What bass for me...

Bucket

fretmeister said:

Tort scratchplates are vile.

Luckily there's also this:

http://www.schecterguitars.com/international/images/stories/virtuemart/product/diamond-j-5-an-tilt.png

guitarfishbay

fretmeister said:

Tort scratchplates are vile.

Totally agree on anything except a white/cream Jazz bass.

IanSavage

Way below your budget, but I'm selling my Vintage V95 five-string if that might be of interest? One of these:

http://www.jhs.co.uk/Vintage%20Bass/est96af.jpg

Decent nick, I don't know the nut width off the top of my head and Google isn't helping but if it might be of interest I can pop to my storage unit and measure it?

Bucket

Thanks Ian, I'm thinking I want to move a little higher upmarket though!

strtdv

I'd try out a ray 5 if I were you. Also worth looking at a used Warwick if you can cope with the looks. Also, try before you buy, as a lot of Warwicks from the mid 2000s have massive necks (which I love but others don't)

JCA2550

I'm about to put a 2007 Ibanez SR506 up for sale(6 string not 5 though). bartolini pickups and active EQ

It looks like this...

Bucket

JCA2550 said:

I'm about to put a 2007 Ibanez SR506 up for sale(6 string not 5 though). bartolini pickups and active EQ

Goddamn, if that was the 5-string version I'd be all over it. Played a couple and they're FANTASTIC basses, up there with stuff twice the price IMO. But I just don't get on with 6ers!

JCA2550

Thanks I'll pop it up on classifieds later. Good luck with the hunting

Bucket

I'm selling a bunch of gear soon, hopefully, so I'll finally have some money to throw around. There's a lot of gear I need/want but I'm going for the bass first. I think I'm most likely to go with the white Schecter Jazz 5-string that @5redlights posted - cheers for the heads up!

UnclePsychosis

That Schechter looks nice but personally I'd be all over G&L, particularly because they're insanely cheap at Thomann just now.

£750 gets you a huge amount of bass in the second hand market, and I dread to think how much you'll lose in resale on a £750 Schecter which - although lovely - is basically just a.n. other jazz bass.

Bucket

UnclePsychosis said:

That Schechter looks nice but personally I'd be all over G&L, particularly because they're insanely cheap at Thomann just now.

£750 gets you a huge amount of bass in the second hand market, and I dread to think how much you'll lose in resale on a £750 Schecter which - although lovely - is basically just a.n. other jazz bass.

I do take your point, but I've never bought anything with resale in mind, I don't buy with the intention of selling.

UnclePsychosis

Fair enough. 

For 5-string jazz basses you might also want to check out the new "Sire" range which is endorsed by Marcus Miller:

http://www.thomann.de/gb/marcus_miller_v7_alder_5_awh.htm

They're getting serious love over at basschat:

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/258828-nbd-sire-marcus-miller-v7-alder-4-awh-audio/

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/252854-new-cheap-marcus-miller-endorsed-range-of-basses-sire/

Bucket

They do look nice, but I think the nut will be wider than is comfortable to me. I love 45mm, dunno how different 46 will feel but Fender's 47mm nut width feels huge. Don't even get me started on the 51mm nut on the Squier active Jazz Bass...

guitarfishbay

I'm really surprised you found the nut width too much on the Fender given how massive your hands look on YouTube.  How long did you try it out?

I've not got especially big hands but I found it ok after playing it for 10 minutes.  I decided to go 4 string instead though, as I never use the high string.  

Bucket

guitarfishbay said:

I'm really surprised you found the nut width too much on the Fender given how massive your hands look on YouTube.  How long did you try it out?

I do have big hands but I still prefer relatively narrow necks. I find 4-string Jazzes much more comfortable than Precisions, for example. 45mm feels perfect to me for a 5-string, but 47 just feels cumbersome and too much of a stretch. It'd get on my tits.

guitarfishbay

Fair play I know what you mean.

RichValentine

Buy something secondhand from www.basschat.co.uk and youll get a much better bass for your money!

mike257

Second hand Sandberg California, all day long. The spec you described on the previous page is what I have on my 4 string and it's a proper Swiss army knife - so versatile. Looks and feels great. I was a sworn Stingray player but barely touched my ray since I got the Sandberg, it just works.

chrispy108

Warwick are mostly 45mm IIRC, and are a huge bargain second-hand. You could get a really nice one for the budget you're after. Checkout basschat.co.uk, so much on there. Do you need a 5, or would you be better off with a 4 tuned BEAD if you're concerned about width? I only had a five briefly, but I prefer a detuned 4.

Bucket

chrispy108 said:

Warwick are mostly 45mm IIRC, and are a huge bargain second-hand. You could get a really nice one for the budget you're after. Checkout basschat.co.uk, so much on there. Do you need a 5, or would you be better off with a 4 tuned BEAD if you're concerned about width? I only had a five briefly, but I prefer a detuned 4.

Definitely a 5 - I want more notes, not just different ones