B Y SCOTT MALANDRONE ine qua non. It means “The cased 13 of the most affordable basses on the Finest.” That Latin phrase could racks. This time, though, we were out to be used to describe a bass built find the best 5-string money can buy. (We are of the most lavish woods. It gluttons for punishment!) The Ultimate 5-String could also define one with extra- Shootout was born. rich tone. Or it could describe a This roundup’s a bit different, though. Since 5-string with an astounding B. it’s hard to put a dollar value on perfection, we What’s your description of the didn’t set a maximum list price for the basses consummate axe? Have you found your S.Q.N. to be submitted. We soon had more than 50 instrument? 5-strings filling every corner of our offices. But Here at BASS PLAYER, we’re always on the we didn’t want companies to simply send their lookout for the finest instruments available on most expensive models (we’d be considering the market. They don’t have to be the most value, too), so we set up three price categories: expensive ones, though; our Shootout of UNDER $1,500; $1,500 TO $2,499; and $2,500 4-Strings Under $500 (September ’96) show- &UP. Not every bass we received would be PHOTOGRAPHS BY PAUL HAGGARD 38 BASS PLAYER ? JANUARY 1997 We put over 50 basses through the ringer— here’s the scoop on the 21 best. a time. A high fret can mean string buzz—and THE ULTIMATE 5-STRING continued poor tone. We also scrutinized other areas of fretwork, included, though—only those with the best blend including the shape of the crown, bevel and pol- of tone, playability, uniqueness, and craftsman- ish of the ends, and depth of the kerf (slot). We ship. We were after the cream of the crop, which wanted to see shiny tops and ends free of filing is why you’ll see lots of 4’s and 5’s in the scores. chatter marks. We expected all of them to be (It’s important to note not all of the invited tightly seated against the fingerboard. (A .005" builders—including a couple of major manufac- feeler gauge found many gaps.) We also kept an turers—were able to get a bass to us in time.) eye out for kerfs that weren’t filled on the sides Pass the lab coat. Our testing crite- of the neck, which might allow dirt or moisture ria involved first checking each instrument for (sweat) to accumulate underneath the frets. While attention to detail, acoustic tone, playability, and some of these areas are more cosmetic than struc- amplified tone. This initial round of prodding tural, a bass with superior fretwork scored high revealed some basses with shoddy workmanship, in all of these categories. weird noises that couldn’t be cured, or B strings For playability, we looked at the shape of the that lacked character or a feel consistent with the neck and the overall quality of the setup. String other strings. By the time we were done, we had height was checked by clamping the strings at the narrowed the field to about 30 instruments. first fret with a capo and measuring the height at Our semi-finalists were then put under the the 12th fret. With the capo still on, the relief was microscope. Dimensions such as body thickness, checked at the 7th fret with the string depressed nut width, fret height, and string gauges were at either the 15th or last fret. Unless noted, each measured with a dial caliper that reads in thou- bass had a medium setup in the 3/32" (B) to 5/64" sandths of an inch. Neck joints, which should (G) range. always be as tight as possible for maximum tone We also checked out the electronics for proper transfer into the body and tuning stability, were shielding, the effectiveness of the EQ, and lack of probed with .005"–.030" feeler gauges. (For the 60-cycle hum when the pickups were soloed or record, our old neck-joint testing device, a busi- fingers were lifted from the strings. If the bass was ness card, averages .011".) We used a ruler with active, we looked for a battery compartment, a 1/32" and 1/64" increments to measure the string cavity cover that was easy to open, or an active- spacing at the bridge and nut. We also checked bypass switch to get you through the gig should the truss rod’s ability to straighten the neck or the battery fail. add relief when tightened or loosened. (Neck To critique each axe’s tone, we trucked a load straightness was checked with a precision-ground of amps into our Soundlab. Our backline included 24" straightedge.) Fingerboard radius—the a Demeter VTBP-201DBL tube preamp, a Hafler amount of curvature underneath the strings— Pro 5000 power amp, and Eden 410XLT 4x10 and was measured with a radius gauge. A low radius SWR Triad enclosures. Surrounding this rig were measurement means the fingerboard has more an SWR SM-900 head and Goliath III 4x10, a curvature; a high number means it’s flatter. (Vin- Trace Elliot AH400SMX head with a 1048H 4x10, tage Fenders have a radius of 7q"; many builders a Gallien-Krueger 2000RB driving either an Acme today prefer 12".) An even more important test Low B cabinet or a Hartke 4.5 XL 4x10, and a involved checking the fingerboard for high frets. Glockenklang Heart Core head with a Tedd cab- With the fingerboard adjusted as straight as pos- inet. Additional amplification brought in by our sible, we used a precision-ground fret-height tester pool (see below) included two Alembic F- gauge (accurate to .0005") to check three frets at 1X preamps, a Peavey DPC 1000 power amp, and 40 BASS PLAYER ? JANUARY 1997 a Genz Benz 410T 4x10. We plugged in with Mon- list price. (You can usually buy these basses at a ster Cable Monster Bass cords and tuned up with discount, depending on the dealer.) “Direct” a Korg DTR1 Pro tuner. means the price you see is what you’ll pay. Some The low-B posse. To help with our direct-sale basses come with a money-back evaluations, we invited a few experienced 5-string guarantee; contact the manufacturers to find players to come in for a low-B-athon. By the time out more. they were done, each instrument had gotten a fair Ready to go low? Here, arranged in price shake in the hands of several bassists. order, are the 21 finalists. We then put each axe through one final test. Since the average bass can get buried under- neath a blazing guitar amp’s wall of distorted Under $1,500 midrange faster than you can say “parametric,” we set up a loud Marshall half-stack in our stu- Carvin LB75 dio and fed it power chords. This test quickly Made in U.S.A had several basses saying “uncle”—and if an axe Direct price: $1,099 as tested ($699 base price) couldn’t cut it here, what would it sound like Weight: 8 lbs, 7 oz when drums and vocals are added? In fairness, Scale length: 34" 5-Strings Under though, we should point out that some of these Width @ nut: 13" $1,500 (L to R): instruments aren’t designed with this type of String spacing @ bridge: 3" Carvin LB75, Fender extreme volume in mind; this is noted where Fingerboard radius: 14w" Jazz Bass Deluxe V, appropriate. Fret size: .094" (W) x .045" (H) Hamer 2TEK A few words about pricing. Strings: Carvin, nickel, .045"–.128" w/taper- CruiseBass 5, and “Retail” refers to the manufacturer’s suggested wound B Tobias Growler 5 JANUARY 1997 ? BASS PLAYER 41 relief without tension and enough movement in “ping” through the speakers. A flip-top com- THE ULTIMATE 5-STRING continued either direction to compensate for light- or heavy- partment houses a 9-volt battery, while three cir- gauge strings. The solid-black ebony fingerboard cuit boards with PC-mounted pots sit in a is fitted with 24 medium-jumbo frets with prop- copper-foil-shielded control cavity. There is, 1 2 3 4 5 erly polished ends and crowns. A .006" feeler gauge however, a small amount of ground noise when Construction: IIIIIIIIIIIIII slid underneath the edges of several frets on our you remove your fingers from the strings, and Electronics: IIIIIIIIIIIIII test bass, though, which was confirmed with the the pickups emit a slight amount of 60-cycle hum. Playability: IIIIIIIIIIIIII fret-height test tool—and a string buzz here and (Carvin notes, “The live sounding pickups and Sound: IIIIIIIIIIIIII there. (To remedy this problem, Carvin says 60-cycle hum may stem from one related problem B String: IIIIIIIIIIIIII they’ve added an additional quality-control check on the test instrument, and any such problem Value: IIIIIIIIIIIIII just after the frets are pressed into the finger- would be immediately fixed under warranty. We’ve board.) shipped thousands of these basses with the same Bottom Line: Quite a deal for a neck-through- In the electronics department, two Carvin electronics without any customer complaints.”) body 5. H50N stacked J-style humbucking pickups are Plugged in, the Carvin has a very rich tone placed in approximate J-Bass position, but the that’s fingerstyle friendly. Its koa-and-oil con- THE LOW DIRECT PRICE OF CARVIN’S LB75 MAKES IT neck pickup is q" closer to the bridge.