ESP LTD Stream-204 (4-string)

I always go to guitar shops to try out the basses, and am usually disappointed by their lack of variety of styles and brands or small number of basses there. The Guitar Center I went to when I bought this was decent enough to pay the respect that basses and bassists deserve by designating an area of the store to try gear out, called The Rumble Room. I tried out one bass, then the Stream caught my eye. I played Peace Sells, and knew that this was what I was looking for. A substantial upgrade from my Ibanez SR200. This bass has a very clear tone with a great bottom-end and excellent mids. The overall tone is mellow and full and the sustain is a little better than average, although I would personally prefer more. Compared to my Ibanez, it almost never goes out of tune (I used the same strings on both). The fingerboard offers very smooth playing without much struggle or finger-lag. The frets are XJ, so if you have small hands or are a beginner this might not be the right fit for you. My hands are not large (but my fingers are considered long by some people), and fret size has not been an issue for me. The intonation is nearly spot-on. The only part that upsets me about this bass is that even adjusting the tone knobs on the bass and messing with the settings on my amp, I haven't been quite able to achieve that bright and punchy sound that is needed for fast fingerstyle thrash so the bass stands out in the mix. I would recommend this bass to anyone for any genre. This isn't a jazz bass, but it has an excellent warm and percussive sound for jazz and I would highly recommend it to jazz players as well.