Painy

Well someone is trying to cash in already! https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F182974300694

Well today I got a DVD and a couple of books. I wasn't complaining though as a couple of weeks ago I'd already had an early present from Mrs Painy - one of the bargain Gibson EB 2013 5 string basses from GAK .

To be entirely fair to Thomann here, they can only update you on tracking as regularly and accurately as the courier updates them. Can't blame you for feeling a touch impatient about the arrival of a new toy though .

According to Google you're about 3804 miles out .

Gigged mine for the first time last night. Very different sound and feel to my Squier VM P5 which is pretty much my perfect bass (don't care that it's an 'affordable' bass - it sounds and plays perfectly for me) but I got this for a bit of variation so that's actually a plus. I definitely find the slightly less chunky neck and more radiused board of the precision easier to play and it is much brighter, aggressive and more articulate than the Gibson which is generally what I want for most of what we play. For a fair few songs in our set though, that brightness can just be too harsh and what's needed is a bit more muscle. This fulfills that role brilliantly! Much darker with fuller lows than the precision but also a big big low mid punch. I actually found that I preferred it with the neck pickup coil-tapped though as that added a touch more clarity to the notes without losing the character of the bass. While I do find the precision neck a bit more comfortable personally, playability is still very good and I really enjoyed using it at the gig. I even like the way it looks .

Looks like a full gigging rig for an elf.

Well from the sound of things I got lucky with mine and got a good one - haven't found any of the issues any of you guys have reported. I'm still really pleased with it having spent a bit more time playing it now too but I'll be putting my preferred strings on it when they arrive (hopefully today) and see if that makes it even better.

Crazy aren't they! May I recommend the "Leech" passive volume attenuate pedal available for about £26 from eBay .

Yup, definitely included for £399!

Well I've now had a chance to plug it into my gigging rig. First thing I noticed was that the pickups are seriously hot. This is one of those passive basses that kicks out more than most active basses. Fortunately I have a passive volume attenuator pedal on my board that I used to use to keep the Sterling SUB Ray 5 I just got rid of under control so I was able to balance the volume with my precision easily enough to compare them (and to allow me to easily change between basses at gigs- Secondly it is very much in Thunderbird territory tonally with both humbuckers on full as you might expect but with the coils tapped I didn't think it sounded like a jazz at all - more a different flavour of the same sound rather than something completely different altogether. I already have a jazz anyway so for me this is a good thing. This is also apparently a "tuned" coil tap so neither the output nor the low end drop out in comparison to the full humbuckers. I'm now really looking forward to the real test of gigging it next weekend but at the moment it's feeling like an absolute bargain !

It's actually really good - probably one of the best I've played actually and I've been a five string player exclusively for about 18 years. Very balanced with the other strings - not flubby at all!

Surprisingly comfortable actually. I just sold a Sterling SUB Ray 5 because the nut width was too narrow for me and that was 45mm but this is much more comfortable in my hands. It's not all that deep front to back but that's because the back of the neck is flattened so it still feels quite chunky (in a nice way) if you wrap your thumb over the top. The flat back also means that it feels really good to anchor your thumb in the middle of the back of the neck too though.

Definitely pretty punchy. I'd say more t-bird than j but the big pole prices give it more top end bite and definition (although not as brittle as say a stingray) One thing I've noticed is how nice it sounds with the tone rolled off. Normally I really don't like the muffled, woolly sound it gives on most basses but on this out stays really nice and clear - just thicker and smoother.

Just measured it at 43mm.

Well mine arrived early this morning and after a quick set up (I like a super-low action) it plays really nicely, sounds great and I can't see anything to pick fault with finish wise. If I'd paid GAK's original (and already really cheap) price of £529 I'd have been thrilled with the bass I've just received. At £399..... Well, if you like the looks and specs and you have the funds available, if say definitely grab one while you can!

Mine is arriving in the morning The included hard case would normally set you back a third of this on its own!

I just have got one for this kind of money (thanks Mrs Painy for the early Christmas present)! No one home to take delivery tomorrow though so it's being delivered Saturday morning. Edit: Just £399 including fitted hardcase and next day delivery for a USA built Gibson in case you're wondering!

The fiver is very much on my radar at the moment (I'm really liking the natural ash finish) but would mean distance buying with no chance to try first. Don't suppose there's any chance you could let me know string spacing and nut width and also whether you'd describe the neck as shallow or deep front to back? Would be much appreciated .

I saw this come up on facebook. My first thought was that the price didn't quite seem to fit. If this is a quality bass then with all those features then it should probably cost a lot more so more likely to be a cheap bass with lots of bells and whistles in which case probably overpriced. Just my gut feeling mind you.

Alright, you win! I'd not seen that picture before. I stand by the rest of my statement though

Fair enough (although I've only ever seen footage of JE using one with the "cone" headstock and I'd say that the idea of a signature bass is specifically to represent the particular variant of an instrument associated with the artist).

The one I really don't get is the John Entwistle Spider signature from Dean. He didn't even play a Dean for goodness sake! It's a copy of a bass he used that was actually made by a different company entirely (but with the dirty great fugly Dean headstock grafted crudely onto the end of it). Not only that but it was released posthumously when the man himself had no say in it. He even already had his signature Buzzard bass while he was alive thank you very much! More a case of a signature bass that isn't deserving of the artist rather than an artist that doesn't deserve a signature bass though.

Yup, Had an Aguilar AG500 which, while not as light add the current crop of class D lightweight heads (class "T" so still a switching amplifier like class D but with a toroidal transformer) was still much lighter than any amp has its owned before. Beautiful, clear, sweet tone..... but. The music I play doesn't call for much in the way of subtlety - I'm looking more to pin the punters to the back wall and rearrange their internal organs! I now have a Trace Elliot AH350SMX and an Ashdown ABM500 (which is my currently main amp) and I'm more than happy to have traded the surgical scalpel of the Aguilar for these two sledgehammers (and they can still both be carried comfortably from the car into a venue one handed).