I bought one of those basses a few years ago, played it stock for a while, then modded the hell out of it. A few months ago, I completely dismantled the entire thing down to even tearing apart the body and removing the neck. So I'd say I know a little bit about this bass. I'll try to give you the scoop on this baby so you can be sure just what you're getting if you decide to buy one.
Standard EUB disclaimer: If you just want to play a bass that is played vertically (which somehow makes it at least 15% cooler
), I'd go with an electric upright, such as this one. But if you're looking for the sound of a upright bass, you might as well just save for a decent used acoustic one.
"* Solid Spruce Top" - The spruce top is literally about an inch thick; both the top and back.
"* Maple Back and Sides" - These are mostly maple plywood.
"* Ebony Fingerboard" - Some Asian form of ebony that isn't naturally black, so the fingerboard is dyed and the dye turns your hands black for a while when you first get it.
"* Piezo Transducer Pickup" - This pickup is a decent quality pickup, so no problems here.
"* Active Tone and Volume Controls" - The controls are indeed active, but the preamp hisses something awful.
"* Headphone Jack" - Mine never worked, to be honest; but technically there is a little 1/8" jack on the back side of the instrument.
"* Adjustable Maple Bridge" - This bridge is pretty cheap, but it's really easy to make a new bridge, unless you want a traditional looking bridge.
"* Sunburst Finish" - The finish is actually decent. It's a very thin nitrocellulose lacquer.
"* Combination Leather/Plastic Bag with Backpack Straps" - This bag is a pretty bottom line gigbag, and having a good case made for this bass would be somewhat costly. Also, do NOT rely on the backpack straps, they're held on with plastic hardware.
"* Scale Length: 40-3/4"" - That's a standard 3/4 size bass, no problems there.
Oh yeah, this bass weighs about 30 pounds (main reason I dismantled mine; I will build a new body later). My acoustic upright weighs that much . . .
The construction quality on my VE-550 seemed to be just fine, so that's a plus. They DO use decent wood, which is obviously important. The tuner are also better than a lot of cheap guitar tuners I've come across as a repairman. I really the shape of it, which not only looks cool, but fits between my legs nicely for playing while sitting in a chair.
All in all, don't let my review scare you away if you want one; they're fine to learn upright on. Just be aware that will probably need to do a little work on it before it sounds really good. Have you taken a look around the Electric Upright forum on Talkbass? There's a lot of helpful information on the VE-550 and a ton of other basses in there. Good luck with the decision, and I hope my reply is helpful to you!
