$29.99 Bass at Music 123

[7lords]

mine was delivered this afternoon - should get some time to test it out when I get home tonight

[7lords]

Opened it up and set it up last night. Very nice, especially for $30. Minor fret sprout (but not nearly as bad at the Fat Fully) that can easily be sanded down is about the only negative. Neck is straight, weight is nice and sound is great for a $30 bass.

[marnold***]

Well, good news! Apparently, the manager in question found my bass languishing in the warehouse. It was picked up at 5:41 last night and his Green Bay for delivery at 3:30 this morning. I'll give a full report, although it might not be until Friday when I can really sit down with it for an extended period of time.

[WackyT]

Received my $30 Fullerton acoustic, but it has a big crack in the front body. OH SUGAR!!!

[duhvoodooman***]

Received my $30 Fullerton acoustic, but it has a big crack in the front body. OH SUGAR!!!

Oh, man, that sux big time! My guess is that "sugar" wasn't your initial choice of words! I'm sure that Music123 will make good on it, but who needs the hassle?

My Fully bass was delivered to my home at 9 AM this morning. Will check it out tonight. This will be interesting, 'cuz I've never played a bass in my life!!

Can I safely play it through my Delta Blues, as long as I keep the volume down? I figure that big ol' 15" speaker should handle the bass pretty well, as long as I don't crank it. Can anyone confirm?

[WackyT]

Oh, man, that sux big time! My guess is that "sugar" wasn't your initial choice of words! I'm sure that Music123 will make good on it, but who needs the hassle?

Yup. "Sugar" was not my first word of choice. I know Music123 will come through, but I was looking forward to playing her today. I'm just glad that they still have these lefty acoustics in stock.

[marnold***]

My Fully bass was delivered to my home at 9 AM this morning. Will check it out tonight. This will be interesting, 'cuz I've never played a bass in my life!!

Never? At all? That surprises me for some reason.

Can I safely play it through my Delta Blues, as long as I keep the volume down? I figure that big ol' 15" speaker should handle the bass pretty well, as long as I don't crank it. Can anyone confirm?

I don't think it will be a problem, from everything I've read. (See this page for example.) The EQ on a guitar amp will be tuned more to mids than lows. It would be easier to blow a cone this way, especially if you crank it and you have an open-back combo/enclosure. I'd like local bass expert R.A. to chime in here.

Having said this, I'm not going to try it with my AD30VT. I'll try it with my Blazer because if I blow the cone on that thing, it could be considered urban renewal. I'm sure I'll get a bona fide bass amp at some point . . . just don't tell me wife that right now

[7lords]

I have an old Sony stereo receiver and an old set of HarmonKardon speakers that I have in the basement - I'm using that with the microphone in jack - works great and I don't have to worry about damaging a guitar amp.

[duhvoodooman***]

Never? At all? That surprises me for some reason.

Never. At all.

Well, I've held one and thumped the strings a couple of times, sans amp. But never actually played one. What can I say, I've led a sheltered existence!

[Leonidas]

Originally Posted by duhvoodooman
This will be interesting, 'cuz I've never played a bass in my life!!

Can I safely play it through my Delta Blues, as long as I keep the volume down? I figure that big ol' 15" speaker should handle the bass pretty well, as long as I don't crank it. Can anyone confirm?

I'm in the same boat man I've actually played a bass ONCE for about 5 minutes while holding it for a friend at a jam session. hahaha

But I plan on playing my fullerton through my AD50VT. From what I've read, it should be fine as long as I don't play it real loud, which is fine for me. I just want some sort of amplified sound to mess around. Then maybe I could get a bass amp down the road...

[DaveO]

Well, I saw the first one of these for sale on craigslist today. "Brand new in box!! Only $100.00"
Watch eBay now.
Dave

[marnold***]

Well, I just got mine. The initial report is not good at all. Here's a quick overview:

The finish looks cool until you look at it at an angle. There are all kinds of lines in the finish, as if it were made up of hundreds of bits of wood (wait for it!). I opened up the control cavity which was an adventure. The cover was in there so tight, the paint chipped in several places around it. The good news is that all the wiring looked nice and neat. The control cavity revealed the awful truth: the body is plywood. I didn't think they did that anymore.

The best part about the bass is the neck which, while desperately needing a setup, looks like a good piece of maple with a relatively nice rosewood fretboard. There is some fret sprout.

The pickups are basically uninspiring. It's hard to tell much difference between the P and J pickups alone and together.

It's kind of hard to say that I'm disappointed in a bass I paid $39 for, but even at that, I'm not sure I got my money's worth.

[7lords]

What you get must be a crap shoot - i opened mine in the back and the black one I got is solid wood. Maybe the black/silver ones like yours are different.

[marnold***]

What you get must be a crap shoot - i opened mine in the back and the black one I got is solid wood. Maybe the black/silver ones like yours are different.

Could be. Here is my final review: it's at the local UPS shipper waiting to go back. I think this is a record for the shortest amount of time I've ever owned anything in my life.

I find it almost unbelievable that the list price for that bass is the same as my '51. My '51 stock is better than that bass in absolutely every way imaginable. For the $39 I paid I can shrug and move on. If I had paid the $100 I paid for my '51, I'd feel royally ripped off.

It seems that if I want an inexpensive bass, I'm going to have to get an SX. In another post I mentioned trying an SX bass and a Squier P bass. I found the SX to be much better than the Squier, but even the Squier was much better than this Fullerton.

[WackyT]

My acoustic was dropped off at FedEx this afternoon for it's trip back east. Hopefully I get an unbroken one as replacement.

[duhvoodooman***]

Well, I wouldn't know a good bass if snuck up and bit me on the ascending scale, but the Fullerton bass I received yesterday (one of the black ones) certainly seems to be better than Marnold's nightmarish account of the silverburst one he got. The finish is shiny, black, and uniformly smooth, which is about all I expect. I don't know if it's plywood, not having opened the back yet. The body seems pretty light, but then again, it's quite small. The neck is nice and straight with some fret bloom, though less than my ST4 Fat Fully had. The setup didn't seem bad, though I have no experience with basses, as previously stated. Intonation is pretty good, except the G is a little flat at the 12th fret, which I'll fix. None of the strings buzz, though the E seems kind of "rattly" when plucked hard. I plugged it into my Delta Blues for a while and it seems to thump nicely, which is about all I was looking for. The two pickups don't sound dramatically different, though there is definitely some difference in tone. Of the two, I liked the sound of the split pickup (neck) better. Don't know if I'll keep it, but I definitely plan to thump on it a bit for a while and try to unleash my inner Berry Oakley....

"Wake up momma, turn your lamp down low...."

[DaveO]

On truck for delivery today. I'll think happy thoughts.
Dave

[Big_Rob]

Maaaan, I was too late

[Leonidas]

Well I received my bass yesterday. First off, I was a little scared, after reading Marnold's terrible experience... So I opened it up and looked over it real well. Everything seemed to be ok, the neck is as straight as possible as far as I could tell. The body is very small, so the whole thing is extremely light. I tuned it up and plucked some strings for a bit and everything seems to be fine. No fret buzz, nothing really wrong with it. So then I opened up the back panel to check out the wiring and wood. It was indeed actual wood, and all the wiring seemed neat. Only thing I really had to do was tighten the pots because they were a tad loose. In all, I think I definitely got a steal for 40 bucks. And for a guitar player, I can't really complain