Marquess-4 Blue Stain : Excellent sound and playability at a remarkable price point

I took some time to get to know this instrument before I wrote this because my initial motivation was just to buy a halfway decent bass without spending a fortune. My expectations were therefore somewhat low. It arrived in perfect condition and my first thought was: What a gorgeous build. I have since played Marquess 4 through a bassman model, a Fender Mustang (clean), a Zoom L12 digital mixer directly to the DAW, and through a Line 6 POD Go in a variety of configurations, to both Amp and Daw and finally, even an Orange Crush Mini. To my astonishment, tone and playability are amazing. Intonation was perfect and there was just a minor slap to the E string in the upper register, something it took only seconds to fix. Whether this thing shipped from the UK or a US warehouse, that alone is a small miracle. The pickups are responsive, well balanced and without noise. I mostly use it for recording purposes and to sum it up: It plays and sounds like a bass costing 3x as much. I would buy it again in a heartbeat.