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Quality VS Affordability - Shopping for a 5-string

#41
I enjoy a MIA Fender Dimension Deluxe V and a Precision V. I work both on my Young Country gig doing a bout 35-40 shows a year. The Dimension is more modern but the PrecisionV fits nicely into it too. The band mates dig either one. Though they lean towards the Dimension.

I imagine you can find either to demo. They're affordable and probably close to your range in the slightly used market, if you wanted a few more possibilities to consider.
 
#42
Op, just go for the Dingwall

my dream bass was a Thumb NT 5(bout 5k new in AUS), but in a pursuit to save money but get a similar sound i ended up buying

Pro series thumb Bo - 1.8k
pro series Corvette (cause i needed bubinga) - 1.3k
Warwick Infinity NT (second hand) - 2.5k

now, if i had just saved up the cash, got the bass i actually wanted, i would have come out better and would have saved some cash.
 
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#44
I tried a lot of 5's before getting a Spector. And the tension it had on the low-B was one of my primary motivations - besides the fact they sound great and play like a dream. Not too hard on the eyes either. Definitely take a look on the used market first. You can find some really nice ones at very good prices. (That's how I got mine.) Or check out their less expensive but still very pro grade Legend Classic product line. An awful lot of bass for the money.
 
#45
First you'll have to decide how committed you want to be to playing a 5 as your main bass vs just having one in the stable to use whenever a 4 won't do the job. That decided, how much are you comfortable spending? I bought my first 5 for $650 (used Carvin LB75) and I slowly became more comfortable on a 5 than a 4. After five or so years of playing that 5 I ended up trading it (having recently acquired my Sadowsky 5 I didn't really play the Carvin anymore) to a local guitar store.

If you think that you'll be playing a lot of 5 then by all means, save up enough money to get yourself what you really want. If it's just to have the option of a 5 when you need it, then you've got tons of low-cost options mentioned here.
 
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#50
I love Warwick 5's, BUT the string spacing is super tight...not something op I looking for. As are the Spector Korean lines. Those would be my picks as well. The Spector Coda pro might be worth looking into. Not sure the spacing but more traditional looking.

Never played an Ibanez that worked for me. Try as I might, they just don't agree with me. I've found the B on most fender 5 s sub par, but haven't played many. If you can deal with narrower spacing, Spector or Warwick. Warwick makes a broad 5 with the spacing you're looking for, but I've only seen them in their higher end.
 
#51
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#53
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! No time to reply to every one individually, but I appreciate it.

I stopped at Long & McQuade on my way to rehearsal last night and played a few of the 5s they had. Mostly Fender, but I did see a couple of EBMM hidden away in my way out the door.

First I tried two MIM Fender Jazz. One had a really nice B and felt pretty good over all. The other played like crap and definitely wouldn't work for me. But at $950 even the good one isn't worth buying IMO.

The only other 5 I tried worth mentioning was a Fender American Standard Jazz, but at $2000 I'm also not going near it.

I also re-tried the Ibanez SRFF 5 string (the fanned fret), and it actually felt looser tension than the Fender MIA. The price was much more attractive at $1200, but I can't do the look, though.
 
#55
I don't own a five string, but of all the ones I tried, I didn't even consider purchasing any until I tried a Dingwall. This particular one was a Combustion, which, as I understand is their lower end model, but the B string was a revelation. It was nice, right, and defined, not a floppy mess.
 
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#56
Eric_Allard said:
I don't own a five string, but of all the ones I tried, I didn't even consider purchasing any until I tried a Dingwall. This particular one was a Combustion, which, as I understand is their lower end model, but the B string was a revelation. It was nice, right, and defined, not a floppy mess.
Click to expand...

I know, right?!
For me it's also nice because they're a Canadian company so I can avoid paying an extra 30% on the exchange rate.

Does anyone know of any other Canadian instrument makers besides Dingwall and F Bass (yeah right!)?
 
#57
Ibanez makes some great basses at reasonable prices and any problem with their aesthetics for the music that you play exists only in your head. That does not mean it is not real but perhaps it can be overcome. If you really want 19 mm string spacing the Ibanez BTB series has that. Before you conclude that you can't work with narrow spacings you should borrow a guitar and noodle around on that for a few weeks. Once you get a little comfortable with that you can go to a music shop and try a narrow spaced fiver. Most probably you will find that it works for you. It was my Squier VI that convinced me that I could play an Ibanez V with the 16.8 mm spacing that most of them have.

If you absolutely want to stick with 19 mm spacing then I would suggest that you look at some MTD Kingston basses. I stuck with four strings for a long time because my right hand could not deal with the narrow ones and my left could not deal with the wide ones. As I say, a Squier VI taught my right hand how to go narrow. I never got a chance to pick up a Kingston to own for a while to see how it would work for my left hand in the long run but I have played a couple in stores and their asymmetric necks sure seemed like they would. If I were ever to give a 19 mm fiver another try I would definitely go Kingston!

But almost everyone makes good fivers in the price range you have settled on, go out and try what you can find, surely one of them will speak to and through you.
 
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#58
khutch said:
Ibanez makes some great basses at reasonable prices and any problem with their aesthetics for the music that you play exists only in your head. That does not mean it is not real but perhaps it can be overcome.
Click to expand...

Not only in my head, but the band leader's as well. He pays for me to be there, so he gets what he wants. It just so happens that I don't disagree with him.

If you really want 19 mm string spacing the Ibanez BTB series has that. Before you conclude that you can't work with narrow spacings you should borrow a guitar and noodle around on that for a few weeks. Once you get a little comfortable with that you can go to a music shop and try a narrow spaced fiver. Most probably you will find that it works for you. It was my Squier VI that convinced me that I could play an Ibanez V with the 16.8 mm spacing that most of them have.
Click to expand...

I briefly owned a narrow(er)-spaced EBMM Stingray SUB 5 (the original SUB, not the newer ones) in the past, and while my left hand liked it, my right hand had a very hard time getting used to it. That's not to say that I wouldn't get used to it over time. I also did not care for the Stingray sound in the band I was in at the time.

My right hand much preferred the Lakland 55-01 I picked up after that, though it was maybe a bit wide at the nut for Lefty. Also wasn't right for the band I was in, so I let it go.

If you absolutely want to stick with 19 mm spacing then I would suggest that you look at some MTD Kingston basses. I stuck with four strings for a long time because my right hand could not deal with the narrow ones and my left could not deal with the wide ones. As I say, a Squier VI taught my right hand how to go narrow. I never got a chance to pick up a Kingston to own for a while to see how it would work for my left hand in the long run but I have played a couple in stores and their asymmetric necks sure seemed like they would. If I were ever to give a 19 mm fiver another try I would definitely go Kingston!

But almost everyone makes good fivers in the price range you have settled on, go out and try what you can find, surely one of them will speak to and through you.
Click to expand...

I think starting with 19mm (or close) would be the best way to get used to playing a 5, to minimize the change over adjustment period as much as possible.
The MTD basses that I've seen on TB seem very nice, though I haven't looked into them too deeply. Just window shopping. :)
 
#60
I think you really want to give Mike Sorr's Z5 some thought. Those MTD/Kingston necks are like butter! As for other Canadian companies, Eastwood is one with a lot of delightfully quirky bass models but I don't recall that they make fivers. Godin was mentioned above and it has long been one of those companies I'd like to try some day and probably never will.... I got close enough at one point to send them some email questions and Godin was very good about answering them.
 
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