Peavey Millennium BXP 5 ?
 

I need to start seriously considering a light weight 34 inch scale 5 string bass - I am currently using a Brice Defiant 5, which is 35 inch and (despite what the website said) comes in at over 10 lbs.

It's (the Brice) a great bass, and I love it, especially because it's passive and I prefer passive basses over active, but I just delivered my daughter a month and a half ago and the ligaments in my lower back and hips got screwed up from carrying the extra pregnancy weight. This is common (I realize most guys probably don't know about this) but it -hurts- to try to heft up the Brice now. It's going to take a while for my lower back to recover and I doubt it will ever be quite the same. Also, while I can work with the longer neck scale, I'm short with short hands, so if I can find a 34 inch 5 string with a decent B, then I'll go that route instead of a 35 inch.

Just looking for input. I need a lighter weight bass for sure though. The Peavey Millennium BXP 5 caught my interest - despite being inexpensive (which is good :P I'd just use whatever I got from my Brice to buy one - all the extra cash in this house is going to diapers and baby stuff currently) it seems to have had very good reviews across the board from many sites - but if anyone has real experience or an opinion on it, that'd be very helpful before I decide to do the deed and sell my Defiant for this model. I'd try one out but the Marshall Music here in town only carries Fender and Ibanez basses, so I'm out of luck. I've listened to a few samples on Youtube and the sound is pretty nice, again passive pickups are a plus for me anyway...

So, opinions please?

Hm, or any other light weight budget 5 string suggestions if no one has tried the Peavey Millennium BXP 5.

I had a BXP 5 several years ago... It was fine... Wasn't as smooth playing as I would have liked but nothing wrong with it... What about an Ibanez SR series? I liked my SR505 better than the Peavey....

Not an Ibanez SR fan, also trying to find a passive bass. I just don't really dig active electronics. :smug:

I've heard great things about people bypassing the electronics in many Ibanez SR basses. Boutiques and Customs aside, I can't think of another affordable 5'er out there as small as the SR basses.

Out of curiosity, what turns you off about active electronics? Tone? Lack of headroom? Batteries?

I can never get them to sound right in the mix, honestly. They sound ok solo, but when we go to mix them - and we've tried everything- they just don't sit well with my band's sound. Passive basses seem to fit in much better with much less tweaking live or when recording through our Presonus interface.

The SR necks also aren't my favorite. They just don't feel as comfortable to me. Plus I'm fairly sure I can't get 500+ bucks out of my Brice Defiant :p it's a great bass but since it's an "off" brand, the re-sell on it is going to be ****, unfortunately, and I just don't have extra money to spend on a bass above what I can get from the Defiant...babies are hella expensive.

I currently use US-Made Peavey basses, but I remember a guitarist friend of mine letting me borrow his bass for a while... it was a Millennium 5 BXP. I was using a StingRay 5 almost exclusively at that time, and was shocked at how good the Peavey sounded, played and felt. If you find one that is the right weight for you, I'd say go for it.

I have the BXP 4, and an SR250. Between the 2 I like the SR more. The Peavey is not bad, just doesn't feel as nice in my hands, if that makes much sense... I keep that one down tuned, SR standard tuned, so I don't play it as much. Fit and finish judt seems better on the Ibanez. Right out of the box the Peavey needed to have the truss rod adjusted and bridge raised, had some nasty fret buzz.

If I could find a 5 string SR -passive- I might consider it, but they don't make them. The last SR I tried had a twisted neck (it was new) and I sent it back to Musician's Friend for a refund - fortunately they agreed it was a mess and gave it to me. I had a nice ATK 300...except for the dead spots. I REALLY liked the neck on that bass though, but again... it had dead spots all over and it was active, and just never sounded right in the mix.

Are there any other budget bass passive 5 strings that are fairly light weight besides the Peavey that people could recommend?

Also it really does have to be a 5 string. We play in G standard, and a 4 string just can't handle going that low without the strings flopping all over the place.

I used to have one of the passive j bass style 5 strings. The one with the humbuckers is active.

Here's my take on it. It was decent and had a nice tone...a bit different than my VM Squier's tone--a bit less high end, but a bit more aggressive sounding. The Peavey had the lowest action of all of my basses---for me that wasn't necessarily a good thing, because I am a bit heavy handed, but most of my bass playing friends really liked it. And it was also the one that most of my bandmates preferred. The only negatives were these: 1-pickups were fairly noisy when singled (my VM Squier isn't as noisy), 2-tuners were just ok. It generall wouldn't go out of tune when I played it, but definitely needed tuned when I first picked it up every time. It would have been easy to upgrade those two issues later, had I decided to keep it.

But I sold it. Here is why--I have a long-term carpal-tunnel issue with my left wrist. Most stringed instruments don't flare it up, but 5 string basses and 12 string guitars seem to for some reason (neck width I think).

Standard gauge strings would definitely flop around, but you can easily find higher gauge strings these days. I used to use a .145 when I tuned down to G# standard on a 5'r, and it wasn't floppy at all.

Yeah G is fine on a 5'er with heavy strings - that's what I use now on my Brice (have to special order the strings though because I play body through WITH the long scale length - kind of a pain, but worth it ), but I've tried that tuning on a couple of 4 strings and bleh... it's just too low and I could never get it to sound good.

I played one of those BXP's at a guitar center and it was pretty nice. I liked it a lot and if you have short arms it has a shorter reach to the first fret because the upper horn goes all the way up to the 11th fret. Another good cheep 5 string is a Squire Affinity 5 string jazz.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/bass/...ng-jazz-bass-v

S.U.B.
 

Hi,Ive read your post
(hope your back n hips recover). I know you said "passive" but the SUB series Ray35 are active,sound great, and are pretty light. You wont have a problem with it sitting well in the mix. If you get a chance try one you'll be impressed. The price tag aint that bad $279 it should solve most of your concerns (good looking,light,tone for days, and priced reasonable. Also, dont forget about the Squiers they can also make you hapy. Good luck and speedy recovery.

Did they fix the issue with the over-hot active preamp issue on the Ray 5's? If so I might consider one, but I definitely don't want to have to go screwing around with replacing a preamp because it starts getting distorted after being played too long. Guess I should check around and see if that issue got fixed.

Been very happy with my BXP5, bought it new around 2004.
It's Indonesian, which apparently were good ones as far as the import line goes.

The fretwork and action are quite good, took a little while to get her where I like, but is a very good bass for the money.
Sounds quite like a Jazz, but a little more hollow on the mids. Quite punchy, but fairly even across and up and down the neck.
Works well with my standard Rick EQ settings.

Here's a pic:



edit: Oh yeah, weighs in at 8.61 lbs, my lightest bass by far!

I've tried out Peavey Millennium BXP, Schecter Stiletto, and Ibanez SR, and liked all of them. They are all nice basses, but I didn't care for the Stiletto's 2band EQ, and the Millennium sounded a bit bland compared to an Ibby SR505.

If you like the Peavey - go for it. I love the black/violet color on quilt.

I have the burst one in the 4 string :)

Have you checked out the KSD Burner Ignition? It's pretty light (basswood body), J-J, all passive, and comes in 35" scale for the 5-string: