Help me decide an inexpensive 5-String bass for experimenting with EADGC tuning

Hi! Need to choice between a few options here to know which one may be the best for me!

First, some context:
I'm a guitarist/bassist, been playing for 20+ years. Mostly indie-rock, indie-songwriter stuff. Right now I'm playing with a singer-songwriter trio (drums, bass (me) and guitar+vocals. It's kind of jazzy / dark / twin peaks vibey kind of thing.
I'm playing in a kind of unconventional aproach right now, with a OLP MM5 (basically a Bass VI style instrument, 30 inch scale with EADGCBE tuning). I split my signal so I go both into a guitar amp and a bass amp. The guitar amp signal is heavily processed with reverb, tremolo, and a EHX POG2 to create octaves and and synth-like effects. Basically I cover both a bass and keyboards-synth in the band at the same time. I Also use and enjoy the extended range of the Bass VI , by playing chords or adding some extra flourishes with the higher strings.
The thing is, the OLP MM5 is lacking a bit on the bass department, and something it does not fill the room enough when I just play a G on the 4th string. It lacks oomph. Mostly because the scale length, the overall quality of my instrument, etc.

So I want to try doing the same thing I do, but with a full scale instrument, and I want to try a 5 string bass so i can tune it to EADGC (or EADGB? maybe?) so I can still use the extended range that I need for this project. I will be missing one string yeah, but I can manage by moving myself further into the fretboard.

Some other pointers:
- This is an experiment, I don't know if it would work or not, but hey, let's see where this goes.
- Because it's an experiment, I don't want to spent a lot of money on this.
- I want a small instrument. I enjoy FSOs and I have a MIJ Jazz Bass that i dearly love, but I prefer something compact and small that I can carry on a guitar or small gig bag that fits into the trunk of a car. That's why I was focusing on brands like Spector, Ibanez, Schecter, or Warwick, instead of well, Fenders. Also, I want a very tight string spacing, as I want something closer to my MM5 and something to play chords and with a pick with.

These are the options I've been eye-ing out, but it's damn hard because all the demos of the basses are interested in are of metal, slapping, tapping, or the three things at once. I know with some proper technique, and maybe a preamp swap or pickup swap, I can get some nice all-round sound, but It's hard to hear it in demos:

1) Ibanez SR1205. I like this one because a) it has nordstrand big singles and b) it has an active/passive switch. It's the most expensive of the bunch, though.
2) Ibanez SR505. I can find this one for pretty cheap. Not hearing great things about the preamp or the bartolini mk1 pickups, but maybe It can be upgraded?
3) Spector Legend Classic 5. Some locals sellers have this bass, some of those with EMG instead of EMG hz pickups (is that upgrade good for me?) Some with upgrades preamps (aguilar OBP-2, darkglass tone capsule).
4) Spector NS-2000/5. I heard the construction on these basses is great, but also every demo I hear screams metal.
5) Schecter Stiletto 5 / Warwick Rockbass Streamer 5 (hard to find these on my local market, sadly, but I can give an extra look if you guys recommend them)

I will probably test them all, but I would like some suggestions from the forum first.
Which one would you choose for this?
Thanks!

BGroovy said:

JB-DB-5 | Five String Electric Bass - Daphne Blue

Focused Tone & Classic Style JB Style basses are known for providing signature sounds in a variety of genres; funk, reggae, disco, blues, prog-rock, metal, jazz fusion... just to name a few. JB's are also known to have focused, tight tone characteristics that have been gracing our eardrums since...

cnzaudio.com

Click to expand...

Not very useful as I'm looking for a smaller instrument.

urkel3000 said:

I would bet money that dual-band compression would beef up the low end of a bass vi type instrument immensely

Click to expand...

It's still a small short scale bass. There's no black magic that you can do here. Also - I want to get a new bass!

HaphAsSard said:

I remembered your earlier thread. where I (rather curtly, I admit) commented on the potential of the platform - which I, too, own - for conventional bass duties, but also suggested a bi-amping or dual-mono approach (so my post wasn't just a useless rant, hopefully).

I have to ask: have you ever experimented with strings? Do you have the Ernie Ball 2837 set on it currently? Ever tried flatwounds or tapewounds?
(I am all too aware that the MM5 Baritone is string-through-body only, which makes it an absolute nightmare if one wants to try different types of strings... )

Click to expand...

Thanks for remembering.
I'm extremely lucky on that regard and i have the absolute best possible scenario for this: A customer string builder that built a set of strings for me.
I have some flatwounds made for the bass vi with a big ass 110 as the E string. I was scared that it could not fit on the string-through-body, but they work! And it sounds good, like a bass. But it's still not the thing I have in my head, or more clearly enough - my fender bass still sounds way bigger than my olp.

Naviiin said:

Ibanez TMB35?

Click to expand...

it's a short scale. I want a longer scale!

HaphAsSard said:

Interesting! Which builder? Magma? Pyramid? Octave4Plus? other?

Click to expand...

I'm located in Argentina, it's a local builder half an hour from my city. It's called Lemma Sound. You just pick the gauges you want, the length, the ball ends, and you're good to go.

BGroovy said:

I have a Spector and in a gig bag it's going to take up the same room as FSO. Smaller body doesn't make that much of a difference. Comfort for playing, sure. Travel? Scale length is more important than body size. Go short or medium scale to save some room (short scale can fit in a guitar gig bag), but a 34" scale isn't going to travel much different no matter body size (unless you go headless?)

Click to expand...

Yeah, maybe my take is kind of a stretch. I had a friend that had an ibanez SR series bass that fit in a big guitar gigbag (think jazzmaster size). But maybe i was wrong. But anyway, I'm also interested in comfort in playing, as I'm getting older and I'm kind of on the short side.
I think it's also some kind of efficiency thing? I think fenders long scale basses are unnecesarily big. It could be done better from a design standpoint.