Retrovibe Basses

[kemper162]

Does anyone have any experience of these basses?? Are they of good quality for the price or cheap and nasty?
They certainly look nice
Been playing since June ,recently got hold of a mexican Fender p and considering another machine to tinkle away on.

[Chrismanbass]

sorry not tried any of them so can't help on that front, but their website looks like a giant lawsuit waiting to happen

[BetaFunk]

[quote name='Chrismanbass' timestamp='1384975282' post='2283051']
sorry not tried any of them so can't help on that front, but their website looks like a giant lawsuit waiting to happen
[/quote]
Why?

[paul h]

I have a very early Retrovibe Aero 2. It's possibly even a prototype but I'm not 100% sure on that.

I Love it. Although I am prone to swapping pickups!

[police squad]

I had a white Ric copy. Used it in a jam tribute band. It was excellent considering how cheap it was. There are some youtube clips of me using it with them.
Should have kept it really

[Pow_22]

I had the Ric copy one. Looked lovely but could tell it was cheaply made. All the electrics were cheap and replaced, the fittings/trim were cheply put together and the pups were slightly out of line. Not terrible for the price but you get what you pay for (or i did whith that particular model) - a cheap bass for cheap pennies

[Spike Vincent]

I have one of the ones I shall not name in case Rickenbacker's legal team hunt me down.The electrics are clearly cheap and on mine needed some remedial work,the 3 way switch was especially poor. Build quality is ok, it looks like a R*c, it hangs like a R*c, and I've owned far worse basses.

[Bassbadger]

The early RV4 basses did suffer occasionally from cheap pots and switches so I had these all uprated for the second batch which are now all sold and out of production. The same higher grade components are now standard on the new Vantage, Zygote and EVO models so hopefully there should be no issues with these new models and indeed all those I have played and set up so far have been very nice.

For those who are interested and didn't know my name is David Konig and I design, import and sell the Retrovibe range of basses. I am of course happy to answer any questions or queries so please feel free to post or PM me.

[hamfist]

I used to own an RV4 which, to be honest, was pretty cheaply made. The neck and fretwork was particularly poor. There were various reports of other Retrovibe basses of that era having very poorly aligned pickup routes, or simply inaccurately placed pickup routes. THings may have improved in the Retrovibe camp since then, but if my experience was anything to go by, then I'd rather be spending my money on a new Squier at the moment. Or even better on a used bass. You can pickup some really pro basses for £200-£300 these days used.

[davehux]

I have a Retrovibe Vantage Mk 1 that's coming up to 2 years old, and I love it. Had no issues at all with build quality or electrics. The big fat bridge humbucker is a beast!!!

It makes bass players do a double take when they see it.

It's certainly not a Fender or an R* (I have them as well), but you're not paying those new prices. Horses, courses, etc

[irvined]

I have an all black RV4 which I think is great.

No problems with any part of it. It was the last of the last batch so I think had upgraded electrics.

Looks good (to me) and sounds fine.

[12stringbassist]

I own a black RV5 and the only issue I had with it was the bar over the strings was a very flimsy construction and may as well be taken off, but it needs something to hold the A string down. The sound is superb with a bit of treble rolled off. Great for the money, but needed just that little bit of attention.