I’m a small adult lobster with small short claws. Tried the Ibanez Mikro but no matter how much I adjusted the action, truss rod and tuners couldn’t get good sound. Even swapped strings with some rotosound flatwound. Also like the fret markers on the side to help me readjust from a 34” scale. This is by far the best demo of this bass I’ve seen. *gives you some shrimp lobster food*

I just picked up one of these in the neon green. It's a killer little bass. Growls nice and plays well.

In my opinion, pretty much all Jackson basses are underrated. All Jackson's are pretty great value propositions. Most of them have carbon fiber reinforced necks. Really a nice feature for an inexpensive bass.

Wow, not gonna lie, the slap tone impressed me.

I just bought a purple one two days ago for my son’s birthday. My wife and myself have been playing it and love it.

I have this bass. Coming from guitar it was perfect. I have made lots of recordings with it in Garage Band to accompany my guitar parts. For $180 you can't lose.

I brought one of these for my young cousin to learn on!! I was really impressed by how playable the bass was out of the box and he loves it!!

Shows you how little you need when you have made the effort to be excellent. Gonna get this bass because of this vid.

I really like it when you play with the drums. "Don't point that at me!"

My first 6 string was a jackson. Idk why people rip on them so much they look great and this one doesn't sound to bad either. Thanks lobster. Keep jammin!

i had some buzz problems with mine and the cure was to use my wireless cables are just junk but with even my cheap joyo wireless no more buzz problems on any of the pups

Thank You LoEndLobster for ALL the help & info . Lost Puppy Forever is giving you shout outs on our new live music podcasts Were a two peace band Bass & Drums female fronted band that plays music about dogs , were really both drummers but Scarlet likes the bass , So started playing still new to the game you have helped in so many ways understanding the bass. Happy New Year ALL.

Thank you for reviewing this. That slap sounded really great! 🤯

This was my first bass I ever had, I got it when I was around 10 years old. I still play it from time to time and I don’t think I’m getting rid of it any time soon !!

I am partial to the Ibanez GSRM20(B) Mikro Bass, same scale length, about same price, and in my opnion better looking. I love mine, though like you mention with the Jackson Minion, decent, but not the best pickups so I upgraded mine, and now it also sounds great (first a P/J set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups, which sounded awesome through my old Trace Elliot combo amp, and currently just a DiMarzio Model P P pickup wired directly to the output jack socket, and with the J disconnected and lowered considerably, which in my opinion makes this bass sound even more amazing). As good as perfect fretwork from factory too, at least I can get the action exactly as low as I prefer it without any fretbuzz whatsoever, which happens to be about 1,9mm low E string side at 12th fret, and about 1,5mm high G string side. Now I haven't actually had a chance to try the Jackson out in first person, so I'll give it the benefit of a doubt, but as said I like the looks of the Mikro better, especially the GSRM20B model in the sort of matte black Weathered Black finish and black hardware, as well as it's slightly more narrow frets, being medium, the Mikro also has much better access to the most upper frets. If you haven't already (a KZfaq search shows no results at least) I think you ought to do a video on the Mikro, or perhaps even a comparison video between the Mikro and the Minion, since they are so similar spec and price wise (and the Ibanez actually being the one first on the market, years before Jackson copied the concept), to test your own claim about the Jackson being the best.

Gonna buy this instrument tomorrow! Has great tone! Thanks for the review dude.

LEL having the time of his life on a dinky, cheap bass. I love this channel.

The addition of your girlfriend offscreen in these videos is great! She is a good foil for you - keeps you grounded!

I've had mine for about 2 to 3 weeks and love it. I've ordered a set of EMG GZR p/j pickups for it and can't wait. Thanks Lobster.

I was actually considering a travel bass so this video was very helpful, thanks.

I really want to see you do a head to head vs the Mikro; compare the neck profiles, string widths and general "mod-ability"

I won this baby, can’t wait to play it! Thanks again!

This actually was gonna be my travel bass until I found a Squier Jaguar SS with hard case, that I am currently modifying. I actually think the hockey stick head stock is cool, sorta like an old Epiphone Rock Bass or Accubass. Keep the reviews coming Lobster! Happy New Year all and good luck on the give away!

The stock bass has a nice clear and punchy tone! The moded bass sounds great!!! For $180, this bass is a steal!

Please please review the Ibanez Mikro !!

Great tone for such a small bass! I really liked the toned turned back a little bit, sounds great! Cheers

Really enjoy the large variety of basses i get to see thanks to you. See if you can get ahold of a Bootlegger Headless bass. TRUST ME. you wont regret it. Excellent travel bass. 600 bucks but the quality is better than an american fender. Pick ups are good but.ima put some emg humbuckers in mine. Its a full scale bass too! The owner of Bootlegger is a really great guy too and his company could use some help. There arent many good videos of this bass to show how awesome it really is.

I should not have watched this. Now I want this bass even more. Just have to figure out a moment to smuggle it into the house and put it on the wall like it was always there. Neon green might not be the best choice for that.

Oh my Geezer! It sure sounds WAY better once equipped with those EMGs. Oh, the purple tint is amazing of course!

That is very similar to the Ibanez Mikro I bought my daughter a few months ago. I believe all the specs are the same just different body/headstock shape, fretboard inlays and branding. I'm guessing they probably come from the same factory. Both that Jackson and my daughter's Mikro are very impressive for only $180, and I would choose those over any of the lower end Squiers. So, did you see Ibanez is coming out with a short multiscale (30" to 32") EHB? I hope you can get one of those in for review.

cute! everytime i tried/played one, i felt like a giant:) quick dumb joke: next time the lobster will show us how to install new tuna(s)....;)

Great Video! This bass actually impressed me, it’s not just a gimmick or child’s bass. Pretty dang cool!

I want to buy my son one of these for his 5th birthday. Great review as always man.

These 28-ish inch scale basses rock. You should compare with Ibanez Mikro and, if you can get one, J&D JB Mini - I have both and besides travel they're great to jam casually on your couch, great size for smaller people like girls or kids, but they also sound surprisingly usable and "normal". I think SX and Squier also do these "minis" now with same kind of scale length.

Another nice one. Taking me back to the 80s. :) Headstock is kind of nostalgic for me.

It looks so silly being played by a regular sized person. With that glam metal headstock it would be the perfect instrument for the bassist of MINI KISS.

Would you say the Jackson is a better choice than the Ibanez Mikro? Thanks for the look see.

That sounds pretty good! Given that the fretwork on yours came out well, swapping the electronics to something more quiet would definitely make the bass well worth the money 👍 I agree with the other commenter about the headstock though.

I slapped one in guitar center mainly Jackson basses are Metal basses meaning they are played with a pick but surprisingly they are also good for funky slapping.

Definitely cool. That slap tone was really nice

Yes,I play a "little" bass....

I think a lot of people would like a “best bass for under 200$” video, and you compare basses like this one, the Ibanez talman and Harley bentons.

You should do a mini base shootout with the Jackson, Fendrr , Ibanez and Gretsch !

What a great video concept, thank you for this.

This may be the ideal travel bass solution for me. My Squier VI is a short scale, but weighs a ton. This Jackson will be light, portable, and at the price point will be a cheap and easy mod platform. And if it gets dinged up, it's no big deal!

My nephew got the neon green one when he started playing bass.

Cool! The Beard of Doom upgraded version is a lil beast! Love it! +1 for the witty offscreen girlfriend! She is pretty funny! 😊👍

I have this same bass in silver and laugh with pleasure...... I absolutely appreciate the runt & glad 😊 to hear your positive review........ I have a squire Modified Jaguar and an Ibanez Talman TMB 30 as well as a Ibanez Talman TMB35..... As far as my S/S basses, I really gravitate towards the Jackson.......... But I believe that has a lot to do with being an 80's hair band fan back in the day LOL 😆 Thanks again for the review of both Stock & Modified..... Much luck and support in your endeavors........ 👍

That's an amazing sound,,from such a tiny Bass,,,my worry is me,personally would fall into the trap of overplaying,,because its so easy too get around!

Great chops Lobby!

looks and sounds like a nice option for my 9 year old. He wants bass and drums.

Hey Lobster, if I knew this existed I would have probably bought it to my daughter for school, instead of the Squier P mini (awful finish even compared to my 20 years old Squier PJ). Thank you!

I looked at the Minion one time but it just seemed so small. I bought a Squier Bronco and an Epiphone EB-0 instead. I like both of those short scale basses but now that I hear the Minion, I wish that I would have given it more consideration - especially since I have discovered that my hands aren't as big as or flexible as I thought they were! I recently bought a solid body U-bass and it makes the Minion look like a monster! Any good suggestions on left hand stretching exercises?

The review says at about 15 minutes that the Jackson Minion bass guitar comes shielded as standard which seems surprising to me at the price. I did wonder if Lobster(?) mis-spoke and meant that shielding was added to the modded guitar; but the wording certainly did indicate it was the original unmodded guitar. Anyway, I contacted the support e-mail address in the UK about this and they gave a pretty vague "it depends" type of answer. This is the relevant part excerpted from the e-mail: "Great to hear that you're interesting in purchasing a Concert Minion JS1X Bass. These guitars are designed by Jackson but the parts used are quite often built OEM manufacturer specs which can vary depending on the production run and materials available. This can include the components like the pickups, wiring diagrams, switches, bridges, pickguards, shielding, tremolo arms, tuning machines etc. Because of this, detailed specification on the shielding is not available to us information is not available to us. The factory may add this on some production runs but not on others so it's hard to say." I was going to suggest, inferring from the fact that the support address in the UK is shared with Fender, that there may be an ulterior motive at play here. But Jackson Guitars is apparently owned by Fender so that wouldn't really make any sense.

Better than the Ibanez Mikro? what do you think Lobster?

That’s not a bad sounding bass. Can’t wait to see that Christmas bass! Major girlfriends points is she puts a hlk in that music man case lol.

I played one today and it was great! I'm in love

I'm getting one, putting 40-95 strings on it, tune it up to F# and play in unison with my Strandberg 8 string. Gonna be a fun studio experiment.

The upgrade makes me feel good... 💙👊😎

Not bad, but I can't get over the headstock

Purple 🐜 bass is pretty spicy. Lots of emotions from such little bass. I will mod it with build-in nail cutters, so let me win 🤣

Seems a good bass for travelling, and with something like a Nux mighty plug or similar with headphones it'd be truly portable. The pickup mods certainly changed it up a bit too. Then we hit the Aussie conundrum lol "Hey hun, come look at this bass and it's only $180! That's a really affordable bass to start with." Then the boss/accountant/minister of war brings up reality "Is that US dollars or Australian my love?" lmao 🤣😂🤣😂 I have taken a risk though and bought a Fender Rumble, so we'll see if I'm sharing a bed with the dogs outside when it arrives. If I do happen to be still living inside though, I can bring up the argument that an amp is a waste of money without the bass to go with it! 😉🤞😎

The bass look cute and has nice bass tone too. Wish to see a Spectra JS3V in your future review. Another nice quality/tone low price bass as Cort gb64j.

Hey lobster. Love this video. I’m a little late on this one but I wanted to know what you thought about the David Ellefson 30th anniversary 4 or 5 string concert bass with the reverses p and j . Seems kinda like the charvel with some electrical differences. Lol. Hopefully less issues.

We have one of those. The input jack died about 2 months into ownership. jack was scratchy when we got it. so so. 3 stars. sorry. QC so so. Gonna fix it soon. I play my Mitchell short scale a lot lately. 30" scale 4 string grey. Diadarrio xl strings. Basswood body. 129 bucks on sale woooo hoooo. mitchell bases are ok. little bit buzzy but we like it. : )

Great review thank you. I’ve been think of a Mikro but think you be just this to be - 👏👏👏

Wow! Sir you’re so impressive 🤗Happy New year!

I dig it I own one and hear no buzz from either pickups so you might have a messed up pickup

Does anyone else hear Geezer Butler? I think it's the clank due to the scale length? I wrote the 1st half of this before you pulled out your purple one (with geeazers pups)

I like this one, quick question, what do you tune a short scale like that one to? Slandered tuneing?

I love the minion. excellent balance, sounds great, easy neck, solid finish. It is compact but it nothing toyish about it - an adult would have no problems playing it. I got it for my son (even though I play it a lot for fun), because he started with the Squier Jaguar Affinity H - and it just did not work out. I didn't like that one much either because of the neck dive and fretwork was iffy on mine. I got rid of it. The minion is so much better.

To be honest out of the 3. Id love to win this one in the giveaway. Ive watched this bass on and off since it was released. Love you did a review lobster!

How do you think this compares to the Ibanez Mikro bass? Given the similar price point electronics material and size?

Mini bass shootout time. Do it Loobster with the Jackson, Fender, Ibanez and Gretsch !

Yeah! got one for my birthday in 2021 . played it for 3 months on my couch then the jack went out. ummmm. Still gotta re solder. Then gotta a bargain price Mitchell 4 string shorty in Grey. Been playing , jamming and rehearsing with it. Funny thing is- i like most ANY 4string that stays in tune. I'll take em all! Ha aha ah ha I play lead guitar too, and that's a whole different subject, baby. Ha ha Cheers! Been craving the new nice price Sterling Stingray H. Ha ha.

Amazing, and awesome color. What is your thought on E string on these 28.6"?

I was about to get this one , but when I got back into the store it was already gone. So I picked up Ibanez Micro instead. An amazing little bass.

Looks like a great bass to put piccolo bass strings on 👍.

Where can i get one like that purple one - already modded ? I am really impressed by your demo of it!! What kind of strings do you use on that ?

Hey Lobster - just re-watched this review of the Jackson Minion. Question: how do you think this would compare to the Fender MIM PJ Mustang bass (other than the huge difference in price)?

Damn how much union busting did Jackson have to do to get that low low price?

Would love to see you try a Cort Action Junior, though they're not as widely available now

Just ordered a purple one on reverb. Now I can’t excuse the squier in the basement. Hopefully it shows up in good shape.

My plan for the Jackson minion bass( Bartolini PJ passive pickups & GHS piccolo bass strings)

It could be interesting if a short scale bass comparison video make by Lobster. Jackson Minion, Squier mini P, Squier bronco, Ibanez GSR micro, g&l tribute fallout, Schecter Bunchee, Sterling SS Ray4..... it could be fun ！！

Better than a squire mini P? Those things boom And who are these ppl who give thumbs down? Are they thumbs downing the bass itself? ✊

Have one of these. I wish Jackson would have spent more money and manufactured this in Indonesia vs China. The volume and tone pots are the biggest weakness on these.

after a few years not plating bas they both seem now huge (i also moved to shorter scale guitars)... seems cool for solo jamming, although the e string seems too have way weaker signal (tilting the pickups maybe?)

Hey lobster. I know it’s an old video but I hope you can reply to this. How well do you think this would preform as a “hope I don’t need to use it” backup bass? Just so I don’t have to drag a spare full size bass to every gig that never gets played. Is it too jarring a difference from 34” to quickly transition, or would a more sensible 30” be easier?

Damn, now I need one!

How does the ibanez mikro gsrm20 bass compare to the jackson minion basses? Just curious as I'm probably going to purchase one of the two fairly soon.

Jackson basses in my opinion, are good and solid basses due to the graphite reinforced necks like that of ken Smith.

Blue Steel! Minion! So hot right now!

Hi. Thanks for the review.Please tell me in what year was the model of the bass guitar minion invented?

A great bass for a guitar player, bass player or beginner. sounds great

I got enthused by these as a shorty player about 3 years ago. I liked it so much I ended up with 3. But then the problems began. One of them the earth wire came unattached. So I soldered it. The tuners are bad, don't work smoothly nor hold tune securely. So I replaced them. Worse, 2 of my 3 Minions started rattling after about a year. I looked everywhere for the source and can only assume its the truss rod come loose. Waste of money. Cant sell. BUT last year I got a Squier MIni Precision which is even cheaper but better made, no issues. I replaced the pickup with a Dimarzio and it's my favourite bass. Also recommend the Ibanez Mikro, another properly manufactured item with no structural issues.

Can we get that in a five-string?

Great review! You convinced me not to buy Hofner, and I almost decided on Jackson. But please, could you tell me how much it weighs (at least approximately)? I didn't find this information anywhere.

Lobster, I was wondering the same thing I read on another comment. I bought an Ibanez Mikro several months ago & (with new strings) I absolutely love it. We would like to get your opinion on the Jackson Minion vs Ibanez Mikro. Thanks!

I have one. I like it. Great value.