Does anyone here care about 5 strings?

[ilan]

....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.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

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?

[Psycho Bass Guy]

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!

[4stringer77]

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.

[gearHed289]

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.  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...

[Psycho Bass Guy]

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.

[dadagoboi]

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.

[Denis]

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.

[vates]

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!

[Psycho Bass Guy]

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.

[4stringer77]

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

[vates]

Thanks! We'll wait for actual hands-on reviews then.

[Thornton Davis]

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

[Figas]

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 

[uwe]

Might as well ask more than that if it's not going to sell anyway.  

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.