Dean Acoustic Electric Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

Completely satisfied with this purchase. Great features for the price. Visually beautiful. Had to take a star off the review for the string action out of the factory though. I had to pay a tech to sand down the bridge saddle. Cost me $45. Now it plays fantastic. I'll enjoy this for years.SKARRDGUITAR

Overall: This is one fine acoustic guitar. Beautiful woods and finish. Electronics and tuner are good. Tone and action excellent. Been playing 50 years and would not hesitate playing out or taking to a jam session plugged or unplugged. Have owned dean entry level acoustic bass for years, solid build and reliable. This brand new guitar feels and sounds solid. Have never dealt with dean but zZounds has been 5 star buying high level martin and fender past few years.Rich

Excellent acoustic bass! Plays amazing and the finish is flawless! I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the full 34 scale neck, turned out to be great! I am finding it way easier to transition back and forth to my electric bass vs my old 30ish scale ABG. Tuner works very well but I'm not a huge fan of how it sounds plugged in kinda tinny. That's alright tho cause I bought it to practice unplugged and will rarely play it plugged in anyway. I swapped the strings out to tapewounds and made an already amazing guitar even better. I think those strings are a must for any acoustic bass, rounds are just too noisy at that low volume. But all around a great looking and great playing instrument!Josh

Sadly this is discontinued from Dean, but the electronics have XLR and 1/4" output and built in tuner. the Output level can get real hot to overdrive the amp input so be aware. Seller did a great setup and there was no issues with the frets or action. its a beautiful bass to look at. Its got decent unplugged volume, and the saddle pickup is more than enough to push the sound through a small amp for the extra volume when playing with others. Any other questions feel free to reach out! I'm very happy with this bass!bassguitarist1985

First, if you don't want your acoustic to look like everyone else's this instrument is visually appealing. Its solidly built and looks like a fine piece of furniture. But playing is what really matters and with a new set of Diaddario EJ26's on this bassist who wanted to take up the guitar to expand my songwriting couldn't do better for the price. Among the things most appreciated is the on board tuner that allows you to correct on the fly and the electronics which, in my experience, have been solid and functional. The one thing you may want to consider is a feedback suppressor for the sound hole to keep things quiet when the amp is on. Other then that what you have here is a good quality, eye catching, and reasonably inexpensive guitar that's worth your consideration.John just John

This popped up on Stupid Deal of the Day and I am not in the least disappointed. It was well packaged, box in a box, from Dean. My intended use will be jamming with friends at the park, campground, or beach. But, it could see small venue use as well. It is big (it is a bass after all): 34", 24 fret scale with the neck joint at the 17th fret. The lower bout is 18" wide and just shy of 5" deep. If you really feel the need to go above the 17th fret…get the cutaway. Because of its size it has a decent acoustic tone. Set up, including intonation, was very good considering it was last touched at the factory. It is strung with D'Addario EXP 45-100 lights. The strings showed some age (string cleaner should take care of it) but still have decent tone, especially for my intended use. All the electronics work as they should. The battery box and input jack are a single unit located on the lower bout. It appears to be a sturdy unit that does not require any tools for 9V battery replacement. Using the onboard tuner silences the pickup. The top is book matched and looks better than some of my solid top guitars. The Dean Playmate EAB Gig Bag (SKU 548316 000000000) does fit. I'm so glad that neither the bass or gig bag are emblazoned with "Playmate" anymore. Seriously, if so, I would not have purchased them. Overall, I am very pleased and believe it is money well spent.Vintage Bassist

The action is easily correctable by lowering the saddle. Sadly, it is not very loud if you finger pick while in the acoustic mode. It is however loud enough to practice alone in a quiet room with soft backing track. Electrically, it is like most EA guitars and you have to watch which way you're standing in relation to your amp. The tone is pretty bright acoustically but can be dialed back in the electric mode for that bassier sound most bassists are looking for. I would consider playing out with this bass for a folk gig. I got this bass on a "stupid deal of the day" promotion and I still can't believe Musicians Friend could make any money at all with a price like that.CA$H

The band I'm in decided that we were going to do an acoustic show for a big fundraiser called Gettysburg Rocks. Great! But one major problem I didn't have an acoustic bass, so I had to get one for this show. After doing extensive research and considering the budget I chose this model. When I got the bass there were a lot of high frets which caused major undesirable fret buzz. The strings that were on it from dean were horrible so I took the bass to my local guitar shop and had it restrung and set up. After this was done this bass played amazing and had great tone unplugged. Then I plugged it in to my di box and it sounded pretty bad through the pa. The electronics in this bass didn't sound good because The strings were not evenly voiced. In my particular case the e string was the loudest and over powered the a d and g strings. I had 4 days before the show and had to figure something out quick. My solution was to run a limiter pedal. Once I had the limiter dialed in I was able to get a very good sound out of the bass, And through eq settings I was able to make the bass sound great. Then the night of the show came around and I had all the kinks figured out . The bass sounded great and the show went beautifully. This bass is by no means a high end bass but with a little tweaking itcan be made to sound really good. I've noticed that I will grab this bass and just start playing it when I'm trying to learn new songs and licks because it sounds so good and it is nice to not always be tethered to an amp. This bass is great to practice with but in a band setting it will need to be amped if you want to be heard with more than one acoustic guitar. Overall I am very pleased with this instrument and would buy another if it broke. I was apprehensive at first thinking that this would sound like $150 bass. Looking back I'm glad I got this model. I hope this helps anyone who is on the fence about buying this bass.v1637

Overall: I have to be completly honest and say this guitar is probably the best sounding acoustic and electric I've ever played! I have spent years and money trying to find this one guitar. I absolutely love this guitar! For money and quality I would suggest it to all!Harlan

I bought this guitar after searching for one with a D shaped neck, like my Casino. I like D necks because they are slim front to back. I have a billion guitars and am finding that the larger round necks hurt my thumb (I'm old). I also liked that the body is slim. I was very surprised that the guitar has an ebony fingerboard-my fav. It sounds good both unplugged and plugged into an acoustic amp. I liked it so much after buying the black one that I bought the blue one, too.SMorris

I am just a guy who likes to play guitar at home. I haven't owned an acoustic guitar in a very long time, as in the past several years I prefer to play with electrics and like using effects. I chose this guitar because I was simply looking for something around the 200 range. Now, I wanted something that was cheap but didn't sound cheap, so I was a bit wary of buying this Dean, but the aesthetics had me hooked. (Everyone I show this to immediately comments on the white finish!). So I took a chance on this anyway because its one of the few acoustics to come in white. I was pleasantly surprised by this guitar. First of all, this guitar DOES come with an onboard tuner! Maybe the model was updated and MF just has old photos and info here? The fit and finish is pretty nice really. Didn't find any blemishes or scratches… have a TINY little nick on the headstock (which is obviously form the manufacturer, not MF), but unnoticeable and not a bother. The neck feels pretty good! For some reason, after so many years of just noodling with electric guitars, I thought I'd have to work on adjusting to an acoustic, but this neck plays pretty fast, and the string height is pretty dang good. The frets are finished well (not a single sharp one anywhere), and I tested out the acoustic pickup and thought that sounded pretty great too. The tuners seems to stay in tune well so far. The low E tuner started to get a bit 'muddy' to turn once the tension was taught. The sound though… initially the guitar really had a harsh tone to it. Too bright, like what cheap acoustics sound like. It started to soften a bit after I had tuned the guitar hours ago, but still harsh, cheap sounding. I had ordered a set of Martin MM12 Retro Light strings & decided I would throw them on… and WOW! What a difference the strings make! Much warmer, pretty decent body to it. Great for strumming. I really am glad I bought this guitar. Yes its cheap, but looks cool and has a great sound to it.Nachos&Eggrolls

Overall: I have to be completly honest and say this guitar is probably the best sounding acoustic and electric I've ever played! I have spent years and money trying to find this one guitar. I absolutely love this guitar! For money and quality I would suggest it to all!Harlan

I bought this guitar after searching for one with a D shaped neck, like my Casino. I like D necks because they are slim front to back. I have a billion guitars and am finding that the larger round necks hurt my thumb (I'm old). I also liked that the body is slim. I was very surprised that the guitar has an ebony fingerboard-my fav. It sounds good both unplugged and plugged into an acoustic amp. I liked it so much after buying the black one that I bought the blue one, too.SMorris

Overall: I have to be completly honest and say this guitar is probably the best sounding acoustic and electric I've ever played! I have spent years and money trying to find this one guitar. I absolutely love this guitar! For money and quality I would suggest it to all!Harlan

I bought this guitar after searching for one with a D shaped neck, like my Casino. I like D necks because they are slim front to back. I have a billion guitars and am finding that the larger round necks hurt my thumb (I'm old). I also liked that the body is slim. I was very surprised that the guitar has an ebony fingerboard-my fav. It sounds good both unplugged and plugged into an acoustic amp. I liked it so much after buying the black one that I bought the blue one, too.SMorris

Overall: I have to be completly honest and say this guitar is probably the best sounding acoustic and electric I've ever played! I have spent years and money trying to find this one guitar. I absolutely love this guitar! For money and quality I would suggest it to all!Harlan

I bought this guitar after searching for one with a D shaped neck, like my Casino. I like D necks because they are slim front to back. I have a billion guitars and am finding that the larger round necks hurt my thumb (I'm old). I also liked that the body is slim. I was very surprised that the guitar has an ebony fingerboard-my fav. It sounds good both unplugged and plugged into an acoustic amp. I liked it so much after buying the black one that I bought the blue one, too.SMorris

I bought this guitar kind of suspicious at first of what it would sound like but this guitar sounds SO GOOD! The koa wood makes the sound just resonate louder and it sounds amazing acoustically and electronically through a PA, and amp, and whatever else you use! Although it is a little bit smaller than it looks it Sounds HUGE and amazing with aphex or even without! Buy this guitar and you wont regret it!GuitarLover

This guitar is solid and provides the comfortable playing of guitars costing hundreds more. I was not really surprised, as previous Dean guitars I owned were a good pick also. No onboard tuner? Are ya kidding? No five stars for you! But this guitar is still a keeper. Rock on.Dennisio

This guitar is gorgeous and plays like butter. I am so happy with this purchase. Would strongly recommend to anyone wanting to try a 12 string.Rusty

The Koa is beautiful. The fretboard has easy action and the guitar has great tone. I use a cordless system with no delay or cut-out from the electronics. For someone looking for bang for the buck, this qualifies.jtcreely

You hear a lot of bassist look down on ABGs for being not loud enough. This might be an entry model, but it will more than do it's job when no amp is needed. It's much louder than most of the other more expensive acoustic basses. First off, this thing is huge. If you have short arms or small hands, look elsewhere. Might be one step below a guitaron (Mariachi bass) in terms of size. This adds to the volume projection. If Dean could come up with a way to round off the corner where your arm sits, it would make it more comfortable. Had a few cases where my arm started to fall asleep when trying to play sitting down. Just have to experiment with a position that works for you. Finding a case to fit is tricky. Second, the factory strings are terrible, cheap roundwounds that make a lot of string noise. Put some good flatwounds on and it sounds 10 times better. The action is high but that's going to be the case on any acoustic guitar (bass or 6 string) compared to an electric. With flats, it feels closer to an upright bass. You probably won't be able to do many Claypool or Sheehan style licks, but it's not really designed for that. I've done some fingerstyle percussive stuff on it and gotten some cool sounds out of it. The electronics are so-so. You might get a lot of feedback if the volume is really high, but then again, that's outside of its intended use. I've played mine in smaller venues and had no issues. For a simple pick up and jam or wanting a mellow tone deal to go with an acoustic guitar, this is a great buy. Won't set you back too much and the build quality is good. Just know what you are getting and don't expect it do everything your electric bass does as easily.Corb

I've had mine for a while now so here's the long term review. I'm happy with my purchase. I don't think there is a better acoustic bass at this price point and I've tried a lot of them. Of course it's cheaply made, but the craftsmanship is excellent. Fit and finish are great. The fret work is really good. The bass stays in tune, but the tuning machines are already starting to fall apart. I'm looking at replacing them with the lightweight Gotoh's which look identical. The rest of the bass is holding up great. Out of the box it will probably need to be set up. I had to file the nut grooves down about half a mile. The bridge wasn't the same radius as the fingerboard. I belt sanded the top and bottom to get good action. After a setup it does play very well. The action is comparable to a p-bass with no buzzing and no dead frets. It sounds pretty good unplugged. There are no rattles and no buzzing. The notes are clear and well defined and there is a decent amount a deep bass. Unfortunately when plugged in the sound has no clarity and no punch. It just doesn't sound musical. I have not found a way clean it up. Minus one star for the tuning machines, minus one star for the way it sounds plugged in.Fretless J

I wanted an acoustic bass and for me it was between the Ibanez and this one. I decided to go with this Bass and I love it, especially for the price its at!. It has a really solid and, surprisingly, punchy sound without it being plugged in. When it is plugged in, it does give off some feed back but still excellent sound. A little bit of fret buzz at the 17th fret, shouldn't be a big deal unless you play a lot in the area. Neck feels great, not to thick so its really easy to get around. Really light weight. The body looks huge from the picture but its excellent size. Overall I'd recommend it to any bass player that wants a quality sounding acoustic bass without hurting the wallet.Punkbass182

This guitar is solid and provides the comfortable playing of guitars costing hundreds more. I was not really surprised, as previous Dean guitars I owned were a good pick also. No onboard tuner? Are ya kidding? No five stars for you! But this guitar is still a keeper. Rock on.Dennisio

This guitar is gorgeous and plays like butter. I am so happy with this purchase. Would strongly recommend to anyone wanting to try a 12 string.Rusty

The Koa is beautiful. The fretboard has easy action and the guitar has great tone. I use a cordless system with no delay or cut-out from the electronics. For someone looking for bang for the buck, this qualifies.jtcreely

Looks fantastic, but that's about it. The bracing inside is not scalloped very well, and the amount of bracing on the top is excessive. It has so much bracing, the top doesn't move, which makes it sound like a toy unplugged. The built in tuner is pretty much useless as well. This one had the nut cut too deep from the factory, so they put a shim under it before sending it out. The shim had so much glue on it that I had to cut it out piece by piece to replace the nut. The fretwork was also uneven, making the first 4 frets unplayable. The guitar looks absolutely stunning, and the fretwork and nut work is something I can fix to make it playable, but the construction is something I cannot fix. No matter how playable it is, it will still sound like a toy because of the excessive bracing.FluffyBassMan

I was very excited to receive this guitar.The looks are very pretty on a visual level. The tone is awful. Sounds like a kids toy guitar when played unplugged. Does not stay in tune very well.I am very dissapointed, and will send it back and purchase something else. My Dean Vendetta electric is awesome, so I was surprised how bad this sounded. I might try a higher end Dean acoustic, but if unhappy will not purchase another guitar from Dean.Trev5150

We got this for my girlfriend's daughter but I got a chance to play it a little. It sounds a little small or boxy compared to the richness of my 3/4 size Taylor guitars but it still sounds good. In fact I was fairly impress with the mid to upper range sound; it was the lack of a proportional amount of bass that made the guitar sound a little small. Also, there was kind of a weird or unusual fret buzz when clamping your fingers down at the 10th & 12th frets. Overall for the price we are pretty happy; it's a good starter guitar but don't expect much more than this out of it.thegrudge836

Soulful is an understatement, when trying to describe the tone and vibe, of this Dean AXS acoustic Parlor guitar! The sound, neck and playability, are all over the top, for such an inexpensive and beautifully constructed piece of guitar craftsmanship. I can’t say enough great things about this axe! I have been working with the early Robert Johnson recorded songs, with a stop and go, (pause and play) method to add to my guitar “library” and memory. I tuned to “G” and put a slide on my left ring finger, and that was that! There are other Parlor guitars that are probably in the sane class as this Dean is, but you’d probably have to pay a heck of a-lot more! Get this one, and be happy!Chuck

I found this guitar amazing…I research a lot of mini, travel, and parlor guitars. The size is perfect.. It's so much more comfortable than my Ovation. It has a down home " earthy" sound. I was impressed with the range and quality of volume. New strings will make a difference…I was looking for a guitar that was smaller, easy to play, and looked good. Well, with this guitar I found it. I wanted an instrument that sounded different from my other three guitars and not rack the checkbook. I am totally satisfied. This guitar is built just like a more expensive instrumentDarkSword

You hear a lot of bassist look down on ABGs for being not loud enough. This might be an entry model, but it will more than do it's job when no amp is needed. It's much louder than most of the other more expensive acoustic basses. First off, this thing is huge. If you have short arms or small hands, look elsewhere. Might be one step below a guitaron (Mariachi bass) in terms of size. This adds to the volume projection. If Dean could come up with a way to round off the corner where your arm sits, it would make it more comfortable. Had a few cases where my arm started to fall asleep when trying to play sitting down. Just have to experiment with a position that works for you. Finding a case to fit is tricky. Second, the factory strings are terrible, cheap roundwounds that make a lot of string noise. Put some good flatwounds on and it sounds 10 times better. The action is high but that's going to be the case on any acoustic guitar (bass or 6 string) compared to an electric. With flats, it feels closer to an upright bass. You probably won't be able to do many Claypool or Sheehan style licks, but it's not really designed for that. I've done some fingerstyle percussive stuff on it and gotten some cool sounds out of it. The electronics are so-so. You might get a lot of feedback if the volume is really high, but then again, that's outside of its intended use. I've played mine in smaller venues and had no issues. For a simple pick up and jam or wanting a mellow tone deal to go with an acoustic guitar, this is a great buy. Won't set you back too much and the build quality is good. Just know what you are getting and don't expect it do everything your electric bass does as easily.Corb

I've had mine for a while now so here's the long term review. I'm happy with my purchase. I don't think there is a better acoustic bass at this price point and I've tried a lot of them. Of course it's cheaply made, but the craftsmanship is excellent. Fit and finish are great. The fret work is really good. The bass stays in tune, but the tuning machines are already starting to fall apart. I'm looking at replacing them with the lightweight Gotoh's which look identical. The rest of the bass is holding up great. Out of the box it will probably need to be set up. I had to file the nut grooves down about half a mile. The bridge wasn't the same radius as the fingerboard. I belt sanded the top and bottom to get good action. After a setup it does play very well. The action is comparable to a p-bass with no buzzing and no dead frets. It sounds pretty good unplugged. There are no rattles and no buzzing. The notes are clear and well defined and there is a decent amount a deep bass. Unfortunately when plugged in the sound has no clarity and no punch. It just doesn't sound musical. I have not found a way clean it up. Minus one star for the tuning machines, minus one star for the way it sounds plugged in.Fretless J

I wanted an acoustic bass and for me it was between the Ibanez and this one. I decided to go with this Bass and I love it, especially for the price its at!. It has a really solid and, surprisingly, punchy sound without it being plugged in. When it is plugged in, it does give off some feed back but still excellent sound. A little bit of fret buzz at the 17th fret, shouldn't be a big deal unless you play a lot in the area. Neck feels great, not to thick so its really easy to get around. Really light weight. The body looks huge from the picture but its excellent size. Overall I'd recommend it to any bass player that wants a quality sounding acoustic bass without hurting the wallet.Punkbass182

I've always wanted an ML and this one looked so beautiful online. It's even better when it's in your hand. Pickups are awesome, nice full tone and great crunch on the distortion side. Love the matte finish on the back of the neck. It has great sustain too, you can feel the tone through the whole guitar when you play a note and I prefer that solid feel when I play. My only two complaints is there are a couple fingerprints under the clear coat on the back. Obviously missed during the QC checks at the factory. But they're barely noticeable and they're on the back. Gives it character to have a workers fingerprints as part of my guitar. The other thing is the frets could've been polished a little better. But when I changed the strings, I took another 30 mins and polished them and that was that. This is my 10th guitar and it's tied for number one favorite. I play it every day and love it. I bought the case for it as well, it's enormous, but great fit and quality.Will

I've been playing resonators for over 45 years and I've had everything from 50's Nationals, Dobros etc. The CE (same as the Rouge brand guitar only better) sounds good but not great, worthy of a resonator upgrade to a Beard maybe. I would describe the sound as a bit midrange but flat wound strings would help that a lot. It plays great right out of the box but remember it's a biscuit guitar so they never tune as accurate as a standard guitar. So why is this such a great value? An $800 Gretchen or Fender of the same style will sound better but nowhere close to $400 better and they lack some great features of the CE. It comes with much needed Grover tuners and NO slotted head, notorious for breaking, a pickup that sounds pretty good, surprisingly good workmanship (I'm being really hard on my review), a removable bridge cover which is a huge plus for bridge adjustments and the best feature is the neck configuration. Resonators always join the neck at the 12 fret which is a real PIA when hitting high notes for affect. Add to that a cutaway and you'll never have to flip your hand over the neck again to reach high notes. It also plays much better than any old resonator (tend to have necks that feel like Stella's and none of the rattle hassles with those old paper thin resonators. Buy it!!Jim

I will use this on select songs in my solo gigs. Finger picking (country, folk, Americana, blue grass) I play 6 & 12 string guitar and banjo though an acoustic amp and this resonator plays great and has a very nice mellow tone both plugged in and unplugged. I'm very happy with it and would defend buy it again. I played semi pro back in the 60's and took a fifty year break as life happened but am back with a passion.Cask Ale Brewmaster

I purchased this guitar based on other reviews I read on this website, and I have not been disappointed. As the other reviewers stated, this is a really sweet guitar for the price. I was very impressed with the workmanship: he binding is flawless, the fret ends are dressed well and smooth, the satin finish is beautiful, and the action is good. I was able to play it straight out of the box. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good, but inexpensive resonator guitar!Rob

You hear a lot of bassist look down on ABGs for being not loud enough. This might be an entry model, but it will more than do it's job when no amp is needed. It's much louder than most of the other more expensive acoustic basses. First off, this thing is huge. If you have short arms or small hands, look elsewhere. Might be one step below a guitaron (Mariachi bass) in terms of size. This adds to the volume projection. If Dean could come up with a way to round off the corner where your arm sits, it would make it more comfortable. Had a few cases where my arm started to fall asleep when trying to play sitting down. Just have to experiment with a position that works for you. Finding a case to fit is tricky. Second, the factory strings are terrible, cheap roundwounds that make a lot of string noise. Put some good flatwounds on and it sounds 10 times better. The action is high but that's going to be the case on any acoustic guitar (bass or 6 string) compared to an electric. With flats, it feels closer to an upright bass. You probably won't be able to do many Claypool or Sheehan style licks, but it's not really designed for that. I've done some fingerstyle percussive stuff on it and gotten some cool sounds out of it. The electronics are so-so. You might get a lot of feedback if the volume is really high, but then again, that's outside of its intended use. I've played mine in smaller venues and had no issues. For a simple pick up and jam or wanting a mellow tone deal to go with an acoustic guitar, this is a great buy. Won't set you back too much and the build quality is good. Just know what you are getting and don't expect it do everything your electric bass does as easily.Corb

I've had mine for a while now so here's the long term review. I'm happy with my purchase. I don't think there is a better acoustic bass at this price point and I've tried a lot of them. Of course it's cheaply made, but the craftsmanship is excellent. Fit and finish are great. The fret work is really good. The bass stays in tune, but the tuning machines are already starting to fall apart. I'm looking at replacing them with the lightweight Gotoh's which look identical. The rest of the bass is holding up great. Out of the box it will probably need to be set up. I had to file the nut grooves down about half a mile. The bridge wasn't the same radius as the fingerboard. I belt sanded the top and bottom to get good action. After a setup it does play very well. The action is comparable to a p-bass with no buzzing and no dead frets. It sounds pretty good unplugged. There are no rattles and no buzzing. The notes are clear and well defined and there is a decent amount a deep bass. Unfortunately when plugged in the sound has no clarity and no punch. It just doesn't sound musical. I have not found a way clean it up. Minus one star for the tuning machines, minus one star for the way it sounds plugged in.Fretless J

I wanted an acoustic bass and for me it was between the Ibanez and this one. I decided to go with this Bass and I love it, especially for the price its at!. It has a really solid and, surprisingly, punchy sound without it being plugged in. When it is plugged in, it does give off some feed back but still excellent sound. A little bit of fret buzz at the 17th fret, shouldn't be a big deal unless you play a lot in the area. Neck feels great, not to thick so its really easy to get around. Really light weight. The body looks huge from the picture but its excellent size. Overall I'd recommend it to any bass player that wants a quality sounding acoustic bass without hurting the wallet.Punkbass182