In my first impressions of the SX SJMB-62 bass guitar, I’ve said about Rondo music SX guitars and basses, and I suppose I’ll keep on saying it; How the heck does SX make such good quality basses and sell them at such incredibly low prices (in this case, $150)? I think I’d better buy up all of them I want now, because word’s going to get out about these things, and demand will increase, driving the prices up, I’m afraid. I had earlier bought that SJM-62 stop-tail guitar, and absolutely love it (read my review of that guitar here on UGT), so I thought I’d buy the companion bass as well. I got the ‘vintage green’ color, because it has a tortoise pickguard (I do love me some tortoise pickguards)! So, too, does the sunburst version, but for some reason, the tortoise just looks better to me with the green than with a sunburst SX SJMB-62.
Two volume, one master tone knob
SX SJMB-62 Bass Guitar Action, Feel, Fit, & Finish
When I pulled the bass out of the box and protective wrapping, I noticed right away that a couple of the pickguard screws were drilled & installed kinda ‘cockeyed’. That just jumped right out at me, for some reason. And the interface where edge of the plastic pickguard mates up with the edge of the chrome steel control plate (actually, it’s the same control plate used on their J-Bass copies) doesn’t match up exactly. There’s a tiny misalignment of about 1/16”. Either of these little issues can be fixed very simply by gluing some toothpick stubs (as filler dowels) into the misaligned screw holes, and redrilling new holes to get everything lined up just right. Neither issue affects the sound or the playability of this instrument one bit.
The neck pocket fit is very good, almost tight. The pocket is very cleanly routed/machined, and flat on the bottom (important!). I know this because I had the neck out to shim a tiny bit of back-angle into it.
The bridge assembly could probably have been mounted about 3/16” farther back than it was, because once I got the intonation set right, the bridge saddles ended up pretty far toward the back of the bridge plate.
I had to do some setup work on the bass to get it playing the way I like. This included the aforementioned neck shimming and intonation setting. I also did some truss-rod tweaking to leave just the tiniest bit of relief in the neck, and set the pickup heights for good output and balance.
The body shape on the SX SJMB-62 is somewhat ‘Fender Jaguar-ish’ in shape, and doesn’t really balance well on a strap (for me). I don’t like having to hold a bass neck up while playing. The short upper ‘horn’ on the body, combined with the rather large headstock and heavy tuners contribute to this. This one’s not nearly as bad, though, as a Thunderbird or EB-0L Gibson style, but it could be better. Strapping it up high on my torso lets my right arm’s weight hold the body down so I don’t have to hold the neck up. It sits on the knee just fine while sitting down, though.
The neck has a typical ‘Jazz Bass’ taper out to a very narrow nut, making it easy for a guy like me with smallish hands to play. And the back profile of the neck is a full round contour. Not too chunky, but not thin, either. The finish on the neck is a simulated ‘aged’ look, i.e., a yellowed finish that looks simulated (truth be told), but not at all ugly. It’s just that it has a slightly ‘orangey’ cast to it that doesn’t really look like an age-yellowed finish.
Once I got everything set up to my liking, this SX SJMB-62 Bass Guitar plays ‘like buttah’.
SX SJMB-62 Bass Guitar Sound/Tone
This is the really ‘shiny part’ of this bass! The Jazz-style pickups have great output volume, and their frequency response is excellent. I get a full, fat bottom and sparkly, spanky highs, especially with both pickups on. With both on, the pop & slap tones are everything you’d want; spank away! On the bridge pickup alone, there’s that punchy, staccato attack and bright tone. On the neck pickup alone, it’s nice and mellow and thick. And even though these are single-coil pickups and there’s no shielding in the body or on the pickguard, there’s not a lot of single-coil hum with either pickup on alone. There is some, but it’s not that much. And the application of some shielding would probably reduce that to near-zero. With both pickups on, any hum is neatly cancelled out and the bass is very, very quiet. The pots are totally quiet as well, and have a good ‘feel’ to them.
SX SJMB-62 Bass Guitar Overall Impressions
Fender/Squire, Gibson/Epiphone, and any other American brands with lower-budget lines made in Asia, be warned. Y’all had better get on the stick, because SX is severely kicking your butts in quality, tone, playability…just about every aspect of guitar manufacture at this price-point level!
Once I got this SX SJMB-62 bass set up for my tastes, it’s as good as anything I’ve ever played costing twice (or more) as much. Sure, I had to do some work on it myself to get the setup just right for me, but so would I have on any other brand, at the end of the day. And I might need to ‘repair’ those tiny QC issues (if I get around to feeling like doing it some day). But all in all, I think my $150 was far better spent on an SX instrument than on any other brand out there these days. And at these prices, they make excellent ‘modders’ and ‘experimenters’.
Scott has an SX SJMB Ash Natural that he's modding right now - keep an eye out for that one.
