The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: the mojo hobo on June 20, 2013, 05:27:52 AM
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New Gibson EB 5 String:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BAEB5N5CH-13/sn115030370
I'm guessing the Completest Kollektor will have to have one.
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Surely not... ;D
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Ah, just another little brother of the EB-6.... :bored:
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I've actually TRIED to convince myself that I could use a 5 string over the past couple of years, but I just can't really find a use for one. I might convert my Paul to BEAD some day. The EB looks pretty good, but I'm tired of the cheapo finishes Gibson is putting out there nowadays.
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The natural satin finish on Uwe's EB Bass I had here for a few months was nice enough. I question whether it would look as nice on the colored finishes. OTOH Sweetwater's description of this (obviously) natural one says "fireburst vintage gloss" so maybe they have changed the finish. Or maybe it's an error.
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Maybe it said that because I had just looked at the Fireburst one and the finish does not look good at all on it. Has wood filler gone out of favor?
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I don't recall ever even TOUCHING a 5-string bass.
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I've owned several (Warwick/Bongo/DJ5), but they're all gone. About 18 months ago, I bought an Indian Sunn Mustang bass (effectively a Precision bass copy), refinished it and it's strung BEAD. Good enough for those moments when I need a B-String wobble. As far as the EB goes, eeew.
P
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Strung my headless Jack BEAD... still not used the beast... going back to normally aspirated...
Five strings... six strings... eight, twelve, ERB... thereby lies Dante's Inferno... (give up all hope, all ye who pass this point...) :vader: :popcorn:
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I keep thinking I should have a Studio 5er 'Bird
But I'm not paying the 6k ebay idiot!
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My only 5 string is an early 90's Carvin Bunny Brunel. If you play in a cover band that plays anything current it is a big help.
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Actually, I just bought an LB-75 a week ago because I started playing with some younger guys who play stuff that asks for that low C and D.. I'd really like to buy a new EB bass, but for the same money I can have two very nice used Carvins.
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I can't get excited about a fiver lord knows I've tried. I'd go shop for one and come home depressed, not the usually feeling one gets shopping for a bass. I built a Warmoth fender bird and strung it BEAD, it certainly filled the need at the time but I eventually sold it to someone in Sweden I think. These days it's all 4 bangers onstage, if I want any low notes I may step on my micro pog twice a night.
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BEAD works fine for me, but I still have to think...a standard four banger will play itself pretty much without thinking.
I just bought the GHS Precision flatwounds 5 set to try on my Precision...hope a flatwound B sounds ok. It'll be a new adventure.
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I like to say that my fingers aren't smart enough to play more than 4 strings. But the truth is that I see no need to playing surf, classic rock or blues. There might be a rare occasion where I'd tune the E to D for a specific number, but if that happened often I'd buy a trop-tuner and keep it to 4 strings.
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Never have had a need for one. If I were still playing out, I wouldn't be in any band where one was needed.
More power to anyone who finds them useful. Horses for courses.
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5-strings are just another tool in the arsenal. I played one for 10 years as my main bass, after nearly that long using a Kubicki ExFactor with the drop D. So, yeah, I can appreciate lower than E notes but I wouldn't be unable to play without them.
But I DO have a Thunderbird 5-string (Jackson) so that I can still look cool, despite hitting an occasional low B :)
....but I ABSOLUTELY HATE a 5-string bass strung with a hi C. It's called a BASS. Because you play LOW notes, not high notes.
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One of the first songs that made me notice the extended range bass was Showdown At Big Sky by Robbie Robertson. Larry Klein played a nice part.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7TApfjpGVE
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having played a sixer for a couple of years as my main bass, the high c gets you an almost unlimited palette of harmonic chords. It's a nice touch, sometimes. Not nice enough to put up with the awkwardness of the sixer
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I used to have a SR5 as my main....but when I sold it (and a Warwick thumb...ick!!) and ended up with a T-bird, I never looked back at anything other than a four. Since I'm always seeming to jam or play along to lower tuned music, I'm now just using these D'Addario's that are like 55-120's...they really do well...first time I used something other than light gauge Roto's in 5+ yrs... My Rick 4003 is strung with 40-90's though....for a lighter touch...and upper register access! :0 One of the bands I'm auditioning for has verses where it's all bass chord strumming, so the Rick's setup is great for that.
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I have about a dozen or so.
Depending on the band I am playing with determines whether i use one or not. The music i love to play doesn't need one as it was all done way before the b string was used. Bands playing newer stuff usually I will find a few tunes that IMHO sound better on the 5 string and i am not a huge fan of hipshot extended tuner as the e string gets too floppy and makes me think too much about what note is where , which is one thing more i don't need while singing....
i have two 6 strings just because but seldom use them.
To me its not so much the actual fifth string but more of the string spacing on the 5 string bass....
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What is that? Maybe my children can consider it vintage when they will be in their 40ties like me, but most probably they will think what I think of 20/20
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Wow. With all the Gibson bass lovers here not one said the EB 5 was cool or desirable or was interested in buying one. So if no one else is buying them I think I will, so that in five or six years I can put it on eBay for $6000.
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I keep thinking I should have a Studio 5er 'Bird
But I'm not paying the 6k ebay idiot!
They're REALLY nice, but don't sound very "Birdy." They're more in the Gibson bottom/Stingray top sound category.
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I'd love to try one out. I got a chance to check out two of the new Asian neck-through Epi T-Birds. One's neck sucked (white) and the other(burst) was a nice player, but both had the Epi ass-toned cheap pickups. I don't get it. Loads of import basses have some pretty nice sounding pickups, but Epi's are generally horrible. You'd figure they could spend another buck or two and get something decent sounding.
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Wow. With all the Gibson bass lovers here not one said the EB 5 was cool or desirable or was interested in buying one. So if no one else is buying them I think I will, so that in five or six years I can put it on eBay for $6000.
Might as well ask more than that if it's not going to sell anyway. ;D
I suspect Uwe will want one.
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I'd love to try one out. I got a chance to check out two of the new Asian neck-through Epi T-Birds. One's neck sucked (white) and the other(burst) was a nice player, but both had the Epi ass-toned cheap pickups. I don't get it. Loads of import basses have some pretty nice sounding pickups, but Epi's are generally horrible. You'd figure they could spend another buck or two and get something decent sounding.
IIRC pickups are supposed to be USA TB+...perhaps they ship the clunkers overseas.
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Wow. With all the Gibson bass lovers here not one said the EB 5 was cool or desirable or was interested in buying one.
The EB seems like a crossover bass meant to attract people (Fender, Music Man and G&L players) to the brand that aren't already. In that respect, I think it's been successful.
As far as Epis having cheap pickups, I'm about to find out myself when my Epi LP standard bass arrives. It's a vintage sunburst I got on Ebay. Looking forward to the 3 point bridge ;)
I'm curious to see if the stock chrome buckers in the Epi measure up to the TB+ pickups in my LP doublecut. Will report back on my findings.
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While I haven't played any of the import Epi series with US pickups, every one I've tried with stock import pickups has sounded awful to me, no matter whether it's a T-bird type, EB-type or P/J combo. It shouldn't be that hard to have decent sounding pickups in an import, other companies have managed to.
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The Epi Les Paul Standard arrived. I had a brief chance to play it during lunch break since I live across the street from where I work.
I'm pleased as punch! The bass was built in 2001 at the Un Sung Korea plant. The pickups are fantastic and I don't see any need to swap them out. They have all the characteristics of the tb+ pickups in my LP$, capable of being clear and punchy and overdrive nicely when pushed. Looks like I've got a new workhorse in my stable so the thoroughbreds don't have to carry the load.
The flame maple carved top is gorgeous and the neck joint actually has no orange peel around the body connection like my LP$.
Only drawback was the nut, which is made from the same rosewood as the fret board, is seated very high and needs to be re cut or replaced but that's an easy fix. There was a ding on the back of the headstock but no cracks and the seller was cool enough to give me a $75 discount because he didn't mention it in the description. So I scored it for $430 with shipping! The bass shipped with a great strap and lots of picks and a vox 1/4" jack to headphone converter. I'll see if it needs a mod bar after the set up but otherwise I'm gonnah roll with the 3 point. I'll try to get pics up but it might take a while since my ex ran off with the only cam I had. Here's the original listing. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Epiphone-Les-Paul-Standard-Bass-4-String-Bass-Sunburst-Excellent-w-Hardcase-/231004297095?pt=Guitar&hash=item35c8edd787&nma=true&si=wj4qsNH1jPOXaA115whRY7loaG8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
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....but I ABSOLUTELY HATE a 5-string bass strung with a hi C. It's called a BASS. Because you play LOW notes, not high notes.
Think of it as a lazy person's bass. Instead of going up the neck, you stay in 1st position. Useful when reading sheet music when you can't look at the neck.
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IIRC pickups are supposed to be USA TB+...perhaps they ship the clunkers overseas.
I tried them out at the local Guitar Satan, first through one of those gawdawful Acoustic combos (man do they EVER sound cheap- think BAD Peavey tone made worse!) then through a NOS Mesa Walkabout. I'm guessing that once again, it's a tube preamp/impedance loading issue because both basses had the same tone that my Epi LP Standard did before I put the Fralins in: nasal and honky with no real bottom and peaky upper midrange.
The Epi Les Paul Standard arrived. I had a brief chance to play it during lunch break since I live across the street from where I work.
I'm pleased as punch! The bass was built in 2001 at the Un Sung Korea plant. The pickups are fantastic and I don't see any need to swap them out. They have all the characteristics of the tb+ pickups in my LP$, capable of being clear and punchy and overdrive nicely when pushed. Looks like I've got a new workhorse in my stable so the thoroughbreds don't have to carry the load.
What amp?
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Only drawback was the nut, which is made from the same rosewood as the fret board, is seated very high and needs to be re cut or replaced but that's an easy fix.
Rosewood nut isn't stock, and since they're guitar-sized and covered, I'm willing to bet that you may not have stock pickups in there. Every Epi bass I've played has the exact same tone, a bad one. I'm not one to be overly persnickety about pickups (OK I guess I am) but I sincerely think the difference would not simply be a matter of taste. Epi bass pickups are AWFUL!
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I have a Mesa walkabout 15 combo.
Pickups still sound great. Any way to identify if they're not original?
Another thing I noticed was a limited edition stamp on the back of the headstock, because of the finish I think.
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Cool, I saw that Epi LP on eBay. Very nice! Rosewood nut is weird. I hadn't noticed that. What I DID notice was that it has 22 frets instead of the usual 20.
one of those gawdawful Acoustic combos
Ha ha! I have one of the "series 1" version of the Acoustic B200 1x15 combos, and it kicks major ass! I love that thing. I even used it as a keyboard amp for a while, pumping massive Taurus pedal sounds through it and it never let me down. Plenty of volume and low end to get scolded by the sound guy. ;D It completely destroyed the GK and Mark Bass combos I tried. The mini SVT (original, vintage grill cloth one) was close, but not quite there. YMMV...
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Ha ha! I have one of the "series 1" version of the Acoustic B200 1x15 combos, and it kicks major ass! I love that thing. I even used it as a keyboard amp for a while, pumping massive Taurus pedal sounds through it and it never let me down. Plenty of volume and low end to get scolded by the sound guy.
My gripe was that while it had a ton of bottom, there was no low mid definition. The tone was either all boom or all honk.
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My gripe was that while it had a ton of bottom, there was no low mid definition. The tone was either all boom or all honk.
My experience with Epi TBirds (one) was the pickups were very low and needed extra foam to raise them high enough to produce mids and highs. Results were still mediocre.
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While I haven't played any of the import Epi series with US pickups, every one I've tried with stock import pickups has sounded awful to me, no matter whether it's a T-bird type, EB-type or P/J combo. It shouldn't be that hard to have decent sounding pickups in an import, other companies have managed to.
I played one of the new Epis with Tb+ pickups when I went to Sam Ashe to get the G-3 back in December. It really was a killer bass and in my opinion, very worth the $400 or so they wanted for it. Both fit and finish were impressive.
As far as 5 stingers, I had Uwe's 5 string Epi EB here. Head diver for sure but I never got the hang of it.
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Wow! Just noticed this 5-string EB. Looks great. Has anyone already tried one? What's the string spacing at bridge? How does the neck shape feel? How does the B-string sound?
And thanks for the heads-up! :)
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My experience with Epi TBirds (one) was the pickups were very low and needed extra foam to raise them high enough to produce mids and highs. Results were still mediocre.
My comment directed at the new cheapie Acoustic combo, not the basses. They're cheap and they're loud but they do NOT sound good. Sorry I wasn't more clear.
I got to play the Birds again last Saturday through a different amp, a Markbass Jeff Berlin combo, and they were totally different. Somehow the neck on the white one became less sticky and clunky. The first position 'hitch' it had was gone. The Burst one was still my favorite and I also noticed that it was markedly heavier. The Mesa amp was gone, so I couldn't A/B amps, but even just the play response was night and day better. While the sound wasn't super, the pickups were MUCH better than they had sounded the previous week, and if I didn't know better I'd swear they were not the same instruments.
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Wow! Just noticed this 5-string EB. Looks great. Has anyone already tried one? What's the string spacing at bridge? How does the neck shape feel? How does the B-string sound?
And thanks for the heads-up! :)
The Babicz 5 string bridge has 19mm spacing if you go by their website, unless Gibson is having them made to different specs, but that seems unlikely. Not sure about the other stuff.
http://www.fullcontacthardware.com/fch-5-string-bass-bridge
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Thanks! We'll wait for actual hands-on reviews then.
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For the past six years its been 5-string Music Man basses only for me. After owning a number of various models and configurations, I decided on two Big Al 5ers. One is a SSS and the other is a single H.
My four string basses rarely see the light of day anymore.
TD
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I keep thinking I should have a Studio 5er 'Bird
But I'm not paying the 6k ebay idiot!
Nor you need to. Trade one of yours with mine :mrgreen:
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Might as well ask more than that if it's not going to sell anyway. ;D
I suspect Uwe will want one.
Indeed - sigh!
I take out 5ers once in a while. Lower life forms such as drummers like them, singers and guitarists can't hear that low and obviously can't tell the difference. I find them fun for a song or two, but then I want to revert to something where the lowest note is an open E-string. The fact that you can play things in different positions on a 5er means nothing to me. I like the feel of an empty E or A.
And I don't like downtuned music that much either. One Sabbath is quite enough.
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You haven't given us a your review of the 4-string EB Bass yet.
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BTW: I love the name of the new bass. It really sounds instant classic. Almost poetic. There must have been some artists or marketeers who have thought very long and hard of this name.
'Five-String EB Bass'
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BTW: I love the name of the new bass. It really sounds instant classic. Almost poetic. There must have been some artists or marketeers who have thought very long and hard of this name.
'Five-String EB Bass'
:mrgreen:
They probably used the same marketing firm that came up with Gibson IV and Gibson V in the late 1980s.
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Well definitely some poetic geniuses at work. No doubt about that.
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You haven't given us a your review of the 4-string EB Bass yet.
I'm not over the moon with it. For a brandnew model of a bass the action needs to be rather high for buzz freedom. The narrow range of the pole pieces has been aptly criticized by the Sawmeister himself when he played one at the HOG, I concur. But what really freaks me is the amont of magnetic interference the pups generate unless you have them really low. The harmonics of the E-string are everywhere (and it is untunable and non-intonateable) if it is fretted at, say, the 17th fret. I can barely accept that on a 300 bucks budget bass but on a mid-priced bass such as this one it is like "Hey, this is 2013, not 1951!". The (here) much maligned TB-Plus pups cause no interference whatsoever - even if the E-string rests on them!
That said: It sounds nice (but not altogether that different to other Gibson basses of non-maho composition) and the bridge is kinda fun.
Gibson bass history won't be rewritten because of it. It will be out of their program in a little while, so I have to hurry for that 5er!!!
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Yeah, no surprise that they're not promoting a bass. I'd be shocked if they ever did.
I didn't have a problem with the range of the polepieces. Or buzz. But I just played it, I left adjusting the action to you. The pickups sounded nicer than the TB Plus to me, interference or not. The bass is not as objectionably midrangy to my ears as a modern T-Bird. Then again, the ash body could have as much to do with that as the pickups.
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It's true, the pups are clearer than on a modern TBird, even a little scooped. The low mid dominance (as opposed to nasal high mids) of the modern TBirds doesn't bother me as a pick player though I can see why it would be a bit much for a finger player.
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Post scriptum: It's slowly growing on me. It does have some nice sounds and even the "old school vibrato effect" you create when bending the strings in the high register has something.
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Tom Hamilton uses a 5-string on several songs.
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Tom Hamilton uses a 5-string on several songs.
What kind? EB, LP, T-Bird?
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What kind? EB, LP, T-Bird?
I don't know what kind of basses he uses on specific songs. I just know in trying to learn some of the songs they require a 5-string. I didn't mean that I knew anymore than that or that I had info on whether or not he uses an LP, T-Bird, etc., on certain songs. Sorry about that. Tom Hamilton, of course, seems to play more different basses than just about any bassist I've seen. So, I'm not even sure if a hard-core Aerosmith fan would be able to keep up with all that. The last I saw he was playing a Parker (something mentioned on another topic several months ago.)
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He is on record with saying that he used to think 5-strings were for nerds and now misses the B string when he is playing a four banger.
I believe 5 strings have their place, I just don't play the music for it.
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I care about 5 strings, my band does detune and play two tunings, one being drop C on 4 bangers and then there is the bane of my existence, drop A on a 5 string. Hard to get the heavy .145 low string here in Perth, Western Australia, hard to get speaker cabs that like the low notes..... Anyway I digress.
I've been on the hunt for a 5 string passive bass to play alongside my G3, Burns Bison and Silverburst Epi T-bird(with upgrade Rio Grande Pit bull pick-ups), as my active Spector and massively hot Warwick Rockbass$$ 5 strings feel a world away both aesthetically and tonally. Now they do this in cherry with black pickguard, it seems the hunt for this 5 string is over! Time to start saving!
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You must be Geezer Butler, welcome you molten lava emitting brethren! :mrgreen:
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Geezer lives in Perth?
Rhystard, how do you like those Rio Grande Pit Bulls?
For a passive 5, you could get something in a T bird variety for a reasonable price from Cataldo.
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Or a TB Studio 5 stringer. Alas!, it taketh no prisoners and it knoweth no language, but its B string voice is unrelenting.
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You must be Geezer Butler, welcome you molten lava emitting brethren! :mrgreen:
No Geezer here, but he did come to Perth last year!
Geezer lives in Perth?
Rhystard, how do you like those Rio Grande Pit Bulls?
For a passive 5, you could get something in a T bird variety for a reasonable price from Cataldo.
The Pickups are fantastic, certainly a lot better than the originals, which interestingly started ok then seemed to become microphonic and "middier" with time.
I wish I was able to give you a description of their tone, but I am none too eloquent, certainly not when compared to Uwe who can describe bass tone as though the blurb was to go on the back of a wine bottle.
Or a TB Studio 5 stringer. Alas!, it taketh no prisoners and it knoweth no language, but its B string voice is unrelenting.
Call me strange, but I prefer buying new. The sweat on it then is only mine...
Plus I like that the new cherry EB would allow me to gig a bass that at least in some part slightly resembles my favourite looking bass.
(http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/uu248/rhystard/DSCF0166.jpg) (http://s652.photobucket.com/user/rhystard/media/DSCF0166.jpg.html)
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Or a TB Studio 5 stringer. Alas!, it taketh no prisoners and it knoweth no language, but its B string voice is unrelenting.
There's a cherry one still here that's calling my name, but the timing is awful. I'd do that up even tho I haven't played a 5 in years.