[ESPImperium]

A couple of years ago i sold my Yamaha RBX170 as i just didnt have time to spend playing it as i wanted to play more guitar than anything, also wanted the money to spend on a new guitar, whitch i since traded in for one of the guitars in my signature that i will never sell or get rid of as its simply the best workhorse guitar ive ever and will ever play...

However in the middle of last year i started to get the itch for getting a new one, and have been gladly seeing prices fall and the specs get better and better. I have now decided that the time is now to cure the itch and get a bass and start playing again, altho mostly for recording purposes at the moment.

As for sounds, im looking for a good all round sound that can do a good ammount of tones from classic metal to modren metal to anything else that tickles my taste buds, Id be using my Line 6 Pod X3 for a bass rig if that helps.

One question that i would like answered is whats the advantage of a 5 string over a 4 string?

The basses im looking at are theese:

Spector NS2000/Q4 (£199)
Spector ReBop 4 (£329 i think)
Schecter Hellraiser C-5 (£479)
Schecter Stiletto Custom-5 (£379 i think)

Im not really wanting to go above £300 if i can, but for the right bass i could go above that if needed.

Thanks for any options and opinions.

[ghoti]

The advantages tend to be: More low end. Also, often a different timbre in the other notes because often a longer scale (35" vs. 34"). And more low end. You also have the option of doing notes and patterns on different parts of the board than with a 4-string. And more low end. And if your hands are big, you might find the neck of a 5+ string more comfortable to use. And did I say...more low end?

[Emiliano]

extended range is always the first advantage that comes to mind when considering 5+ strings on a bass guitar, for example i play in a band where all the guitars are tuned half step down so i'd have some problem with just a 4 strings, then sometimes they drop do Db and i found it very difficult to do on a 4 string, then again, i'm used to play on a sevenstring guitar, so it doesn't bother me to play on a larger neck, and i'm using an ibanez sr505 so it's not so big.

one of the things that you'll have to keep your eyes on if you get a 5 string
is that the 5th string sound crappy on some basses, so 35" scale is a good bet

my bass is 34" scale and i'm very happy about the way it plays in the low registers, it has a mahogany body, and it's a versatile sound, i can get from middy rock sounds, to scooped out newishmetal sound easily with the onboard eq


so, for me 5 is right :P ( 6 is great if you miss guitar )

[ESPImperium]

Thanks, at the moment i think im gonna look for a good 4 string, altho if i walk in to the shop and see a good enough 5 string i think the 5er will be bougt over the 4 string, but im gonna have to A/B them in the shop.

Altho the Spector NS2000/Q4 i tried last Saturday was a simply amazing bass that sounded awsome thru the Trace Elliot that i was playing thru, so of that one is still there im gonna get that one.

Altho, im gonna have to look at getting a couple of effects for the bass, a chorus and a distortion, altho when i played before with the RBX170, i found the Boss MT-2 pretty unbeatable for distortion on a bass so i may have a re-buy there. I want to get that Cliff Burton Distortion into a Wah tone back again, with a MT-2 and the Dunlop 535Q wah i have.

All id need is a good chorus as well for bass.

[God Hand Apostle]

I almost walked out of GuitarCenter with an impulse purchased Stiletto Studio 5 string. Was hard to turn it down. Super nice bass for the price point.

[ghoti]

Originally Posted by God Hand Apostle

I almost walked out of GuitarCenter with an impulse purchased Stiletto Studio 5 string. Was hard to turn it down. Super nice bass for the price point.

Schecter Stiletto's are awesome. There's the occasional mediocre one, but most have great construction and sound.

I played a neck-thru Schecter Stiletto 6...only reason I didn't get it was that I already had an active fretted 6 with 3-band eq that was much cheaper. If it had been a fretless, I would have probably gotten it anyway...but nobody but custom shops and rondo makes fretless 6's.