Sigma BMC-15E Acoustic Bass Review

[Pinball]

Yaay I'm on my hols so thought I would share this review.

Background: My first Acoustic bass experiment was a bit of a disaster, mainly because of my own unrealistic expectations and my subsequent failure to find the kind of tone that I liked from my purchase. This time round I'm more experienced and informed. The reason I bought another was that I have recently started playing more acoustic music and I wanted to re-explore acoustic bass. My uses are open mic's,  jamming with friends on their acoustic instruments and to noodle and inspire my songwriting. My buying criteria were that it shouldn't cost too much, should be able to "plug in & play" and that I should be able to dial in a warm and deep sound that I failed to find first time around. Note: I don't like some of those toppy tones that you can hear on some acoustics fitted with phophur bronze strings.

I spent quite a bit of time searching for the right machine. There are a lot of cheap used acoustic basses out there so I decided to home in on basses that were made by companies known for making capable good value acoustic guitars such as Takamine, Tanglewood, Sigma and Cort.  I couldn't find many to try out locally so I relied on reviews, sound samples and youtube. I have to say that most that I listened too weren't hitting the spot at all, until I found the vid at the bottom of the Sigma BMC. This became the bench mark for my search and the more I looked the more I kept coming back to this particular model, based on VFM and tone. A couple of weeks ago I snagged one on ebay so here is my review

REVIEW: This particular guitar was bought used and plays superbly (anyone identify the strings ?).

Cost? New seems to be around £450-500 online. You can half that if you can find one 2nd hand.

Build: It seems well made and although small bodied also well balanced so no neck dive. I haven't weighed it but it is nice and light. It is lighter than any of my electric basses and also most of my 6 string guitars. It has decent quality grover tuners and a bone nut and bridge. It has a solid Mahogany top and mahogany back and sides. I think this is what brought me to the guitar as it brings out the bass tones I was hoping for and limits the some of the others that are more suited to 6 string acoustics IMHO. It has a lovely natural satin finish and a great feel. I'm not sure how durable this will be in the long term though.

Looks: It is what it is, which is, which is a well made dark brown guitar. There is nothing particularly flashy here but it is all tastefully done. It has some nice detail such as well matched woods and pickguard and  black bridge pins that demonstrates appropriate attention to detail. Note: The addition of a more durable finish and black chrome tuners would have nailed it for me.

Tone: The unamplified tone is really deep and warm for an acoustic, no doubt due to the mahogony woods and flatwound strings. The sound is consistant up and down and across the neck. It is also very responive to playing style and sounds great with fingers pick or palm muted, which produces a satisfying thud!

The Fishman Isys+ pre-amp was a great choice for this guitar as although a relively cheap system if gives a faithful reproduction of the basses tone. The bass and treble adjustments give very useful range of musical sound options. The treble dial is particulary sweet to play with and seems to intoduce some high mids to my ear without annoying backgound noise and the bass adjustment is again very usable, although adding too much bass on stage with any acoustic is liable to give you problems. The Isys "+" adds a bit of luxary in the form of a phase button and tuner in addition to the usual volume controls. Everything is there that I will need

Conclusion:This is a budget instrument but my ears tell me this is excellent VFM and a bit of a hidden gem. For those of you who don't know Sigma were set up as a Martin factory in China and Martin produce some of the best acoustic instruments around. Since they split, Sigma guitars have since established their own strong reputation for quality and good value. This is certainly the most pleasing acoustic bass that I have played in terms of tone. Maybe I could find something better if I was willing to spend more money (2K for a Martin?) but I don't see a good alternatives around at the moment or a reason to do so.

I'm still trying to figure out why this particular guitar sounds so good. Winner winner turkey dinner!

Specifications

Body & Bridge

• Top: Solid Mahogany
• Back & Sides: Mahogany
• Size: J-14 Fret, Cutaway
• Pickguard: Tortoise
• Finish: Natural
• Bridge: Rosewood

Neck & Fretboard

• Neck: Mahogany
• Fretboard: Indian Rosewood
• Frets: 22
• Inlays: Pearl
• Scale Length: 34" (864mm)
• Nut: Bone
• Nut Width: 1.58" / 40.1mm

Hardware & Electronics

• Electronics: Fishman Isys+ (With Tuner)
• Saddle: Bone / Compensated
• Machine Heads: Grover Die-Cast
• Hardware: Chrome

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2018 by Pinball

[Pinball]

 

[Chiliwailer]

Looks great, nice one 👍

[Grahambythesea]

Thanks for this helpful review. Firstly I didn’t know Sigma and Martin had split.  Some of their 6 string Martin clones are really good for the money. Having previously owned an e.a.b. that was not great (Washburn)  it’s kind of put me off them but your review rekindles interest. Your comments about the all mahogany body makes sense regarding the tone. It is generally regarded as being warmer sounding and in a bass that presumably means bassier. 

It will be interesting to see how it holds up in a jam with acoustic guitars when most e.a.bs rather fail to cut through and need to be plugged in to compete.