Steinberger Spirit XT 25 Review

History:

Purchase: Purchase online at MusicYo for 329.99 on December 2003

What I Like About This Unit: Great modern sound for the price. I own an American Precision and an American Jazz. The XT 25 gives me a new range of sound. Huge bottom and slight metallic rigning high (due to the metal head I think). There is also a huge punch in the low end that I like a lot. It doesn't have the creamy mid of an American Fender or a Stingray, but the Thru-Neck gives a nice integration at the bottom of the neck. The 24 frets give a full octave on all strings and the whole neck is usable. The high's are clean, and hum free (unlike the Jazz base). Pickups are of good quality for my own taste and the B string is not only usable, it actually sounds good. The sound from the neck pickup is awesome, but the sound from the bridge pickup is a little dry. Low action from factory. Myne came with a rigning D string on the 8th fret, but I got rid of it without lifting the action too much. Action and pitch adjustment not fancy but simple. Most of all, it's small, very light and there is a hard shell case available. (There is no hard shell case available for the XP serie) The leg rest is very convenient, and the instrument is perfectely balanced when resting on the leg.

What I Do NOT Like About The Steinberger Spirit XT 25: There is a metallic rigning comming from the combination of the metal head and the neck. Don't get me wrong, it's a great instrument for the price, but the fact that that bass stays tuned seems like a myth for me. This is not a graphite neck from the L serie, this is a 3-piece Hard Maple neck. It doesn't stay tune as well as my Fenders. The tunning machine is accessible but not very precise. The nuts are always locked and when it finally spins, it goes 1/4 cycle. You need a screw driver for fine tuning. Pitch sustaining is not very good. While tuning it, after you pluck any string, you see the needle going left and right. Makes it hard to tune. Hey, this thing is made in Corea.

Spirit XT 25 Quality: The overal construction quality is excellent, even underrated. All moving parts are of excellent quality, the knobs, the bridge and tunning system, pickup mounting, the leg rest, verything gives an impression os solidity. Strings are tight to one another with the 5 strings (not with the 4 strings), so it's a bass to play hard OR fast, not both of them if you are a biginner. The top strap lock, located in the back, makes the instrument lay forward. That's annoying. I had to move it to the shoulder. It works better this way. However, it's not nistalled in the factory, (only the hole is there), so you can install it wherever you like.

Summary: I've tried several bass lately, and I'm not very much into cheap instruments. But I haven't heard a better bass under $600. And way before I started playing bass, I was dreaming of owning a Steinberger, just because it looks and sounds cool. I would recommand it as a first bass as well. It's a very good deal! Jump on it before they stop production.

Rating of this product: 4

This Steinberger Bass Guitars Review Submitted By: Pierre Lebel

Date: 2003-12-30