AB-304 Review

This handsome bass is ideal for acoustic living room concerts and electric extravaganzas onstage or in the studio. Mahogany sides, back, and neck give it a rich, articulate tone. A built-in piezo pickup with one volume and one tone control makes it easy to fine-tune your electric sound. Features die-cast machine heads; abalone rosette; and top binding. This bass is a pleasure to behold.

Features:	7
Sound:	5
Action:	5
Reliability:	6
Impression:	6
Overall rating:	6
Reviewer rating:	5.8
Users rating:	6.1
Votes:	7

overall: 5.8

Reviewed by: Joe-Fish, on july 12, 2006

Purchased from: Musiciansfriend.com

Features: The AB-304 is a Korean made acoustic/electric bass. It has 22 frets and a 32" scale, the neck and body is made out of mahogany with a flame maple, natural or transparent black finish. The body style of the AB-304 is cutaway with a string-thru body. It also has passive electronics with a volume control and a tone control. The pickups on the AB-304 are piezo pickups. The tuners are locking Gotoh style tuners. I got a free gig bag with the purchase of the AB-304. // 7

Sound: I play classic rock, blues and folk rock and this bass is alright for playing soft songs. I use a Crate BT15 with it and it has a soft mellow sound but can be very very touchy. Its very hard to hear without an amp because I took it to guitar club one day because I couldn't bring my amp with me to school that day and it was impossible to hear me play over the other guitars. // 5

Action, Fit & Finish: Well, when you buy it don't plan on doing much with it. The action is high and the pickups are very touchy so that doesn't go well together. Evrything on it is fine except the strings that come on it won't last long, they don't break but they stretch and turn black quickly. The input jack comes loose alot and its hard to fit your arm in the guitar to fix it. // 5

Reliability & Durability: I play at a local coffee shop and as long as you have the volume and tone right this bass will sound good. The hardware seems it will last a while as long as you check and make sure everything is tightened right. It only has one strap button and you tie the strap to the headstock with a sting. I don't think this bass is very dependable to use as a backup because it takes a while to get the volume and tone to get set right to make it sound good. The finish seems like it will last a long time and keep its natural look. // 6

Impression: For playing heavy classic rock songs, this isn't the bass to get. I have been playing a year and one month and own an SX P-Bass and an Epiphone Thunderbird along with my AB-304. If it were to get stolen or lost I wouldn't buy this bass again. I love how beautiful it looks but I hate how you can barely hear it without an amp and how touchy it is. // 6

Comments

[Sqeeezie]

Aw, Skeet Skeet!!!

Sweet review, even my rubberducky liked it.

[tsemper]

pooooop good review dude

[TandyJake]

Bummer, I was looking to buy one of these to experiment with since I don't have an acoustic bass yet. I heard one live and I think they sound pretty sick but if it's that bad maybe I'll save up for a while and get something better. Thanks for the review man!