The luthiers at Lakland are fans, too, and they’ve spent the better part of two years developing and refining the prototype they first introduced at Winter NAMM in 2012. Called the Decade 6, Lakland’s 6-stringer features the same short scale, narrow neck, and triple-pickup configuration as the 6-string bass most of us are familiar with—the Fender Bass VI. But Lakland also instituted a few changes that make the Decade 6 much more than a high-end clone.
The Low Down
Dressed in a striking candy-apple-red finish,
a faux tortoiseshell pickguard, and black
pickup covers, the 30 1/4"-scale Decade 6
is a thing of beauty. Our review bass has an
alder body, but ash and mahogany are also
available, as are several other finish options.
The Decade’s “Shorty J” maple neck has a
4-bolt joint, and it’s topped with an 18-fret
rosewood fretboard adorned with bird’s-eye-maple
dot inlays. Tuned one octave below
standard tuning, the .024–.084-gauge strings
are anchored by open-gear Hipshot tuners on
one end and a custom bridge on the other.
The three JP-90 pickups are made in-house by sister company Hanson Pickups, and they feature alnico 5 magnets for crisp highs and tight, warm lows. With outputs of 8.6k for the neck and middle pickups, and 9.6k for the bridge, they’re very close to vintage specs. While the 5-way blade switching is more akin to, say, a Fender Strat, the single volume and tone controls are similar to the Fender Bass VI. That said, I would have liked to have seen Lakland include a version of the Bass VI’s bass-cutoff slider (aka the strangle switch)—a fan favorite that expanded the versatility of Fender’s already-expressive instrument.
Ratings
Pros:
Rock-solid build. Off-the-charts playability.
Versatile—from tic-tac to more modern tones. Excellent definition
and note separation.
Cons:
Lows aren’t as deep as a 4-string. Could use traditional
“strangle” switch. Pricey.
Tones:
Playability/Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$3,250
Company
lakland.com
Deep Thoughts
Plugging the Decade 6 into a Verellen
Meatsmoke tube bass head driving an Ampeg
Isovent combo cabinet, I started out the way
many 6-string bass fans would: I set the amp
with lowered mids, turned down the lows
slightly, pushed the treble, and palm-muted a
spaghetti-western bass line. The resulting tic-tac
tone was spot-on with the sound of cowboy
film soundtracks that Ennio Morricone
made famous in the ’60s, but with noticeably
more midrange muscle and bite. More traditional
bass parts had an extremely detailed
attack and upper midrange, with the thick,
rubbery response that short-scale basses are
known for. In fact, the tones were so full and
robust that, had I been blindfolded and listening
to someone else playing the Decade 6,
I would’ve been convinced they were playing
a traditional 4-string.
Each of the five pickup-switch positions offers a wealth of distinct tones, from the scooped midrange in positions two and four to the bolder mids and highs when soloing the bridge and the bowel-rattling subs from the middle and neck pickups. The instrument also handled overdriven tones with aplomb—a fact that should prove appetizing to players hungering for heavier sounds. Playing full chords through the Meatsmoke’s roaring overdrive channel yielded a monstrously powerful wall of sound that still managed to retain clarity. The note separation—while not as defined as an electric guitar’s—was light years beyond what most standard basses can produce. And this gives the Decade 6 unique abilities to add contrasting textures within songs, such as using overdriven broken chords and fuzzed-out melodic interludes above the 12th fret.
The Verdict
The Lakland Decade 6 is a marvelous
instrument that not only nails the time-honored
6-string bass tones of yesteryear,
but also has its own unique voice. It
combines the warm, syrupy lows of a traditional
4-string with the bright attack of
a P-90-equipped guitar. Though the low
end doesn’t quite reach the depths of a P- or
J-style bass, the tones are expansive enough
to cover a wealth of musical applications.
Everything about the Decade 6—from the
solid build to the even weight, attractive
looks, and knockout playability—is tailored
to near perfection. And then there’s the
huge fun factor.
Bassists who eschew picks or think the narrow string spacing is just for guitarists might be tempted to pass by this Lakland, but they’d be doing themselves a serious disservice. The Decade 6 brings the timeless tones of the 6-string bass to a new generation, and its superb quality alone deserves the attention of even the harshest skeptics.
