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What are your thoughts about Schecter basses? Stiletto Studio bass...
- Thread starter Art1606
- Start date
A friend of mine has the 6-string Studio. He loves it, mostly because of the way it plays. I’m not enamored with the sound, but he’s happy with it, so ymmv.
I did own a schecter at one point- a Diamond Series Jazz clone- and it was one of the nicest basses I ever had. Someone had swapped the electronics out with Bartolini pickups and an EMG preamp, and it sang. I sold it foolishly when I was still in school and I still miss that sweet sweet neck.
I did own a schecter at one point- a Diamond Series Jazz clone- and it was one of the nicest basses I ever had. Someone had swapped the electronics out with Bartolini pickups and an EMG preamp, and it sang. I sold it foolishly when I was still in school and I still miss that sweet sweet neck.
Thank you. Very interesting. Yes the string spacing and the neck in BTB's are huge. I'm thinking upgrading the bridge and possibly reduce the strings spacing but not sure which bridge will fit. Maybe you have some ideas?
Please do and post some demo when you replace the pickups on your Schecter.
Thanks again, Art.
You're welcome
I had the BTB for about 3 years, & like I said, I loved it. I'll probably get another one someday. The funny thing is, my left (fretting) hand got used to it, but my right hand...that was a contentious relationship. IF I played slap-style, it would have been perfect! Alas, I slap neither women nor basses.
I just got a fretless Jazz paid off, & should have my CZ out of layaway either tomorrow, or in a couple weeks. After that, my next project is the pickups & pre. I'll definitely try to post something sound-related. I've never tried that before...
Ive never picked up anew Schecter in a store that played nice. Always silly high above the 11th. Uusally a ting visual hump around the 14-16 th like the truss rod is overworked to keep it straight. I picked up several , all the bad. Ill pass on the Schecter
I have a Schecter Omen 5-string. In addition to being an incredibly smooth playing bass, it has a nice throaty sound, which is shapable with its active electronics. I love my Ricky, I love my Geddy, but this bass holds its own little niche in my soundscape.
So if you can, find one and play it, and see if it speaks to you.
So if you can, find one and play it, and see if it speaks to you.
I've got a Riot-4 Session that has the 3 band EQ, and sadly I really haven't put her through her paces, but it's probably the most versatile-sounding bass I've got, plus next to my Ric it's the best built. The frets are tapered so nicely there's no threat of them shredding my fingers, and while it's solid it's also light weight (by comparison, by Fender Jazz, also made of swamp ash, can feel like it weighs a ton). I think they're criminally under-recognized. The only drawback is the two 9v cells that power the EQ, so it's a tradeoff.
I don't have a Stiletto but my CV5 has been a great bass. It needed a bit of setup work initially but the neck is smooth and comfortable, it hardly ever goes out of tune, it has perfect intonation and a solid B string. Its a bit heavy but not bad for a 35" scale 5-string. The passive pickups have series, parallel and split coil modes so I can get pretty convincing P and J tones as well as the full humbucker experience out of them. Its actually the bass I leave out on a stand the most because its so versatile.
I had a Schecter Studio 5 and enjoyed it while I had it. I ended up buying a Tradition MTB500 5 string for a super low price, and after spending time with it, I found that I really appreciate the wider string spacing and thinner neck profile. Even though the Schecter has a thin neck, after playing the Tradition, it felt cumbersome to play and I sold it a few weeks later. I have another Schecter Custom 4 Fretless in Dark Cherry and it has a totally different feel to the neck, one which I prefer.
The EMG HZ's are OK but they don't compare to the EMG CS pickups in my Czech Dean or even the no-name active ceramics in the Tradition. They seem to lack character and if I would've kept the Studio 5, I would have replaced them. It is a heavy bass, though well balanced. I would say if you can find one used, it would be a great value if it feels good in the hands. I see them regularly come up for around $400 in my area.
The EMG HZ's are OK but they don't compare to the EMG CS pickups in my Czech Dean or even the no-name active ceramics in the Tradition. They seem to lack character and if I would've kept the Studio 5, I would have replaced them. It is a heavy bass, though well balanced. I would say if you can find one used, it would be a great value if it feels good in the hands. I see them regularly come up for around $400 in my area.
I have used 3 Stiletto Customs and 1 Studio. They are made by different factories:
Customs were made in Qingdao, China at first, and then made in Indonesia (In fact still made in China and then transported to there, and before they were tagged with 'Crafted In China' there are also some tagged with 'Korea' but in fact, they were also made in China).
Cuz they are made in my country so I can get Stiletto Customs at quite a cheap price. While I am not very satisfied with the quality control. The first one I got was quite good. the action was low and I didn't need to adjust its neck when the season changed. I sold it and I was very regretful so I bought another two afterward but one of them is not as good as the first one I had.
Then I tried the Studio. It was really made in Korea (Many 'Made In Korea' were actually made in China). That one was really good and because it was neck-thru so the low-end depth was much better than the Customs. I think that is what Stiletto should sound like. I also bought BTB 745 and Spector Legend Custom 5, and I think the Stiletto Studio was as good as them.
by the way, I'm not saying that guitars and basses made in China are not good. we have some good brands such as Kimble, Aguda, Shijie, and some hi-end custom shops like DTC, BQW, Bilobba, Soutlaid and so on.
This Bilobba BD Q5 is my main force 5 strings now
Customs were made in Qingdao, China at first, and then made in Indonesia (In fact still made in China and then transported to there, and before they were tagged with 'Crafted In China' there are also some tagged with 'Korea' but in fact, they were also made in China).
Cuz they are made in my country so I can get Stiletto Customs at quite a cheap price. While I am not very satisfied with the quality control. The first one I got was quite good. the action was low and I didn't need to adjust its neck when the season changed. I sold it and I was very regretful so I bought another two afterward but one of them is not as good as the first one I had.
Then I tried the Studio. It was really made in Korea (Many 'Made In Korea' were actually made in China). That one was really good and because it was neck-thru so the low-end depth was much better than the Customs. I think that is what Stiletto should sound like. I also bought BTB 745 and Spector Legend Custom 5, and I think the Stiletto Studio was as good as them.
by the way, I'm not saying that guitars and basses made in China are not good. we have some good brands such as Kimble, Aguda, Shijie, and some hi-end custom shops like DTC, BQW, Bilobba, Soutlaid and so on.
This Bilobba BD Q5 is my main force 5 strings now
I have a Custom 4. It plays almost as well as the studio. I'm not a big fan of any MM style pickups, these sound decent and not dissimilar to MM pickups in general. Not bad though, just have to push the mids up a bit. The neck is satin finished in the back which makes it quite fast, it is very well balanced and has all of the little things done right which seems to be a hallmark of Schecter. The frets and fingerboard edges are nearly perfect, action easily set up low, everything super fast and comfortable. Stilettos are kind of built for speed. In general I have never liked the way that Yamaha basses looked, or their necks, but that is all entirely subjective.
I've had a studio 8 and a stage 4 and they are nice basses, the stage 4 was the bomb, it was every bit as versatile as my L2000 and my deluxe Jaguar. The only reason I moved it along is the deluxe Jag pretty much took the cake as my go to bass. The studio 8 I would have kept if I had an actual use for an 8 string. I liked the sound of the preamp that both my schecters shared. As far as the pickups, I believe they are emg-hzs in the studio, they were perfectly fine. As far as pickups go those soapbars have a lot of replacements available if you didn't love the sound. Those schecters are made nice enough to justify swapping the pickups and electronics out for fancier stuff to really make it an awesome bass. I would say fit and finish are really high up there in their price point and with nicer electronics, they are easily into the next range of basses. Peraonally, I'd buy a fanned fret one, I bet they are sweet!
jacoby75
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- Mar 11, 2010
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I had a Yamaha TRB1005 for a time. REALLY great sounding and playing modern bass (by 10yrs ago standards). But it had a super thin (front to back, like shallow) jazz-ish neck that I just couldn't bond with. My giant meat hook hands need something more substantial to hang onto.