Bass Magazine – Issue 4 2019

bassmagazine.com ; ISSUE 4 ; BASS MAGAZINE 97

REVEREND SIGNATURE MIKE

WATT WATTPLOWER BASS

Street $1,400

Pros Well balanced, lightweight,

beautiful design; awesome

bottom-heavy, growling tone

Cons Some might object that it

does not offer a wide variety of

tones, but, as I point out below,

that is not negative in this context

Bottom Line A kickass, aggressive,

short-scale bass that totally deliv-

ers.

SPECS

Body Solid, korina

Neck Three-piece korina, medium

oval shape, bolt-on

Scale length 30"

Pickups One P-style, passive

Fingerboard Blackwood Tek

Fingerboard radius 12"

Frets 21, medium-jumbo

Nut width 1.65" (42mm)

Controls Volume, tone

Bridge Hipshot

Tuners Hipshot Ultralight

Case Hardshell

Contact reverendguitars.com

SPECS

vorite genres of all time: ’90s grunge.

The Reverend’s pickups are cus-

tom, and they sound like it. I discov-

ered that the sweet spot for me was

directly over the pickup, as this gave

me an even blend of a bass-forward,

deep-throated tone combined with an

articulation that would cut through

the most guitar-heavy of mixes. If I

played back by the bridge, like I do

on my Jazz Basses, the tone was too

lightweight; too much in front of the

pickup resulted in a loss of that ag-

gressive articulation I was digging.

Through it all, the bass growled no

matter the position, whether I played

with fingers or with a pick.

The bass proved so inspiring to

play, I kept it out for a number of

days and continued to try it out in

various genres. Again, it’s not ide-

al for more mellow tunes without

some thoughtful amp adjustments,

but I didn’t mind that. In the end,

the bass seemed well suited for gigs

that demand an in-your-face aggres-

sive tone on the low end. Also, when

playing it, I easily forgot it was a

short-scale instrument. That’s how

a short-scale bass should be: I don’t

want to be constantly thinking about

its scale length.

The best compliment I can give

this instrument is that when I put it

back in its case (which is also cus-

tom and quite lovely) for shipping

back to Reverend, I was a bit sad.

While I have a host of nice basses,

I have nothing like this, and that’s

saying something. Like all well-de-

signed instruments, this one inspires

you to explore and test its character

through the music you enjoy. So, if

you play rock of any style, I encour-

age you to find a Mike Watt signature

Reverend bass in a store near you

and explore until you find some new

paths in your music. l

Usually I don’t dig this type of setup,
as it often makes the bass feel im-
balanced, but that didn’t occur here.
Everything felt perfectly balanced. If
you haven’t played a short-scale in-
strument, you might think that the
shorter neck makes it feel weird, but
I haven’t found that to be the case. I
own a Danelectro ’58 Longhorn reis-
sue, and I never feel awkward when
switching between it and my Fender
basses. It’s different, for sure, but not
difficult to adjust to at all. The same
was true with the Mike Watt bass — I
took right to it.
The distinctive tone of this in-
strument definitely pays tribute to
Mike’s sound and approach; it’s got
growl for miles. No matter how I
set the tone knob or where I played
in relationship to the pickups, the
growl spoke loudly and with attitude.
That’s by design, for sure. You’ve got
a volume and tone knob, and that’s it.
Someone wanting something more
subtle or versatile in tone might be
unhappy — but then who would be
considering this bass who wasn’t
into the ethos of its signature artist
and the genre in which he performs?
As such, I loved it. It begs you to play
certain styles of music over others,
which was just fine with me. I tried
it out on some punk tunes, but I also
found it fit well within one of my fa-