Alma
12-08-2005, 03:44 AM
Hey guys,
Went to the bass centre today to try out some basses for my xmas pressy. I tried out the following: Dollars are in AUSTRALIAN.
Warwick Corvette 5 $$ (Double buck) - $1950
Lakland 55-02 - $2600
Musicman Stingray 5 - $2550
Marcus Miller J V - $3300
Ibanez BTB1206E - $2000
Ill just do a quick summary of what i thought of the basses. I played them all for around 10 - 15 minutes through an Eden Traveller 400 > Eden 410XLT > Eden 115XLT.
Double Buck 5 - Very nice bass overall. Great tone and versatility, series/parallel switches are a real bonus. Neck felt pretty nice. Great B string, pretty tight and sounds bloody wicked. How ever the major let down of this bass to me is the string spacing, it is too close for my liking as i felt too cramped.
Lakland 55-02 - Very very nice bass. I loved this. The neck was a little flatter to what i was used to, but i got acquianted very quicky. The versatility of this bass is amazing. It had the most tones avaliable out of all the basses i tried. String spacing on this was much better as it is wide. Great tones from this baby, sturdily made as well.
MM Ray 5 - Loved this thing as well. Perfect neck, best out of the lot. Signature MM tone that we love, not as versatile as the 55-02. String spacing on this was pretty much perfect. Loved it! I played the 2005 LTD Ray with the White cream finish.
Marcus Miller J V - Very dissapointing. The neck was covered on gloss which made it grippy and very slow. Big minus for the neck. As for the tone, the slap tone was pretty good but the finger tone was very dull. Preamp is powerful, but doesn't offer enough tone shaping options. A 3 band EQ would fix this problem. String spacing was fine. Best looking bass out of the lot. Shame it was the playability wise. Dearest too. Owning a MIA fender, i expected a lot more from this bass but it just didnt deliver.
Ibanez BTB1206E - Only 6 string i played for the day. Very good neck. Neck thru, sustain for hours. The neck was very flat and quite big although it felt very nice. Tone was very nice. Full USA Barts set up. Fairly versatile, but not that great array of tones. I was stunned at the quailty. The fretboard was so smooth, i thought it was epoxy'd. The body was built to amazing standards. Flame maple over mahogany. Amazing. A steal for the price. The size and flattness of the neck have turned me away from this baby though.
So there you go, a brief run down what i reckon of the basses i played. I will be going back monday to make a final decision. It will be out of:
MM ray 5
Pros: Tone, neck, looks, finish, reputation, built in the USA, price
Cons: None i can think of.
55-02
Pros: Tone, versatility, looks, finish, reputation, neck
Cons: Made in Korea (Not such a bad thing, but id prefer it to be USA made), dearer than the ray. Not as hot output
This is too hard...I love them both very much! What would you guys get any why? :confused:
Thanks for reading my uber long thread. Merry Xmas to you all :chug:
Went to the bass centre today to try out some basses for my xmas pressy. I tried out the following: Dollars are in AUSTRALIAN.
Warwick Corvette 5 $$ (Double buck) - $1950
Lakland 55-02 - $2600
Musicman Stingray 5 - $2550
Marcus Miller J V - $3300
Ibanez BTB1206E - $2000
Ill just do a quick summary of what i thought of the basses. I played them all for around 10 - 15 minutes through an Eden Traveller 400 > Eden 410XLT > Eden 115XLT.
Double Buck 5 - Very nice bass overall. Great tone and versatility, series/parallel switches are a real bonus. Neck felt pretty nice. Great B string, pretty tight and sounds bloody wicked. How ever the major let down of this bass to me is the string spacing, it is too close for my liking as i felt too cramped.
Lakland 55-02 - Very very nice bass. I loved this. The neck was a little flatter to what i was used to, but i got acquianted very quicky. The versatility of this bass is amazing. It had the most tones avaliable out of all the basses i tried. String spacing on this was much better as it is wide. Great tones from this baby, sturdily made as well.
MM Ray 5 - Loved this thing as well. Perfect neck, best out of the lot. Signature MM tone that we love, not as versatile as the 55-02. String spacing on this was pretty much perfect. Loved it! I played the 2005 LTD Ray with the White cream finish.
Marcus Miller J V - Very dissapointing. The neck was covered on gloss which made it grippy and very slow. Big minus for the neck. As for the tone, the slap tone was pretty good but the finger tone was very dull. Preamp is powerful, but doesn't offer enough tone shaping options. A 3 band EQ would fix this problem. String spacing was fine. Best looking bass out of the lot. Shame it was the playability wise. Dearest too. Owning a MIA fender, i expected a lot more from this bass but it just didnt deliver.
Ibanez BTB1206E - Only 6 string i played for the day. Very good neck. Neck thru, sustain for hours. The neck was very flat and quite big although it felt very nice. Tone was very nice. Full USA Barts set up. Fairly versatile, but not that great array of tones. I was stunned at the quailty. The fretboard was so smooth, i thought it was epoxy'd. The body was built to amazing standards. Flame maple over mahogany. Amazing. A steal for the price. The size and flattness of the neck have turned me away from this baby though.
So there you go, a brief run down what i reckon of the basses i played. I will be going back monday to make a final decision. It will be out of:
MM ray 5
Pros: Tone, neck, looks, finish, reputation, built in the USA, price
Cons: None i can think of.
55-02
Pros: Tone, versatility, looks, finish, reputation, neck
Cons: Made in Korea (Not such a bad thing, but id prefer it to be USA made), dearer than the ray. Not as hot output
This is too hard...I love them both very much! What would you guys get any why? :confused:
Thanks for reading my uber long thread. Merry Xmas to you all :chug: