The Dark Lord Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 Well nearly. It's in the shop paid for and waiting to be picked up by me ...... but I can't get there until Saturday a.m. aaaaaaargh!!!!! Need one of these (we always NEED new basses) as we play up to 1/2 dozen acoustic numbers in the middle of the set, and I fink using one of these is way cooler than playing along using another acoustic 6 string. Something punters don't usually see this. Also, the drummer jumps off the kit and plays out front with us using a Cajon which is sorta cool. It adds some visual interest for 15 or 20 mins or so in the middle of a 90 minute set. I've never actually played a Fender Kingman bass before. I have used a borrowed Tanglewood up to now - which is surprisingly good - but the Fender, with a Jazz neck, will make it easier for me to play as I'll be switching from a Precision or a Jazz. If anyone else has one, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. It seems good value, has a built in tuner, the reviews look good and it looks way to cool. I'll post some pics when I get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_S Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 I had one for about a year, but got rid of it a couple of months ago as I didn't feel it was sufficiently useful to me personally. Don't get me wrong, it looks good (well, I thought so!), it's a nice size and weight to play, the neck is very accessible and it doesn't balance as badly as you might think, it's fun to keep around the house and just pick up without needing to plug in, and it sounds fairly pleasant too... ...but it's not loud enough to hang with even one acoustic guitar unplugged, let alone two and a drummer, so you'll always be plugging it in, at which point you'll very likely need to use a feedback eliminator in the sound hole, at which point it sounds [i]just[/i] like a P-bass in the mix. Since I use a P-bass anyway, I figured I'd save myself the additional, more fragile instrument to carry round and just stick with my P. I hope that didn't sound like I was giving it a bad review... I genuinely liked mine, but as soon as I realised that the sound in the mix was nearly identical to what I already had (just an EQ tweak away), and I didn't feel the need for that visual element of being seen to play an acoustic, it quickly became surplus despite being a nice instrument. Really hope you enjoy yours and find it hits the spot visually - one word of caution, however; if you're transporting it in a gig bag rather than a hard case, it's very easy to catch the tuner button on the preamp, which results in a completely flat battery when you arrive where you're going, so, you know, in line with the best held traditions of the bassist, always have a spare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apa Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 Ive got one. Its got a very nice Fishman pre with Phase button and tuner. Its knobs rather than sliders which I like. The neck is a proper J. Build quality is exellent especially the neck. Of course it needs plugging in, its an acoustic bass The only thing you need to watch is the bridge piezo. When I changed strings the bridge saddle was very loose. When I restrung and tried it again the G was almost dead. I had to fiddle with the ribbon piezo under the saddle it to get it to work again. This has been reported before so watch for it. Oh and I took the tacky gold coloured scratch plate off. Looks better for it. A bit of lighter fluid and a razor blade did the job A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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