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The_Linux_Crew over at slickdeals recommended this bass guitar. I'm just not sure about the color.

http://www.worldmusicsupply.com/Washburn-T12-Electric-Bass-Metallic-Blue.html

Originally Posted by E-Z-B The_Linux_Crew over at slickdeals recommended this bass guitar. I'm just not sure about the color. http://www.worldmusicsupply.com/Wash...llic-Blue.html

Not really liking the color. And guessing most don't like it either since they have other colors available @ $230.

Did Linex Crew offer any other opinions/choices?

I like the Hofner deal over at Hello Music. It's just that I don't wanna buy it knowing I won't be playing 'til the end of the year. But I'm sure it'll be looong gone by then. And not seeing many dual pickup choices in the 200 range

Time for some basic reviews of stuff I've bought over the months thanks in part to this thread. Hopefully they help someone, anyone lol



Legacy Guitar by The Instrument Store

I found these on Amazon a while back listed at 80 bucks (all unavailable now though), then in March rbarba4 noticed the black one was 60 bucks so I snagged one. Manufactured in February 2012.

After finding one other helpful review there and some looking up of QC stickers since there's hardly any useful info on the packaging, and given the low quantities of these made, I'm pretty sure these are actually comprised of B-stock Squier Vintage Modified and/or Classic Vibe bodies with the lower end Bullet/Affinity electronics. Could also be primarily overflow A-stock bodies since nobody else has mentioned any blemishes, but mine had a couple small dents on the top side of the neck around the 14th fret, as if someone accidentally ran a single baby stroller sized wheel over it. Wasn't worth the hassle to try to return it for replacement for a cosmetic blemish to me. Definitely share a common factory though (the Squiers probably have more than one of course)...so do some of the ~$100 Jay Tursers for that matter, but the Jay Tursers likely have multiple sources since they seem to have differing body woods within the same model line. The Legacy ones all appear to be 3 piece Alder bodies.

I don't have enough knowledge of guitar electronics to tell you what's inside, nor body knowledge to open them up and re-assemble them, but it's most likely cheapo pots/caps and circuitry with bare bones pickups. They're certainly serviceable though. I don't feel like the tone/volume knobs have much effect so I don't mess with them much.

The neck is probably the most impressive bit for a cheapo guitar, blemishes aside. Nice and round maple, very smooth, even the transition to the fretboard is pretty much perfectly flat. The fret edges aren't rounded but I wouldn't call them sharp either, there's no way I could cut myself on them even if I tried. I dunno how to measure the radius or any of that jazz though to give you numbers. Nut is made out of plastic but it holds the strings just fine.

The tuners work well enough for what they are. I actually put the guitar back in its original packaging for a little over three months when I was too busy to play and the strings were only detuned by a touch under a full half step when I finally took it back out. The bridge works fine too for now, but is definitely made of some cheap metal plated with chrome. I haven't changed the strings out yet though so maybe that could change my opinion later down the line.

Plastic lining on the pickguard was annoying; there were basically no cutouts for the knobs so I actually still have a little bit stuck underneath them as I pulled it off. Included is a tremelo bar and a 10(?) foot instrument cable, and a 4 page booklet about general maintenance and setup plus warranty info.

All in all, for 60 bucks shipped I think it was a steal for the body/neck quality alone. Having serviceable electronics inside, low end as they are, just puts it over the top in value for newbies like me who don't know any better just yet. At the 80 dollar regular price, it's probably still a steal, if they come back in stock. If I ever get around to learning guitar construction (and get good enough at playing to justify it...lol) this is certainly worthy of being the basis of a frankencaster in the future, depending on how the inside of the body looks. Only thing I wish this had was an HSS design instead of SSS.



Rock Steady Leather Strap

Picked some up at 3 bucks a piece from Musician's Friend. Appears to be two thin pieces of leather sewn together with some mystery padding between them. I don't know if other leather straps are made that way since I've only ever tried out polypropylene ones before this, but it feels really comfortable. Made in China, probably machined, and quality control could use a bit of work as two of the three I bought arrived with one of the ends sort of splitting past the sewing lines. A bit of superglue can fix that though. The brown color is definitely a better match for natural wood finishes as opposed to painted/burst finishes but since I don't exactly go out and play in public I don't care. Being 2.5 inches wide as opposed to the standard 2 inches actually helps me out a LOT in reducing the weight impact on my shoulder when playing standing up. I imagine the effect will be even more critical with basses due to their heavier nature.



FretRest Guitar Stand

Bought for 5 dollars at Musician's Friend. Seems like a typical guitar stand, two longer legs and one short one, all with rubbered feet, to make up the base. The body and neck rests are covered with softer material to avoid scratching up against the metal stand, and there's a swivel lock for the neck area. Should be able to hold acoustics and basses too. There's branding on the stand though which IMO takes away from the simple look/design, and funnily enough it might actually bother me enough that I'll wait for some other brand to go on sale for the same price that doesn't stamp their name on the product before buying more.



Musician's Gear Deluxe Bass Bag

Bought for 18 dollars at Musician's Friend. Padding is pretty thin, the site says 10mm and that's probably about right. The guitar version of the bag claims 18mm but everything about it seems to just scream that these are exactly the same thing in every way but length so I wouldn't trust that number. The big pocket is designed to fit standard 8.5x11 paper/notebooks/binders. I actually managed to fit a Digitech RP-355 in that pocket which is pretty neat (although throwing in something that weighs as much as the guitar you're putting in there right over the body is probably not the best idea). There are smaller pockets for strings/tuners/capos/whatever else and even some small slotted pockets similar to the ones in laptop bags that'll fit pencils and stuff.

The handles are stitched pretty close to the main body of the bag, one of them has a velcro wrap attached so you can seal both handles together. Normally this is a good thing but since the handle is also on the same side as the zippers (which only opens a little more than one side of the bag lengthwise) I find it's easier to just not use the velcro wrap and keep the handles separated to the sides to make dealing with the zipper easier. Otherwise you'd have to reach your hands into the handles just to grab the zipper, pull it some 4-6 inches, then pull your hand back out to open it up the rest of the way. Pretty annoying from an ease of use standpoint. More importantly I don't even really use the handles much because there's also backpack style straps. They're decently padded, with softer material on the inner side that goes up against your body, and length adjustable.

Inside the bag there's an extra layer of polyester (or polypropylene or whatever else) padding stitched into the front body area for a bit of extra protection, as well as another pocket made on the opposite end to fit/protect the headstock area. Two pockets actually, one on each side of the opened bag; I'm not totally sure why that's the case, maybe for arched top headstocks or something that would only fit on one side. Either way it's a nice touch, and another layer of padding for the headstock if nothing else. Since it's a bass bag but I'm putting a guitar into it (for now...) the pocket isn't big enough to cover the entire headstock, but when closed it's a good enough fit that the guitar doesn't move around inside the bag anyway. Based on how much space is leftover with the guitar inside, the bag is designed to fit 45" total length basses (which typically means 34" neck scale).

Like the FretRest stand, there's also a red branding logo for Musician's Gear on it which kind of takes away from the simple aesthetics IMO. Apparently made in Vietnam, by Kaces, which is kind of funny because their own branded bags on Musician's Friend look a heck of a lot crappier for the price than these do.

I bought this mainly because I signed up for a beginner guitar class starting next month at my local community college and needed something to transport my cheapo guitar with. I don't think the bag will protect whatever's inside from dents if you hit a wall or door anything, but it seems like it's good enough to protect it from minor contact that would otherwise cause scratches, and more importantly to me, from bad weather conditions. Overall, it's not a bad deal at 18 bucks (the electric one is a buck less); at the regular price of 30 dollars you might want to look elsewhere. There might be cheaper and/or better even around the 18-20 dollar mark if you really want to fish around but I haven't had any luck and didn't want to spend hours upon hours looking for that. I've found some pretty nice messenger/laptop bags at discount stores for 5 bucks, but I don't think you can find guitar bags at those places

As for the Washburn Taurus T12 bass, it's a pretty good bet. There aren't many reviews on it, but there are plenty of good ones for the T14, and as far as I can tell, the T12 is the same thing minus the additional J style pickup.

Any thoughts on this combo pack:
http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Guita...pr_product_top

or are combos like that usually not worth it?

I really want to bite on the blue T12, but wouldn't mind having an amp for before the bass add-on comes out/when I'm not near TV.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Psybuster Time for some basic reviews of stuff I've bought over the months thanks in part to this thread. Hopefully they help someone, anyone lol Legacy Guitar by The Instrument Store

Wow, thanks for the write-up. Good to hear it worked out.

I always think twice about posting the deals on budget guitars. But then think back to the way I felt, first starting out. Best to let everyone decide how much of a $$$ comittment they wanna make. Cuz ya won't know how much guitar/RS will hook ya 'til ya start playing

Originally Posted by Stri26 Any thoughts on this combo pack: http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Guita...pr_product_top or are combos like that usually not worth it? I really want to bite on the blue T12, but wouldn't mind having an amp for before the bass add-on comes out/when I'm not near TV. Thanks!

The extra stuff in those bundles tend to be garbage; really cheap filler meant to impress.
But if you wanna compare take a look at the bundles from Rondo Music.
http://www.rondomusic.com/bassguitars4.html
You should at least have an easier time finding reviews for those bass guitars

There are also a couple forum links in the OP for Rondo. Don't know if they'll help with bass since I was only looking at their elec guitars at the time. Good luck

The HOF is dead, er the bass deal anyway. So they made up my mind for me :p

But got a sneak peek at the new weekly deals over on Music123
Deals should go into effect tomorrow.
http://www.music123.com/pages/123Deals
ESP b-10 bass guitar (black) wiil be dropped to $139
http://www.music123.com/bass/esp-ltd...ic-bass-guitar
Musicians gear bass case (black) will be dropped to $35
http://www.music123.com/accessories/...luxe-bass-case
Good time to research and compare

And was checking out the gdec books and saw that musicians friend dropped the Fender gdec3 Thirty amp to $149
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/ampli...itar-combo-amp
That's the lowest I've seen it over at MF
But if you want the Fifteen watt model (for $100), go to Guitar center. YMMV on whether your local store has any in stock
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Fender-G...41-i1509959.gc

Those deals are already active, you don't see the sale pricing until after you add to cart while logged in to their site. Thought about buying the case and adding more of those 3 dollar straps to get to free shipping but those are sold out now lol

Originally Posted by rbarba4 And was checking out the gdec books and saw that musicians friend dropped the Fender gdec3 Thirty amp to $149 http://www.musiciansfriend.com/ampli...itar-combo-amp That's the lowest I've seen it over at MF But if you want the Fifteen watt model (for $100), go to Guitar center. YMMV on whether your local store has any in stock http://www.guitarcenter.com/Fender-G...41-i1509959.gc

Amazon has it for ~140. I'd rather have the 15w for $100 but no go at my guitar center. For $140 I'm wondering if it's worth it as a learning tool or not. Doesn't seem like they released many books for it.

**DEAD**[Well, you're in luck if you missed all of the prior Kustom "V" amp deals.
Today's SDOTD is for the Kustom v30 amp @ $150] http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid/
First time the v30 has popped up on sale and the pricing slots in nicely with all the prior "V" deals. Curious to see how long this lasts
EDIT: well that didn't last
MF switched out he SDOTD to the Boss Stage Tuner for $60

and Hello music has a couple new deals
*ESP-ltd 204r bass @ $239
http://www.hellomusic.com/ec/DealMain.aspx?did=15469
*Schecter Hellraiser @ $359
http://www.hellomusic.com/ec/DealMain.aspx?did=14841

Originally Posted by jsivley Amazon has it for ~140. I'd rather have the 15w for $100 but no go at my guitar center. For $140 I'm wondering if it's worth it as a learning tool or not. Doesn't seem like they released many books for it.

It's a different way to learn. The books are kinda like DLC. They have about 8 songs tabbed out, with the accompanying effects on a SD card. And who knows when RS will get some of the songs that are in the books.

But it's a cool amp cuz of all the built-in effects plus you can download more effects as well. And you can change things up by turning it into a Metal, Country or Blues machine. I don't know but I think it's a nice supplement to RS

Cool vid got posted over on the Rocksmith forums. Here's a look at bass gameplay. Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFzVmaQPJN8

BASS DLC hits on 8/14/12
There was speculation it might come out early and someone on the RS forums found confirmation
http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php...Facebook-Page?
Time to bring the thunder!!!


Small window to get a Limited Edition Epi. Les Paul (pelham blue) from Hello Music. On sale for $298 and it's almost sold out.
http://www.hellomusic.com/ec/DealMain.aspx?did=15464

And Musicians Friend SDotD is a Peavey Milestone bass (navy blue). It's a re-stock model and on sale for $120
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid/

MF also has a Road Runner bass case for $45. Seems like it's a bit short so probably designed for a short-scale bass. But could be good for your guitar. Just pay attention to the measurements.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/acces...ss-guitar-case

EDIT: couple other guitar deals
Amazon has a Washburn RX strat for $122
http://www.amazon.com/Washburn-Serie...928153&sr=1-17
World Music Supply has Washburn win14 les paul for $140
http://www.worldmusicsupply.com/Wash...ic-Guitar.html

Few new deals today.

First off Amazon's goldbox has a deal at 1:00pm for a Gibson SG 60's tribute ed. No idea on price but might wanna check in

Second, Hello Music has an ESP-ltd les paul for $250. It's a black ec-256p (has p90 pickups instead of humbuckers). Normally sells for 400
http://www.hellomusic.com/ec/DealMain.aspx?did=15547
And here's a review from Music Radar
http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/g...-547034/review

They also have the Luna suitcase amp for $65. Normally sells for 100
http://www.hellomusic.com/ec/DealMain.aspx?did=13924
Says it's for ukeleles but you can also hook up your mp3 player

Just to re-cap:
Rocksmith can be had for $40 from Amazon, Gamestop and Toys R Us. Other stores are holding at 60

Guitar Center has a current sale/coupon going: save $20off 99, $50off 299, $100off 599 (good online or in-store)
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Promos/C....aspx?pid=5566

Here are a few things that are on sale on should qualify with no problems. Dig thru and see what else you can find. And remember to call in if you use the coupon on a excluded item
Hosa right angle adapter http://www.guitarcenter.com/Hosa-1-4...52-i1128941.gc
Hosa coupler http://www.guitarcenter.com/Hosa-1-4...49-i1128940.gc
Road Runner bass case http://www.guitarcenter.com/Road-Run...89-i2007950.gc
On-Stage guitar case http://www.guitarcenter.com/On-Stage...98-i1726439.gc
On-stage bass case http://www.guitarcenter.com/On-Stage...00-i1726432.gc
On-stage foam guitar case http://www.guitarcenter.com/On-Stage...03-i1726435.gc

And here are a couple Schecter deals:
Hello Music has a Hellraiser special c-1 for $399
http://www.hellomusic.com/ec/DealMain.aspx?did=15552
Amazon has a Blackjack Avenger atx for $406
http://www.amazon.com/Schecter-Black...278149&sr=1-31

Did I read correctly that the bass DLC will be 2400 MS points ($30 MSRP)? I mean, I know you get quite a lot for your money there, but, as DLC goes... ouch!

Originally Posted by DJP519 Did I read correctly that the bass DLC will be 2400 MS points ($30 MSRP)? I mean, I know you get quite a lot for your money there, but, as DLC goes... ouch!

Well you could pay $80 to get on it disc when it hits retail. If you already own RS and want it, it's a fair deal. You can look for a MS points deal to offset the cost too.

Mother trucker... If you acted early today, you could have gotten Avenged Sevenfold "Nightmare" as DLC... They have taken it down now. It wasn't supposed to have been released yet. I bought it form the Xbox.com site, but I don't know if it downloaded at home or not, so I'll find out if I'm am early adopter when I get home

On the bright side, this speaks for some strong DLC upcoming...

Finally bit the bullet today and bought the Washburn T12 at WorldMusicSupply. Had been debating with myself for the past two weeks, looking for deals and whatnot. Went down to Best Buy and Guitar Center over the weekend and held a few basses for the first time, and it just felt so right. Can't wait for it to arrive, and for next Tuesday!

Got an email from Hello Music for another ESp deal, strat body. But the link is dead. Anyone catch the price?

Originally Posted by crazedracerguy Mother trucker... If you acted early today, you could have gotten Avenged Sevenfold "Nightmare" as DLC... They have taken it down now. It wasn't supposed to have been released yet. I bought it form the Xbox.com site, but I don't know if it downloaded at home or not, so I'll find out if I'm am early adopter when I get home

Saw that on the RS forums and thought it was a joke post
Couldn't find anything on xbox.com but eventually saw the post from Nao explaining the screw-up. Just gotta wait.

But you should have access since you bought it. Think it shows up automatically at startup.

Originally Posted by Stri26 Finally bit the bullet today and bought the Washburn T12 at WorldMusicSupply. Had been debating with myself for the past two weeks, looking for deals and whatnot. Went down to Best Buy and Guitar Center over the weekend and held a few basses for the first time, and it just felt so right. Can't wait for it to arrive, and for next Tuesday!

Congrats man

You mighta just got in, cuz I'm not seeing it on the site. But they did drop the silver little from the 230 price

Originally Posted by rbarba4 Congrats man You mighta just got in, cuz I'm not seeing it on the site. But they did drop the silver little from the 230 price

I actually called them to place the order, that was when they realized that they were out of the blue ones in the warehouse...they had a couple more blues in their retail store, and a number of silvers. They said they could sell me a silver for the $139.99 price, or they could grab a blue from the store. Also said everything straight from the store would have a setup done by them.

Long story short, a few more blues in stock if you call, and you can probably call and get the $169.99 silver down to $139.99 if you ask about it!