MusicRadar Verdict
Visually appealing, comfortable to play and capable of great sounds, the Esprit I has much to offer the most discerning of bass players, and even comes with a deluxe gigbag.
Pros
- +
Overall design and great build quality. The pickup and Vari-coil control.
Cons
- -
With this pickup and a price £100 cheaper than the previous Blue Label version, it's hard to fault.
MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.
This latest model in the Fret-King bass portfolio, the Espirit I, would surely have appealed to John Entwistle - it's not a million miles away from his infamous Fenderbird amalgamations!
"The pickup works like a dream: clean and jazzy when wound back, full and punchy when humbucking"
It sports a great offset look, and an oversized scratchplate that takes the eye directly to the heart of this bass: the stunning new WJM pickup, designed, of course, by Mr Wilkinson.
This is a fabulous-looking instrument, and it's medium weight with a keenly contoured and honed satin-feel maple neck bolted onto an agathis body. The surface-mounted controls, chrome-finished WBBC bridge and open-gear tuners all contribute to this stylishly vintage-like persona.
Sounds
"The pickup is basically a Music Man-style coil added to a Jazz-style, coupled together as a humbucker and wired down as a Vari-coil," Trevor tells us.
"Turn the Vari-coil back and the MM factor is lost into a Jazz sound, but when it's wound back up as a humbucker it takes on the aspects of the Music Man: fat but focused."
With controls for volume, tone and Vari-coil, the pickup works like a dream, producing distinct aspects of both basses: clean and jazzy when wound back but full and punchy when humbucking, giving a unique sound.
“It’s rare that we’ve heard such flexible results made so quickly and easily”: Tracktion Dawesome Myth review
“It’s especially special to be playing at The Whisky... where almost all of my guitar heroes have played”: Sophie Lloyd announces debut US headlining show at LA’s Whisky A Go Go and shares blazing shred cover of Alice Cooper’s Poison
“Takes the TS formula and makes it more useful for every player, regardless of style”: Mythos Pedals unveils the Envy Pro Overdrive NV-9, adding switchable low-end and spicy clipping options to a classic recipe
