New 5er from The Bass Company, and yes I have photos. 
Specs and thoughts are below the photos.
without further ado...
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yay!
Specs:
The Bass Company, Single M model, 5 string.
Quarter-sawn 3-piece maple neck,
Pau Ferro fretboard,
Chambered ash body with "black cherry" pickguard/overlay.
Thoughts:
This is the lightest bass I've picked up with the exception of a fully hollow-bodied custom I played at Rock City Guitars once. Despite it's lightness, it doesn't feel wussy; it's rock solid. They definitely know how to chamber an instrument over at TBC.
The neck is smooth and naked feeling, just the way I like it. Doesn't feel much deeper than my fender Jazz neck, but it's a nice wide 5 string. The width is much easier than I'd expected, as I prefer a tighter spacing most of the time. This thing's just easy to play though.
"Fit and finish" is excellent. This was a B-stock, and you can find the bits of rubber left on the sides of the headstock where it was hanging in a shop at one point, but that rubbed off easily with my thumb. The strings aren't new, but still sound quite good and have some life left in them. Other than that it's a very nice bass for it's price point. Minor quibbles would be that the truss-rod adjustment route is a little rough, it could have used a quick sanding in there. Also the string tree for the A and D doesn't quite hold them straight:
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That's really my only issue with the bass though, and it's a minor one. A string tree is silly easy to replace.
Intonation is right on, the frets feel good, it'll probably need a little action tweak though. I'll let it acclimatize before I go there though.
Sound:
Freakin' superb. I brought my little Korg Pandora headphone amp and Koss Portapro's to work with me today so that I could get some sound out of this thing ASAP. The active electronics in it are wonderful. You can get a nice punchy bass tone (bass maxed and the treble rolled off), or a stingray slap tone (treble centered and the bass up a bit), or a good aproximation of a more anemic Jazz tone (both turned down to 1/4) out of the two band eq. I can only imagine that the three-band eq. on the full-fledged models is even better, but frankly this will do me quite nicely.
Pots are quiet, no hum at all is detectable in the electronics.
Overall:
Compare it to a MIM fender and there's really no comparison. (MM vs. J or P obviously not a straight comparison, but still. Blown away in value.) The B is waaaay better than the fender Jazz 5ers that I've played, but not quite as tight as the one Warwick 5er I've payed. These strings are an unknown quantity though, so that may change with a fresh set.
For the $300 I paid (b-stock) this bass absolutely blows away anything I've ever played with a pricetag of under $500, and compares nicely to stuff in the $700 range imho. Finish not quite as nice perhaps, but the sound is what's important to me.
Quite happy.
Specs and thoughts are below the photos.
without further ado...
Link Removed Link Removed
Link Removed Link Removed
Link Removed Link Removed
yay!
Specs:
The Bass Company, Single M model, 5 string.
Quarter-sawn 3-piece maple neck,
Pau Ferro fretboard,
Chambered ash body with "black cherry" pickguard/overlay.
Thoughts:
This is the lightest bass I've picked up with the exception of a fully hollow-bodied custom I played at Rock City Guitars once. Despite it's lightness, it doesn't feel wussy; it's rock solid. They definitely know how to chamber an instrument over at TBC.
The neck is smooth and naked feeling, just the way I like it. Doesn't feel much deeper than my fender Jazz neck, but it's a nice wide 5 string. The width is much easier than I'd expected, as I prefer a tighter spacing most of the time. This thing's just easy to play though.
"Fit and finish" is excellent. This was a B-stock, and you can find the bits of rubber left on the sides of the headstock where it was hanging in a shop at one point, but that rubbed off easily with my thumb. The strings aren't new, but still sound quite good and have some life left in them. Other than that it's a very nice bass for it's price point. Minor quibbles would be that the truss-rod adjustment route is a little rough, it could have used a quick sanding in there. Also the string tree for the A and D doesn't quite hold them straight:
Link Removed
That's really my only issue with the bass though, and it's a minor one. A string tree is silly easy to replace.
Intonation is right on, the frets feel good, it'll probably need a little action tweak though. I'll let it acclimatize before I go there though.
Sound:
Freakin' superb. I brought my little Korg Pandora headphone amp and Koss Portapro's to work with me today so that I could get some sound out of this thing ASAP. The active electronics in it are wonderful. You can get a nice punchy bass tone (bass maxed and the treble rolled off), or a stingray slap tone (treble centered and the bass up a bit), or a good aproximation of a more anemic Jazz tone (both turned down to 1/4) out of the two band eq. I can only imagine that the three-band eq. on the full-fledged models is even better, but frankly this will do me quite nicely.
Pots are quiet, no hum at all is detectable in the electronics.
Overall:
Compare it to a MIM fender and there's really no comparison. (MM vs. J or P obviously not a straight comparison, but still. Blown away in value.) The B is waaaay better than the fender Jazz 5ers that I've played, but not quite as tight as the one Warwick 5er I've payed. These strings are an unknown quantity though, so that may change with a fresh set.
For the $300 I paid (b-stock) this bass absolutely blows away anything I've ever played with a pricetag of under $500, and compares nicely to stuff in the $700 range imho. Finish not quite as nice perhaps, but the sound is what's important to me.
Quite happy.
.
