fretmeister

£100 more than the Boss. Mmmmmmm

I had the EMG one. It was very good, but not very ray like. It was smoother, less aggressive in the treble. If you want real Ray tone it’s probably not the one to go for.

I had forgotten about the white nylons. I had a set on my old Marleaux for a while, and even put some on a Zon Hyperbass. Very good strings. Quite round sounding but with very low finger noise. If I can’t get the D’addario for a while I might get the white nylons. Got to have some spares in the house!

I mod 90% of my instruments, including signature models. But for some reason that Harris P looks perfect to me and I'd leave it alone. If you want another PJ then you could build a parts bass really cheaply - it is only a P after all. Routing - especially visible routing that cannot be covered by a scratchplate - will definitely kill the used value. Maybe by as much as 50% of the usual used price. Just because it has an extra pickup in it doesn't mean it will go up, and it's not like you can leave the hole empty if you well, that would look worse. Before I got the router out I'd want to make sure that the bass was perfect in every other way before I took that sort of hit.

Could be - the 5 string is a very new model. Probably take a while for me to get an answer from D'addario and Ibanez with the current lockdown situation. The B feels and sounds identical to the others so I would be surprised. I've used D'addario for at least 20 years so I'm hoping I would be able to spot a difference!

A slight annoyance... the medium scale D’addario B string. Can’t seem to find them for sale anywhere. Not on the d’addario website either. The specs say it’s a set of nickel 170M being the medium 4 string set with an extra 0.130. It’s definitely a medium scale B as the speaking length gets just over the nut. So cannot be a long scale. Ive emailed D’addario and Ibanez and I’ll update if I get a reply. They sound great on the bass. Warwick do a low B medium steel and so do Dunlop, but I’d prefer to stick with the D’addarios nickels. Dunlop also do what I think is the only 5 string set of medium scale flats.

Nice to see some slap on a P bass as well. Very different sound to a J, and to my ears, much nicer. More 70s disco!

The pickups seem fine. I think you'd be better off upgrading the preamp instead.

It does look cool. But being a luddite I think I prefer the Boss EQ-200 for ease of use and old fashioned slidey things!

The 802 sounded amazing there. But I see US prices are about $2500 so it will probably be about the same in pounds, or maybe £2000 ish. I'd never get away with that.

I've got the 10 inch cone cabs. But I'd like to get something from the other range just to see what it is like with my existing amps.

I don't think I've ever tried a 5 string Soundgear so I can't help with that. It's a tiny bit wider than my 2005 Stingray 5, and a little thinner front to back. I like a medium ish neck and sometimes my Ray is a bit big and hard work depending on the tunes. The Ibby seems more comfy - but some of that might be the smaller stretches with the shorter scale. I should probably mention that I've managed to do zero work this afternoon as I've just been playing the damn thing. And I've gone into the pedal trunk to see what I can off load to get the other colour!

You and your child sized 16.5mm!

Ok... I'll help. Negatives. 1) No bag or case 2) Only 2 colour choices 3) Err..... I'm running out here!

I've had 30 mins with it so far. First impressions - it's remarkable, and not just for the money. The Low B is full and fat and not twangy. It's genuinely up there with my Stingray - and it has the same D'addario strings. I haven't set the action up to my usual as yet but out of the box it plays very well. Will only need a tweak or 2. The neck profile is lovely. 18mm bridge spacing (I find the Ray at 17.5mm a touch tight. Amazing what another 0.5mm can do!) and a nice C shape on the profile. The Flat tone is very balanced and nicely away from the over-bright trend that seems to afflict many modern basses. The EQ is ok. Bit noisy with the treble boosted to max, but 1) it's a cheap bass, and 2) that's not my sort of sound anyway. I would say that the bass is good enough for an EQ upgrade in future if I feel like it. However I tend to set my sound up on the Amp and then only tweak on the bass for the room if needed - and most of the time that will be to cut rather than boost. P pickup alone is very much like a P except I think the pickup is a little bit closer to the neck (difficult to assess on a different scale) so it's quite deep. Similarly the J seems further from the bridge so it's doesn't quite bark as much as a J on my other basses but it's a good sound, if not quite full Jaco. So far I've tried it with my Helix using a "straight into the desk" sort of DI sound with compression, then into Yamaha HS7 studio monitors. I'll try my real amps and other amp patches later. And for those of us afflicted with age and injury... it is 6.9lb - that's nearly 2lb lighter than my PJ-Ray 5. I have a youtube playlist of the tunes my Jazz band plays so I'll be cranking it after work for a proper run as close to being in the mix as I can. I am now seriously considering getting the other colour as well!!! @therealting

That's the V2 I was under the impression it was fixed on some V1 as well. Is that not the case?

I'm pretty sure they changed that Mine's a very early one, but I'm sure I read it was sorted out later. Don't know how long or what serial numbers though. Doug is on facebook and IG a lot and is responsive. I bet he could tell you.

I swap between 4 and 5 but mainly use 4 at the moment. No problems swapping, but I don't like to change basses on a gig. If the set needs a 5 then I'll play the whole thing on the 5. I like to minimise changes at a gig - do the soundcheck and then stick with what I've got. The pickups in my 5 are very different to my 4s and I'd need different EQ set ups. And I can't be bothered with that!

What dilemma? Buy another one so you can have both!

I always take one. There's always a chance something will go wrong and I do not want to be the reason why we can't play or that we sound wrong. I view it as being disrespectful to the other performers and the audience, even more so if they have paid. I also always take a back up amp or if the PA is good enough a good di / preamp.

This was always at least part of the right answer.

Definitely. It's always the shortest bit across the wood ignoring the angle.

My word! The Mezzo 5 is supposed to be about 7.5 lb! So the EHB is lighter again. I think the nut widths are all the same at 45mm, but of course with 18mm spacing rather than 16.5mm it's going to splay out faster. My current 5 is a Stingray and the bridge spacing is 17.5mm and I find that a tiny bit cramped so I'm hoping for good things.

it will get 1180 louder. Glad I could help!

When you get a mo, can you weigh it? I'm very curious about these - especially lightweight 5 strings. As it happens I have an incoming Mezzo 5 (Medium scale) and from what I gather from the specs the neck profile is the same even with the same 18mm bridge spacing, just the scale is different. If I like the Mezzo5, and the EHB is light enough I can foresee a purchase!