Le Marquis

[ironside1966]

What do people think of this, is it better then a Squier?
It looks better IMHO
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Electric-Bass-Guitar-by-Le-Marquis-N-Y-in-Sunburst_W0QQitemZ110193464541QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item110193464541&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Electric-Bass-Guitar...p3286.m14.l1318[/url]

[Hamster]

Impossible to tell if it's better from that piccy. The wood stain looks a little bit too orange for me.

Hamster

[Dave Dubya]

Was looking for more info on these and found only this thread. What do people think these will play like?

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Electric-Violin-Bass-Guitar-LE-MARQUIS-N-Y-LM-VB-SB_W0QQitemZ350164818689QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item5187731b01&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]Link[/url]

They do look rather nice, but I'm assuming it might be built poorly.

[Happy Jack]

I see they use exactly the same bullshit marketing-speak to describe a violin bass as a jazz bass.

How can a bog-standard copy of someone else's 50-year-old design "[i]enhance the individual personality of every musician who live (sic) their life through music[/i]"?



Looks like a load of tosh to me - buy a Squier.

[4-string-thing]

ok, here's my two 'penneth for what its worth!

I wanted a cheap bass a couple of years ago (after playing an outdoor gig in November!) that I could leave lying around at toilet venues etc, and not worry too much about.
I came across the black violin bass by Le Marquis, and at the time it was about £85 plus a bit extra for the case. My girlfriend bought me one for christmas. Delivery was quick, and painless from Sono music supplies in Germany.
I have to say, for the money, it is a very good bass. Much better than I expected, well built, nice to play, nicely finished and sounds pretty good through my Acoustic 220. I would be quite upset should it get damaged or stolen. Even though I am not playing toilets anymore, I will be hanging on to it. Whether I would want to pay todays price for it though, is another matter.

Contrast this with my experience with Squier products.

About 8 years ago I bought a Squier "Fat" telecaster, cost: £240. This thing was bobbins from the start. Bad neck, which I could never get straight, no matter how much I tweaked the truss rod. The paint finish was ok, but the hardware was rubbish, the machine heads were sloppy, and the pup selector was hit and miss, sometimes killing the sound altogether, when selecting the neck pup, requiring a bit of fiddling til it made contact with something!
I managed to sell the thing for just over £100 in the end, despite being barely played and in "as new" condition.
However, my girlfriends son also owned a £90 Squier strat, which was pretty good, certainly better than my tele.

Horses for courses really, of course, it's always better to try before you buy, but I have had no problems with my Le Marquis violin bass or Sono MS.

[OmeDunk]

I owned a Le Marquis for 9 months.

Pros:
Cheap
Reliable company (Sono MS)
Sounded great with Wizard 64's (much better than my Fender f'in Marcus Miller)

Cons:
QC
Fretwork not to good
Factory strings do suck

I really had a good time with it.
Never played a Squire, but if the difference in costs is not too big I would order a Classic Vibe Jazz. (based on the reviews I read here and on TB)

[SL60GE]

I have a white one of these.

I’ve just picked it up after having it sitting on a stand for the last 3/4 years 

after setting it up I was surprised how well it plays and the volume and tones were unbelievable. I may have changed the strings at some point but I really can’t remember.
It has a good white gloss finish with a pearl pick guard all switches and pots work fine and the hardware is not to shabby. 

im gonna try recording with it next to see how it sounds.