Customer Reviews

Xbox 360 Rock Band Fender Precision Bass Replica

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This feels like the real Fender Bass, about 5" longer than the Rock Band 2 guitar. The split strum bar is fantastic...it took me a few minutes to get used to it and using two fingers works best for me. Real basses don't have a whammy bar and neither does this, but it does have a knob built-in if you want the whammy effect. It is not wireless but that's because Microsoft won't allow 3rd party wireless with the XBox 360. I saw someone playing this Fender Bass on YouTube and he is really, REALLY good! That's why I bought this and this thing rocks! My friends with the little rinky guitar are jealous because this looks so awesome and now they want one too.

The split strum bar is fantastic and takes playing bass in Rock Band to a whole new level. It allows you to pluck notes and makes you feel like a true bass player. The fret buttons are also very responsive and comfortable to play. I found the overdrive to be very responsive to launch with a quick tilt or lean. Overall I would highly recommend this bass guitar to anyone who is a fan of Rock Band.

This bass was alot of fun to play and has a great feel, but it could have been better.

First of all... The Good.
- Has a more realistic look and feel than most guitar controllers. Its larger than the Rock Band guitars by about six inches and feels like a really comfortable size. The huge tuning pegs on the headstock just add to the great bass look
- The fret buttons are good quality and accurate. They are better than the original Rock Band guitar but not quite as smooth as the Rock Band 2 guitar.
- The split strum bar is a really great feature. It allows for two fingered bass play and feels very natural for a bass. The strum bars also have a 'positive click' when pressed and they don't feel 'squishy'. You know when you've plucked the note.
- The extra fret buttons at the bottom of the neck are a nice addition, but really not necessary for the bass. They added them to allow it to be used as a lead guitar, but without a whammy bar (more on that next) it's not great as a guitar.

Now for The Bad...
- The whammy bar... or in this case whammy 'knob'. To add to the look of a real bass, there is no whammy bar. But to make this more functional as a guitar they added a knob directly below the base of the neck that you spin back and forth to add whammy. It's a small knob, making it difficult to find at first without looking down. Once you find it, the knob doesn't feel good at all when you spin it. It has a cheap 'grinding' feel to it. Overall, the whammy knob just isn't fun to use.
- Another knob... the five position selector. Takes the place of the toggle switch on the Rock Band guitars. Basically, the same comments from the whammy knob apply here again.
- ANOTHER knob... the Start/Back button. This one just seems strange. Instead of the good ol' push buttons for Start and Back, they used a knob. Turn it left for the Back button and right for the Start button. I don't know if mine wasn't working properly, but on the song selection screen, my back button did not work. You should press Back to change the sorting option for the track list, but mine did nothing. I could not change the sort and had to scroll through all the songs to find what I wanted.
I get the reasons behind using all the knobs to give the bass a more realistic look. But in the end I would still prefer ease of use and function with larger, better quality knobs.

And finally... The Ugly!
- NOT WIRELESS!!! WHY?? It took years for consoles to finally use wireless technology that actually works great and we still have good ideas like this bass that don't use it!
- Price! Why am I paying the same price for a wired guitar as a good quality wireless? Normally, a wired guitar controller runs about $10 cheaper than a wireless version (the original Rock Band guitars, for example). But this bass is the same price as the awesome Rock Band 2 guitar right now. That's probably because of the split strum bar, they charge a little more.
After all this, I am not keeping mine. I can overlook the minor shortcomings with the knobs because the size is nice and the fret buttons and strum bar are good quality. But I am done dragging cords around behind me when I play.

Takes a bit of time to get familiar with the split strum bar, but once you do, watch out! Bass is so much more fun with this controller. Strumming is accurate, overdrive works really well, and the overall design is well thought out.

My only gripe is that it is not wireless, but it looks like there may be a wireless version coming down the pike since there is a battery door molded into the back of the Bass (which is non-functional at this time)

If you are on the fence, jump off the fence and get one of these.... you 'll really enjoy it once you get used to it.

This peripheral is in all ways superior to the fender strat that comes with RockBand. It's heavier and far more sturdily built, which has always been a big problem with guitar controllers. It's also bigger, which is great if you don't have tiny arms. The two strum bars are probably my favourite part, which allows you to strum more authentically and doubles your speed. Some people might find the changes to the whammy bar and start/select buttons a little tough to get used to, since now all functions of the guitar have been turned into knobs, but it is a reasonable change.

Oh, and the tuning pegs actually turn!

I'm very happy with the Precision Bass. The strum bar is very responsive. It's fun to try and pick it like a bass, but if your fingers get tired, then it's easy to switch back to your usual way.

Admittedly, it is harder to "whammy" to increase your star power b/c they turned it into a knob, and if the tilting to turn on star power ever malfunctions, it will be hard to reach all the way down to the other knob to turn on star power. However, my star power has been reliable so far except for once.

Overall, I just really like the feel of it - good buttons, good strum bar. Fun to play!

so first of all, im gonna say that i play a real bass and a real guitar, but enjoy RB as something to do with friends.

as for this controller, it looks great, has a good feel and some good features, but it has its flaws as well.

THE GOOD:
- longer neck: although its not quite as long as a real bass, it is as big as a real guitar (about 5-6 inches longer than the RB strat) although the neck is longer, the fret buttons are the same size as the RB1 strat buttons

- more authentic look: no whammy bar (real basses dont have em, neither should this controller), also has the dots on the frets (and they're accurate to where they should be). the tuning pegs are cool, and they actually turn. the knobs look cool too!

- heavier more sturdy design: alot of the the reviews on here say that this bass is shoddy and feels flimsy, to me it seems like it is built better than the RB1 strat. maybe if you're the kind of person who jumps around and does scissor kicks it may feel like a piece of junk, but to me it feels fine

- nicer strap: softer material, wider strap. its actually more comfortable than the strap i have on my real bass

- tilt sensor: it actually works when i want it to! this is the first of 3 RB guitars ive used that actually works as advertised. my only gripe with it is that i play slightly more vertical than most, and therefore inadvertently set off my overdrive occasionally.

THE BAD

- the dual strum bar: this is the main reason i bought this bass. i assumed that it would give a more authentic feel to the strumming. it doesnt (at least for me). while it is faster during the quick little bass fills, its harder to keep rhythm during the long strands of the same note since you dont actually "catch" the bar as it coming back as you would with a real string. also the strum bars are LOUD... REALLY LOUD! personally, i like the quiet strum bar of the RB1 strat. also the strum bars have almost no resistance to them, kind of like a GH guitar. im not a fan of that at all.

-the thumb rest: i dont use it. i tried, but it just doesnt feel right. the angle is fine but i find that my strum fingers tend to wander either up or down, causing me to miss one of the bars or strum both with one finger. on a real bass i rest my thumb on the top of my pickup (in a similar fashion) but if my fingers wander it is a non-issue. i still end up just wrapping my thumb over the top of the body as i did with the RB1 strat.

- the fret buttons: they dont have the low pressure RB "click" feeling to them, they are spongy and have a GH guitar feeling to them i dont like it, but this is just my personal opinion.

- the color scheme: not a big deal, but im not a fan of white guitars/ basses, i just wish they made a few different colors

- not wireless: its wired but theres reasons for that. as one of the other reviews said, microsoft doesnt allow third parties to make wireless accessories for the 360. go figure, microsoft is afraid of another company cutting into their profits. *rolls eyes*

OVERALL:

im happy with the purchase. it looks cool, has a good feel, and will just take some getting used to. as for the people who have had issues with it not working out of the box, ive had no issues with mine (and mine was shipped half way around the world!) if you're on the fence with this item, i say go for it! i gave it a 3 because of the personal preference issues i have with it. if i had never touched a real bass in my life, i probably would give it a five.

Terrible product!!!

From the first day, noticed malfunctioning during gameplay. Tilt sensor grossly oversensitive (pressing a fret button would set it off), fretboard keys not responsive. After a closer inspection, I found that the maker of this product used cheap circuitboards and shoddy wiring during production of this wired model. There were gouges on the circuitboard across circuit lines, making the unit unrepairable. None of the pieces from the original Rock Band (1 or 2) guitars are interchangeable. The double strummer is very innacurate, having a tendency to "stick" in the upward-strumming position. One of the most aggrivating things, however, was the fact that the cord is a bit shorter than I would have preferred, and it has the adapter on the end, rather than being a straight USB cord. Meaning that halfway through gameplay the cord had a tendency to seperate. Overall, I would not recommend this product.

Much like the RB Fender guitar, this controller sacrfices efficient playability for aesthetic appeal. That means it looks good. REALLY good. It looks and feels more like a real instrument than any controller since the "Slash" Les Paul from GH III. Having learned all of the GH & RB games on a GH Explorer, I still have a problem with the flat fret buttons... I tend to get lost while sliding on Hard & Expert without that nice fat ridge on the yellow button. I agree that the Overdrive tilt doesn't work well, but my problem is the opposite: due to my more vertical playing style, it tends to activate when I don't want it to. Other times I have to swing down to beyond parallel with the floor, then back up when activating, which causes me to miss the occaisional note. Long story short: Form over function, but what a form!

Great buttons, excellent size. Lack of a whammy bar really hurts. I know it's a bass replica but even bass uses overdrive.

This guitar does not work with Guitar Hero! If you are like me and play both types of games you will be disappointed.