HK 6 string bass Review "As promised"

[littleal]

I have just bought a 6 string hk bass from that german ebay Dude, it cost me £280 inc shipping it has a through neck,Kent armstrong p'ups, 3 band eq, walnut body, maple & pallisander neck. Even if it needs a little finishing & tweaking here & there it seems like a good cheap bass to get my girlfriend started on,

If anyones interested i will give a full review of it on here, ie build quality,finish,sound,playability ect,

Here are some pics from the auction: it seems he uses the one photo for all his auctions of this bass so i should imagine the wood grain will be different.

Edited April 27, 2009 by littleal

[josh3184]

always been intrigued by these. They don't look to be too bad in terms of quality! Reviews always appreciated

[littleal]

[quote name='josh3184' post='464964' date='Apr 17 2009, 01:15 PM']always been intrigued by these. They don't look to be too bad in terms of quality! Reviews always appreciated [/quote]

Ok, Watch this space!!
It should be with me in a week or so.

[Rich]

It looks like a much, much better version of the Wolf/Mazeti basses that kept cropping up on fleaBay a while back (maybe they still do?). I had a fretless 6-string one for a short while, the woods were gorgeous but the electronics were shoddy and the neck dive was horrendous. This one of yours looks better, with a longer top horn and a much smaller headstock. And decent guts too, judging by the pickups.
Yes, review please

[leschirons]

[quote name='littleal' post='464955' date='Apr 17 2009, 01:10 PM']I have just bought a 6 string hk bass from that german ebay Dude, it cost me £280 inc shipping it has a through neck,Kent armstrong p'ups, 3 band eq, walnut body, maple & pallisander neck. Even if it needs a little finishing & tweaking here & there it seems like a good cheap bass to get my girlfriend started on,

If anyones interested i will give a full review of it on here, ie build quality,finish,sound,playability ect,

Here are some pics from the auction: it seems he uses the one photo for all his auctions of this bass so i should imagine the wood grain will be different.[/quote]

You have a girlfriend that wants to start playing bass on a 6 string? Marry her.

Edited April 17, 2009 by leschirons

[steve-soar]

[quote name='leschirons' post='465698' date='Apr 17 2009, 11:55 PM']You have a girlfriend that wants to start playing bass on a 6 string? Marry her.[/quote]A fretless, 6 string playing girlfriend, damn, your sex must be incredible.
Either colossal detail, or, Herculian stamina.
Or she's a really keen bassist, or, your a sadistic bastard.

[littleal]

Sadistic Who Me....Never

I had to buy her a bass as she kept nicking my warwick every time my back was turned!!!!

Edited April 17, 2009 by littleal

[josh3184]

epic girlfriend

[Faithless]

Yeah, mate, I'm also waiting for your review, as I'm thinking about not-that-expensive 6-string, fretless, actually..

[Faithless]

BTW, for me, HK's look very similar to [url="http://www.woodoguitars.se/"]this[/url]..

[littleal]

Ok, It has arrived,

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
From opening the triangle shaped cardboard box it came in, there was an initial wow factor to it, nice wood,thru neck,Abalone inlay in the headstock.
On closer inspection certain flaws come to light, the finish is a very rough coating of some kind of varnish (feels horrible) the join between the body wings & the centre section aren't perfect showing a very slight gap just by the end of the bridge unit.

SET UP, SOUND & PLAYABILITY:
The set up from the box isn't too bad, just a slight tweaking of the dual trus rods & individual saddles gets a super low action with no buzzing or other unwanted noises, the intonation was spot on too The machine heads & bridge units are made by wilkinson & are of good quality.
PLUGGED IN with the original strings on sounded ok but the B string sounded muddy & undefined so i thought to be fair to it i'll restring it, so on went a set of warwick black label medium lights.
So with new strings on this thing comes to life & the B string now sounds as solid as the E string. Balance across the strings is very even.
The pick ups are a pair of Kent Armstrongs (each individually wound for neck & bridge) The active three band circuit with active/passive switch has no name or numbers on it so i'm unsure what type it is??
With everything set flat & both pick ups at 50/50 the sound is very full with a nice top end bite to it, excellent for that percussive slap sound,
pan towards the neck pick up & you get more of a punchy P bass sound, pan towards the bridge pick up & you get a nice funky honk type thing going on.
The bass, treble & mid cut & boost are very responsive to the point that you have to keep an eye on the input gain on your amp to avoid over loading it when boosting as the output of this bass is very high.

CONCLUSION:
The first thing i did was to completely strip this bass down back to the bare wood after removing all the electrics, pick ups etc. I then gave it an oil finish so it just needs waxing periodically.
It now looks & feels superb & could easily pass as a bass worth at least a grand , considering this cost me £280 inc shipping it was a real bargain!
especially for a neck thru bass made of solid walnut & maple.

These are the pics of the finished result

[josh3184]

wow! Looks great! Especially for just under £300! You appear to have done very well

[Faithless]

GAAAAS incoming.......! :wub:

[littleal]

[quote name='Faithless' post='473777' date='Apr 27 2009, 10:08 PM']GAAAAS incoming.......! :wub:[/quote]

It looks very similar to that Ibanez in your avatar

[tyronebishop]

I just received one of these basses today and I'm afraid my experience isn't quite as pleasant as yours. I can't believe how shoddy the workmanship is ! I'll take pictures tomorrow and show close ups to all the flaws. Can't do it tonight really as i need daylight for best image results.

All I can say for now though is that its going straight back in the mail for a refund.

I know its only a £300 bass but this bass is certainly NOT as advertised :-(

[AttitudeCastle]

Anyone shed anymore light on this?

The Six/Seven strings on Evilbay for £300-£350 has got me un-easy!

Tempted to take a plunge but if its a dud thats £300+ pounds i could have spent getting a 5 string to noodle and gig with!

[Chris2112]

[quote name='tyronebishop' post='957792' date='Sep 15 2010, 10:29 PM']I just received one of these basses today and I'm afraid my experience isn't quite as pleasant as yours. I can't believe how shoddy the workmanship is ! I'll take pictures tomorrow and show close ups to all the flaws. Can't do it tonight really as i need daylight for best image results.[/quote]

I suppose that is the risk you take with cheaper items like this, the workmanship and the quality control can be variable to say the least!

[pantherairsoft]

There are many mixed reviews about them, with opposite sides of the story. As a rule of thumb the materials used are great, but the reason they are cheap is there is no quality control and a lesser level of works-manship.

Basically you can come out with a great one, or a dud one!

A friend of mine bout 2 of the 7 strings about 3 week ago and they were world apart. The seller on ebay was happy to take one back for a full refund or exchange. The dodgy one that went back was replaced with another and this was better than the one he kept in the first place! They are actually pretty nice, but need the horrid varnish taking off.

The bad one he received had a control cavity cover that cut so that there was a huge gap around one side of it, unevenly spaced bridge saddles (!) and a large split in the wood between the pups. The other was flawless and looked like a 1k bass!

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='pantherairsoft' post='969748' date='Sep 27 2010, 05:35 PM']There are many mixed reviews about them, with opposite sides of the story. As a rule of thumb the materials used are great, but the reason they are cheap is there is no quality control and a lesser level of works-manship.

Basically you can come out with a great one, or a dud one!

A friend of mine bout 2 of the 7 strings about 3 week ago and they were world apart. The seller on ebay was happy to take one back for a full refund or exchange. The dodgy one that went back was replaced with another and this was better than the one he kept in the first place! They are actually pretty nice, but need the horrid varnish taking off.

The bad one he received had a control cavity cover that cut so that there was a huge gap around one side of it, unevenly spaced bridge saddles (!) and a large split in the wood between the pups. The other was flawless and looked like a 1k bass![/quote]

They were happy to replace it?

Might be worth it then, if i get a dud but they relpace it for a good one

[pantherairsoft]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='969765' date='Sep 27 2010, 05:48 PM']They were happy to replace it?

Might be worth it then, if i get a dud but they relpace it for a good one [/quote]

I wasn't part of the communication but I'm told he messaged the seller through eBay and said he was disappointed that they sent a great instrument and another which should of been the same, but wasn't/ Give that he could see the quality they should of been he was not prepared to keep the one they sent. As for how long it took I can't say but 3 weeks down the line he has a working replacement (so less than 3 weeks!).

I won't say they 'were happy to replace it' but they did replace it nether the less!

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='pantherairsoft' post='969778' date='Sep 27 2010, 05:58 PM']I wasn't part of the communication but I'm told he messaged the seller through eBay and said he was disappointed that they sent a great instrument and another which should of been the same, but wasn't/ Give that he could see the quality they should of been he was not prepared to keep the one they sent. As for how long it took I can't say but 3 weeks down the line he has a working replacement (so less than 3 weeks!).

I won't say they 'were happy to replace it' but they did replace it nether the less![/quote]

Hmmmm looks like this will go on my to buy list when i have a job next summer?

Ahhhh hahaha too unsure to risk the plunge, it will have to wait till after my Yamaha RBX 375 xD

[pablyth]

I ordered one last Friday, arrived today. 6-string fretted version.

Was expecting there to be problems, however it was only what I would call superficial problems straight out of the box. All the woodwork is good, perfectly butted joins. The only bodywork problem is a tiny amount of machining visible on the body just below the 24th fret. Can't notice it without very close inspection. Will be easy to buff out, when I get around to it.

Part of the bridge was slightly out of line, so I unscrewed it, used a pair of shims to aid with perfect repositioning and screwed it back using the original holes (cocktail stick to fill the original screw hole and a tiny guide drill). Sorted, it was just the single front screw slightly out of line that caused the problem.

Plugged it in and nothing... Opened the back and it started working. Had a short between components, so I used heat shrink and re-soldered the major exposed terminals. Perfect now.

Had to sort the intonation (was pretty close, and easy to adjust anyway), and set up the new strings height the way I like it, and now it plays and sounds way above it's price. I wouldn't go as far as to say a £1000 bass, but definitely would be worth twice as much as the £320 price (including shipping) for the set up and fixed version.

I have to agree, build quality (or rather finishing build quality - I bet they get the trainees to screw everything on!) is lacking but the overall components and wood are good quality.

Very happy in the end as it only took about an hour to sort it out, best bargain instrument I've ever bought (new anyway). I've been setting up and tinkering with guitars for 25 years, so that may have helped.

Edit note: The bass delivered has a kill switch along with the active/passive switch, and gold rather than black hardware.

Edited September 29, 2010 by pablyth

[AttitudeCastle]

[quote name='pablyth' post='972154' date='Sep 29 2010, 10:22 PM']I ordered one last Friday, arrived today. 6-string fretted version.

Was expecting there to be problems, however it was only what I would call superficial problems straight out of the box. All the woodwork is good, perfectly butted joins. The only bodywork problem is a tiny amount of machining visible on the body just below the 24th fret. Can't notice it without very close inspection. Will be easy to buff out, when I get around to it.

Part of the bridge was slightly out of line, so I unscrewed it, used a pair of shims to aid with perfect repositioning and screwed it back using the original holes (cocktail stick to fill the original screw hole and a tiny guide drill). Sorted, it was just the single front screw slightly out of line that caused the problem.

Plugged it in and nothing... Opened the back and it started working. Had a short between components, so I used heat shrink and re-soldered the major exposed terminals. Perfect now.

Had to sort the intonation (was pretty close, and easy to adjust anyway), and set up the new strings height the way I like it, and now it plays and sounds way above it's price. I wouldn't go as far as to say a £1000 bass, but definitely would be worth twice as much as the £320 price (including shipping) for the set up and fixed version.

I have to agree, build quality (or rather finishing build quality - I bet they get the trainees to screw everything on!) is lacking but the overall components and wood are good quality.

Very happy in the end as it only took about an hour to sort it out, best bargain instrument I've ever bought (new anyway). I've been setting up and tinkering with guitars for 25 years, so that may have helped.

Edit note: The bass delivered has a kill switch along with the active/passive switch, and gold rather than black hardware.[/quote]

Piccies?

[dmz]

I may put up my 7-string fretted version for sale in the near future. Would probably sell for £300 plus shipping - can supply piccies if need be - this is only a feeler for interest.

Please PM me if interested.

If the moderator has a problem with this I can set up a feeler in the proper area.

[pablyth]

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='987433' date='Oct 13 2010, 09:25 PM']Piccies? [/quote]

Sure thing, I'll grab the digi camera from work and post some over the next week (my mobile phone is steam powered, so no cam ). Looks pretty much the same as the OP's, but with gold hardware.

An update after having used for a while: The walnut is pretty dense, a bit mushy low down without a little eq tweaking. Having said that, I've not failed to find a decent sound with a little effort (thick low bottoms suitable for dub through to a high twangy top with rolled mid for slap have been found - that active/passive switch is just to save batteries when solo practising though!). It's not the lightest 6-string even if fairly well balanced on a decent strap, but then again I've only previously used 4's for extended periods while standing. I suppose 4 hours is a fairly long time to be standing up wearing any bass. I'd guess it weighs about 20% more than my J-bass (by the lift a bass in each hand and guess test, most scientific!).