Instrument Review: The Dean Edge 6-String Bass

A couple years ago, I set out to try and get what I could for my old five-string Fender Jazz Bass V, and trade up to a six-string bass. This proved to be an expensive endeavor, because sixers are very expensive, at least one worth having, anyway. Upon doing the best and most thorough research I could do while working a 70-hour week, I came across the Dean Edge 6-string bass on the Musician's Friend website (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/).

At $599.00, it seemed like a good buy, and Dean has always made great electric guitars, popularized largely by the late, great guitarist of Pantera and Damageplan, "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. I liked the price and the features, and the overall customer review of the instrument was 4 and a half stars out of 5. Having weighed all of the facts I could gather, I sold my Fender J-Bass V and bought one sight unseen, and had it shipped to me overnight. I chose transparent black of the two finish options (the other was transparent amber).

When I unpacked it, the first thing I noticed was the beautiful transparent black lacquer finish that let the beautiful tight grain of the maple top show through. The massive, wide neck was rather thin and comfortable, supported internally by a twin truss rod system, instead of one like many other basses. The six giant Grover bass tuning machines, the heavy brass bridge, and all the knobs were finished in black chrome, which was a very nice match for the black finish, and the dark 2 octave (24 fret) rosewood fingerboard.

It had a slightly longer scale than most 4 and 5 stringers; a 35 inch scale that was 2 11/16 inches wide at the nut. The long, flat maple and walnut neck was firmly bolted to the basswood body with four massive Phillipshead screws. Although I would have preferred anything but a bolt-on neck, the instrument still had very long sustain, and the upper frets were surprisingly accessible. The rosewood fretboard was inlaid with 12 iridescent Mother of Pearl dots. When I strapped it on, it was feather light and very well balanced, and easy to maneuver in order to access all of the frets.

The string spacing was my favorite physical feature about this bass. Six string basses tend to place the strings a little too close together for my tastes, because I like to pop and slap sometimes when I play. The string spacing on this bass was just wide enough to get the fingers between them for a good hard snap or a delicate pluck, but close enough together to strum a four or five note chord, or even play a wicked pentatonic lead using a pick! This engineering foresight made the dynamic variations of this mid-priced instrument incredibly versatile, and I was pleased, to say the least!

My test amp was my old stage amp from my touring days, a powerful 200 watt KMD with a 15 inch ported enclosure, which sounded a lot like Tool's bass sound. The Dean Edge 6 sounded great through my old workhorse, and the active (preamped) EMG-HZ pickups gave it sparkle, punch, and clarity I never got from any of my other basses (which had the usual passive electronics; that is, no preamp). The preamp was powered by a standard 9-volt battery which was loaded into the back of the instrument.

The only beef I had with the preamp system in this instrument was that there was not a bypass switch for it, in other words, the bass could only be played with the preamp on (the pickups always "hot"). However, the preamp only ran while the patchcord was inserted into the output jack of the bass, thereby saving power when it was not in use (but you must ALWAYS remember to disconnect the patchcord from the bass when not in use, or the battery will drain).

The tone controls were cool, three knobs that controlled the treble, midrange and bass frequencies. My favorite EQ settings were to open the bass and treble up all the way, but pull the midrange almost completely out; this gives the bass a sound like Tool or Korn, nice and clicky with plenty of earth-shaking bottom end, especially on the 6th string. At least in my estimation, this bass is not well suited for the classic high midrange sound, but if you gotta have it, then you have to back off the bass control quite a bit. According to my ears, the singing midrange versus the booming bass is an either/or option with this instrument.

All in all, it is a pretty good sixer for under a thousand bucks, but it did give me more than a few problems. For starters, while finishing up my last home-cooked CD, it started to get very staticy and hiss a lot. This was due to a faulty ground connection. When I inspected the wiring cavity to see what had happened, I noticed the soldering job was rather unprofessional (I could've done a better job, and MY soldering skills flat-out SUCK!)

Next was the problem of loose hardware, a typical problem for lower to mid-level guitars and basses, especially those assembled overseas (mine was manufactured in Korea). I had to tighten the retaining nuts on a couple of the tuning machines, and the strap buttons kept coming loose so often, I eventually had to Krazy Glue the screws into their holes, which solved the problem effectively.

Look, maybe my instrument was just a fluke, but even my ol' jazz bassist buddy from Joisey told me that Dean basses had a pretty bad rep in his circles. I still have work to do to the electronics to even make it sound the way it did when I first received it. I plan to include a bypass switch so I can play it "barefoot" (in passive mode) if I so choose, as certain genres of music need a bass that isn't so "in-your-face".

Bottom line; when it comes to the Deep Six, you get what you pay for. If you want the best quality six-string bass you can get, save a couple of thousand and look for a used Warwick or a Zon. However, if you don't mind doin' quite a bit of tinkerin' and tweakin' to an otherwise structurally solid, VERY beautiful and playable instrument, then the Dean Edge 6-String Bass is well worth the bread.