Model Year: 2000
Price: $525.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Adrian's Music

This is, I believe, a Japanese-manufactured bass, but don't hold me to that. It has a three-peice maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, a contoured bass-wood body with a (beautiful) quilted maple top. It's got five strings, and you play them over 24 frets. It has volume, tone, balance, and a 2-band EQ nobs in it, all in impressive black chrome. The 2-band EQ controlls either the active boost or a compressor. The balance switches between two soap-bar pickups. The only irk that I have with the features is that the balance nob changes the sound too much, and either extreme is unusable onstage.

This is a verry well-playing bass. The neck is not too wide, and the frets are not too large as to hinder tonality. I have only messed with the action once, and that was only a small bit off from the factory setting, and I could not be happier. It plays faster and easier than my former Fender J-5. The only flaw is that the nut is just sharp enough to be irritating when slamming down to grab those low notes during a solo.

I use this bass daily in my High School Jazz Band, weekly in several worship groups, and from time to time in a small blues/r&b/funk combo, and it fits every style I have thrown at it so far. It can even growl for that bit of butt-rock you've got a hankering for. I (oddly enough) only use Hartke equipment because of the power and quality of sound that they produce. I have two Hartke amps that I use, a 1415 combo and a B20. The sound from the 1415 is nice, fat and puchy when it starts to get loud. It is a bit lacking when trying to bring out the dynamics of a good funk-line, but aren't we all? The B20 is one of the brightest amps I've ever played on, and gives my bass a fat, yet silky sound to it. I also play through a Fender 200-watt, and it is a nice mixture of my two amps. One mod that I have done already was to purchase a set of 6-string strings and lose my low B. My bass is now tuned E-A-D-G-C, and the sound is that much better and brighter.

So far I have not had any real problems with the overall instrument, and have only adjusted the intonation once. I installed some Peavey strap-locks a few weeks after purchasing it, and they have held up nicely. I just recently took a trip to Disneyland with my school choir, and it didn't even go out of tune from the flight. Since I bought this bass, I have probobly performed several dozen times, and the sound and playability has only changed with the strings I have put on it. The only thing that has started going bad is the volume nob; when doing small adjustments, the pot makes a crackling noise, like it is about to go out.