NBD! Mezzo 5 Project

[NerdyOcean]

So while waiting for my Ibanez EHB1005sms I decided to get one of the SRMD205 Mezzo 5ers. I have an Ibanez BTB33v and have always liked the shorter scale. I plan on doing some upgrades (pickup, preamp, tuners) to see if I will like this as much as my BTB.

First impressions:

I love the look. I have always kind of preferred paint/pickguard basses over the fancy wood look. Also the Sea Foam Perl is awesome looking. The bridge is fine, but I would prefer 17mm instead of 18mm. The tuners are typical stuff found on cheaper Ibanez basses. They work, but I will replace them with ResOLites at some point.

The sound is great out of the P pickup. The Dynamix J pickup is pretty bad. I have a Dimarzio Ultra Jazz coming to see if that works. The preamp surprised me. I was expecting the two band to be limiting. I also expected it to just be bad, but it is actually pretty good. I wish it had a passive option. If I like the new pickup and the P passive I will upgrade to a active/passive preamp.

It plays awesome out of the box. It plays just as good as my BTB33v. It has been a while since I used a 5 with a low B, so I was having fun with some big lows before I switch it over to the E-C tuning. I will probably leave it in low B until the new bridge pickup comes in.

All in all it is a very nice bass for the price. The only "must be fixed" thing for me is the J pickup. Other than that I would be happy as is, but where is the fun in that.

Obviously pics or it didn't happen.

 

[el jeffe bass]

When they came out with the mezzo 5 my first thought was that it would be great used for E-C. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

 

[scuzzy]

Such a nice looking instrument, and being ibanez, it's bang for the buck. Good luck with the mods!

 

[NerdyOcean]

Well part 1 is complete. Put an active/passive Tone Monster Preamp in. I have used these before with good results and it's the same here. I have a Dimarzio Ultra Jazz coming for the bridge pickup, but honestly with height adjustment and this new preamp the Jazz sounds pretty good (still very noisy though). Also I set it up for E-C with D'addario NYXL. Really digging it now.

 

[NerdyOcean]

Part 2 done. This i an awesome upgrade. The Ultra Jazz is nice and quiet. Also it is hot so it matches the P pickup so well. It really makes chords come alive, and of course now I can dial in that J growl. This also allowed me to lower the J pickup so it wasn't so close to the strings. It was a simple drop in. I read I might have to sand the J route, but it was not necessary. If I was to only do one mod, this would be it. I also got the stacked knobs in for the preamp.
I am really liking this bass more than my BTB33v.

 

[A9X]

I've enjoyed the read. Even though they have a PG I quite like the look of them and have wondered about how good they are and what sort of modding platform they'd make.

 

[Uncle Psychosis]

Nice bass.

I wanted something P flavoured and these were very high on the list. In the end I ended up going with a Player Precision but I can't help but wonder...

 

[NerdyOcean]

Done. Upgraded to ResOLites. They are so much smoother than the stock tuners. Also they are more robust, but much lighter. I am bouncing the idea of a string through bridge, but stock is fine. Would just help some with string length. I think I will keep it as is.

So a short post mod review:
This bass plays as good if not better than my workshop Ibanez (BTB33v). I tightened the truss rod a smidge. About an eighth of a turn tightened. I was able to get intonation dead on and get the action super low with no buzz unless I dig hard. It really rings compared to my BTB. I guess the maple fretboard helps with that. It is loud and clear unplugged. The action is so smooth and I must admit I really like the 18mm for tapping.
The P pickup is nice and thick. This cops an excellent P sound. All I have to compare it to is my Peavey Fury which is a very underappreciated P. It is pretty hot and drives my OD pedal well even at half volume. The passive sound is more subdued but still sounds like a P.
The Ultra Jazz is awesome. It growls hard and has great output. It matches the stock P pickup perfect. I really like the bridge J tone of this bass. Even volume string to string with clear growly tone. I prefer this pickup active rather than passive, but it still has classic growl when passive.
The Toneonster pre is great and gives a pretty big range of tones. In passive mode I gravitate to the P pickup. The tone control acts like a typical passive tone. The active side is not scooped like the original pre. It's controls have good range for boosting or cutting both bass and treble.
All in all it was a great project and I am very happy. My favorite tone is active on, bass and treble flat, blend at 60% J 40% P.
It is kind of odd to spend just as much on upgrades as the bass, but I am happy so that is all that matters.

$350 - Mezzo 5
$80 - Tone Monster Preamp
$8 - stacked knobs
$80 - Dimarzio UltraJazz Pickup
$100 - Gohtoh ResOLite Tuners
$40 - D'addario NYXL for E-C
$6 - Chrome Dunlop strap buttons

 

[Possum Willy]

Done. Upgraded to ResOLites. They are so much smoother than the stock tuners. Also they are more robust, but much lighter. I am bouncing the idea of a string through bridge, but stock is fine. Would just help some with string length. I think I will keep it as is.

So a short post mod review:
This bass plays as good if not better than my workshop Ibanez (BTB33v). I tightened the truss rod a smidge. About an eighth of a turn tightened. I was able to get intonation dead on and get the action super low with no buzz unless I dig hard. It really rings compared to my BTB. I guess the maple fretboard helps with that. It is loud and clear unplugged. The action is so smooth and I must admit I really like the 18mm for tapping.
The P pickup is nice and thick. This cops an excellent P sound. All I have to compare it to is my Peavey Fury which is a very underappreciated P. It is pretty hot and drives my OD pedal well even at half volume. The passive sound is more subdued but still sounds like a P.
The Ultra Jazz is awesome. It growls hard and has great output. It matches the stock P pickup perfect. I really like the bridge J tone of this bass. Even volume string to string with clear growly tone. I prefer this pickup active rather than passive, but it still has classic growl when passive.
The Toneonster pre is great and gives a pretty big range of tones. In passive mode I gravitate to the P pickup. The tone control acts like a typical passive tone. The active side is not scooped like the original pre. It's controls have good range for boosting or cutting both bass and treble.
All in all it was a great project and I am very happy. My favorite tone is active on, bass and treble flat, blend at 60% J 40% P.
It is kind of odd to spend just as much on upgrades as the bass, but I am happy so that is all that matters.

$350 - Mezzo 5
$80 - Tone Monster Preamp
$8 - stacked knobs
$80 - Dimarzio UltraJazz Pickup
$100 - Gohtoh ResOLite Tuners
$40 - D'addario NYXL for E-C
$6 - Chrome Dunlop strap buttons

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[Possum Willy]

I've been very curious about the Mezzo 5-string and really like the mods you've done to it. Have the Mezzo 4-string and have done a few mods myself.

Was still having issues with unwanted noise (owing to my rather aggressive style of plucking) and I was needing to get a really good book on theory, scales, arpeggios and chords. What I didn't know was how much setup information was in the first chapter. I found one last piece to the puzzle of setup, Neck Tilt. The Name of the book is "Serious Electric Bass, The Bass Player's Complete Guide to Scales and Chords" by Joel Di Bartolo. Just that last piece of setup knowledge was worth the $34 price!

Added a few very thin shims (.2 mm) between the neck and body and then started the laborious process of installing strings, tuning, intonation, adjusting the action, repeat (3 times) to find the correct amount of shims for my guitar, which wound up being .6 mm of shims. No doubt your setup might be different.

WOW what a difference!! Was able to raise my pickups back up and gained a much fuller sound. Also, GONE was the horrid clanking noise I had been experiencing. Action is much lighter and almost constant across the neck and the sound is far better!

I'm cheating with my strings. I had installed a set of D'Addario Half Rounds and loved the sound for the G, D and A strings. But the E string sounded too much like a piano (that ringing low string sound). So I put the E String back on from the set I had just taken off, LaBella Stainless Steel Flat Wound. Perfect!! E string doesn't have the "ring", the tone between the E and A string is a natural and I get some nice brightness and BITE with my D and G strings. Love the way it plays and sounds now.

Mods to date:
Hipshot Lite Tuners, black
Ibanez SR500 series Bridge
EMG knobs
Made my own pickguard

Might change pickups and electronics, but honestly, I like the sound, so not sure.

 

[mrperkolator]

Done. Upgraded to ResOLites. They are so much smoother than the stock tuners. Also they are more robust, but much lighter. I am bouncing the idea of a string through bridge, but stock is fine. Would just help some with string length. I think I will keep it as is.

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Now that you've been playing it for a little bit, what do you think now? I'm rather interested in the mezzo 5. What's your thoughts on BEAD vs. EADGC on this particular bass?

 

[BritFunk]

Good morning!

Now that you've been playing it for a little bit, what do you think now? I'm rather interested in the mezzo 5. What's your thoughts on BEAD vs. EADGC on this particular bass?

I purchased this bass - it was interesting and WAY COOL to find another Talkbass member living about a mile from me!

The EADGC stringing never gelled for me on ANY bass, as I am not really a soloist, so I can't speak much to that tuning. I almost immediately restrung it to BEADG, and can tell you it has fast become one of my favorite go-to basses. Low B tension is more than adequate, and the medium scale length makes this bass a complete joy to play.

I will say that if something tragic happened to this bass I would *immediately* buy another one.

If you have other specific questions I'll be glad to help if I can.

 

[mrperkolator]

I wonder if they will release a mezzo 5 string in HH instead of PJ. Of course I could always take copious amounts of measurements to figure out how to widen the pickup route. Particularly since you like this one's B string.....

of course it would help immensely if I would get off TB and go practice instead of giving myself mod ideas and GAS....

 

[mrperkolator]

what is the wound length on that bass? I'm wondering what the string choices look like.

Edit: sometimes called winding length. I'm used to a length of ball end to about .5 inch past nut.... or labella's definition of winding length.

 

[BritFunk]

I don’t know if this helps, but from ball-end to the first (B) tuning peg is almost exactly 35.5”.

K

what is the wound length on that bass? I'm wondering what the string choices look like.

Edit: sometimes called winding length. I'm used to a length of ball end to about .5 inch past nut.... or labella's definition of winding length.

 

[mrperkolator]

I don’t know if this helps, but from ball-end to the first (B) tuning peg is almost exactly 35.5”.

Yeah that helps a lot. Thanks! Once I started playing different scales than 34", I found knowing that length is super important when buying strings. Not nearly as many choices.

 

[Possum Willy]

Hey all, I bought some strings to test out, made for the 32 in scale of the Mezzo. Check it out, might be a few strings you haven't heard/thought of. If anyone knows of pressure wounds or other low noise strings, let's hear about it. If we're lucky, we'll find exactly what we are looking for!

Thomastik-Infeld

Pros

1) High Quality, extremely smooth for a roundwound, very little finger noise, owing to the super small outer windings. Round core, wrapped with pure nickel windings, silk inlays between windings.

2) Extremely good balance of tone and volume across all four strings. No growl, but then these are called Jazz Bass strings, brite, but Jazz strings.

3) Light gauging - .042, .056, .069, .093

4) Extremely light action. I was actually able to play noticeably faster on these strings.

Cons

1) Price – $88.98 Set # JR324

2) Made in Vienna

DR Sunbeams

Pros

1) Very smooth for a roundwound, some finger noise

2) Nickle plated round core

3) Low Price – $33.75 Set # NLR-40

4) Light gauging - .040, .060, .080, .100

5) Made in America

Cons

1) Heavier action, strings are stiff.

2) Balance of tone and volume across all four strings iffy. I was surprised about the lack of umph* on the E and A strings. D and G strings sang well.

NOTE: *Could have been caused when I installed the strings. Inside the box (yes, you have to cut it open to read the instructions) are procedures for installing their strings. It is different from other manufacturers.


GHS Pressure Wounds

Pros

1) I use these on my Jazz, extremely versatile strings.

2) Didn’t think it would work, but I was able to install them on the Mezzo, even with having the HipShot tuners with .354 posts. Don’t know how many re-installs I’ll get, but I’ll find out.

3) The feel is rougher, but finger noise is almost non-existent. Only occurred twice in an hour’s worth of playing and very slight at that.

4) Light gauging - .040, .054, .076, .096

5) Made in America, Price - $59.31 Set # L7200

Cons

1) These are 37.25 windings, breakage could occur on Medium Scale Basses. The E string wrapped halfway around peg, G string one full turn around.

2) Balance of tone and volume better than the DRs, but E and A strings still not as powerful as the T-Is and not as much growl as I had hoped.

3) Action is heavier than the T-Is and more towards, but lighter than, the DRs. Surprising, these strings are lighter gauged than the T-Is.

GHS Brite Flats

Pros

1) Another string I have used before, not as versatile, but gives a warm Jazz sound, also great for R&B and Blues. These strings start life as roundwonds which are ground. Has bite and definition of roundwound, slightly muted.

2) Zero finger noise, unless you try very hard.

3) A nicely smooth, but sticky finish, use of talc recommended.

4) Made in America, Price - $59.31 Set # 3065

Cons

1) Only 1 choice of gauges: medium gauge - .049, .062, .084, .108. I prefer to use light or very light gauges for a myriad of reasons.

2) Without using talc, you’ll wonder what happened to your ability to play.

 

[mrperkolator]

What strings have yall tried on the 5 string mezzo?