. Strat bass shape clear acrylic body. Maple neck. Rosewood fretboard. 2 un-named jazz style passive pickups. 2 volume, 1 tone. Un-branded tuners and a solid Tele style bridge for a 5 string bass. Just what you expect on a low priced standard bass really.

I play Rock/Funk/Groove and Mellow but none of that matters because it sounds hideous, rattly and scratchy through to dull and lifeless. There are no good points that I can say about it, no variety, its quite noisey, crackly pots, played through any amp it just sounds awful. 2 volume pots and 1 tone pot serve 2 of the most laughable excuses for jazz style pickups that I have ever had the missfortune to hear. Tone pot was loose when it arrived and has nearly no "tone" effect on the sound other than serving to completly roll off the high freqs when turned all the way down (possible incorrect capacitance on the pot). The pickups themselves have hardly any output as they are passive and very poorly built. The pickup casing is made from what I can only describe as "not suitable for children" plastic... the kind that could shatter quite easily and leave nasty shards about the place... which is what nearly happened when I tried to remove one and investigate the possibility of replacing both pickups and thus start a project to remedy this ugly duckling and turn it into a bass worth playing. I found I could not remove the said pickups as they had been hard glued to the acrylic in the cavities in which they sat. There are no pickup height adjustment possibilities here, even if I found a way to replace the pickups I would still have to rerout the cavity and drill my own screw holes. So it looks like its going to stay sounding awful!

The action upon arrival was in need of some serious attention however that did not phase me... but the following did:
It has 24 badly dressed frets (scratches in the metal from lack of attention to detail in the work). Completly formed clear acrylic body (weighs a tonne... the bass is heavier than my tv), from a distance it looks good but when you get up close it just lets you see exactly how careless the manufacturers were. Bad routing, chalk dust residue in all cavities and very messy wiring.

This bass IS very sturdy and the strap buttons are very stable, let it be said that if ever I need an extremly heavy crutch to hobble off stage once I've had my leg broken for playing such a bad sounding bass... this would do fine. The hardware however is pants. I so badly want to replace it all, but due the poor manufacture of this bass it would be an amazing feat. The acrylic gets scratched very easily but I do like a worn out looking bass but it needs to play and sound good first.

Would I gig with it?

Only if I wanted to quit straight after the gig.

Honestly... it wouldn't even be worth the cost of the call the only way they could improve this bass would be to give me a new bass... preferably one by a completly different manufacturer.

I have been playing bass for 6 years and been playing guitar for 16, I have a mountain of equipment and a home studio. You might ask why I would bother to buy a cheap bass. Well usually I buy cheap Chinese instruments and spend a little time refurbishing them and making instruments that sound and play like ??600 but actually only cost (after the initial cost and all the replacement parts are installed) ??250.

"Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this bass?" - How about "Are you going to rip me off and leave me with something that I'm most likely to have to pay for to take to the scrap heap?"

"anything you wish it had?" - Yeah... I wish it had 'not been bought by me'.

"Anything else you'd like to share?" - Yeah... if you're thinking about it... don't even bother... go buy a Shine instead... at least on those you can replace all the hardware.

I bought this bass in the 'deep purple' colour as a bit of a gimmick for a few songs during gigs. It was ??120 which is definitely in the cheap n cheerful range. The features are correspondingly basic. It has 2 J p/ups with exposed polepieces and minimalist passive electronics with no shielding. It has the standard 2 x vol and 1 x tone controls. The tuners are unbranded and tend to go out of tune too easily. The neck is standard 34" scale and is definitely chunky in feel. The headstock adds nothing to the look of the bass: merely adding to the weight.

What a revelation!!! It's got that classic J bass sound out of the box, much better than I'd anticipated. The sound is a tad limited and the B string is a bit flabby but there is a fair amount of punch and even some Ricky twang if you want it. The bottom end is a bit light so all you reggae heads and motowners might need to give it a miss. If you play rock/punk and jazz like I do, the bass cuts through any band nicely. Word of warning though: it is a noisy bugger and I had to add some foil as shielding. I have recorded one song with it and it seems to be ok as long as you stand away from your amp. No probs live though.

Obviously, the price dictates the quality of this bass - I have no idea where or when it was made. The fittings are basic, one of the control knobs was loose and the neck isn't as secure as it should be but the bridge seems to be ok. Then again, it should be easy to repair/upgrade. The action was set higher than an English longbow at first and can be taken down to a medium height which I like and enables me to 'dig in' when playing. The 2 octave neck is ambitious as the top 2 frets are difficult to access.

Because the body of the bass is man-made, I will be more likely to throw it around on stage and I expect it to withstand the rigours of live playing more than my flame maple Tobias Toby. Its cheapness means knocks will be easily repaired. I might even buy a cheap used model to interchange parts as a backup. The tuning stability could be a problem, especially if your amp does not have a tuner out facility.

The bass was delivered straight away with no shipping problems from the factory. This is the only encounter I have had with the company, but I'm sure they'll be ok if and when I need them.

Once you get the action/noise sorted, this bass is a hoot to play. It has more personality than most modern basses and its weight/chunkiness inspire confidence. Other colours available are clear and blue in 4 or 5 string so you can choose to your taste. It puts a smile on your face when you play it and on others when they see it (especially if you can put funky led lights on it as well - definitely no guilty feelings about carving it up). What was bought for a laugh has become my fave live bass! Played through my Behringer combo, the bass easily growls enough for loud rock.