SX100 B Series 2 Electric Bass Review

I've made the switch. 

I have been playing guitar for sixteen years, and last year, I took on a new challenge of playing guitar in a pit orchestra for our local high school musical.  That was one of the most stretching and rewarding experiences of my musical career.  Part of what made that so challenging was the technicality of the music for guitar.  This was not your basic D-E-G-Em,  types of chord progressions.  There were suspended fifths and lots of key changes and the sheet music was just general mayhem for a scrub player like myself. 

One of my coping mechanisms last year was to just plunk along with the bass line.  Guitar in the pit orchestra is mainly just fill, so it was easy to transpose a lot of the music and just play bass notes, or just focus on the roots and thirds of chords to make my life easy.  I'm guessing I did alright, because I was asked to play again this year.  Except that I was asked to play bass.

So, because I'm always up for a challenge, I said yes, thinking this is going to be a great excuse to buy a new guitar, particularly a bass guitar.

I am of the opinion that you should not spend a lot of money on something that you are just starting out with.  My first guitar was a pawn shop special.  Less than a hundred bucks for a Johnson Acoustic Six String.  The thing was horrible.  The action was really high and it was dinged up, and it just kept eating strings until I figured out that the bridge needed replaced.  It was glorious though.  Learning to play guitar and suffering through the mind numbing struggle of sweating through your first song.  It took a few months, but I eventually became pretty efficient and had a growing bag of songs that I could strum out.  Thanks to my brother in law, I was able to upgrade to an Ibanez Acoustic.  (An older version of this)

Even though my Ibanez is not the most expensive guitar, it is beautiful.  It sounds awesome, has great action, and wonderful pickups.  It is still holding strong even after 15 years.

All that to say, if you just starting off, go with something cheap, so this brings me to the SX100B Series II Electric Bass Guitar Black .

At $120.00, this thing is a value.  I honestly was surprised at the amount of bass guitars in the $100 range.  It was the price that was really the motivation behind this purchase.  I wanted a gig bag, a new strap, and an extra cable for under $200.  At this price point, I was able to accomplish all of these goals.

That price isn't to say that this thing feels cheap.  It is very solid and doesn't feel lower quality.  It's a tad on the heavy side, but it isn't uncomfortable sitting with it and also using a strap standing up.  My strap is pretty padded, but I can imagine that a cheap webbing strap could cut into your neck with the weight of this axe.

As far as playing is concerned, it feels alright.  The neck is very "girthy" and takes some time to acclimate to the thickness, but I've actually found that to be very comfortable.  For me, with the musical score that I've been learning, most things are on the first two strings, and I have had no problems finding my way around the neck board.

It comes with an allen wrench for adjusting.  I haven't done that yet, but there is a bit of a fret buzz on the lower two strings.  I know if I did a few fine adjustments those would be gone, but it hasn't been distracting yet.

The pickups are pretty solid.  There are two controls for the lower and higher register.  It's simple and easy to adjust.  I find that delightful as a beginning bass player.  I don't want to be distracted by a bunch of bells and whistles.

It comes with a decent, but short cable, with a 90 degree plug.  It's fine, nothing to write home about.  I'm sure that I will upgrade once I know what I'm doing with this bass guitar.  It's workable and for beginners, it will work well.

Tuning is nice.  Big pegs make the fine adjustments easy and in two weeks of playing, there hasn't been too much out of tune between sessions.  Again, might need to make some adjustments to the neck once it is broken in, but no problems so far.

So, the skinny is this thing is a solid, beginner guitar.  It's not the best, and I've played many worse instruments.  If you are looking to start off or just need something that you can kick around with and not worry about bumping it into a door jam.  This would be a good pick up for you.

I'll post a video later just to give you an idea of the sound and action.  Stay tuned for that!

 Find it on Amazon here and read what other players are saying!