Ok, my findings for the Vintage VS4 CR Reissued Bass Cherry Red
Prologue:
- The sales guy, a bass player, was wonderfully no-nonsense for a German. I felt like a nerd, talking about fiddling and modifying…He said: “I just need a volume knob on my bass and PLAY. No fiddling around, no f#cking discussions about strings - they are all the same!”. That’s punk, my friends!
- I play better in a store than at home. I did not feel ashamed and nobody laughed (in my face)
About the bass:
- that’s one heavy short scale bass. It feels massive!
- It looks great, in bloody red
- I was underwhelmed with the sound - much worse than my humbucker ESP. I played a cheap short scale fender to hear the difference and I instantly liked it. And compared to the Rascal, this bass is nothing!
- The tuners feel cheap
- The nut is good - 42mm graphite
- The strings feel cheap, but the sales guy says that it’s all the same anyway
- The neck is massive. Frets are ok, but the neck is really thick. Also it is very sticky. To misquote a famous president of a well known country: “I did not have sexual relationship with that bass” - but it felt like other players had, if you know what I mean. Oh, and the neck is glued on…
- One of the humbuckers sounded ok, but not as “rich” in tonality as my ESP. The other had a harsh/sharpish sound, my ears could not stand the sound.
- The bridge is massive, but you cannot set action height for each string individually.
- The knobs were knobby.
For the price I would not take it. I am eyeing a 2nd hand version though, which would cost me about 230€. For that price I could take it apart and replace everything I don’t like - except the neck.
Pictures (the red colour appears brighter here - the real colour is more like the blood of your opponent, one hour after a bar fight).
