Mike Skull

This bass is truly remarkable. I bought it based on youtube videos and fender's videos, and I was blown away with how well crafted this piece is. It's been my main stage bass for three years running. the tone is very focused; razor-sharp highs, super punchy mids and very controlled and focused lows. I love it. I replaced the bridge (like we all do on Fenders) with a Babicz FCH4 bridge. Drove the mids home. Loads of sustain.

This bass right out of the box is fun to play. It has a pretty rounded tone, with solid lows, mids and highs, and also has an active EQ bass boost pot with the passive pickup. The P/J configuration helps add to the tone, with a punchy precision pickup and a jazzy growl of the bridge jazz pickup complimenting each other really well. The satin finished neck is fast and playable, and the tuning machines are precise. This is a good backup bass to have, especially for the price. I reworked mine a bit as a project and to make it more stage-ready as my Eb bass: -swapped out the stock pickups for Seymour-Duncan™ Quarter Pound Precision/Jazz pickups -replaced the stock pots with Fender™ 250k split shaft potentiometers with .022 capacitors in a Pv/Pt/Jv/Jt configuration (had to drill the plate out a bit with a 3/8" bit) -rewired with Stew-Mac™ .22 gauge cloth back wiring -installed a Switchcraft™ mono flush mount jack (Active pots and pickups require a stereo jack) -future replacement of neck with a Fender™ maple neck (for tonal purpose)

This is a great lightweight solution for tone monsters. Everything is incredibly versatile and the midrange band selection is awesome. never had to crank it at a gig; plenty of power. Pairs well with my Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass.

Blackstar* really did a great job on this combo; although only 3 watts and a 3" speaker, it has plenty of volume for the recommended application of a tabletop amp. It's very loud compared to other 3w micros. Lots of neat features like a one-knob EQ and compressor and a simulated bass boost, as well as a decent distortion. I wish there was a bit more control out of the EQ and compressor, but for what it's used for it's more than generous of Blackstar to facilitate these features on a dressing room jammer.

The Babicz FCH-4 Full contact Hardware bass bridge has to be one of the most innovative I've come across; the saddles have have a locking internal cam that rotates to raise and lower the string while maintaining 100% contact with the bridge. I also like that everything locks in place with screws, from the intonation to the saddles. I get massive sustain and a focused midrange with this bridge.