The ESP Guitar Company

Thanks, i have tried the SR500 un amplified and it felt good, but it felt kinda fake in a way. I dont mind a NTB or a Bolt or set neck, i am not fussy about neck joints, as long as it plays good.

Im sorta aiming for a Steve Harris crossed with John Myung sorta tone, with a little extra low end sorta thing. I dont mind EMG HZ bass pickups, as long as they have a active pre amp on board.

Id be wanting to play thru my Pod X3 for my bass rig, maybes getting a Boss MT-2 again for distortion ala Bellz intro.

The thing is, i would go for a SRX if i could upgrade to EMGs eventually, im not really worried if id need to upgrade it in the long run as well.

I dont really mind a 34" scale. If i could get a B-405 for about £500-550 id totally get one. The ones i was looking at was the first 2 Fenders, the Big Block and the Active P Special. Altho i feel i may just eventually get a Yamaha RBX375 or a Schecter.

Also what are the diffrences of a 4 and a 5 string???

Thats what i thought. Id probably be playing the 5th string a bit, but not too much, as i have seen Rob Trujillo and John Myung use the 5th string as a suporting implement for their thumb. I now think i may have to get out there and try some, even tho i havnt played bass in arround 2-2.5 years now.

I feel that it will give me that kick in the ass guitar wise as well. I need something that good enough and cheap enough for what i want.

And for effects, all ill be running or getting for a bass rig is:

BASS > TU-2 > LMB-3 > CEB-5 > MT-2 > Wah > Pod X3/Amp

I dont really mind a 35" scale, if i get a 5er ill probably keep it in BEADG tuning, thats the reason i knida want a bridge like the ESP BB bridge that can do Srting Thru and Top Load strings, as the EDG id have as top load and the BE strings id want STB to have more tension.

If the Ibanez SRX can do that id probably get one of them as they look bets band for the buck, if not i may have to look into ESPs.

Rex - How do you rate the Agathis on your Fs??? I dont really mind Agathis on basses, on guitars on the other hand is another matter, i may be persuaded to get a B-255 and upgrade the pickups to a EMG 40DC/40P config.

Thanks for the review Rex. Thats Agathis out. I was looking at the Ds, but i was also looking at the G&L 1500/1505 and L2000/2500 as well, they come well recommended over on the HCBF, I may start to look into some Spectors as well, especially the Ledgend 4/5s and the Q4/5s, and see if i can get a Euro ReBop for cheap as well.

I was looking at the Surveyor 400, but the UK price is arround £749 whitch is a little too much for me. If i can get that B-2005 or that DF-404 i will, but i was looking today at the Ibanez ATK300 and the BTB405. However if ESP made the C basses again id have one as they look to have the specs i want.

$850 is about £425, take on the 16-20% import taxes and shipping it would be as dear as getting a Surveyor from the UK.

I do want to try before i buy tho as i want the right choice first off, no screw ups.

Also what do you guys recommend as a "cheap" (Arround £100) practice amp, i was thinking about a Fender Rumble 25 1X10 at £109, as eventually id want a decent small amp, not too much wattage, say a maximum of arround 25-30W.

As for Ampeg, id love to, but they are pricy. I was looking for something about 25w tops with a 1X10 speaker, i was even thinking about a Ashdown Five Fifteen, but they are fucking huge in size, i even have thoght about the new Marshall bass amps as well. The Line 6 Lowdown 1X10 75W also intregues me as its a small and powerful package, but they are like £179, id probably streach to that, but id probably have to ditch a few things i want in the effects line for bass.

The effects i want are:
Boss TU-2 (One for my bass rig, one for my Guitar rig)
MXR Blowtorch (For distortion)
Dunlop 535Q Wah (Already got so i dont have to encur that cost as i want a new wah for my guitar rig)
Boss CEB-3 Chorus
Im not shure about a compressor, i guess a good amp hill have one of theese on it anyways.

Bass wize, im gonna try alot of Ibanez basses as well as Spectors, maybes settle for a Q5 Pro, or a Ledgend 5 but the fact the Schecters look so good and have such goos specs for the money i may just settle for one of those.

Rex, id probs go with the Line 6 as its the smallest in size, the others look massive.

i think many of your bass choices are similar to mine,
i don't like EC shape for a bass, i prefer Pbass over Jbass.

here's basses i own or did own and my tiny-value of comments:

- ibanez soundgear basses, i love them!
they have a smaller-width neck than a fender P-bass, which some people like or dislike the wider or less-wide neck;
the fender Jbass also has a thinner-width neck than a Pbass.
Ibz SR's are very well balanced, not neckheavy.

- fender jbass, i just got tired of the shape, and annoyed at the asymmetry of the bottom which means i can't just lean it
up against an amp or couch, etc., this is just an irritation to me.

- fender pbass, i love these and finally got another that i will now keep, a '57 RI one. these do have a wide-ish neck compared to "modern" basses like the SR's, so see which you like for play/feel.

- LTD Forest shape basses, i love these! these have a widerish neck like a fender Pbass, so they don't feel smallish like an Ibanez SR. I've owned F-404, F-405 (bolt on necks), F-254(set neck), TA-500, I liked them all.

- LTD DF-400 - another forest shape but 4 string tuned like the bottom 4 strings of a 5-string, i really prefer this over a 5-string, for the C and such tunings, so this is why i've kept my DF400 and really bummed they stopped offering them!

i find it a pain in the ass to play much 4-string standard tuning stuffon a 5-string bass, i really hate doing so, so i don't think buying a 5-string is a good idea if most of what you play is standard tuning. and imo rather than having a 5-string bass i prefer a DF404 baritone bass. similarly i sold my last 7string guitar in favor of a baritone guitar. all is jmo.

a bass i owned and disliked, specifically because it was so neck heavy it was horrible to play, - the gibson Blackbird which is a Thunderbird with nikki sixx sig features. it sounded good, playing it sucked.

OH, bc rich warlock bass, i like it, it is more neckheavy than my LTD F's, my Pbass, my Ibz SR's; so if neckheavy bugs you then make note.

also tho a pbass i owned years ago was not at al neck heavy, but its body was fairly heavy so is probably why; the RI Pbass i have now has a fairly light body and has a little neckdive from this; not bad though. but makes me think a warlock bass with a heavier body might not be neckheavy either.
The Tbird/Bbird tho is such a small body i don't think it can be helped.