Gold Tone Micro Bass 25 w/Bag

Use:
A two-piece band, steel string acoustic guitar + nylon string string acoustic guitar (playing Beatles, Paul Simon, Pink Floyd etc.). 'Unplugged' (acoustic and mics through PA). I'm playing nylon string. For some songs it occurred to me that bass might work better in the mix. But my full size electric bass would be a hassle and the wrong sound. I thought this mini-bass would fit the bill. And it did... REALLY well.

Pros:
The polymer strings sound fantastic and it just works superbly within the 'unplugged' mix. The sound is warm but punchy, with enough attack to really allow it to punch through against the steel string acoustic. Sounds like double bass but with more clarity and more attack. To my ears, much nicer than double bass. Probably not enough volume if we played completely unplugged unless the guitarist was careful with his volume. But with the 'silverback' (metal wound nylon) strings it might be fine (haven't tried those yet). Piezo, under-bridge pickup. Built-in tuner. Lovely, soft case.

Cons (small things, not really cons, just niggles that will go away):
The polymer strings tend to roll a bit as you press them to the fret but you get used to this. The position of your fretting fingers need to be precise and more towards the middle of the fret to avoid buzz. The strings are slightly 'sticky' to the touch but this did not annoy me as much as I thought it might. Overall I love this instrument and haven't picked up my electric bass for rehearsing since I bought it. Might buy the fretless and the solid body version over time.

Summary:
Delighted with my purchase. A fantastic instrument, especially considering the price. Warm, punchy sound, nicely balanced visually and weight-wise. Lovely 'dry' wood finish. Easy to play because of size. An instrument that's hard to put down.

From the design point of view, it is a very nice bass indeed: light, compact, nice-sounding. Thanks to the special polymer strings, its has a sound that resembles that of a jazz double bass.

However, the craftsmanship of the China-made instrument is not exactly perfect. Namely, the fretwork needs to be discussed here. Some frets are bumpy, causing the string to buzz in some areas of the fretboard than in others. Fret ends are not quite perfect either.

In all honesty, a Chinese-made gutar at this price level should be flawless, which is not the case. This said, I still consider it an interesting option for those who value the features mentioned above: compact size, lightweight, nice acoustic sound.

And the piezo pickup works fine. Very nice sound. It's built in tuner is a useful thing too.

Update:

I had a chance to evaluate another piece, which generally confirmed my first impression that minor quality issues are there but should not have been considering the price tag. Anyhow, I don't see any plausible alternative to this little acousitc bass.