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Helpage--- Best metal bass

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This bass plays like butter and it looks and sounds the part....you should seriously check out ESP

Mahogany body with flamed maple top
Thru body 5-piece maple/walnut neck
Rosewood fingerboard with 24 XJ frets
Custom tribal graphic inlays
EMG 40-DC active pickups
Grover tuners
ESP BB-605 bridge
Black nickel hardware
Volume and blend controls
EMG B64 active 3-band EQ
35" scale
Black nickel hardware

All ESP basses carry a limited lifetime warranty. Some people don't care for the EMG Pickups but i love their sound (check the sig..)
 
Thats good to hear. Paolo has a great tone, but after playing on some of the BC Rich basses he uses, I figured he must have customized pickups or settings or something, cuz they dont naturally have a great metal sound (at least not the few ive been able to play on).

Also for any schecter owners, do you guys prefer the Elite 5 or the Custom 5? They sound pretty close to me.

kind of off topic, but paolo is an awesome player, but man could he do with some better gear and EQ. he suffers from john myung syndrome. mid scooped, solid state, tonally dead bass tone. i think he could do so much better.
 
I play a "fair amount" of metal stuff. I just picked up a new Warwick Corvette 5 string and that thing is a beast! The stuff I play is usually a few fast runs and then some back end for a guitar and it holds it down in both places, even does a good job in the bass solos. This bass is in addition to my Ibanez SRX-390 which was all very good most of the metal stuff I play. The SRX I find is a bit too "boomy" for some stuff and I found myself cutting the lows back a lot of the time. With all that being said, just get one that you like playing rather then looking for something grim and metal. I have see tons of metal shows, with people playing everything from Fender P and J basses to Ibanezeseseses to ESPs even some pretty high end basses that you wouldn't think a metal player would play. I say metal is more about the attitude then the gear. Start growing your hair out and think about getting a few tattoos, maybe something with a demon or a goat...or a goat demon:rolleyes:
 
I agree. What did you mean by saying "But in any case, I suggest you not to buy a ESP LTD bass. They look good, but thats bout it IMO" Obviously you have NEVER played one. They ARE Good basses that play & sound GREAT.

They sound a bit dark and undefined to me. Maybe it's the all mahogany configuration. It reminds me of the gibson thunderbird, which I don't like much.

And btw, IMO = in my opinion, right?
 
So im looking to upgrade. Playing on a beginner Ibanez but im getting a new bass for christmas and i need it for studio soon. My band is metal---best comparison to a well known band would be Trivium.

I really like the sound/look of the Schector Stilleto Elite 5, but I would love some other suggestions for a 5 string metal bass that is preferably $600 or less. Something that can growl alot would be nice. I play on a GK 700RB II head and Avatar 212 Cab if that helps any. Thanks for any thoughts.

You just described a G&L 2500 Tribute. Its a FANTASTIC metal bass. The low end is massive, it cuts through great, and while it isn't quite as "growly" as a Warwick, it does have a good amount of growl going on. It's an extremely aggressive bass that blows the Schecter toys out of the water. I had the same GK head as you and it paired with the G&L very very nicely.
 
Meh...I've played in lots of metal bands and have used lots of different kinds of basses. I've used, Charvel, Carvin, Westone, EBMM, Conklin, Ibeenhad (Ibanez), etc. Personally, I think that you can make anything work if you tweak your amp enough as I've played metal on a 7 string Conklin. (I couldn't afford to have it and something more appropriately metal). I'm scouting metal bands now and it's looking like I might have an audtion soon with a semi-well known metal band. I'll be bringing my EBMM and my 'wick. I even use a Ashdown Mark King amp as my main rig. It's got a POD on it and it all pumps througha nv610. Most people would never use a MK for metal but I've got it dialed in perfectly (though that took some time) and I get a growly, boomy, doom kind of a sound on my metal settings. It just took a lot of time to dial it in.
I would say; don't worry about finding a great "metal" bass. Scout around and find something you like. Music is music and metal will be metal...regardless of what you play it on.
A great example: a few years ago, I was in a really great funk/rock kind of a band. I played bass and sang and did lots of slap and pop stuff. But it was like funk bass meets jazz/funk guitar mets metal drums. Sounds crazy but ti worked!
The guitard; who was quite possibly one of the grooviest and funkiest guitar palyers I've ever played with, used a bright red, BC Rich Warlock. The thing looked positively metal to the core. But he rarely even used distortion.And it sounded brilliant. It actually became something of a novelty for us that he had such an out of place looking instrument.
So buy what you want. Don't look for a metal bass...look for a bass man. :bassist:
 
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:smug:
 
Just be sure to get a strap with spikes, hang the bass really low, past your knees is suggested. Be sure to tune it to z flat and scoop the mids. :p

actually, for metal you should probably use a comfortable strap, and you should also wear it ridiculously high to help with some of the more difficult technical riffs, and i personal usually tune to D (A on my 5-string) standard, and after the recent thread about being heard in death metal ( http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=378173&page=3 ) i use alot more mids now than i used to, although when i'm not playing with my band i still scoop. anyway, not trying to be a jerk, just clearing up some misconceptions :bassist:
 
You do realize that he might use effects and/or amp settings that give it a "metal" sound.

+1
i don't play metal per se, but it is heavy. i also have used quite a few different basses with the same band. yes, there are some tonal differences in the basses i have used but i have so much in front of my amp and in the effects loop that it really doesn't matter which one i play. two overdrives, a distortion, a compressor and then a sonic maximizer in the loop of a gbe1200 should make damn near anything sound angry enough to be called metal.
 
So im looking to upgrade. Playing on a beginner Ibanez but im getting a new bass for christmas and i need it for studio soon. My band is metal---best comparison to a well known band would be Trivium.

I really like the sound/look of the Schector Stilleto Elite 5, but I would love some other suggestions for a 5 string metal bass that is preferably $600 or less. Something that can growl alot would be nice. I play on a GK 700RB II head and Avatar 212 Cab if that helps any. Thanks for any thoughts.

Nothing growls like a Gibson, but given your bankroll you'd be hard pressed to find one unless you made a good score on a used one.
 
When I played in a semi-pro metal band, I swore by MM stingrays. I was running into 2 Ampeg PR410HLF cabs, with an Ashdown pre and QSC amp dumping 750 watts per side into each cab. That was some thunder!

You might try demoing a stingray and then looking for something used.