My main gig bass is a Lakland Skyline JO5 with Fralin PU's and Thomastic Flatwound strings. I run it into a Radial J48 active DI and then monitor with in-ears buds. I set the pickups both full volume. If I try to back off the neck it losses too much low end to me so I always leave it full on.
The bottom line is it sounds great for the touring gig I do. I can always hear myself and the I get great feedback from others on how it sounds out front. The only downside is that the neck and string spacing is a little wide for my taste, but not so much that it's a deal killer. Especially for the money I have in it!
My friend is selling an older (pre 2000) Mike Lull M5 with the Seymour Duncan PU's and Bartolini pre. And man, that neck really felt great and I love the 18mm string spacing compared to the 19mm of the Lakland. It also weighed about 1-2 pounds less!
So I borrowed the bass for the week to check out on my gig. I was surprised that when I played this bass in active mode I couldn't cut through the mix anymore. If I went to passive it got better, but it didn't have the authority of the Lakland. I should say it had some roundwound nickels on, but could that have been the big difference? 
Anyway, I passed on the M5, but I'm wondering if I should be looking for another used passive or an active w/ bypass Mike Lull 5'er? Which models should I look out for that will duplicate the tonal ballpark I seem to like and maybe have a little more flexibility? I'm assuming his necks are uniform in all his 5er's. Or am I wrong?
The bottom line is it sounds great for the touring gig I do. I can always hear myself and the I get great feedback from others on how it sounds out front. The only downside is that the neck and string spacing is a little wide for my taste, but not so much that it's a deal killer. Especially for the money I have in it!
My friend is selling an older (pre 2000) Mike Lull M5 with the Seymour Duncan PU's and Bartolini pre. And man, that neck really felt great and I love the 18mm string spacing compared to the 19mm of the Lakland. It also weighed about 1-2 pounds less!
So I borrowed the bass for the week to check out on my gig. I was surprised that when I played this bass in active mode I couldn't cut through the mix anymore. If I went to passive it got better, but it didn't have the authority of the Lakland. I should say it had some roundwound nickels on, but could that have been the big difference? Anyway, I passed on the M5, but I'm wondering if I should be looking for another used passive or an active w/ bypass Mike Lull 5'er? Which models should I look out for that will duplicate the tonal ballpark I seem to like and maybe have a little more flexibility? I'm assuming his necks are uniform in all his 5er's. Or am I wrong?
