Drawn to its rich mocha stain, I grabbed the singlepickup Badwater and hit the road for a weekend of rootsrock gigs. The bass behaved exactly as I hoped, dishing out syrupy fundamental with a healthy dusting of high end. The Badwater’s contours fit like a streamlined P-Bass, and it had cozy, familiar finger feel. The oiled body and sanded neck imparted a woody, organic character, and the distressed hardware made it feel like it had seen more dive bars than the town drunk. To achieve that cool battered-and-bruised look, Badwater bodies are apparently subjected to abuse from sadistic bass builders with belt sanders and bad attitudes.
The two P/J Badwaters sounded much like their single-pickup partner, though the tone pots on both basses were scratchy and had an uneven taper. The bridge pickups sounded suitably barky and bright. A slight bummer came from the neck pickups’ extended pole pieces, which frequently came in contact with the lower strings and let out a rather unmusical thunk.
At just around $200, it’s hard to ding the Badwaters (pardon the pun) for scratchy pots or over-exposed pole pieces. Fundamentally, AXL has hit the mark with its Badwaters, inexpensive instruments with the look, sound, and feel of basses much pricier. Consider kicking one around at your next gig. Since it’s already dinged and scratched, you might even let your drummer give it a try.
AXL BADWATER BASS
Street $220 (single P-style pickup), $225 (P/J pickups)
Pros Sweet feel, solid tone, cool looks, unbeatable price
Cons Scratchy tone pots
Bottom line A fantastic value, the Badwater Basses feel and sound like instruments more than twice the price.
CONTACT
www.axlguitars.com
TECH SPECS
Body Alder
Neck Maple
Fingerboard Rosewood
Pickups EMG design with Alnico pickups
Neck width at nut 1y"
Neck width at 20th fret 2"
Controls Volume, tone (single pickup); volume, volume, tone (P/J pickups)
Weight 8 lbs (natural and off-white finishes), 9 lbs (crackle brown/white)
Scale length 34"
Finishes Natural, off-white, and crackle brown/white
Made in China
Warranty Lifetime limited