This is my first 6-str bass (I usually play 5- and 4-strings), and after playing this one within two weeks I have mostly positive impressions.
1. Electronics are pretty decent and not that cheap. The treble pot has high freq hissing when boosted but it's not too loud and doesn't annoy me at all (also it's ok for most common active electronics). EQ works in active mode only, and there is no treble cut in passive.
The balance pot does the work, but there is a negligible drop of low and high freq in the middle position in comparison with neck and bridge positions (it sounds good though). Low and mid eq pots are ok, can't complain.
Switching between passive and active modes is not seamless if strings are sounding as there is a millisecond sound loss when you're pulling/pushing the knob, but I've noticed no volume difference between p&a modes (eq is flat ofc) which is really cool.
Tesla pups themselves are beefy, bright and variable. Semi-vintage tone is possible but it's mostly modern sound.
2. The neck is comfortable to play and easy-accessible on the highest frets. Also there is a double truss rod which I can say nothing about because I didn't need to adjust it yet. The fretboard is nice whether you play chords or single notes, and ebony looks good.
Fretwork is almost perfect but you can't lay strings on frets because of fret leveling even if each string is set as low as possible. Action is average and playable but I'd prefer it to be closer for more comfortable taping.
3. Machines heads are just ok — they are smooth and accurate enough, and keep tuning well. The good thing about the bridge is that screws can be adjusted with a flat and a cross screwdrivers, and string saddles are easy adjustable too.
4. Build on the first sight was seemed to be appropriate even for more pricy basses but there is a serious fail with my current bass. The cavities for pickups are milled crooked. How is that possible using a milling machine and having a QA, how Harley Benton? The pickups were stuck (especially bridge) until I pulled them out. And I have no idea how pickups were even set in these tight crooked cavities. Pickup screws are junk so I ruined screw heads trying to adjust pickups height despite the screwdriver matches screw heads. Thankfully I don't need to do an adjustment more than once.
5. The neck is really heavy so neck dive is smth you have to be ready for, though the balance is quite ok on a strap.
6. String spacing is perfect imo. It's more narrow than classic P/J and comfortable for fingerstyle, slap (and double thumping), or playing with a pick.
7. My bass weights 5 kilos.
To sum up, despite all the negative I can't find any basses on this price (or even half more expensive) that would be equal in quality and features to this model, and all the cons aren't that critical for such a working horse for the money.
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