Essex SJB75 -NA Reviews 
4 / 5 based on 1 reviewsI've been playing bass off and on for about 8 years - 6 years as a gigging musician. I play mainly rock with some experiments in funk and jazz.
Looking for a backup bass, I stumbled across Rondo Music on E-bay and decided to take a look at their site. I couldn't believe the low prices and the gorgeous finishes these instruments had. Feeling the whole 'too good to be true vibe', I decided to look up reviews -about 85% of them were rave reviews, so I decided to purchase the '75 Fender jazz knockoff (always had a thing for block inlays)
Beautiful ash body, very playable neck with just the right amount of width (slightly wider than a real jazz), awesome punchy tone that does great for slapping.
heavy body, wimpy bridge, slightly stiff tuners, awful strings shipped with the bass, and the plain white pickguard (a pearloid pickguard to match the inlays would have been perfect)
This is a very well made instrument that exceeds the quality of many 'entry level' basses. The 2 piece ash body is of excellent quality, with good grain matching. The neck is arrow straight with very nice binding and pearl block inlays. The width of the neck is somewhere between that of a Fender J & P neck - very comfortable. Frets are well finished with no rough spots. The only flaws I found as it was shipped were the wimpy bridge, stiff tuners, awful strings and some pickup hum when either pickup was backed off. Mods so far: shielded the pickguard and body cavities with spray adhesive and aluminum foil ($8 for adhesive at home depot), heavy duty 'Gotoh style' bridge from Allparts ($16 w/ shipping), new set of Ernie Ball Slinkys ($16). For $200 total, I have a bass that has no pickup hum whatsoever, very nice tight string tension, sustain for days, and absolutely killer tone. No joke, this thing will obliterate any MIM Fender you put it up against.
As is, this bass is a great value. With a little bit of work and a small amount of money, you'll have a bass that is a tremendous value.
Dave rated this unit
on
2006-07-07.
