Brice 5 String V2 Bass Active Left Handed Reviews 5

I purchased this unit after looking for weeks for a cheaper priced left handed bass. I got it from Rondo Music; found it on eBay for 199.

This bass is pretty nice, once you work out a few minor bugs, it has a nice punchy sound to it. The price on it couldn't have been better either; it was under $240 after shipping/handling to my door.

I have a few minor complaints with this system. For some reason, the sound quality out of the box is mediocre; for a player like me it is lousy. I don't know why, but it seems as if the strings being as close as they are to the pickups are actually causing it to distort (although the guy at Sam Ash tells me "that's impossible, whoever told you that is an idiot"). I attempted to drop the pickups, they went down a bit but the screws wouldn't turn anymore (and the heads stripped on top of that) so I ended up raising the strings all the way. Now it sounds a lot better. It only distorts if you strum it too hard. Another thing I don't like is the pickups; I don't like active pickups, especially these, because I have to change a 9v battery in the bass every month.

The quality of this bass I must say is incredible, especially for it's price. Just as any manufacture, I'm sure they used the more cost effective strings, so I changed those to some Slinky's right away. The body is beautiful, I've seen complaints about the body that was torn up, etc; mine is in mint condition, as I'm sure most of them are. Before purchasing this bass, I was strongly considering an Ibanez left handed four string. I compared these two and they both have the same materials for their bodies, necks, hardware, etc. All in all, this is an excellent quality bass.

This bass has a few minor bugs to work out. If done right, you won't even have to spend extra money right away. I would recommend possibly getting some different pickups, but definitely change the strings. If you want a nice sounding, cheap, effective bass, pick one of these up. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Steve Taylor rated this unit 5 on 2003-10-02.

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