Gear Review: Kiesel Guitars Vanquish V49K

In late 2013/early 2014, Jeff Kiesel of Carvin Guitars (now Kiesel Guitars) released photos of a prototype instrument that would later become a production model called the, "Vanquish Bass" in April 2014.

Prototype Vanquish Bass

Fast forward two years; April 2016, I was finally in a position to place my order for my very own Vanquish-- a graduation gift from my loving wife as I was wrapping up my masters degree.  Happy day!!

Five-weeks later it arrived, thanks to my salesperson's special effort to get the instrument to me in time for graduation. 






Here are the specs I ordered:
- Light-weight ash body
- Antique ash treatment
- Satin/matt finish

- Aqua (non-burst) finish

- Matching headstock
- Maple neck

- Birdseye maple fingerboard
- Abalone dot inlays
- Luminlay side-dots

- Stainless steel frets
- Black Kiesel logo
- Dunlop Straplocks

- .45 Dunlop Strings
- Ultimate Soft Case

It was a beautiful day when the bass was derived by FedEx, so I decided to take the  shipping box outside for the official un-boxing.  

In the mid-day sun the bass first looked to have the requested aqua non-burst finish.  However, when I brought it inside the finish is clearly an aqua-burst.  During the 10-day trial I really struggled with the decision whether or not to send it back for a rebuild in the full aqua finish.  After spending time playing it, I realized I could not let this one go-- it really is an amazing instrument!

Sometimes color transitions in burst finishes are abrupt, which is not the case with this one; the colors seem to flow together seamlessly.  Underneath the aqua-burst is a treatment to the body wood Kiesel calls "Antique Ash Treatment."  Not to be confused with a distressed "relic" treatment such as those offered by Fender, it is a staining process that enhances the natural grain pattern which gives the wood grain an older ("antique") appearance. 

A few updates to the model were instituted between the time it was released and when mine was built-- the most obvious being the neck heal.  Its old four-bolt neck plate has been replaced by five countersunk bolts on a beveled neck heal-- much like Kiesel's new "Aries" model guitar.  This particular update included an official switch of the bass's Carvin designation to Kiesel; a move that has been fairly common in their catalog during the guitar companies transition back to its original name.  A non-visible update is the inclusion of dual carbon fiber reinforcing rods in the neck.  

2016 Master of Public Administration graduate!

Admiring the aqua-burst finish and grain pattern in the bass is one thing; playing the bass is another-- and this one is a joy to play.  Its light-weight ash body is just heavy enough to offset the neck so it balances very nicely when playing it resting on my leg.  On the strap it sits right where I set it without any neck-dive.  This feature alone is a welcome improvement over some of my other favorite basses.  Reading about the pickups radiused profile to match the 14" fingerboard at first seemed like just another marketing jingle.  However, these really do make finger-style playing more comfortable as each string sits an equal distance above the pickup.  It is a feature that I wish more pickup manufactures would use; you don't know what your missing until you play one with radiused pickups.

Tone report:

Birdseye maple with abalone 

Tone is such a subjective thing, I won't spend a lot of effort describing it.  Pickups are humbuckers and the electronics are 18-volt active.  It does include passive mode capability by pulling up on the volume knob.  Because I prefer to keep things simple, active basses never much appealed to me.  This bass again changed my perspective about active electronics.  Its preamp is very useable even for a simple guy like myself.  Other than the volume, each knob has a position detent that I really like on active basses.  

In action a week after delivery

Usually on basses with two pickups, I rarely (almost never) use the bridge pickup on its own.  This is the first bass with a bridge pickup I like on its own; it retains enough bottom end that I expect to hear from a bass along with added tremble that makes it sound unique from the neck pickup.  Together the pickups have the growl of a Jazz, with the wider fullness of humbuckers.  In cases where the neck pickup alone sounds too big, the blend knob actually works to balance things out-- this has become my favorite setting.  Another important thing about the pickups is that the volume level remains the same in both active and passive mode.  My only complaint with passive mode, is that the only controls that work are the volume and blend; treble & bass do not.  This is not a major concern for me since I really enjoy using the preamp on this one.  However, it's always nice having a passive option for emergencies (i.e. dead batteries).

Factory action setting

String action is fantastic! Kiesel is now using Dunlop "Super Bright" strings which I really liked.  Wanting to experiment with other strings, I installed a set of DR "Pure Blues."  Surprisingly the new strings required me to adjust the truss rod a bit.  Surprising because I did not expect there to be much difference in tension between the two sets.  While I enjoy the DRs, I will be installing another set of Dunlop's because they had such a great feel.  Both sets sounded great on the Vanquish.

Luminlay in different lighting conditions

Another new option that is a mere $30 upgrade is the Luminlay side-dots.  These are glow in the dark markers that look like average side dots at first glance, but they glow when exposed to sunlight, or light from a cellphone camera.  At first I thought these might be a distraction, but I wanted to leave my comfort zone with this order and thought this would be a fun option.  There was no need for concern because these things are great and far from distracting.  The Luminlay option is something that I will include in all my future orders-- I like them that much.

New case logo

The bass arrived in a newly updated G&G Tolex case with a new Kiesel logo under the handle.  Even though my order specified the Ultimate Soft Case, the more expensive Tolex case is really nice.  After a quick call to my Kiesel salesperson the soft case was on its way to me free of charge.  Customer service at Kiesel is outstanding.  

Now, after several months of playing the Vanquish I have really become spoiled; the satin-finish neck feels great in the hand, the action is really low and without buzzing, fit & finish is outstanding, and its tone-- soooo nice!  Kiesel's Ultimate Soft Case is also a great upgrade to the traditional Tolex case, and since I am very fond of soft cases I wanted to do a separate review of that, so...

...stay tuned & in tune!