Dean Custom Zone Bass Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

Right out of the box this bass sounded good. Dean sold me. Played a little venue at a friends house and got lots of complements on the sound and looks. Sure made me feel good. People asked to sign my bass and made me think how cool that would be? Maybe after some wear and tear that will happen. Can't say enough about this bass. What a find, really. Only been learning for over a year and maybe I don't know what I'm talking about but for now I'm talking Dean. Being a beginner at 63 sure is fun. Rock On kids cause that's how I feel….wunschy

This is a decent package for anyone wanting to learn the bass guitar. The bass guitar holds tune fairly well and is good quality. The amp that is included in the package is average at best for what it is, nothing impressive but good for solo practicing. The instrument cable is low quality without a right angle plug. The packaging is low quality and the guitar head was damaged in shipping as a result of the inadequate packaging. Sam Ash took immediate attention to my claim on the damage, their customer service is awesome. Overall is it a good bass guitar package.Aubrey

I'm an older ex weekend warrior who has played in bands for years. I've owned many other basses including Fender P-bass, Hamer Cruisebass, and Carvin LB-70 to name a few. I've been out of the music scene for awhile but really missed having a bass around to mess around with so I ordered this one in the satin finish. I knew what I was getting because I had been to Dean's website where they have accurate pics of this bass. I wasn't disappointed! This bass is an amazing value for the money. The tone is great right out of the box. Action is right where I like it. No fret buzz as long as you are fretting properly. I did change the strings right away to black nylon tape wounds. They lend a smooth attack (almost like a double bass) and are super easy on the fingers yet still get that P-bass like growl if you open the tone knob up. Construction is very good especially for the money, fit and finish is great except for the fret work. I'll need to file down the fret ends as they are a bit too long for the (nice) rosewood fretboard. They aren't sharp or dangerous so it could be worse and using proper technique you'd hardly notice it. The only other gripe is the tuners. They look nice but don't hold tuning for long periods of time. I end up having to re-tune the bass nearly every day. The tuner on the G string could be smoother as turning tension goes from tight to loose and back to tight as it turns. These are really minor complaints for such a low cost bass. The finish is really good. It appears they put a matching basswood veneer on the top and back so you can't even see the slab joints. I wouldn't hesitate to take this on stage, it looks that good with the black tuners, bridge, knobs, and strings (in my case). The neck is nice and thin and fairly fast with a satin finish on the back of the neck. The electronics are way above average for this price range. The pickup, volume and tone knobs work together very well to give a wide variety of tones.VTbassman

I bought this guitar for my 6 year old daughter for her first guitar. I got the pink version, and it is VERY pink – brighter than it looks in the pictures. It's quite striking, and I kind of want to play it on stage just for aesthetic effect. It's a solid starter guitar. Nothing fancy sound-wise. Playability is good with a comfortable neck that plays smoothly. The sound is what you should expect in a low-cost guitar. Out of the box there was quite a bit of fret buzz, and even with some set-up, there is flat, buzzy sound to the guitar when not plugged in that makes it sound "cheapis." Plugged in, again, it sounds like what you should expect out of a starter electric. There is very little sustain – I'd say around 4 seconds of sustain, which might be a big deal if you want to play lead on this using it as performance guitar. I'm not using it for that, nor will my daughter. For a starter guitar, it's good. She's already learned a few chords. Her hands and arms are still far too small too really put this guitar to use, but I can see her growing nicely into the smaller scale neck, which should work well for her small frame. In other words, the fact that my daughter is too small is more a reflection of my daughter, rather than of the guitar. The guitar is a good size for a young learner. She squeeled when she opened it! She really loves the guitar and has played it every day since Christmas. If you're in the market for a starter guitar either for a child or adult, you won't go wrong with this. If you're an experienced or professional musician who's looking to perform on stage, I'd say this guitar doesn't really fit the bill, but then again, no guitar in this price range is really going to do that. For comparison, I played an Epiphone Les Paul for years that I liked better both feel and sound-wise, but an Epiphone is a little more expensive and certainly not as visually striking. So, in sum, for what it's worth, for me the guitar is "good enough," and my daughter LOVES itJason

Guitar is bright and the color is amazing! People love it, plays great on a clean/muff tone, but too much distortion is a bit much for either the strings, or the pickups themselves. Other than that I highly recommend for the price you can't go wrong. I couldn't stop looking at it the first couple days lolSlappyWhite

I picked this up on Veterans day for the great price!!! Its nuclear green is great, and it has a nice feel to the fret board. I'm using it with Rocksmith and for jamming!!! I like it, it tuned up quickly and held it very well even after a couple of days of temperature swings in the house.Dude

I bought the bass to record demos with and it fit the bill perfectly. I like everything about it. It was a perfrct purchase.579don

I have a 1994 Peavey Fury and really like the Jazz kind of neck. Also like the stock pickups and the weight is good I use a 3 1/2" strap so the balance is good. It obviously is modeled after the Precision but I had mine customized. Had it painted Surf Green with a black pearloid pickguard. Now I have a awesome sounding and looking bass that I'm getting a lot of compliments on. I've noticed that the price is starting to climb on these so grab yourself one before they get out of hand on a well made USA Peavey Fury. Don't get this review confused with newer foreign made International Aeriesgetupgetready

I've owned Squier Jag short scale bass, and the Ibanez Mikro bass. I also briefly owned a Squier Contemporary Jazz bass which sounded beautiful but was astoundingly heavy and thus unworkable. I prefer this to any of the above – better neck and better action than the Squier Jag or the Mikro, better feel and balance than all of them. I like that this has a biggish headstock with burly tuning heads. It feels substantial enough to play vigorously but light enough to pogo with (if I were that kind of player). Due to the 1 pickup, the Hillsboro is a bit limited tonally and may need a touch of EQ tweaking to optimize. But limitations can be good – more playing, less knob twirling! Stock strings are okay but I've been waiting 5 weeks for the Rotosounds I ordered for this. Not pleased about that. It's a testament to the quality of the bass that I've been enjoying playing it anyway.Mondo Mando

A gift for my wife who is petite. She was trying to learn on one of my full sized basses, but wasn't comfortable. This bass fits her perfectly. I played it and was very impressed with the quality, sound and playability. Only concern is the tuners slip a bit.Dennis

I bought the metallic red version of this to lend to my friend for band practices. I've never owned a Dean before, though I have liked the ones I've jammed on, so I figured I'd give this one a shot. The picture does not do the bass justice, I was surprised by the quality of the guitar when I opened the box. The paint looks great, the headstock has a nice gloss to it and the inlays are nice as well, not the cheapo white ones. The sound of the guitar is about what one would expect for the money, it has a respectable tone range, reliable tuners (only time will tell) and the setup is plenty playable out of the box (I would like to have it properly setup but I am in no rush). In my opinion, this guitar is a great deal, perfectly suitable for practice maybe even some small shows. It also comes with an amp cable (~10ft) and 2 hex keys.Taco

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

This is a great bass.I have basses that cost more than twice the cost of this bass and the Dean shows them all up.There are alot of sounds that can come out of the soap bar pickups and active electronics,the Grover tuners hold great tune. FIT AND FINISH ARE TOP NOTCH, WHAT A WELL SET UP INSTRUMENT, Kudos to Dean,for such a fine bass. Mike C.Mike C.

It was heavier than I thought it would be, but that's not a bad thing. I am a fan of the natural woods and this was one I really wanted in my collection.RSMBASS

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

Love how this sounds with distortion especially with the tone all the way down. Clean don't sound bad but not my favorite. Not sure if it's just mine but the pots range is very small, an 1\8 of a turn and it's maxed out.Skins IV

This bass is amazing, it doesn't die out like a lot of other basses do. just like a-lox said i haven't had mine in a case since I've had it either and it has even taken a couple falls (other ppl not watching where they were walking) and it still works like it did the day i got it. only problem could be that since it's a V u can't really sit and play unless u put your leg between the two legs of the V but i prefer to stand anyways. i recomend this o any1.Briggsy80

I've owned Squier Jag short scale bass, and the Ibanez Mikro bass. I also briefly owned a Squier Contemporary Jazz bass which sounded beautiful but was astoundingly heavy and thus unworkable. I prefer this to any of the above – better neck and better action than the Squier Jag or the Mikro, better feel and balance than all of them. I like that this has a biggish headstock with burly tuning heads. It feels substantial enough to play vigorously but light enough to pogo with (if I were that kind of player). Due to the 1 pickup, the Hillsboro is a bit limited tonally and may need a touch of EQ tweaking to optimize. But limitations can be good – more playing, less knob twirling! Stock strings are okay but I've been waiting 5 weeks for the Rotosounds I ordered for this. Not pleased about that. It's a testament to the quality of the bass that I've been enjoying playing it anyway.Mondo Mando

A gift for my wife who is petite. She was trying to learn on one of my full sized basses, but wasn't comfortable. This bass fits her perfectly. I played it and was very impressed with the quality, sound and playability. Only concern is the tuners slip a bit.Dennis

I bought the metallic red version of this to lend to my friend for band practices. I've never owned a Dean before, though I have liked the ones I've jammed on, so I figured I'd give this one a shot. The picture does not do the bass justice, I was surprised by the quality of the guitar when I opened the box. The paint looks great, the headstock has a nice gloss to it and the inlays are nice as well, not the cheapo white ones. The sound of the guitar is about what one would expect for the money, it has a respectable tone range, reliable tuners (only time will tell) and the setup is plenty playable out of the box (I would like to have it properly setup but I am in no rush). In my opinion, this guitar is a great deal, perfectly suitable for practice maybe even some small shows. It also comes with an amp cable (~10ft) and 2 hex keys.Taco

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 had a great, detailed review written up but MF doesn't give you nearly enough room here for a proper rundown so I'll sum it up best I can. This bass has the quality where it truly counts the most, in the wood and neck/body joinery, but it required some fret leveling and nut work for optimum playability. The satin finish shows every mark and is difficult to clean, even with guitar finish care products. The Fishman Fluence system is very versatile with its own unique tone. I personally love this bass. After the minor work I performed, it's truly top shelf, but I would only recommend it if you're prepared to perform your own tech work or if you're unconcerned with minor, low action buzz.Boozerocket

The tone that I get through this bass guitar is amazing. This thing is in excellent condition. It's practically brand new. I've only played it a dozen or so times thinking that I would like to learn to play bass, but this drummer is going to stick with what he does! There is only one blemish on this guitar that I can find , And it's hardly noticeable. Whoever purchases this guitar is in for a real treat.thomavierr0

Excellent buy. I own an expensive Fender (maybe 800) and an innovative Olympia acoustic bass, and this bass compares favorably with either one of these for much less money- plus adds the low B. Obviously the expensive Fender uses much nicer solid wood/abalone inlay and has fancy Hip-Shot tuners. I own several jumbo guitars and the aforementioned acoustic basses and this thing dwarfs any of them in body volume. I expected the low B to be weak and/or "boomy", but it is actually balanced well with the other strings and I attribute this to the massive body volume. You will end up using the low B quite a bit because the sound fits in very naturally. The top is spruce veneer plywood. Cheap but maybe a good choice for this monster since plywood tends to be stronger and more durable. It does look very attractive and I like the thin satin finish all over. I think a thin finish contributes to a good sound. The body wood I guess is mahogany or something that looks similar. Looks fine- assume it is also plywood in all likelihood for this price. I didn't have any problem with the fret dressing, truss rod, or overall setup. Works fine for me right out of the box. I have been playing classical guitar seriously for a long time so I do have a strong technique. Yes the pickup is weak in output (passive- at least it doesn't require a battery). However, if your amp has enough volume knob travel or you have a preamp like I do (Fishman), shouldn't be a problem to get enough volume to jam with other acoustic instruments. The strings look like electric strings and I suppose the sound quality will improve with phosphor bronze, but I won't bother changing them for a while if at all. I didn't buy this for serious gigging, but rather have around for jamming and fooling around. However, if a gig came up that called for an acoustic bass, I wouldn't hesitate to use this even in a professional setting. It is a good enough tool to get the job done. Outstanding value.t91wheeler

I read several reviews on this bass before I bought it. Most that I read were negative, and those were posted 5 years ago or more. I have to say it was the positive reviews that won me over, and I didn't read a lot of those. So, going forward I would like to leave a positive review of this Dean EABC 5 Cutaway Acoustic/Electric Bass. I use this guitar for jam sessions at home, as well as on the Praise and Worship team at church. I have been playing bass on the worship team for a little over 5 years, and started with a Fender Squire Bronco short scale four string. I wanted a five string, and started researching which one to buy. I settled on this Dean. I read reviews about how it was able to keep up acoustically, but the pickup for plugging into an amp left a lot to be desired. I can state from my own personal experience with this guitar that acoustically, it may be able to keep up, but I get volume out the wazoo when it is plugged in. I ordered this guitar in April of this year (2020), and I don't know if Dean Guitars have taken previous reviews into consideration and made improvements, I cannot speak for them. I can only relay what I have personally experienced. Acoustically, this guitar is great for jamming with other acoustic performers. It is loud enough to be heard, but not a nuisance. But when I plug this guitar into my Fender Rumble 100 Bass Amp, I get more volume than I need from the pickup. I barely have to have the amp turned up, and barely have to move the volume knob on the guitar, and there is volume enough to play a packed venue of 1,000 or more people. This thing is LOUD plugged in. That said, it is loud enough that the pickup WILL cause feedback through the amp IF you are not careful. This is easily remedied by either moving further away from the amp, or simply turning down the volume to a reasonable level.Ron

The EVO feels solid and smooth. Well balanced. The volume and blend pots work well. Looked for a long time before purchasing, and am VERY happy with purchasing this model. Body is almost an exact match for my Epiphone Les Paul special.Sconnie

Looks great, feels great, plays great. I can't brag on this bass enough. I thought the mahogany body would be significantly heavier, but it's hardly noticeable. Great tone and clarity. This bass is the reason I only play Dean instruments.eldritchfear1

I ordered this bass and waited 7 plus months before i recieved, once i did finally recieve I was dispointed. I order this one due to its color and put a lot of recording on hold, I did not want the cheaper ones due to pass cheaper instrutment expericences, plus this color as pictured was perfect. I opened cartoon to find that color is not orange amber at all more of a natural dark wood color, dont get me wrong it looked beatuiful, but i could not get pass the color. i returned and purchased the dean 5 string that was much cheaper price, recieved 2 days later, and other than pickups and black it was identical to the much more expensive previous model. so far other then having to dress the fretts a little due to just shreading my plam and finger, it has been very impressive. I guess long of short, don't by something hoping to have it look as advertised. MF customer service have done a great job.CC71

I've owned Squier Jag short scale bass, and the Ibanez Mikro bass. I also briefly owned a Squier Contemporary Jazz bass which sounded beautiful but was astoundingly heavy and thus unworkable. I prefer this to any of the above – better neck and better action than the Squier Jag or the Mikro, better feel and balance than all of them. I like that this has a biggish headstock with burly tuning heads. It feels substantial enough to play vigorously but light enough to pogo with (if I were that kind of player). Due to the 1 pickup, the Hillsboro is a bit limited tonally and may need a touch of EQ tweaking to optimize. But limitations can be good – more playing, less knob twirling! Stock strings are okay but I've been waiting 5 weeks for the Rotosounds I ordered for this. Not pleased about that. It's a testament to the quality of the bass that I've been enjoying playing it anyway.Mondo Mando

A gift for my wife who is petite. She was trying to learn on one of my full sized basses, but wasn't comfortable. This bass fits her perfectly. I played it and was very impressed with the quality, sound and playability. Only concern is the tuners slip a bit.Dennis

I bought the metallic red version of this to lend to my friend for band practices. I've never owned a Dean before, though I have liked the ones I've jammed on, so I figured I'd give this one a shot. The picture does not do the bass justice, I was surprised by the quality of the guitar when I opened the box. The paint looks great, the headstock has a nice gloss to it and the inlays are nice as well, not the cheapo white ones. The sound of the guitar is about what one would expect for the money, it has a respectable tone range, reliable tuners (only time will tell) and the setup is plenty playable out of the box (I would like to have it properly setup but I am in no rush). In my opinion, this guitar is a great deal, perfectly suitable for practice maybe even some small shows. It also comes with an amp cable (~10ft) and 2 hex keys.Taco

I purchased this Dean ML based on my appreciation for Dime and simply because teenage me committed to owning one someday. I found a pic that I took with Dime which reminded me of being in the front row watching him jam away on his Dime Slime years ago. For me, this purchase was primarily motivated by nostalgia, expecting build quality to be sort of, ok. I have to say, this guitar exceeded my expectations. Slight disclaimer: I purchased this item knowing I would immediately upgrade most of the hardware and adjust things to make it more comfortable for my playing. 1) It is a fantastic base instrument. It plays fairly well as sold. This was my first experience with a Floyd Rose Special. Also, it will definitely be my last. I played it stock for about 2 weeks to get a good feel for it before changing anything. It’s a great playing guitar. 2) Every review I saw said that the finish was amazing and pictures just couldn’t do it justice. I agree. They did a great job on the neck and body of this guitar. It’s flawless. 3) Everything was to spec on mine. Action, truss rod, intonation, fret, bridge and pickup height, all perfect. My fretboard had a somewhat excessive amount of dye on it but nothing too crazy. The nut on mine was clearly cut too deep leaving the high e in permanent sitar mode with fret buzz. So, quality control could be an issue. For my needs this wasn’t a problem as I had already decided on replacing virtually all hardware with new parts that I had on hand from a project that I decided not to restore. 4) The pickups sound great. The Dime Slime nailed the Pantera tones, not surprising. I was surprised by the classic/southern rock and soloist tones I was able to get with minor eq adjustments. Clear and warm through the drive/distortion. It does jazz and country pretty well too. It has a very balanced sound to it which I was not expecting. I’ve played it on three different amps with the same results. Great. This is a great buy. A solid guitar as is. However, in my case, this guitar didn’t really come to life until I did what I did: OFR Hot Rod, brass block,springs, some shielding, etc. Now, what really irritates me is that it plays a lot better than a few of my guitars that were either at or almost double the cost of the Dime Slime. Get One!SantaRosaJoe

Not a V type of player. I like Wilco, the Pixies, the Smiths, Stone Roses, Courtney Barnett, etc. So when I saw Ryan Adams rocking a V by that other manufacturer that starts with G, I started thinking about the V body style. I liked this model because it was at the right price point and had the tradition V body style, if you don't think too much about the headstock. This guitar probably hasn't gotten any love because I don't see it as your typical Dime type guitar, and its not your typical vintage Flying V. The pickups are not high enough gain to get love from the shredders and the Headstock probably turns some people off. What I found is a pretty great guitar with some help. First, the action was high. I lowered the bridge significantly. The good news is that the frets are good I didn't run into any buzziness after lowering the action a little lower than I thought I could get away with. Next, the pickups needed adjustment. They were pretty low. I brought them up a little and found that the sound filled out and got chimey like it should. I adjusted the pole pieces to match the fretboard radius and viola! Most of these guitars have good pickups and don't need an immediate change. Folks, you need to learn how to properly adjust your guitar pickups! Then figure out if you need something different. PS adjust these pickups on a clean channel, you need to hear the guitar not distortion. Long story short, this is a great guitar. It shouldn't be your main axe, but its a great conversation piece that sounds better than it should. I feel like I discovered a diamond in the rough. P.S. The guitar is really light and comfortable to play with a strap.Fred

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

thanks musicians friend arrived on schedule, out of the box did tuning and played with it I was surprised felt good on hands and fingers has a nice sound' impressive piece of work and don't forget affordability "Gil

I use this bass primarily for recording and it sounds and plays great. Very quality for the money and the neck is simply fantastic.Mark Y.