Bass Gear Review

Reviewer	Trevor Raggatt, playing 15 years, rock, pop, blues, folk, praise &
	worship
Manufacturer	Tony Revell (independent builder based in Newport, Wales, UK)
Model	Custom 4-string Acoustic Bass
Price	850 pounds sterling (in 1992)

Neck type	Set, three-piece laminate of flamed maple with a thin rosewood cen
	tre strip (modelled on my own thru-neck Aria SB700). Exclusive heeless constr
	uction. Rosewood headstock facing with custom Celtic-Cross inlay.
Fingerboard	Rosewood, 19 frets, pearl dots
Body	Solid flamed maple back and sides, solid spruce top. Cutaway. Rosewoo
	d binding, bridge and thumb-rest.
Finish	Natural wood, thin matt finish varnish
Hardware	Chrome Schaller machineheads and brass nut.

I bought this acoustic bass in 1992 from Tony Revell who is an independent builder based in Wales and is best known for his mandolins and blues, parlour and rag-time guitars. The sound of the bass is very deep as it has a large body (like an expanded “Santa-Fe” shape) based on an acoustic model which Tony had already been making for some time. The tone is very deep and clear, with a good sustain and a degreeof “bloom” to the notes (quite unlike the indistinct dull thud which so many acoustic basses produce – certainly at the time!). A real player’s bass. Of course, one of the first questions Tony asked was, “how do you want it to sound?” The icing on the cake however is the ingenious cutaway and heel design where the neck seems to simply merge into the body with no separate heel. This gives excellent access to all the frets. I simply haven’t seen it bettered on another acoustic bass. The intonation is excellent right up to the top fret. A number of the bass’s features are custom options which I specified. The neck and string-spacing is modelled on my old thru-neck Aria bass (my main bass up to that time). Because of that the bass felt familiar and easy to play from day one. The thumb-rest was specially designed to avoid dampening the sound-board while providing a good anchor point for the right hand (a necessary evil and something I specified, it is probably the only cosmetic flaw on the bass). Finally, the head-stock inlay was done to link in with the folk-rock band I played in at the time. When I bought it the only production models available in the UK were Guilds and Washburns (at a much higher price) and in my opinion the Revell just blows them away. Even today I haven’t played an acoustic bass which, for me, compares (the Otter by Brook and the Fylde long-scale acoustic basses do come close, though).

The bass is a true acoustic with no pickup fitted and is used mostly at home for practice and for very special sounds on recordings. I have used it live miked with an SM57 or SM58 and it works well in this situation too (although I’d probably leave it at home on a “metal” gig!!). Frankly, though, I’ve been unconvinced by most electro-acoustic bass sounds I’ve heard live or on record – they just don’t sound like “acoustic” basses. If I want to go plugged-in on a stage I’d rather just use the Wal or the Aria. However as an acoustic bass I have never heard or played better than my (not so) little beauty.

Like most independent and small makers the degree of customer service offered was excellent. Tony brought some sample guitars, woods etc when he came up to visit a relative who lives near me so that we could have an in-depth chat about the design and he could take measurements from my bass. There has never been any problem with the bass so after-sales service is hard to judge. However, if the care and service offered during the making was anything to go by, it wouldn’t be a problem to get it fixed if the unthinkable happened.

Construction	100%
Playability	90%
- just to take account of the fact that acoustics are always require that lit
tle bit more effort than electrics
Appearance	90%
- I've taken off 10 points just for the thumb rest which, while I asked for i
t and I like it, might not be everybody's cup of tea!
Sound	100%
Value for money	100%
Customer service	100%
Overall	100%