Charvel San Dimas ProMod IV - Totally Bodacious Bass or Mega Bummer? - LowEndLobster Review 

This video is an example of why Lobster is my fave reviewer, other reviewers are calling the preamp simply "hot", not detailing how the San Dimas really sounds. Thanks!

After making a few mods, I love this thing. Took out the pre-amp all together and set her up at all passive. Just Volume, Blend, Tone. Threw a Hipshot Drop-D tuner on it, all set. Bonus: I now have 2 knobs that do nothing, so I can pretend they are anything.

Before I even finish watching this review lol Shout out to that Bill & Ted intro 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 “San Dimas High School Football Rules!!!”

These would fly off the shelf it they were passive only and $50 cheaper for it.

I feel a bass like that doesn’t need a pre amp. That is a bummer it looks so killer. Totally not worth 900 dollars.

Bill and Lobster’s excellent adventure! Let’s goooooo

Oh that is so devastating. I am at the lucky end it seems with no grounding issues, as shown in my Review :(

Looks like a good candidate for a preamp replacement but it sure isn't priced like one.

So... in short... the preamp in this bass makes it go to 11?

Eye Carumba!! That thing breathes fire! Talk about cutting through the mix. Good way to p. o. your guitar player, he he. I'd like to hear it with a better preamp. Nice touch with the nails too Low! I'm looking forward to your fix and you're right, it should be good right out of the box. Don't know about Fender recently, know what I mean?

I still can’t thank you enough for your videos. I stopped playing for a few years, was uninspired. Then you did the Sterling mod videos. Got me back into it. Ended up getting a Ray 34. I am playing every single day. Hope I can meet you some day, I’d love to take you out to dinner.

Oh! That is a VERY unique preamp! Such natural noise, and that "differently expensive" tone colouring! What a smart idea to add a "fuzz feature" too! WOW! .....jokes aside... With the "bypassed" sound it's really great! Waiting for mods! As for the looks, it's very nice!

That is ridiculously bad for a $900 bass. Noiseless pickups and noise full preamp

Beautiful bass. As you said shame about the preamp and the poor grounding/sheilding . Be interesting with a Darkglass Tone Capsule or Aguilar OBP3 Great job again 👏 Stu

Once again, a great review from you Lobster😁👍🏾 and I love the green nail polish💅🏾💚, looks fierce.😉👌🏾💚🎸🦞

I bought the 5 string version of this bass and it’s amazing, I’m glad I didn’t get any of the QC issues you did! The Area J pickups really impressed me, and I like the preamp, especially the mid frequency. Try to get your hands on one and see how it differs from the 4 string version.

Wow... an actual honest review. Thanks!

Wow, that sounded pretty rough! Great review though. I’m kinda bummed. This was a bass I was really keen to try.

Lobster, despite the preamp / noise woes, this seems like a fundamentally great bass. If they had this thing sorted out with a passive tone I'd be all over it.

Aside from the cream colored pickup covers, I love the look of these. Its a shame the pre amp kinda screws the thing in stock from. Living for the color matched nail polish btw!!!

YES !!!! I got the joke right away !!! EXCELLENT ! OH, I always forget to mention I love the CAT in the credits ! I love the matching nail polish. You lost me when said, "Built by Fender." THE most overrated bass, EVER. I'll stick with SIRE.

I own this bass and fortunately it doesn’t have the grounding problem like yours does. I do agree that the the preamp/pickup combination is not a good match. It’s hard to find a good tone with the preamp engaged. If I can get this issue fixed, it will be a great bass.

DId you really paint your nails to match the finish of the bass? That bass sounds really nice with the preamp bypassed, they should have just kept it passive.

Coulor from the other space cool sound oby van kanoby start play bass now ! Lmao ! Just kidding 😉👍

These are made in Fender's mexico factory, so I imagine that they are largely compatible with other fender parts.

I was totally gonna buy this bass until I saw this vid. Thanks lobster! Dodged a bullet 😊

Was the original unboxing a black back plate? Compared to the cream one!

Easily one of the best reviews on this bass . Ntm many others .

11:47 Wrong knob. Who never? ;) Love the review. Lucid and detailed as ever, even to the nail polish color. Great channel.

Charvel, how many times must we say it....”it’s not what’s on the outside, but on the inside that matters!!!” And shame on you Fender, you have the experience and the “know-how”, instead of saying “all things Fender will be quality” but, you put a “fail bomb” in it so basses that have Fender on the headstock are better, in comparison?!? I also thought (apparently like an idiot) that this bass was marketed towards the surf and burn community? What do they need a preamp for? The surfers are wet, and don’t need to be playing with batteries! And the burn community??? (Try to follow my ridiculous babble) ...your 9v goes flat...”ok off to 7-Eleven to pick up a battery” (after this exhale....) 20min later.... “Alright, I got my sour gummy’s, bag of Funoins, jerky stick and super big gulp......” You know how that scenario payed out...... All I’m saying is you could have gone passive, and Charvel would have stop being a weird 80’s side note! Beat Buddy went home!!! Disappointed!!! Fender/Charvel, I’d be disappointed if another company made this bass, but I think I’d have been even more surprised if you got it right. I know, that was harsh....but so is $900 and still have to fix noise issues!!! SAN DIMAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES!!!!!!!

Played this bass at my local Guitar Center and did not have this grounding and noise issue, but its hard to tell in a GC. Will need to go back and test again. But this bass played and looked amazing.

How do I join the Discord? I use the app for my gaming clan lol xD On mobile devices, I must add. Is it the www-drill on this one?

I appreciate the review immensely. I ordered one of these basses today. Lobster’s review pointed out all of the plentiful positive features and benefits surrounding that unimpressive preamp. The explanation of the price point won me over. I can mod or play it in passive mode happily. Thank you Lobster!

Nice nails rsrs... This is the best review on the RU-vid! Salutations from Brazil!!

Love the look, hate the sound issues. Guess it was too good to be true at $899. They cheaped out on the only part of the bass you can’t see lol

buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Well atleast its pretty

It’s sounds really bad with the pre-amp

I'm starting to realise that a good rule of thumb is that active preamps with eq controls are great with low to medium output pickups but useless with high output ones unless they're EMGs

I hope you do mod on Yamaha TRBX 305 or 505 and Jackson Spectra Series in the future

That bass can....GO TO HELL: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-a7pqj8Be8kU.html (...from Bogus Journey soundtrack - fun fact, the movie was originally supposed to be called Bill and Ted Go to Hell)

What a huge disappointment! :( Was super interested but I guess we're gonna have to wait for supply chains and what not to normalize again before I bother tracking one down to try. Seems like covid did a number on production quality and not just quantity!

Hey lobster I bought this bass too. You do more mods than I ever have. Do you think there’s a way to add passive tone with the new preamp?

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K

That preamp is something special and is just about as noisy as that Sadowsky you did a demoed a while back. Great point about their being a missed opportunity here with this bass.

Sweet nail polish!

Thank you for your reviews on this bass. I eventually bought one in the full knowledge it may need to be fully shielded. I am glad to report, I have absolutely no problems with it whatsoever. QC issues at the fender plant perhaps?

This is so funny to me. I added a DiMarzio Model P/J setup to my bass, fully passive, and it was so hot it would frequently overdrive my amp with ease. The idea that you would use that pickup combo with an active preamp that boosts the signal further is beyond me.

Love seafood. Love bass ,why am I hear 🤣👌👍

That's a total bummer. I remember when I first saw this announced and thinking that's a great set of features on offer even at that fairly popular price point. The design, neck, body, etc look great. With good shielding, grounding, and maybe an Aguilar or even a Sadowsky pre this could be an amazing mod bass. But at this price point, so many other options are competing with good/solid QC that this is a tough recommend now

Much appreciated review of this bass. I’ve been on the market for an active/passive “Swiss army” 5 string, when these were released I thought it’d be perfect. But I don’t want to drop $1,000 on something that I’d have to drop a few more hundred into fixing issues. Thanks for doing the leg work!

Maybe the preamp and pickups together are so noisy because this is A BASS FOR METAHL!!!!!!!! 😂

I have an issue with a treble pot, there's static noise when adjusting the treble. Any idea, what this could be ?. Is this just normal sometimes ?. There's some type of issue with my Warwick jack, it makes noises. So I never bothered taking to a real professional, I might need a custom jack. I tore everything out of the bass and everything went together, except Warwick has that proprietary jack, I thought it should work fine.

Yeah that's a very bad grounding issue, I can still hear it even with the preamp off. Years ago I bought a Retrovibe stingray copy bass that had a horrible grounding issue. But the company reimbursed me $100 to get the issue fixed by a local tech. Sounded very nice after being grounded. It's just a shame that companies release pieces like this because they choose to cut corners to save money.

Dimarzio Model P/J pickups are so characterful that a preamp seems needless. If anything this bass sounds a bit sterile, albeit with a fairly unacceptable level of noise? The whole vibe of the bass is late '70s hotrodding (cream Dimarzios, Badass bridge etc) so it really should be a high output passive bass.

Great energy today xD LOL - matching claws! It's a great review, which highlights this preamp madness. The bass would be perfectly cool with just 1x tone and two volume knobs. Interesting forthcoming mod now! Ownage!

What’s your all time fav bass? If you had to pick ONE

There are some bass in that buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I agree about the preamp; the tone was nice but the bass sounded semi distorted in almost every setting. I don't believe that the shielding or lack thereof would cause that much noise; sounds more like a grounding issue. Interested in seeing what you find when you investigate but I believe that a preamp swap to a more appropriately voiced pre and grounding repair will make this a pretty killer bass.

I was choosing between this one and the G&L Tribute L2000. Now I am happy to go with G&L.

The 5 string version have the same issue?

Three things, it would have been great if the 4 string would have had the jazz pickups option and also a passive version. Love the radioactive green fingernail polish too. 😁

Got home with mine and discovered, I got a bad dose of the BUZZ!!! Must have had my hands on the knobs and strings the whole time in the shop. Was horrible. Straight back the next day for a swap for a MIJ Hybrid ii Fender Jazz (which is EPIC). Shoddy QC in these Charvels. If the Japanesee pursuit of excellence was put into these? They would be one of the all time greats.

I like the colors. Similar to my Dave Ellefson Jackson. Body style

what about stripping the preamp make it vvtt + varitone ? that would make it very flexible and all passive

Oddly enough, San Dimas is actually my home town

just needs a godole shielding job.

Got to admit, that is a beautiful bass… and love the color. Seriously considering buying one in spite of the “preamp”. Great video, and appreciate the unbiased opinion. 👍🏻

This preamp, WACK! That pickup buzz, WACK! The fact that this bass could’ve been so much more but just isn’t, WACK! The fact that the jazz bass only comes in 5 string, WACK! But Lobsters nails?? TIGHT AS FUCK!!! Still a good review though G. That preamp was just a big let down coming from charvel lol I kinda thought they were gonna bring something new to the bass world but ehhh.

I was considering the blue one, looked up a demo and heard just a few seconds of it and I was like oh man, how's that sound so bad? Too bad, looked really nice.

Hello, I want to ask you, do you see as big problem that there are not stanless steel frets?Thanks for answer.

oh your so picky!! thats bass looks and sounds fabulous

Lobster...old friend....its brooksie...trust me you will love the tony franklin! Waiting for your review impatiently! Remember a shout out to me when u review it! Please!

Well that stinks! I was considering snagging one of those basses. Now??? Not so much. It should be noted though that you’d be hard pressed to build a bass like this with quality parts for less than 1k. I should know, since I have done it recently. Even the color is very similar. My goblin flake Warmoth dual P with pearl blocked and bound neck, EMG pickups and US Hipshot hardware costs me considerably more... probably 75% more.

The preamp is a huge disappointment even if it was quiet it doesn't match up well with the pickups IMO. Thanks for another great review Lobster dude.😁

I don’t care for the orientation of the headstock logo-I feel like it should be parallel with the bottom edge. How’s the weight? I like the look of the neck. The body finish is a little garish to my eye. Are your fingernails painted to match? Five knobs is about two too many.

What a awesome review!! Love this channel! So funny too

You keep it honest, I'm sticking with passive myself. Question, if someone buys one do you get matching 💅 nail color. Nice touch!

Your studio is a real stress test for shielding! I tried the five but it paled next to a cort A5 in the same shop. I did finally get an Ibanez ehb in sea foam which is a bit your fault.

I wonder if this preamp is the same as the preamp in their Deluxe MIM series. Those sound better but they also come with pickups that are nowhere near as spicy as the Model PJ DiMarzios...

so ur saying buy the bass and upgrade the preamp pretty much lol

I also had to return a candy apple red San Dimas ProMod V. Some inlays were busted and the truss rod was completely stuck. No way to adjust it.

That does not sound like a grounding issue, but merely a loud preamp, which seems not to your taste. Fans of a larger dynamic range might really enjoy this!

Yeah, this makes me wonder what's going on in those companies, they designed a bass on paper and never played it? I don't get how this design got out of the prototype phase?

Thanks for this review! I was really GASsing over that metallic red 5 string, but at well over $1000 CAD +tax I would expect something better than a mod platform... Also, whether you're a crustacean or a mollusk or whatever be excellent to each other my dudes! 🤙

@LowEndLobster hey I know you've probably gotten a lot of messages like this but I've got a project bass I'm working on and was wondering if you would like to get your hands on it and maybe add your own touches to it. The bass in question is a squire mini p bass with a fretless fingerboard conversion, bartolini pickups ant tapewound strings. The mods I'm currently doing are adding a höfner pickup close to the bridge, stacked tone/volume knob for each pickup, and a custom pickguard. Of course I'm not asking you to finish it but rather just seeing what you would think of the finished product.

Mr. Lobster... The humming from caps takes my concentration away!!! 😣

Wonderful video as always, Lobster! I would love to see a video where you take a tribute series G&L L-2000/2500 and do the K-mod on it!

Yooo Duuuude! Bodacious nail job. Matches the bass :D Hum enhancing pickups, it's the new thing!

Man that thing looks awesome!!! 💚💚💚

Great video Lobster. I love the "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" take at the beginning..:>). Glad you brought to light the QC issue with this bass. It's pretty common with a number of over-seas manufacturing facilities. Sometimes big companies rely too heavily on name recognition without the necessary oversite. I agree that no one should every have to be in the position to deal with the kinds of issues you outlined here. However, yes to Audere! I've used those preamps for years and love them. I look forward to the upgrade video. Cheers!

I can totally see myself getting a used one and modding it. Lots to like here but yea, that preamps would have to go.

Well balanced and it immediately nose dives when you take your left hand off, lol

next: do the new Harley Benton JJ550OP and JP550OP

Honestly,....this just goes to show that the old saying "Sometimes, less is more" is true. This bass sounded fantastic WITHOUT the pre-amp. The tones from this bass when not using it were just so spot on. And when slapping this thing, I think the J pickup TYPICALLY has a sound more geared for slapping,....but I actually liked the tone while slapping with the P pickup even more. But they both sounded excellent for slapping. I had seen one of these on ebay used that sold pretty cheap right after they came out, and I'm kind of kicking myself for not even trying to put a bid on it.😖 But im only really getting back into just hunting for an affordable bass after not even having picked one up for YEARS. But still,....

I use an audere in my Jazz Bass, I personally think it's a pretty fun and powerful little preamp

“Everything is different, but the same. Things are more moderner.. than before. Everything is bigger, yet smaller. It’s.. computers.” Best moment on this channel to date.

Le fay review would be awsome

plz review the 5 string

Bet that Squire CV 70s P bass is sounding pretty good lol

Any chance I could bother you for the link to that wonderful shirt you're wearing? Great review btw.