Just bought a Surveyor 414

Thanks for the info, jackajesusfreak. I started checking out the ESPs and ran across the LTD B4-E. What a gorgeous bass for $500....$450 with the coupon MF has now. I'm GASing today something fierce.

 

I just tried the "letitbe45" coupon that's supposed to be good for $45 off a $299+ order; doesn't work with the $299 Surveyor. Checked and the coupon is not good for any ESP products. Too bad...that would've been the steal of the century.

 

I have an indonesian Ibanez ATK that's really nice as well. I have zero issues with the indonesian build quality aside from like I said that ripply paint job on the back which I can live with as it doesn't affect the sound or playability at all and you can't even see it unless you're looking at the back in direct light. When do you ever do that?!

 

Mike,
I just checked Music123 to see if they have any coupons, but they do not. Reason being, that's where I got the B-204SM on Labor Day. It wasn't MF, it was 123. For whatever reason ESP honored 123s Labor Day sale but not MFs??? I tried to buy the 204 at MF and got the same message you did. Tried GC, got the same message as MF, but when I went to 123, they honored it there. Something to keep in mind next sale 123 has.
Jack

 

That's good to know, Jack. Thanks for the tip.

 

Nice mini-review, Orpheus55. I'm 90% there to buying one...trying to convince the other 10% of my brain that it needs this bass. This is a subjective question but I'll ask anyway.

Usual list price is about $700. In your opinion is this a $700 bass or thereabouts? Is there a decent tonal range to this bass? I.E. can you get most sounds out of it, or is it a one-trick pony? Thanks for your thoughts.

 

OMG...just found something out. Go to guitarcenter.com. They have a 10% off coupon (VOICE) for a single $99 or more item. It's in my cart for $269 (Burst) and free ship. I'm pulling the plug. I still want to hear your thoughts, Orpheus55.

$269.10 bass
$29.99 deluxe gig bag
$24.67 tax (dang it!)
$0.00 shipping
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$323.76 to my door. Not bad for what I hope is a very decent bass and a serviceable gig bag. I almost bought another SX just yesterday b/c I was jonesing for something new. This was roughly 2.2x the cost of the SX I was looking at, but methinks it is a much higher quality instrument.

 

From the pics on MF it looks like a great bass! Nice!

 

I have had my eye on one of those Surveyor 5 strings in snow white (i have a thing for white basses and guitars). It seems to have some good features on it, especially for the price!

 

yes.

Between the 2 pickups and active controls this is a very versatile sounding bass. Sounds completely modern though, so if you're after old skool tones then you should probably look elsewhere

 

I owned one of the Surveyor 400's... man, what a bass for the money! It pains me to this day that I had to sell it..

 

Thanks, DT. I've been after a more modern sound that an active EQ can provide for awhile now. I play a wide range of music and all of my main players are Jazzes, which I love, but even with it's two single-coils, are kind of limited unless you want to tweak the amp constantly b/t songs.

For example, I play Motown and I play Iron Maiden. Two completely different tones there. I'm thinking this active EQ bass will get me to those sounds quicker than tweaking the parametric and basic tone controls on the amp.

I'm really looking forward to playing my Surveyor. To get a midrange ESP bass for the price of their entry-level bass is truly a steal! It also makes you wonder about other manuf's and their $1K+ bass' pricing range.

 

I snagged the black one for $275 out the door from GC's website over labor day weekend... killer freakin deal. This is my only active bass, so it's definitely a different flavor from my Precisions, Rick, and T-40, but it's in a similar vein to the Stingray I used to have. As someone mentioned, its got its own flavor but is in that ballpark. I've really been digging the soapbar at the neck (which is basically an active precision style split coil under a soapbar cover), nice punchy midrange with some solid thump.

"Motown to Iron Maiden" is definitely in this thing's wheelhouse. If you boost the bass a little and dial back the treble and/or mids even just a little bit either pickup can produce a nice solid thump. And the Iron Maiden midrange/treble bite is easy to dial in as well. I'm finding I can get a nice traditional PJ tone by setting the blend in the center and coil-tapping the bridge pup... very usable passive-sounding tone, with as much bite or thump as you'd need from the active pups.

The only issue I'm having so far is mastering the EQ to work with different amps. On my at-home rig (Ashdown ABM 500 into a 610, probably the loudest bedroom rig ever) this thing sounds perfect: warm, balanced, with some serious balls. At rehearsal however, our rental space has an SVT-VR through an 810, and even with the mid knob way down this thing has some heavy duty midrange. It can be tamed by working the knobs, but its not as simple to dial in as my other rig. I'm sure I'll figure it out in time, though.

 

The neck feels even slimmer than my jazz neck I have on my custom P bass. Its definitely a skinny, slim little neck, ala Ibanez or that type of bass. Very nice satin finish, nicer than the low-end "unfinished" feeling maple necks you see on the real cheap Indonesian and Chinese guitars and basses sometimes (like my Squier '51 guitar, that neck is the worst). Personally I like the nut width but enjoy a little more girth on a neck, but I can make do with pretty much anything, to be honest, and this thing is no trouble at all.

For the record, mine weighs in at exactly 10 lbs according to my bathroom scale. Just slightly heavier than my Rick, lighter than my old Stingray, and about 2 pounds less than my T-40... meaning it feels fine. Thanks to a perfectly balanced body it feels lighter on the shoulder than you might think.

 

Great writeups, ishouldbeking and Orpheus55. Thanks for taking the time to lay it out for me. The Surveyor 414 sure sounds like it will fit my needs perfectly. One of the things that attracted me to it is the shape. I'm a Jazz body/neck guy, but I like sounds that the Jazz can't really do *unless* you tweak the daylights out of the amp, making the amp only useful for that song/genre.

ESP build-quality, full EMG pup set with 3-band EMG EQ at this price? You'd spend $300 buying the EMG setup alone! Absolutely too good to pass up. Very similar to the Ibanez ATK deal from a few months back. I passed on it and still beat myself up over it. Didn't let this one get away, though!

 

Does anyone know if the black 414 comes with an ebony fret board?

 

It does. That same question was asked earlier in this thread. Check out the third bass from the top: The ESP Guitar Company :: LTD Standard Basses - Surveyor Series I wanted the ebony board, but liked the burst finish too much. Can't wait to get mine. I'm curious to hear the differences b/t this and my older Spector Legend Custom with EMG HZ pups. I like the tones I get from the Spector, for the most part, but I've never gotten used to the tiny body. I'm a Jazz guy and need to feel that slab of wood against me.