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Tobias Toby Pro-4B Custom Bass Review
Chris Bereznay
2002-04-10

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Several weeks ago, we received for review a Tobias Toby Pro-4B Custom Electric Bass Guitar from our friends at MusicYo.com. We've put some serious mileage on this instrument since then and are quite pleased with the results. The Toby Pro-4B Custom gets great marks in all the major categories - tone, feel, comfort, looks and quality.

When opening the case for the first time, we couldn't help but notice the beautifully detailed cosmetics - solid bubinga body wings, a hand rubbed oil finish, multi-colored wood inlays and one of the most attractive body designs I've ever seen on a bass guitar. The black hardware added a nice touch to an already sweet looking instrument. Most manufacturers do a nice job with the exterior these days, though, so we knew not to be too blown away without first getting down with the play, feel and tonal quality of the instrument.

During a review session, we typically spend a great deal of time both jamming and recording with the equipment we test. Although there are other fine points to discuss, it's very important to point out how comfortable the Toby Pro-4B was. When picking the instrument up for the first time I immediately noticed how heavy and solid the construction was which led me to believe it would be a bear after a several hour test drive. Surprisingly, this bass is very comfortable to wear and play. I believe the manufacturer uses the word "ergonomic". A few factors I believe contributed to this are the body style on the guitar and the trademark Tobias ASYM Neck. ASYM stands for assymetrical, which is asymmetrical and is designed to fit comfortably in the contour of your hand for maximum comfort during long playing sessions. The neck is a hand rubbed oil finish and is not tacky, but rather provides a smooth gliding surface when working the frets which also cuts down on fatigue.

So far we've identified how great this instrument looks and how comfortable it is to play. So how does it sound? Nice. Real nice. The active electronics really provide a great range of tone and the response is very tight and punchy. There's just enough sustain, though, which I originally thought was going to be overbearing because of the bubinga wood and the very evident weight and mass of the instrument, but was pleased to find out that all of the materials used in constructing this bass really have a positive impact on the sound quality. Low end is tight and punchy and the brilliant upper register response makes slapping and popping the strings a real treat.

The Toby Pro-4B Custom performed equally well in live and recording environments. We used the bass in the live environment with two separate rigs, a Fender Bassman 50 running through a 412 cabinet and also as a line-in to a Mackie 808S PPM system with 2 15" cabs. The Toby had a sweet classic sound through the Bassman and simply slammed with 600 watts pushing it through the Mackie system. For recording, we ran it through a Mackie mixing board and applied some modeling software on the PC side to work the tones a bit. We also ran it straight in to a digital recording workstation we were also reviewing from Zoom, the MRS-1044CD. We were pleased with every configuration. The tone has a lot of flavor when amped and can be tightened up via the active electronics for a clean recording signal as well.

Bottom Line:

Tobias bass guitars are well known. The progressive, sculpted look is not only beautiful, but engineered to be comfortable and easy to play. The active electronics provide loads of flexibility in tone and the clarity is very impressive, even when compared to bass guitars costing several hundred dollars more. Previously, you would pay an arm and a leg for a quality bass guitar with these types of features and tone, but these fine instruments are now sold at MusicYo.com for great prices. If you're in the market for a mid-range model you should definitely give one of these models a look.

Check out MusicYo.com by clicking HERE