Rogue Review: LX200BF

History:

Purchase: I bought this unit so I wouldn't be sepending a lot to try a long-scale fretless bass. I have rather small hands, and have been playing a short-scale fretless for many years. But the sustain and tone aren't quite up to snuff on the shorty, so I wanted to give long-scale a shot, but didn't want to be out a lot of money if it didn't work out. I paid $140 for the Rogue

What I Like About This Rogue LX200BF: I like the looks, first off. The apparent quality of this unit belies tha cost. I am quite surprised at the overall quality for the bucks! The fit and finish of this bass is as good as any Ibanez (for instance)that I've seen up to about the $400 range of price. Balance on the strap is excellent (a real sticking-point with me!). Decent tuners, OK bridge. Pickups seem plenty powerful and responsive, although not as hot as I'd really like. Serviceable enough, though. Fingerboard is made of some really tough resin/plastic (Ebonol?). Very wear-resistant! Angled-back headstock...yes!! I HATE those little Fender-type string retainers!Glad this unit doesn't have them.

What I Do NOT Like About The Rogue LX200BF: The tone & volume pots were not securely tightened, nor was the output jack, when it came out of the box. Also, I discovered that linear-taper pots were used thru-out, which gives a weird response on the controls. Everything happens in the first 1/4 turn of the knob. No Bueno! I'll need to fix that, soonest.

Rogue LX200BF Quality Rating: Construction seems solid. Good fit of parts, and a very nice finish (metallic charcoal), well polished-out. Neck has a matte lacquer finish, and it had one little tiny run, right in the back middle of the neck. Easily steel-wooled out, and not a problem. Kinda different headstock/neck joint, but seems solid enough. Looks like Gotoh tuners used on it.

Review Summary: Bearing in mind what it cost, the problems it had were minor and easily fixed by someone who's ever had an electric guitar apart & back together (successfully). I use it in my church music group, and practice on it a lot at home, and it's been just great (again, bearing in mind what it cost). It's no Pedullah, or Warwick, or even a Carvin. But then again it cost about 1/10 of what one of those costs. My rating below bears the cost in mind.

Rating of this Rogue product: 4

This Rogue LX200BF Bass Guitars Review Submitted By: Dave Hughes

Review Date: 2001-10-15