Reviewer John K.
Experience 8
Review date January 26 2004
Manufacturer Pedulla
Model Thunderbass T5
Price $1400
Item owned for 1-6 months

Bass type 5 string fretted
Neck join Neck Through
Neck construction 3 Piece Maple with Bubinga strip (i think)
Fingerboard Ebony 24 Frets 34"
Body 3pc AA Flamed Maple with bubinga center
Finish Polyutherane
Pickups Dual Bartolini Soapbars
Hardware Gold Gotoh
Electronics Dual Active Preamp, Volume, Blend, Tone, Preamp Select switch

This bass is great. It's a very meaty sounding bass, very full, and needs very little EQ help in the low end, and not overly bright on the high end either. Switching to the Thunderguts preamp puts out a very forward/ growly low-mid emphasized tone, which is great for cutting through loud songs, but I always switch back to the regular preamp for slower and softer songs due to the 'smoothness'. Having 2 sounds in one bass really helps for someone like me, I play mostly church worship/praise music and we go from slow to loud to slow within a few minutes, and switching back and forth is great!

The setup is actually a bit trickier than i expected. Most people seem to find their Pedullas flawless in setup. However, i couldnt get my bass setup cleanly with average action, with no fretbuzz. I ahve slight fretbuzz at some high frets on the G string, which i barely use, and when i do i usually use harder plucks which dont show teh fretbuzz, only when they're gently plucked. I just wish i could get a nice low action on teh bass for super fast playing.

the neck is great, even with average string action, i can play very fast, as least as fast as i was able to on my old ibanez thin-ncked sdgr500 with low low action.

the wood is soft, so i need t obe more careful with it than most other basses i've used, i guess thats how AA flame maple is?

also the gloss finish isnt as hard as the finish on my glossy ibanez, its more of a flexible finish, not necessarily good or bad, but i'd rather vhae a satin finish on the neck for it to be faster, since there are some wear spots of the finish since i bought this used.

This can do every sound, except for that nice smooth jazz tone, which you need a jazz-style bass for anyways, like a Pedulla Rapture J2 (also amazing)

In short: I love this bass! it looks very nice also, the shape and finish, and teh flamed maple!


Construction 95%
(Still want lower action without fretbuzz)
Appearance 100%
Playability 100%
Sound 100%
Value 100%
(Used)
Overall 98%

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