Mini LM5 review.....
It came today!!! I've been playing it all day and a few things stood out to me.
First, the specs.
-Burst over ash body.
-No guard.
-Maple neck and fingerboard,
-AC preamp with AC pickups.
-5 string.
-70's pickup spacing.
(No pics yet. But I thought you guys might let it slide if I give a review.)
And before we get on with the review...a little story. In college I bought a nice upright. An 1890 Tyroleon bass from Charles Fambrough. (As an aside, my bass has been on a few McCoy Tyner records.) I got a good deal on it because it needed pretty extensive repairs, which I knew going into it. It sounded great, but the top would eventually need to be removed to fix the bass bar. (Taking off the top on an upright is usually a no-no unless absolutely neccisary, since it changes the tone, but this one really needed it.)
When I got it back it still sounded great. Over time though, the tone really 'opened' up and it became mellow and full again. A few years later, it sounds mature and has 'my sound' in it. It may sound like some mystical mumbo jumbo, but I really feel that it sounds like 'me' more than any other bass. I sound similiar on different uprights, but there is part of me in that old Tyroleon.
What's the point of this story? Well, I've never really felt that way about an electric, but I feel that this LM5 will start to resonate 'me' the more I play it. Like a nice upright. It sounds KILLER right now, and I firmly believe that it will open up the more I play it. I can't wait.
The woods are understated, yet gorgeous. The grain on the body is phenominal. I can tell that there was a lot of thought put into wood selection.
The tone is very very reminiscent of a vintage Jazz, but it definitely has a charactor that dances the line between old school thump and bell like clarity. The preamp is interesting. It is very powerful, yet it doesn't change the basic charactor of the bass. That's a good thing. It's hard to describe. It always sounds like an AC. Some preamps do many things 'just ok,' but this one does the AC tone frontwards, backward, up, down and every which way -- and does it very well. I'm usually a passive guy-who sometimes flips into active mode, but this preamp sounds so natural, true and pure that I may find myself stocking up on 9 volts.
The construction is top notch. I haven't gone over it with a fine tooth, but it feels solid.
Speaking of feel.....It is so easy to play. It feels 'right' in my hands. It reacts nicely to minute changes in my technique. I need to do a set up on it so that I can dig in a bit more, but setups are so personal. It came from the shop with a nice pro setup, but I'm going to give it a few tweaks to make it mine.The action is a bit low for my tastes right now. I need to pick up one of those teeny allen wrenches to adjust the bridge. It is sporting a BadA$s right now, but there is a chance that I will try to get a stock bridge. I am going to give it a shot with the BA though.
So far, this bass has been a nice surprise. I definitely had expectations, and it has met and surpassed them.
More to come.....
