| Reviewer
| Patrick McDonald
|
| Experience
| 10
|
| Review date
| October 05 2001
|
| Manufacturer
| Dean
|
| Model
| Jeff Berlin Standard
|
| Price
| $680
|
| Item owned for
| Less than 1 month
|
| |
|
| Bass type
| other fretted
|
| Neck join
| Bolt-On
|
| Neck construction
| 3 Piece Maple w/graphite reinforcement
|
| Fignerboard
| Ebony, 21 frets, 34" scale
|
| Body
| 2 Piece alder
|
| Finish
| polyurethane, transparent red
|
| Pickups
| Custom designed Bartolini humbuckers
|
| Hardware
| gold Badass II bridge, gold Schaller tuners
|
| Electronics
| Passive - volume, pickup balance, and tone.
|
| |
|
Made in Europe. This is a 4 string bass, 34" scale. 21 Fret, 3 piece
graphite reinforced maple neck, ebony fingerboard. Solid 2 piece alder
body, transparent red polyurethane finish. Two custom designed Bartolini
humbucking pickups. Passive electronics - volume, pickup balance, and tone.
Gold plated hardware - Badass II bridge, and Schaller tuners.
The bass has great sound. The pickups are very full and rich sounding, and
can provide a nice range from warm to bright. Very quiet - no hum. I'm
playing it through a Hartke 3500 and 4x10XL cabinet. The bridge pickup can
really give a nice growly "farty" sound, and the neck can provide a
real deep bass. Having the balance favor one or the other provides a lot of
useful tones.
This bass was set up perfectly when new. The fretwork is perfect, and I can
detect no flaws of any kind. The tight neck joint is very impressive. The
thin neck profile is very comfortable. It's a pleasure to play, and
it's hard to put down! It balances well, and really feels rock solid.
I haven't had this bass for very long, but everything seems too solid
not to last. I have had to adjust the truss rod once so far due to some
drastic temperature/humidity changes.
Haven't needed any repairs. The bass has a 5 year warranty. I have seen
the Dean website, and the company seems pretty responsive to it's
customers. I have a good feeling that they would stand behind their
product.
I've been playing for about 10 years. I own a number of Status Graphite
basses, and a Peavey Palaedium (also designed by Jeff Berlin). I bought
this bass without trying it because none of the Dean dealers within about
75 miles carried this model. I was not let down by this bass! As a big
Jeff Berlin fan I was drawn to this bass in particular. However, I don't
think any bass in this price range can touch this one. (In fact, I think it
blows away MOST basses at ANY price range.) This bass is an incredible
value. It's not a real fancy "boutique" bass, but it has
everything it needs. Quite simply, this bass sounds great, is very
comfortable, is well made, and it's affordable. I know we shouldn't
give overly glowing reviews, but I really believe this bass deserves a
perfect score. It's a top notch instrument at a bargain price!
| Construction
| 100% | 
|
| (Solid, well built, quality materials.)
|
| Appearance
| 100% |
|
| (Traditional look.)
|
| Playability
| 100% |
|
| (Fast, comfortable neck. )
|
| Sound
| 100% |
|
| (The custom Bartolini's sound great!)
|
| Value
| 100% |
|
| (I don't think there's a better bass value.)
|
| Overall
| 100% |
|
| (As close as it gets to perfect.)
|
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