what five string will give me best tonal variety/quality for the money

[Jay J.]

I am looking for a five string bass, my price range is not much more than 600-700 dollars. I am looking for something that will give me maximum tonal variety and the best tone. so far I have checked out the ibanez btb-405 and the esp C-305 ltd. I have also looked at the carvin stuff on the web site, I like in oregon so I can't check em out in person. just looking for some recomendations. I have pretty big hands and like something with the spacing of about a jazz bass (the ibanez sr series seems a little to narrow in string spacing for me)

[AlembicKoa]

The Lakland 55-01 Skyline I tried the other day was a damned fine instrument!!!

[polyt]

You may find the ESP's neck a little narrow too, but it does have a wonderful tone.

[Christopher]

The Lakland Skyline 55-01 is a great choice for around 750 clams and has full jazz spacing.

[BassGuy]

Check out Carvin's return policy, you may be able to do a risk-free trial by mail with their gear.

[dcwhut]

Don't take my word for it (I only play a 4-string) , but Traa Daniels of p.o.d. said in his article on Bass Player that he uses a Warwick (a Thumb-5, I think) because it doesn't lose it's lows, and he tunes it down! --- How - low - can -you- go ........

[Chris985]

The Yamaha RBX 765 is amazing for me....I can get every tone i want to out of it

[dcr]

A good friend of mine just bought a new Lakland Skyline 5, the one with the J/MM pickup configuration, and DANG is it sweet! I was especially impressed by the B & E strings, which are very deep & very focused (the 35" scale helps), & the volume & tone of the instrument are totally consistent no matter what string you're playing. It sounds like a much more expensive bass. This model was $950, so it might not be the one you want; still, if it's typical of the Skyline series, you can't go wrong.

 

You *might* be able to pick up a StingRay 5 in the top of your price range, but you'll probably need to spend a few more bucks to get one. Tom Barney, e.g., plays an ESP 5, and its sound is to die for.

[The Fonz]

Originally posted by dcwhut?:

Don't take my word for it (I only play a 4-string) , but Traa Daniels of p.o.d. said in his article on Bass Player that he uses a Warwick (a Thumb-5, I think) because it doesn't lose it's lows, and he tunes it down! --- How - low - can -you- go ........

warwicks are fine, but when your budget tops out at $700 then they're probably not for you.

 

i always recommend the G&L option. they are a little more pricey than what you're looking at, but ebay always has plenty of groovy stuff.

 

as far as the lakland is concerned, i don't know what everyone is so friggin happy about. the one i saw looked like it was put together by a sweatshop worker for 30 cents an hour, oh wait... it was.

 

buy american. unless it's a fender.

[Graybass]

Carvin!!!! Even though I no longer own one they are still the best value basses ever. Look for the B5 with the MM style humbucker or the BB/LB series with the 35" scale again with the MM pickup.

 

In your part of the world the do offer a 10 day trial so you have nothing to lose but a bit of freight. They also have a list of stock on their website so you don't even have to wait (unless you want something special.

[Ben]

If you can, check out the inexpensive MTD line, too.

[junior4242]

My buddy has a Carvin LB75, and AC50 that he absolutely loves. He swears by them.

 

http://www.mp3.com/stations/CarvinRadio

[music-man]

For tonal variety and quality in that price range ...

 

New, I'd go with Carvin.

 

Yamaha and Ibanez make such a broad range of stuff - my experience is that some of it is complete crap, some really nice ... and two basses of the same model might vary widely. So, if you go with one of those, make sure you go over it really carefully, look for flaws, open the electronics cavity, etc.

 

But then, if you're taking the time and energy to do the individual bass approach, you may as well hit the used market in your area.

 

BTW - I saw a guy play the crap out of an old, beat up ESP on a recording session - he sounded AWESOME. But I lived around the corner from their store on Sunset for a while, and could never get excited about their stuff. Felt prefab, and strangely like old, pre-boxed sushi. Okay, ignore that last comment.