Note up front: Technically, the model name of this bass is just “BAS”, but for most it’s commonly known as a Kavkaz.
From the bowels of the 1970’s comes the Kavkaz, made in the USSR. It might be ugly to some, but it does have one thing going for it. Surprisingly, it has a bit of Rickenbacker 4003 growl to it. This is not to say it plays like a Rickenbacker at all, but for what it is, the Kavkaz does have some of that Ric punch to it (probably because of those giant pickups it has.)
Someone actually restored one of these. In a restored state, it actually looks fairly decent. Not great, but decent.
How does it sound? Listen for yourself:
At the moment, a search for “kavkaz bass” on eBay will score you one of these easily for under $200 USD.
For a cheap vintage, it doesn’t get too much better than that! 🙂
“Kavkaz” in Russian means Caucasus.
It might sound decent with a fret level.
Ummm…NO!
My first bass was an updated version of this (named BAS-2). It was almost unplayable and sounded awful… Glad I got rid of it! Although visually it was prettier than this one XD
if your in to Kazak muskoxe rock this the thinmg for you comrade!
I bought one on eBay for $100 (plus $110 for shipping from Siberia). It sounded good, and the body was a nicely resonant piece of wood, but the neck was hopelessly warped, rendering it virtually unplayable. There is a happy ending: I had a ’60s Hagstrom neck put on, making it a nice short-scale bass. At the bassiest of the 4 tone settings, it has the warm-mud monster bass of an old Gibson EB0. (Two of the others offer more highs, and one is a very pinched and weak trebly tone.)