Hofner Ignition Club Bass | SHORTIES

Hofner basses are renowned the world over since the popularity of Sir Paul's 'violin bass' - but is this Ignition series Club bass just a dud? Or are we just hassling the Hof?

The official description: The Hofner Ignition HI series models have a fully hollow body combined with Hofner 70's style 'staple' pick-ups to give the authentic Hofner sound. The Hofner control panel has on/off for each pickup, solo/rhythm switch and individual volume controls. This bass comes at the perfect price point for players requiring the classic Hofner sound on a budget.
-------------
Featured gear:

Hofner Ignition Club Bass in Metallic Red:

Orange Terror Bass:

Darkglass DG112N:

Darkglass DG410N:

Electro Voice RE20:

Shure Beta 52:

We make a small commission on any product purchased through our affiliate links. If you would like to support The Bass Channel on your next gear purchase, whether it be strings, cables, picks, or the gear in this video, check out zZounds! Using our link doesn’t cost you anything extra but it helps us quite a bit. Thank you!
-------------
Follow us on the socials:

[clementplath]

If you remove the foam from under the bridge, you might be very pleasantly surprised, rather than your announced 'disappointment' with the instrument. The foam is only manufacturer protection of the finish and is meant to be removed before playing. Please post another review after removing the under-bridge

[jerryjb]

I've got an ignition club in sunburst. First of all, it's beautiful! Lots of compliments on how it looks and I love having it hanging on the wall. Mine came really well set up. Very easy and comfortable to play. I will say the original strings felt kinda cheap but I swapped to labellas and it's great. It did need some intonation work which isn't as easy as on a fender style bass. The only mod I did was sand the bridge down a bit so it makes better contact with the body for good resonance. Just tape some printer paper to the body with painters tape, then tape some 200 grit sandpaper to the printer paper and sand the bridge till it makes good contact all the way across. I love my cheap Hofner

[MrLouo]

Interesting I have an ignition club bass and it’s fantastic. I did need to do some normal setup stuff but it came out great. Plays like butter and sounds great.

[alexanderhemming]

The A string problem is a wolf tone, nearly every double bass has one to varying degrees around A. It's a property of the instrument, bass guitars get away with it because they usually don't resonate enough for it to be noticable

[jonathanhorne]

I have two Hofner Clubs and both are wonderful basses. It did take some time to sort out the control panel, but you do get used to it. Granted, both of mine are German made.

[PhillipAlcock]

Surprised! I have a Club Ignition (amongst others) and it’s really good. I bought it used (private sale) but it hadn’t been set up at all. Had that done, and put La Bella flatwounds on it. No problem with the A string sounding odd, or any other string. No tuner issues either. The controls are weird but that’s Hofner, but you misled us. When you switch BASS ON, it switches the bridge pickup off. Switching TREBLE ON switches the neck pickup off. So strange - but logical. Personally I leave both switches on in the OFF position and use the pots to get the sound I want. Don’t touch the other switch either.

[ianvaughan]

The overtone you're getting around the A note is a physical property of hollow body basses, which will have a more obvious resonant frequency than a solid body instrument.

[chriss]

I'm willing to be the issue with the A string is due to the packing foam under the bridge. You can't demo with packing still in the instrument. Also sounds like you aren't familiar with Hofner basses. Not fair to ding the instrument based on not knowing the layout of the control panel or that small tuners are on the bass. They seemed to work just fine.

[robmartinez]

Great bass, I own a couple of these and they work fine. Easy to play and sounds the way it's supposed to, especially with flats. I never had any of the challenges you had.

[snörre]

Another guy demoing an instrument with the thick foam under the bridge, why not leave it in the plastic bag and "play" it like this ? And then he talks about "setup". Ridiculous.

[jsorensen]

I have a Ignition Viola and the Ignition Club. Have had then for years. Mine experience has been great. I replaced my tuners on both. But I suspect you don't know much about Hofner. Problem is probably you, listening to your review tells me not to check in again.

[davetuttle]

LaBella Beetle Bass Flatwounds, lube and adjust the tuners, graphite on the nut. 12th fret 3mm bass side 2mm treb. Pickup height in line with the neck. Neck dead streight. Sounds like you have more of a set up problem with bad strings. Good set up and strings will solve intonation and playability problems. The switches, that's the way the do it.

[memriloc]

Tried to adjust the intonation and didn't take off the packing foam? Wow.

[thefool]

Bought a used one in green. No issues with flatwounds. It has a thick resonance and is easy to play. It has neck dive and the electronics aren’t the best (pickups aren’t bad though) but it plays and sounds good to me.

[PhilJohnsonMusic]

Take the packing foam from under the bridge. Might help some of your problems. I'm playing my Contemporary Club Bass now. Sweet as a nut.

[musclesoulsmusic]

Fun little bass, pretty and super light weight but.... First, replace the dull factory strings immediately with either LaBella or D'Addario flats and (probably) raise the neck pick up. It will sound significantly better. The floating bridge and saddle system design is archaic but if you take a few hours to intonate bridge and fret wire saddles it's well worth it. (When you're happy with the intonation...mark bridge location with painter's tape, slacken strings, remove bridge and add thin two sided tape to on underside keep it in place). A nice addition to the home studio.

[joannebeauchamp]

The FOAM under the bridge has to be taken out! I have owned several of these Hofner basses, and this review just does NOT add up for such a nice instrument! 👿👿👿👿

[scottstallings]

Wow, you really should have taken the foam out from under the bridge and put flat wounds on it before you try to review something.

[laszloszaniszlo]

Mine is perfect. I did’t expect a P bass. Stays in tune, looks good, sounds great.

[fernandoherranz]

Change the strings and remove the packing foam from under the bridge dude. I am sure this would have solved many of the sound issues you were getting. Overall, I kinda got the sense that you didn't want to like this bass pretty much from the start of the video. I've played this bass before and it sounded great, esp. for the price. I had none of the issues you mentioned.