Steinberger Guitars Spirit XT-2DB Standard Bass BK

I like this bass very much because it is headless and it is made by the Steinberger bass concept. I like the tone of this bass a lot, and I have played Steinberger Spirit basses for years.

I can recommend this bass because it has a low weight and thereby spares your back. Furthermore it is portable and still a full scale instrument that produces great and serious tone from funk, rock to blues and even jazz. But the detuning function on the bridge is a great feature if you like the detuning of your E-string. This bass model covers the middle ground between a 5-string bass or a deep 4-string bass.

Being a 4-string bass it is built just like the XT-2 and it has the same tone and feel. The difference is the detuning option on the bridge and the humbucker construction that is similar to the XT-25 5-string version. I like this humbucker configuration and it is stable and easy for adjustment.

The electronics are great and the hardware is top quality. A good piece of advice is that you should not oil the adjustment screw on the detuner (the round screw on top of the bridge), because the screw will not stay in the desired position after your adjustment of detuning to Eb, D or B and that is irritation when being busy on stage.

However the regular tuner screws and the sliders should be oiled/greased to reduce the wear and tear over time tuning over 100 times. You will also notice that the tuning will be easier on your fingers. After this operation you will have a great tuning system that keeps the tuning in tune over time.

My only critical point is the strapping knob on the back of the neck joint. I really would have loved a more balanced solution where the Synapse solution would have done wonders to the Spirit model(s) for making the bass hang naturally. The original swirl system of the legendary L2 cannot be expected on the Spirit model.