4 Strings vs 5 Strings - Help needed for modern Praise & Worship

[jowes]

Dear All, Thank you for the response. Great information. Considering the unavailability of stocks in my country I am trying to see if there is a good alternative jazz type guitar for the P&W genre. Based on the suggestions here, I am also considering upgrading my pickup and cabinet, but will open a separate thread.

The following guitars are available easily within my price range: Cort Action V, Schecter C5, Squier Jazz Affinity, ESP LTD B105, Sterling Ray5, Squier Deluxe Dimension, Ibanez GSR205

We do not have the PA to complement an expensive rig so we are limited to the cheaper ones.

Most of these guitars have great reviews but I am quite unsure about their Church use. My guitar is solely for P&W live performance within church and will not be used elsewhere except may be for a few open air P&W small concerts. I am looking for the ones that can give me tones usable for this genre. Can you let me know how well these guitars stack up? Have you used them in the Church?

 

[Sav'nBass]

For me ... I think for most music now a days a 5 is just the best basic bass to use. I have been playing in church for some time now and our church does a lot of CCM and modern gospel.. In fact we just did 10,000 reasons this past Sunday.. in G... I recommend that you just get a 5 and once you start getting into it you won't even notice. The most important thing in choosing a 5 is string spacing. Try different basses and find out what works best for you.. My first 5 was an Ibanez SR 505... It did not deter me but after a few years I found that I prefered a wider string spacing than the 16mm that the SR offered.. The weight difference is miniscule depending on the bass.. I have 4 5s and one 6 and my 78 Jazz is the heaviest bass I own by over a pound.. so that 5 string being heavier than a 4 argument is a relative thing. For me having those extra 4 low notes and the E at the 5th fret is fantastic.

 

[Sav'nBass]

Dear All, Thank you for the response. Great information. Considering the unavailability of stocks in my country I am trying to see if there is a good alternative jazz type guitar for the P&W genre. Based on the suggestions here, I am also considering upgrading my pickup and cabinet, but will open a separate thread.

The following guitars are available easily within my price range: Cort Action V, Schecter C5, Squier Jazz Affinity, ESP LTD B105, Sterling Ray5, Squier Deluxe Dimension, Ibanez GSR205

We do not have the PA to complement an expensive rig so we are limited to the cheaper ones.

Most of these guitars have great reviews but I am quite unsure about their Church use. My guitar is solely for P&W live performance within church and will not be used elsewhere except may be for a few open air P&W small concerts. I am looking for the ones that can give me tones usable for this genre. Can you let me know how well these guitars stack up? Have you used them in the Church?

Consider that the basses that you named are of various string spacings and pickup configuration.. You can't go wrong with a J bass....

 

[jowes]

At this point I am forced to go for a 4-string bass. Stocks are unavailable anywhere for Squier VM/Deluxe V in my country. Have not seen much reviews either for P&W for those in stock (like Sterling Ray5, Cort B5, Schecter Omen Extreme, etc). Need to buy online so there is no option of checking the tone of the guitar beforehand. Return policies aren't customer friendly.

So its between Squier VM Jazz and Squier Deluxe Jazz 4 string. The Deluxe variant seems better(our mixer is at the back and active pickup is good for long cables).

However on versatility: Can Deluxe be made to sound like a VM or is it vice-versa? With an external amplifier head, is there an advantage with active pickup in terms of greater sound volume?

As many of you have suggested, I plan to keep my ESP B10 as a backup with flatwounds in DADG pattern. Thanks!

 

[AFRO]

been a while since I been on this forum. refreshing.

to the point. I got my chops on a 4 banger. (old precision fender, awesomeness)
I don't play in church and PW or particularly like gospel to be honest.
but I have cover band roots. so this is where ill derive my suggestion.

I play exclusively 5 string. it is very flexible for positional shifting and sub-standard tuned songs..Eb tuned songs Drop D etc.
I made the move cause I was sick of detungin/retuning and or needing a separate guitar for one or two songs in the set, only to have to switch back or re tune. the 5 string solved all these 'problems'

it was a beast to tame, but once I did it the versatility overwhelmed any options I could imagine on a 4 string. for me anyhow.