Quick gig report:
Got to FedEx, picked this bad boy up, got home, loaded up the SUV, opened the box, made sure it had 5 strings on it, threw it on top of my other basses and headed to the show.
I hate this bass...because now I hate all my other basses!!
Seriously, I've owned some incredible, super high-end, mega-boutique basses(USA MTDs, USA Spectors, Roscoes, Pedullas, Modulus, Mike Lull, Valenti's, golden-era German NT Thumbs...), and this BN5 is, by far, one of the two best basses I've ever owned. The other was my Canadian Dingwall ABZ 5. It made everything, including me, sound WAY better! Every ridiculous adjective we use to describe basses applies to this BN5-punchy, growly, smooth, articulate, plays-like-buttah, sounds massive...I could go on for a while, but I gotta get to bed.
Having said all those true facts about this amazing piece of stringed art, there are a couple of things that make me go hmm...
-LOVE the preamp in this, HATE the knobs. Specifically, I hate the bridge pickup volume knob. Why? It turns 360*. Is it supposed to do that? It works, but that is kinda disconcerting...
-I need to get used to the 34.5" scale. The way it hangs on me, pushes it further to my right. Makes the reach to the lower frets very sweet, but it threw off my perception a bit. I had enough time before we started to get used to it, but I still found myself out of position a couple of times during the show. Not a biggie, as I will be playing it ALL THE TIME!
-I truly ADORE the looks, the strap buttons, not so much. I like that they're wide enough to hold the strap on without the need for strap locks, but it makes getting the strap on and off a huge PITA. I'd probably rather have strap locks. Also, since the bridge is Hipshot, why doesn't it come with Hipshot UltraLights? I kept thinking all night, "The Gotohs are wonderful tuners, but Ultralights would look so much cooler". Maybe I'm wrong, Anyone know why George doesn't use Ultralights?
That's it for now, I'll have more tomorrow. I will end this with this-The ultimate compliment I can give to this BN5 is that it's totally making me second guess my Dingwall order. I'm not gonna cancel it, because I know I'll love them as much, but I'm trying to figure out how I can get another BN5 ASAP...
