Looking for a good 5 string for studio work.

[KevInDaBassment]

I'd suggest asking the guys who have a tone that you like and see if you can drum up a common denominator. Who knows, it might be as simple as a change of strings to get the tone you like/seek.

Most soap bars do tend to handle low frequencies pretty well, I could downtune my Ibanez SR500 to drop C# and it still sounded nice and raunchy. I'm a big Ibanez fan (mostly based on feel) though, just felt that needed to be stated as a caveat to my advice

 

[eloann]

So many good choices. Lakland, Music Man, Sadowsky, Mike Lull. Ever consider a Dingwall? I bet those record really well.

+1, very few basses compare with my Dingwalls. Take a look at a Super P if you're going for That classic tone and fewer knobs to tweak so players spend more time actually playing - or maybe a Z3 if you want a do-it-all kind of bass.

On a side note, for a studio I'd make sure to have a few different set of strings (steel, nickel, flats, nylon...) on hand and a bridge that allows easy changes.

Edit : Never got to try a Spector but they must be fine basses too

 

[FFTT]

I'm with you, I played a lot of different basses the past 2 days and the best for the way I play are the 3 Spectors I played. So solid and mean sounding.

Congratulations on the new bass James!

It would make me crazy trying to find a new bass these days.

 

[James Lugo]

Congratulations on the new bass James!

It would make me crazy trying to find a new bass these days.

Yeah this type of stuff is harder now that I'm not in LA.

We fired up the Spector through my '78 SVT. Holy smokes. that bass is massive. It drives the amp so much harder then the Nash P. But you can back off the knobs a touch and play a little softer and it cleans up nice. Also needed to back off the volume knob on the amp. The bass is gorgeous.

 

[KCLRbass]

If you want a versatile bass...Lakland 5502 or 5594.
For classic p sound....lakland 5564.

Both great basses

I frickin LOVE my 5564. Here's a quick and dirty live recording my band did a couple of weeks ago. 5564 into B3 (amp modeling) into REDDI. Nothing fancy, but it worked great.

Used the 5564 a bunch on our new record too. Amazing studio bass. Highly recommended.