I wanted to buy a bass guitar that I didn't have to plug in, yet I have never really been impressed with acoustic flat-top basses (not very loud unplugged.) I picked the Dean, because it looked beautiful and had a bigger body for better tone. Smart choice. I didn't have the setup problems others have had, so I'm lucky. Fairly loud, gets the job done, and is extremely fun to play. Only downside? The electronics aren't too good, but eh. I have my trusty Fender Jazz to plug in if I wanna play amplified. I'm very happy with this bass.

I've had this bass for more than two years now, and it is still in top shape. It does come with a very poor setup that induces indecent fret buzz. This is mainly due to poor truss rod adjustment and super-bright strings. I played it with the original strings for some time, and even when they had gone pretty flat, they sounded very zingy.

The first correction I did was raise the bridge with a thin insert of wood under the plastic (ivory?) piece. This got rid of the fret buzz almost completely. I followed with a thorough adjustment of the truss rod, which resulted in removing the bridge's little wood piece because it was no longer needed. In the meanwhile, I had changed strings.

In terms of sound, it has huge volume and a very nice tone. Few acoustic basses can be heard playing along with two enthusiastic guitar players, but this one does the job just fine.

The playability is where it really shines. I play this bass like I play an electric (except I'm always sitting, thanks to the size). Fingerstyle, tapping and chord playing (along with picking) sound really well, without need for adaptation. Slapping is another story, though.

And the electronics are pretty bad. Low volume, especially if you try to avoid the fret sounds by lowering the treble. But I didn't buy this bass to play plugged.

I bought the Dean EABC5 as a first bass. I am a guitar player and wanted to back up some of my stuff on 4 track with bass. Right out of the box there was a lot of fret buzz. Some minor adjustments later and it sounded ok. The electronics leave something to be desired, but unplugged it really fills the room. All in all, it is good for practice but if you want something for gigging or playing plugged in, spend a little more money.

I have had this bass for over a year. Lots of fret buzzzzzz. Finally got it back from the luthier today. It sounds a lot better. Hope the warp in the neck will stay away so I can enjoy its good tone.

I bought this bass less than a year ago and am already trying to sell it. Its got some wicked rattle on every string. Also, on the G string frets twelve through fifteen were straight up dead from the day I received it.