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NBD aka I'm headed to Lowe's to get new lighting.

That’s a great deal on a classy bass. Nice score!
Thank you! I thought it was pretty much a no brainer. Although the offer they made me on the new Player Series fiver was hard to pass up. Who knows? I might go back and grab that one too. Will have to wait and see. The 97 just felt right, the new Player felt like it make take a little getting used to.
 
Didn't know it came stock with the Gotohs. Figured that was someone's upgrade.

The knobs, knurled speed type, are my favs and I do that to almost all of my basses anway.

The B string, yeah, playing it open, it could use a little more tension. So far, after 4 Sundays, I haven't had to go any lower than a D. But what I really noticed today was the change ups you can make on it because of being able to hit an E on the fifth fret, F on the 6th, F# on the 7th fret of the B string, etc.... It gives you options even when you aren't going below an E that you just don't have on a 4 string. Say you're playing a G on the E string and then need to play an F then E, you can not only walk those notes down on the E string, but you can start on the G note on the E, and then jump up to the F on the B string and walk down to the E meaning you're not having to play an open string. It does make a difference in tone and feel to me being able to do that. Now that was just a simple example and of course one could get way more complex than that. It's nice to have options :)

So the fretboard is Ferro? Looking at yours and mine, they look better than the Ferro that I'm seeing on new basses. A lot more grain striping in yours and mine than what I'm seeing in newer Ferro boards, darker too. But that darkness could be age maybe? Some of these newer Ferro boards look almost red.
Those brand name Gotohs might be an upgrade. The stock ones are similar, but I can’t remember the branding. I’ll check mine when I get home.

Yes the main benefit of a 5 string for me is having a broader range of intervals under one hand position.
The lower notes help for key transpositions too.

The pau ferro on my fretboard is nice. I’m not sure why some people don’t seem
to like it, but it sounds good to me.

The neck is the star for me. Mine is really easy to play and has a nice mix of vintage and modern feel. The edges are worn in or rolled maybe? And the profile is a good balance of feeling substantial but is thin enough for speed.

Yours looks like the pick guard was swapped for parchment or mint green. Either way it’s cool!
 
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Yes the main benefit of a 5 string for me is having a broader range of intervals under one hand position.
The lower notes help for key transpositions too.

The pau ferro on my fretboard is nice. I’m not sure why some people don’t seem
to like it, but it sounds good to me.

Yours looks like the pick guard was swapped for parchment or mint green. Either way it’s cool!
Yeah it's parchment, 3 ply, parchment, black, parchment, and one of the things that caught my eye. Also the first time for me to see a parchment guard in the wild. I've always liked them in pictures and they look better in person. I didn't think it was stock, same for the control knobs, wasn't sure about the Gotoh tuners either. Ferro board or Rosewood, doesn't really matter I guess. Been reading up on Ferro and it's a good fretboard wood. Just more Ferro I have seen has been brighter in color, some of it almost red. I like the darker color of the fretboard on this bass so it doesn't matter to me what it is really.

At some point it was someone's working bass, and now it will live on as my working bass and that's really all I was looking for in a fiver was something that would get the job done. It didn't have to be new, flashy, or expensive, just do the job at hand and sound great doing it.

Yesterday it felt right, and sounded good through a new Boss Bass Combo at the store. Today it felt right and sounded right on stage as the piano player, and everyone else at rehearsal raved about the sound and my playing. That bass has definitely found it's next home, and next job. And the GK Goldline 500, while it has been a good back up to have fun with, now has found itself a permanent job as well. No more hauling my main rig, Mesa D-800+ and GK Neo IV 212 cab to church every Sunday. The Goldline 500 along with Markbass Traveler 151P and 102P cabs are permanently setup on stage. Simple, and not the most expensive gear I own, but it all works and provides what I need it to. I couldn't ask for anymore.
 
I don’t think you actually went to Lowe’s…
Unfortunately, 270 bucks at Lowe's

Wire nuts
Wire nuts
Lightbulbs
Diagonal Cutters
Light Fixture
Light Fixture

receipt.jpg
 
So glad the rig worked well for you! Great amp/cab too.

I play a BEAD strung p bass in our church's band. For all the reasons you mentioned, that low B helps. I've only once used a note lower than the low D. But D and Eb? Almost every week.

Glad you found it!
Glad I found it too! I could have kept using my Precision with drop tuner set to E/D, or just tuned one of my basses to DADG. But the options of playing E string notes on the B string opens up more possibilities in fingering patterns especially in walks up or down. I found myself doing that across the B, E, & A strings today.
 
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Regarding the headstock crack, very typical on this style, look at almost any Aria bass with in line tuners, no issue, congrats man!
Thank you!

Yeah, it apparently is pretty common. I didn't know. But it's also how I got them to drop the price from 675 to 500 bucks. That crack is worth 175 bucks! 🤣

Bass had probably been there awhile. Not a lot of bassists go to that store because they specialize in guitars.
 
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yeah, those home improvement store trips can get expensive...;)
congrats on the new bass, looks great. also love the church rig. i don't see many GK Goldline 500s on here. looks a lot like my Fusion 550 but I assume it's not a bi-amp head. good luck with the 5er.

kgb
You're right, it's not bi amped, but does have two channels, a clean and a boost. I'm not a big fan of the boost channel. But the clean channel is great, and it works well at lower volume levels as well, which at church is all I need anyway and is part of how it ended up with that particular job.

The Goldline is definitely a sleeper.

According to Robert Gallien himself...

The Goldline amplifier is actually an excellent amp at an incredible price. It used the power amp from the 700RB without the horn amp, and included a great preamp. It was inexpensive because we made it in China and sold it only to GC in high quantities. It was part of the Goldline series and by far the best product in the series. The whole Goldline concept was dropped when GC started bringing in their product line from China called Acoustic. The Goldline 500 is a ridiculously outstanding value that is rarely seen in this world.
RAG -
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/gallien-krueger-official-club-pt-9.981285/page-22#post-14410520

I got mine as a backup to my main amp, a Mesa D-800+. But...

Thanks to Robert's son, Forest, I bought it as old/new stock with a 1yr warranty direct from GK for 275 bucks back in Feb of 2022. It will raise the roof. It was notorious for blowing up Goldline Speaker cabinets. Eventually GK added this warning to the user manual for it
warning.jpg


And of course true to form, it's typical GK watts, conservative rating IMO, much louder than you expect. It will rock the house down, literally. I've rattled windows and made the rafters creak with that amp while watching stuff fall off the walls. I've used it against 3 guitarists and a very loud drummer at the same time and it held it's own with no problems.
 
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You're right, it's not bi amped, but does have two channels, a clean and a boost. I'm not a big fan of the boost channel. But the clean channel is great, and it works well at lower volume levels as well, which at church is all I need anyway and is part of how it ended up with that particular job.

The Goldline is definitely a sleeper.

According to Robert Gallien himself...

The Goldline amplifier is actually an excellent amp at an incredible price. It used the power amp from the 700RB without the horn amp, and included a great preamp. It was inexpensive because we made it in China and sold it only to GC in high quantities. It was part of the Goldline series and by far the best product in the series. The whole Goldline concept was dropped when GC started bringing in their product line from China called Acoustic. The Goldline 500 is a ridiculously outstanding value that is rarely seen in this world.
RAG -
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/gallien-krueger-official-club-pt-9.981285/page-22#post-14410520

I got mine as a backup to my main amp, a Mesa D-800+. But...

Thanks to Robert's son, Forest, I bought it as old/new stock with a 1yr warranty direct from GK for 275 bucks back in Feb of 2022. It will raise the roof. It was notorious for blowing up Goldline Speaker cabinets. Eventually GK added this warning to the user manual for it
View attachment 7010015

And of course true to form, it's typical GK watts, conservative rating IMO, much louder than you expect. It will rock the house down, literally. I've rattled windows and made the rafters creak with that amp while watching stuff fall off the walls. I've used it against 3 guitarists and a very loud drummer at the same time and it held its own with no problems.
Nice! Recommended by Mr RAG himself.
 
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Yeah it's parchment, 3 ply, parchment, black, parchment, and one of the things that caught my eye. Also the first time for me to see a parchment guard in the wild. I've always liked them in pictures and they look better in person. I didn't think it was stock, same for the control knobs, wasn't sure about the Gotoh tuners either.

Just dragged mine out - the stock tuners are Gotohs! Pretty nice bass over all!
 
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