NBD Epiphone Jack Casady bass

[bassbiscuits]

A bit late as I actually got this last weekend, from a friend considering selling his who agreed to lend me his to try. Can't say fairer than that.

I picked it up immediately before I was about to do a gig, so having sound checked with my normal P bass I decided to give this a spin. Straight from the off it sounded great, so I used it for the whole first half. It played well, looked ace (it's the goldtop version) and was much more versatile than I expected it to be.

I mainly wanted it as a lightweight bass (currently have a niggling shoulder injury) and for a new more stripped back folky/vocal/alt originals band I'm doing. But it fitted in perfectly well for a loud classic rock covers set.

The varitone dial stayed on the middle setting of 250 - the 500 setting just brought on rapid feedback on such a small stage - which gave me a P bass with flats sound. So far so good.

The neck is a good handful but not a problem, and no issues of neck dive either. The build quality seems good - nut is well cut and the rosewood neck has neat, tight grain and no sharp fret ends etc.

Really impressed by how loud it was too - real punch and meat to it, which isn't what I expected. As a hollow body it's got that slightly microphonic, airy, woody sound to it, but plugged in and turned up its surprisingly hefty and fat.

Overall a really surprisingly versatile and usable bass, which is a lot of fun to play and which certainly turns heads on stage.

Needless to say, I bought it off the mate in question on the strength of that gig, and can see it doing a lot more gigs with me! I took it to the Midlands Bass Bash on May 7 to give people a chance to try it out too.

All good.

[paulmcnamara]

Probably one of the most under estimated basses out there?

[uk_lefty]

These look amazing!! Anybody have a rough idea of how much a lefty conversion would cost... And whether it would be effective?

[Pow_22]

Had mine strung with Pyramid flats and the tone was immense!

[Norris]

It looked and sounded great at the bash. Shame (or probably good job) you had to go before I had a chance to try it.

[TheGreek]

I finally had mine delivered yesterday after a friend of mine collected it on my behalf when I bought it several weeks ago.

Weird experience playing it for the first time. First thing I noticed was the roundwound strings - I've been playing tapewounds for about the last 6 months and the feel from the strings was weird and TBH took a bit of getting used to( NB: not the Basses fault). The weight is virtually unnoticeable - the spec says 8.4kg but it feels much lighter than that - so light even compared to my lightweight Bass Collection Nanyos - playing was an absolute joy if not a bit weird due to the lack of gravity.

Tone was a bit surprising - I expected the hollow body to have an unusual tone - somewhere closer to a D/Bass - but I found that the Epi is quite happy to turn out acceptable solid bass tones. Lovely warm tones too.

This isn't what I'd normally buy so we'll see whether or not I actually gel with it - if not, expect to see it in the "Basses For Sale" thread soon.

[bassbiscuits]

[quote name='paulmcnamara' timestamp='1462697399' post='3044905']
Probably one of the most under estimated basses out there?
[/quote]

I reckon so. I like the fact that its not a cheap version of the actual artist's bass - it's a model all of its own.

Mine's strung with TI flats too, which sound amazing - a perfect halfway house between fat flat wound thump (which really suit it) and flexible, usable, mainstream bass tone.

I agree with some of the other posts here too - it does cover a lot more solid body tonal territory than you'd expect by looking at it, which for me is a good thing as I'm not particularly a retro sort of player.

The weight and balance are very favourable - different to a small solid body, but nothing that feels wrong or awkward.

Genuinely really impressed.

And Norris - I can bring it over when I see you later in the week - you're more than welcome to give it a whirl.

[Deedee]

I used mine the other night at a gig for the first time in a few weeks. It really does cut through amazingly well.

I'm usually a Stingray man through and through, but these have such a good, consistent tone across all 4 strings that I'm struggling for a reason not to use this as my main gigging bass. Although I have also got a Steve Harris P on its way 🙄