Gibson EB 2014 5 String

[uwe]

I have now made inquiries with my dealer re the new one. The Force awakens ...

[Grog]

Going for the 5 or the 4................. or both?

[planetgaffnet]

This red one was starting to grow on me. I was planning on bidding on it before I upped my offer on the "Fire Burst" bass.........

 

Not really a fan of these basses, but that red one looks sweet.  The small machines make the headstock look a bit understated...needs some big old clover leaf ones on it.

[uwe]

Going for the 5 or the 4................. or both?

I thought the 5er though I'm alway a bit lost with the low B - the fascination of going deeper than a low E has always eluded me. In my experience, a B string is something that pleases drummers mostly, but then they are all kinda of simple folk with simple pleasures. I might get a 4er sometime in the future when they are deleted - can't be long!

Swamp ash body - tsk, tsk, tsk, how un-Gibson can you get?

[patman]

Once you start using the low "B", it's hard to do without it. It gets integrated into your mental patterns.

[Grog]

I do like the low "B", but I don't like the wide neck enough to use it as a main bass. I'm looking forward to giving the four banger a test drive. It's well on its way from Texas. The FedEx Tracking shows it coming next Wednesday, must be on the slow train...........



After checking the original Gibson web page on the bass I have coming, it might very well be Fire Burst.



The Vintage Sunburst looks even less like mine.............



They must have had a different Fire Burst for the five string than they did for the four string in 2014..........

[uwe]

Once you start using the low "B", it's hard to do without it. It gets integrated into your mental patterns.

That never happens with me. Whenever I spend some time with my 5ers and then revert to a 4er, my mind and my ears go: Now what should be wrong with that (high) D? But then my current band plays largely in keys such as A, G or E which do not cry out for a low B. I also find that if you have guitarists with standard tuning (no drop-D or anything like it), then a low D, C or B leaves a gap between your and the guitarists' frequencies.

The way I play, I need a high E on the G-string or even a double-ocatve 24-fret high G more often than "submerging" below an empty E-string low E. I heard way too much Glenn Hughes when I was young I guess. 5-string sounds in early 70ies hard rock that shaped my playing (Glenn Hughes, Roger Glover, Nick Simper, Jim Lea, Trevor Bolder, Alan Lancaster, Gary Thain, Martin Turner, Gene Simmons) were scarce. 

Maybe I should get the 4er after all. I shouldn't kid myself, I won't turn into a 5-stringer in this life anymore and I've never ever played in a band that needed a low B sound.

[patman]

even though it's a 34 inch bass the "B" sounds wonderful

There one thing I have had to get used to, was the right hand spacing is "correct" to my feel, but the neck tapers to a fairly thin neck at the nut.

The spacing tapers from very wide at the bridge(perfect) to very narrow at the nut(gotta get used to it)

[uwe]

For a company that only dabbles with 5-stringers at best, Gibson has never done one with a weak B string, if anything much to the contrary. The only Gibson 5er I have with a not so great 5-string is the SRCB, but then that was a Wayne Richard Charvel prototype and not a series model. But even there the B string isn't awful.

[Dave W]

Uwe, that's a good looking 2-color burst.

Gibson does seem to be using more varied woods, especially in the lower price ranges. Several of them have maple necks, and that economy Firebird Zero has a poplar body. There's a good looking swamp ash LP Studio now too.

[slinkp]

Oh man. I want that red one really bad now.

[Grog]

Oh man. I want that red one really bad now.

It sold yesterday for the minimum bid of $700.00, free shipping.

This gold one was in the running also.............
https://reverb.com/item/4295289-2014-gibson-usa-eb-120th-anniversary-edition-bass-w-ohsc-hipshot-d-tuner

[uwe]

I played my Gibson EB 4 stringer (the old model) on Saturday at the rehearsal, it was about time again. I find the bass non-descript in its looks that is why it doesn't get out more often. But that said, man it does sound great, whether in humbucker or in single coil mode, the single coil mode - and this is rare in my experience - offering no less power than the humbucker one, just more clarity, bite and harmonics. And the wood combination is just lively, non-Gibsonish or not.

[Grog]

I'm looking forward to trying mine when it comes Wednesday. I paid $50.00 for shipping, but the seller must have sent it the cheapest that FedEx had to offer. It was in Champaign Illinois early this morning & is still creeping this way............. All of the 4 sting basses I was watching sold........... The 5 string basses don't seem to be selling well.

[uwe]

Unjustly so if 5ers are your thing.