เบสไฟฟ้า LTD Vintage-204

Over the past several years, ESP’s LTD line has come a long way in build quality, and the Vintage-204 is no exception. The finish of the Vietnam-built instrument is cleanly applied with a smooth-satin sheen, and the distressed makeup gives it the appearance of a well-worn instrument that has rocked many a gig. The look of the Vintage-204 evokes thoughts of ESP’s traditional, Fender-influenced aesthetics that they first built their name on, before moving into hot-rodded, metal-style territory.

The alder body is finished with a traditional, three-tone burst. While the worn areas give the bass a very convincing vintage look, they don’t necessarily have a worn feel to the touch. As I ran my hand across the distressed areas of the body, there was no discernible difference in texture between the spots where the bare wood was showing and the finished areas. While it’s a minor detail, being able to feel the grain of the wood in the worn areas gives an element of authenticity to a relic’d finish. With that said, it’s hard to complain about this detail with sincerity given that the Vintage-204 commands a price of only 350 bones.

The 34″-scale maple neck that’s bolted to the body is comfortable, thin, U-contoured, and capped with a rosewood fretboard. The convincing, greyish stain on the back of the neck indicates years of wear, though the neck doesn’t feel worn with its glossy-lacquer finish. The fretboard’s 21 frets are dressed with extra-jumbo fretwire, and a set of ESP vintage-style, open-gear tuners holds the strings taut with the chrome, string-through ESP DB-4 bridge on the body.

The Vintage-204 utilizes a P/J-style configuration for its output, consisting of an ESP LDJ pickup in the bridge and an LDP pickup in the neck. A single set of neck and bridge volume controls allows the player to adjust the output level, along with a master tone-knob for rolling off the highs. While there’s nothing revolutionary in terms of this traditional electronics setup, it’s effective and known well by most bassists.