# Active 35" 5-strings, any suggestions?



## DaveCarter (Sep 11, 2010)

Ive been researching these for a while, Ive pretty much made my mind up but I thought Id see if anyone here had any better suggestions before I order. Im on a very low budget of £300-400, but Im set on the 35" scale since Im going to be taking this down to G#.

In my research I discovered the brand Traben, they seem to do great basses at low prices, I was going to buy a Chaos 5, or perhaps the Chaos Attack 5 since that has better pickups and preamp. Nowhere seems to stock it, but someone I spoke to at a dealer recommended the John Moyer Standard 5, as thats the same spec, but with the decent pickups and preamp of the Chaos Attack 5. It's actually cheaper than the standard Chaos 5 though, probably because it doesnt have a maple top, which doesnt bother me because this is being used solely for recording.

So before I go ahead with this, does anyone know of any other budget brands that are worth looking at?

Thanks!


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## bostjan (Sep 11, 2010)

Dean Edge 5.


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## josh pelican (Sep 11, 2010)

For that kind of quid, I'd go for Ibanaz, Yamaha (RBX), a used Spector (ReBop, Legend...). There are also some nice ESP basses you can find in that price range, especially used, but if I were to buy another five string in that price range, it'd be Ibanez or Spector. Any of these will destroy Dean and Traben (to me anyway).

For what it's worth, my second bass was a Yamaha RBX765A. I got this many years ago and it's always seen a lot of play (practice, shows, recording, etc.). I would never get rid of this bass. Some Yamaha basses are just completely underrated in my books and a lot of people on TalkBass would agree with me.


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## Steve08 (Sep 11, 2010)

Pretty sure most Schecter 5 strings are 35" and active and would mostly fit in your price range. The Studio one has an extra EQ band but that's approx. 600 GBP.

Buy Schecter Omen-5 5-String Bass Guitar | 5 String Electric Bass | Musician's Friend


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## Metal Ken (Sep 11, 2010)

Dunno if it counts, but the Ibanez BTB series has some cool shit. I just won a BTB 515E for about two and quarter USD+ shipping off ebay. You can find them cheaper if you just keep an eye out.


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## DaveCarter (Sep 11, 2010)

Yup these are all brands Ive looked through: Ibanez were the first brand I checked, the only series they do that is 35" is the BTB series and they start at around £650 here. I also checked Yamaha, same story really, nothing 35" in my price range. I had someone else recently recommend the Edge 5, I checked it out but theyre not active, and have own-brand pickups so I reckon Id get a better sound out of the Traben (Rockfield pickups and preamp). Secondhand Spector is an option, but Im looking to buy fairly soon and there's nothing like that on ebay at the moment, I saw a 35" Yamaha on there recently but it went out of my price range (Ive got a fair amount of other guitars and software to buy at the moment so this is a lesser priority, absolute max budget is £400). I saw the Schecter basses but the reason Ive chosen to avoid them is the necks: fairly hefty in terms of thickness and theyre all painted necks, which is a real pet hate of mine. Smooth maple FTW  Im generally not a fan of Schecter, though Im partly judging brands like Dean and Schecter based on my current knowledge of their guitars i.e. general build quality, reputation etc., so feel free to correct me if either of these companies have basses much better than their guitars.

For what its worth I also checked ESP and their F series is 35" and starts around the £300 mark, but I still prefer the Traben though: dual humbuckers, 3-band active EQ, string-thru bridge (Traben's own internal/external bridge system, looks very very cool), and the model I like is black with black hardware, so I like the look of it much more than the Dean...minor detail though 

Cheers for the input guys, feel free to keep the opinions coming, I want to be sure Ive gone through every possible option here!


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## MaKo´s Tethan (Sep 11, 2010)

+1 for Schecter.


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## josh pelican (Sep 11, 2010)

+1 for Ibanez, Yamaha, and Spector.


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## signalgrey (Sep 11, 2010)

BTB hands down. Its the only Ibanez bass i like.


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## MetalGravy (Sep 11, 2010)

on BTB, though, be wary that it has a pretty wide neck; expecially after the 12th fret.


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## josh pelican (Sep 11, 2010)

BTBs are monsters in all aspects. Tone, width, weight, etc

Awesome basses nevertheless.


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## Andii (Sep 12, 2010)

I didn't post about the BTB earlier because of the price range you mentioned, but whatever more that you would pay for one would be worth it of you plan on using whatever you get indefinitely. If there are some on the used market near you, it could possibly be about the same amount of money or less.

I assure you that the Bart MKIIs in them will never leave you wondering what could have been. If it doesn't sound good, it will be because of what you're plugged into.


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## Rook (Sep 12, 2010)

Warwick stuff absolutely crashes in value second hand. I'd bet if you were patient, you could get a German Warwick Corvette $$ for not a lot more than you want to spend. People tend not to believe just how worthless these things are second hand, so you often see auctions with buy it now prices higher, but they never sell. If I were to sell mine I'd be happy with 400-450. I've used it for silly low tunings with a .145 gauge on it, sounded incredible on the bridge humbucker.

You're gunna need some serious power and a 15 or 18 cab to get those lows out!

See also Music Man SUB basses, made in the USA and go for about what you want to spend. A little more common as well. Try basschat.co.uk maybe?


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## Rook (Sep 12, 2010)

Just a note, the two I suggested are 34" basses, I honestly don't think the one inch is going to make a huge difference. for that kind of serious low end, it's gunna be seriously floppy. We served someone in our shop recently who took a fender down to G, we put a .175 gauge on the low G and it was still rattling around and that was a long scale bass (JP-90 or something?). The SUB and $$ will be much better than any Ibanez or Schecter bass IMHO.


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## TemjinStrife (Sep 12, 2010)

Schecter Stiletto Studio used.
Ibanez BTB used.


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## Andii (Sep 12, 2010)

Fun111 said:


> Just a note, the two I suggested are 34" basses, I honestly don't think the one inch is going to make a huge difference.


I've owned both scales, it makes a huge difference. The extra inch is just what a bass needs to make it work great any lower than B.


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## bostjan (Sep 12, 2010)

Weird, I have a Dean Edge 6 and it's got active electronics.

If you can get a 35" Ibanez in your price range, that's definitely a good move. I'm pretty sure the Dean will be well within your range.


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## DaveCarter (Sep 12, 2010)

Andii said:


> I've owned both scales, it makes a huge difference. The extra inch is just what a bass needs to make it work great any lower than B.



Yup, I did my homework on this over the last month and everyone Ive found who tunes as low as G# said that 35" is the minimum necessary to make it happen, thats why Im set on buying a 35", ideally with humbuckers, active if possible. I'll keep my eyes open for a used BTB but Im basically limited to whatever appears on ebay in the next couple of months, which at the moment is none. Cheers for the heads up on secondhand Warwick's, Id thought theyd be too expensive for me but I'll start including them in my searches.

Thanks to everyone, pos rep all round!


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## Hyke666 (Sep 14, 2010)

i bought a 5 string schecter hellraiser bass and it was the best i ever bought, plays really well and sounds even better


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## EliNoPants (Sep 14, 2010)

the last time i tried out a buncha different basses, the Traben Chaos Core 5 absolutely slew anything else i touched until i got to the $3k+ Warwick, their whole "bigger bridge, bigger tone" thing is no bullshit, i mean, it wasn't even a fair comparison to the other basses in tone, though the string spacing was kind of wide for my taste, but the tone was killer enough that i'm aiming to get one in the near future

also, think about any ESP or Schecter endorser who plays bass, do they have a tone you want? because i've NEVER heard one that sounds good, live or album...they play phenomenally and have an obscenely comfortable neck, but the tone just hasn't got even a single testicle to it


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## TemjinStrife (Sep 14, 2010)

EliNoPants said:


> the last time i tried out a buncha different basses, the Traben Chaos Core 5 absolutely slew anything else i touched until i got to the $3k+ Warwick, their whole "bigger bridge, bigger tone" thing is no bullshit, i mean, it wasn't even a fair comparison to the other basses in tone, though the string spacing was kind of wide for my taste, but the tone was killer enough that i'm aiming to get one in the near future
> 
> also, think about any ESP or Schecter endorser who plays bass, do they have a tone you want? because i've NEVER heard one that sounds good, live or album...they play phenomenally and have an obscenely comfortable neck, but the tone just hasn't got even a single testicle to it



Really? I found the Trabens to be very similar in sound to my Schecter since they often use the same pickups and EQ. If anything, the Traben was a bit "clickier" which I don't really like. 

I will say, I have an exceptional Schecter though. That bass is just insanely resonant and playable.


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## DaveCarter (Sep 15, 2010)

I dont think Schecter use the same pickups as Traben, every Scheter bass Ive looked at comes with either EMG HZ's or Schecter's own, and every Traben Ive seen comes with either Traben's own or Rockfield pickups.

Good to hear some more positive feedback on the Traben Chaos Core, the John Moyer sig that I like has the same pickups (Rockfield humbuckers), is also 35", active EQ, same bridge, its a very similar bass.


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## meisterjager (Sep 15, 2010)

Cort Curbow, maybe?

I saw one of those Traben's in a shop and it looked mean!


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## Hyke666 (Sep 15, 2010)

EliNoPants said:


> the last time i tried out a buncha different basses, the Traben Chaos Core 5 absolutely slew anything else i touched until i got to the $3k+ Warwick, their whole "bigger bridge, bigger tone" thing is no bullshit, i mean, it wasn't even a fair comparison to the other basses in tone, though the string spacing was kind of wide for my taste, but the tone was killer enough that i'm aiming to get one in the near future
> 
> also, think about any ESP or Schecter endorser who plays bass, do they have a tone you want? because i've NEVER heard one that sounds good, live or album...they play phenomenally and have an obscenely comfortable neck, but the tone just hasn't got even a single testicle to it



if somebody gets endorsed does not nessesery mean that they use that bass on a recording, i have a few basses, dean,yamaha,washburn,schecter,ibanez and use only my washburn and schecter on recordings. taste in sound is obviously different per person, but i love the sound of the schecter


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## DaveCarter (Sep 15, 2010)

meisterjager said:


> Cort Curbow, maybe?
> 
> I saw one of those Traben's in a shop and it looked mean!



Oooooo a shop near us perhaps?? 

Checked for Cort Curtbow, most are around the £460 mark, and according to the site its only a 34" scale.


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## TemjinStrife (Sep 15, 2010)

Also, I play the Schecter, a Ric, or my Dingwall live, but I find myself usually recording with an ancient P-bass that weighs over a dozen pounds


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## Winspear (Sep 16, 2010)

+1 for Dean Edge 5. I have the Edge 6 and if the 5 is similar, I highly recommend it.
Active electronics - not active pickups. But it's the best sounding and feeling bass I've ever played. 
My friend has the entry level 5 string ESP F. I was confused by the fact it has the same scale length, materials, and string gauge, but feels and sounds rattly (I set up both instruments).
The Dean Edge is amazing to me. So *SOLID!* I noticed on the site a while ago they were listed as 34" which was strange. I don't know if that's been corrected now (or if they changed the basses???) Might want to check up on it, but I'd get one (if it still is 35")


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## DaveCarter (Oct 4, 2010)

Update: Ive gone through all the options in my price range, and been checking up on ebay to see if there's anything suitable on there. As far as spec and design went, there was nothing that I liked as much as the Traben John Moyer 5. I had a slight panic moment today though when I went to check something on the Traben site, only to find that all the John Moyer basses have disappeared from the site, as he's no longer endorsed with them! He's with MusicMan playing Stingrays now, so fair play to him. Since it was the bass that I liked the most, and it looks like it wont be available for much longer, I didnt want to spend any more time waiting for something higher-end to come up on ebay, so I took the opportunity while it was there and ordered the Traben John Moyer 5. It'll be here next week, I'll do a NBD when it arrives 

For string guage, Im taking her down to Drop G#, which is why I wanted something with the 35" scale. But Im also going to be playing some stuff in standard BEADG, so I cant go too heavy. I want good tension at G#, so Im planning on going for some D'Addario Pro Steels, .050-.105 + .145, that should hopefully do the job. Mmmmmm, stainless steel G#....cant wait to play this when it arrives!!


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