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Hatsubai « Subpar bass »
Published on 05/30/11 at 14:58The ESP LTD F-104 is a bass made for those who cannot afford the higher level LTD or ESP basses. The guitar is really marketed towards those who are just starting out and are into the whole nu-metal/visual kei kinda thing. The bass features a basswood body with a bolt-on maple neck and rosewood fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets, a hardtail bridge, ESP SB-4 pickups and the ESP ABQ-2 2-Band Active EQ.
UTILIZATION
The frets on this model are really bad. There are sharp edges that really slice your hand up. They definitely need to be filed down to truly enjoy this instrument. The actual leveling of the frets wasn't too bad, but that could just be because I like higher action on bass than I do on guitar. The neck itself felt kinda bad though. I don't know if it was the finish or what, but it just didn't feel like a normal LTD finish usually does. It could have been one of those "off" guitars.
SOUNDS
I should start off by saying that I'm more of a guitarist than a bassist, so keep that in mind. The pickups in this thing sounded overly muddy for anything worthwhile. When played clean, they sounded dull and lacked the spank that I like basses to have for metal music. After all, this guitar is geared towards metal music. The active EQ didn't seem to help too much when it came towards dialing in a good tone. When distorted, it wasn't too bad, but I couldn't help but think that the basswood is holding it back. I like high quality basswood in guitars, but for basses, I prefer something like ash or alder.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for a cheap, beginner bass and you have some sort of bizarre image to uphold, you might want to consider this instrument. However, there are so many better basses out there for the money, so I can't really recommend this. Try to find a higher quality LTD and buy used. That way you can get all the benefits of the higher quality guitar without the price tag.
UTILIZATION
The frets on this model are really bad. There are sharp edges that really slice your hand up. They definitely need to be filed down to truly enjoy this instrument. The actual leveling of the frets wasn't too bad, but that could just be because I like higher action on bass than I do on guitar. The neck itself felt kinda bad though. I don't know if it was the finish or what, but it just didn't feel like a normal LTD finish usually does. It could have been one of those "off" guitars.
SOUNDS
I should start off by saying that I'm more of a guitarist than a bassist, so keep that in mind. The pickups in this thing sounded overly muddy for anything worthwhile. When played clean, they sounded dull and lacked the spank that I like basses to have for metal music. After all, this guitar is geared towards metal music. The active EQ didn't seem to help too much when it came towards dialing in a good tone. When distorted, it wasn't too bad, but I couldn't help but think that the basswood is holding it back. I like high quality basswood in guitars, but for basses, I prefer something like ash or alder.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for a cheap, beginner bass and you have some sort of bizarre image to uphold, you might want to consider this instrument. However, there are so many better basses out there for the money, so I can't really recommend this. Try to find a higher quality LTD and buy used. That way you can get all the benefits of the higher quality guitar without the price tag.