Product: Westone Thunder III Bass
Price Paid: 295 (UK Pounds)
Submitted
11/05/2005
at
05:06am
by
Chris Cee
Features
:
10
Made in 1984, Japan, 22 frets 4 strings
Solid top, rotary cnotrols for volume, tone and active bass or treble boost. Switches for pickups, active on/off, plus 2 further switches which I think are for phase and coil tap - but no instructions received when bass was bought new, so not sure.
Fitted with J-type pickup at bridge and P-type at neck, active electronics, but still works as passive, even if the 2 x 9 volt batteries fail. Through-neck is a 5 peice lamination of what appears to be maple and mahogany, body is supposed to be Canadian Ash with a further lamination of a strip of mahogany between this and the through neck. Body is stained transparent black as is the head-stock (the wood grain is clearly visible) and the whole bass is finished in high quality gloss varnish. Body size is relatively small. Bridge is heavy duty lacquered brass and top nut is graphite, brass Westone badged tuners and the wide strap buttons and all 3 rotary controls are solid brass. Neck is fairly thin and fretboard is ebony (very nice!) Guitar only arrived with a reasonable quality lead - no instructions.
Sound
:
8
Very versatile bass having a wide range of tones from thundering reggae through to snapping funk - but the latter is where this bass really scores. Having a wide range of musical tastes myself, this bass delivers what I want. Have used the bass with a Carlsbro Cobra 90 bass top and 12" speaker, but now just a Behringer BX108 practice combo. Can sometimes be a little sensitive to interference when using J pickup. This is a fairly heavy bass - a wide strap is essential for comfort, but the plus side of this is that it rarely goes out of tune.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
Arrived very well set up. Having binned the standard gauge roundwound strings it arrived with and since used extra light gauge I had to alter the action and intonation, but this was back in 1984 - nothing has needed touched since! Only criticism on the finish is that the lacquer on the brass hardware has been a bit thin in a few areas, so the brass underneath has tarnished, but as this is probably now classified as a vintage bass, it maybe adds to the character.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
Built like a tank, though the styling doesn't look like it - I would defy any bass at any price to be stronger built, though see previous comments on brassware finish. Strap buttons are excellent. Have never needed to touch the truss rod. Shouldn't need a back-up - just as well, because the company that made these went bust some time ago. This means the bass is irreplaceable - so in my case I love it so much I'd be reluctant to let it out of my sight - ideally I'd want a more easily replaceable bass for gigging!
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never needed customer support, but maybe just as well.....
Overall Rating
:
10
Been playing since 1982. Currently no other basses owned. No regrets whatsoever buying this bass - it was unbeatable at the time for quality and features at its price and over 20 years on I reckon I would need to part with at least 3 times what I paid for it to get another bass at anywhere near the same spec. I love the through neck, the tone, the bags of sustain and the fact that every time I pick it up it's in tune. Sometimes I wish the active circuitry allowed me to boost bass and treble at the same time, but this is something you only get on the most exotic basses. If it was stolen or lost, it would take a very, very long time staking out Ebay before I could find another in the same, mint condition. As this would be extremely unlikely to produce any results, I guess I'd have to put the insurance money towards a Jaydee Supernatural.
