Fleabass - £155 at Thomann

[mcnach]

Not the Modulus one, obviously.

I just saw Thomann are selling the black one at £155, both the shortscale and the 34" scale versions.
At >£300 they seemed a bit much, but at £155 they look just about right.

I just thought I'd let you all know, just in case.

Oh, and the pickguard is just held with double sided sticky tape, easily removed, and it looks sexy in all-black

[EskimoBassist]

Are they actually any good though? First thoughts around the internet held them to be a bit of a disappointment.

[Wolverinebass]

From playing one of them, I wouldn't even pay £100 quid for one. Awful, awful basses.

[Doctor J]

Still £154 too much

[mcnach]

I read very mixed reviews.
Then I heard some sounding pretty decent.

The bad reviews were mostly about things that a set-up would take care of. If you need to spend £60 in having someone getting it to play nicely, maybe it's not a good idea to buy unseen. If, on the other hand, you are reasonably competent... it does not sound like a bad deal.
I've bought guitars and basses that the sellers sold cheap because they just could not handle them and they wanted to upgrade and buy a better brand etc... and later that day I had teh same instruments playing quite nicely at home. So... YMMV.

[pietruszka]

[quote name='Doctor J' timestamp='1340889666' post='1711094']
Still £154 too much
[/quote]
Pretty much my thoughts. Excellent idea, how many people here started playing bass because of Flea? I certainly did. But these basses are fairly dire. QC seems non existent at best.



Dan

[Owen]

My daughter has a short scale one. Is it a Sei or Sadowsky? Obv not. It is fine and dandy.

[Rayman]

I had one, and it was nowhere near as bad as some had said it would be. I pimped it with an EMG passive pickup, and re wired it, but even before that I gigged it along side an Overwater Progress 5 with no problem at all, it was a great little bass. The only reason I pimped it was because I'm a tart. I discovered that some of the folks who had slagged them off had never even actually seen one. Funny that.

[pietruszka]

I admit I have played one, and the build was appalling. The frets on the edge of the neck almost cut the skin on my fingers, the sound was dreadful and it felt cheap. Im not surprised people change the pickups in them.

For a bass that is supposed to be QC'd by flea and each and every one checked over, I struggle to believe they tried to charge £449 I think it was when they were released.


Bottom line is, there is much better for the same money. I'm sure some one will mention the Sue Ryder bass fairly soon!





Dan

[dub_junkie]

I bought one from Thomann a couple of weeks ago. Admittedly it was not great out of the box and if I had paid £400, I'd have been returning it! But I knew most of the issues were set up ones with these basses, having read plenty of user/owner reviews before purchasing mine. I've spent a bit of time setting it up since I got it, I've also rounded the fingerboard edges and I'm happy with it now. I shouldn't have to do that I agree, but what the OP says is spot on, if you feel competent at setting it up it's worth £155 (imo). When I ordered mine, it was only the black ones left but that would have been my first choice anyway.

[mcnach]

[quote name='Rayman' timestamp='1340904608' post='1711395']
I had one, and it was nowhere near as bad as some had said it would be. I pimped it with an EMG passive pickup, and re wired it, but even before that I gigged it along side an Overwater Progress 5 with no problem at all, it was a great little bass. The only reason I pimped it was because I'm a tart. I discovered that some of the folks who had slagged them off had never even actually seen one. Funny that.
[/quote]

It's called "the Behringer effect"

[Rayman]

:-)