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fidooda

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
467
Location
Montreal
More than 6 months now with this little puppy. I have some more toughts to share about this bass. It's my first and only dual pickup EBMM, HS model, and i'd like to review the sounds as i hear them.

position 1: classic stingray, punchy as hell. love the mids, no deniying the classic sound. I'm not gonna repeat this for all positions but this bass is punchy and i think the mohagony block definately helps tons!

position 2: amazing single-coil-bridgy sound. That's my favorite position for playing a Jaco song. The tone is absolutely perfect until i start playing and screw it up. more seriously, i don't use it much, i was already familiar to this type of sound with my sterling, it's cool but not my favorite position.

position 3: feels to me like the position 1 but with a little more bass. I like it, kinda like having the ability to bring it to 11 with a flick of the switch.

position 4: that's the all mighty one that made me completely love and buy this instrument. Very modern, punchy, with tons of tight bass. i like it a lot. wanna impress somebody with the tone of the bass, that's the position use. When i just bought the bass i would have glued the switch to this position. Now, i use more sparingly, i like having the impact when i switch positions...BOOM position 4!

position 5: didn't like it at first, but it's growing on me more and more. that single coil by itelf provides a great tone, very p-bass like to my ears but with its own personality and quite usable, quite fun to have this tonal variety for a MM. Great tone to play a Johnny Cash, blues, or a Rockabilly type song. mmm one day i will have a double bass. I wonder what the 25th sounds like now.

Recording:
I don't play much live these days, but i play a lot on recording projects of mine, that bass can't put up a bad tone period. Before having the 20th i never was satisfied with the recorded tones i was getting (sterling included). but this 20th just seems to be the best bass for recording period. i love it. plug it in, adjust gain on sound card....perfect tone :)

Maple with matching headstock:
i almost considered selling the bass a few months back since i didn't much like the maple board with matching HS. It's still not my favorite combo. But now, after watching/playing it almost everyday, it's making me change my mind. It's a bad ass, no compromise bass that looks really unique. But most importantly it's mine!

i feel lucky to have cought this bass. It's an incredible instrument.

now i'm just waiting for bongo to arrive and screw up my life.
 

mynan

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 25, 2007
Messages
2,688
Location
Spring Lake, MI
now i'm just waiting for bongo to arrive and screw up my life.

The Bongo will make your life better. I frequently switch between my 20th SR5 and Bongo and it's like "new bass day" every time. Love the Bongo, but then I start to miss the 20th. Then I fall in love with the 20th again...but then after a while I start to miss the Bongo. And it just keeps going, and going, and going...
 

fidooda

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
467
Location
Montreal
The Bongo will make your life better. I frequently switch between my 20th SR5 and Bongo and it's like "new bass day" every time. Love the Bongo, but then I start to miss the 20th. Then I fall in love with the 20th again...but then after a while I start to miss the Bongo. And it just keeps going, and going, and going...

that's what it's all about! and why i can't wait to get it :) music is supposed to keep us inspired and walking in a music room and choose an instrument to play for the mood we are in is a real pleasure.

Right now, i switch between my SR5 and my Moog synth. quite a contrast, bass playing vs sound exploration. This is one of my best periods of my life, music wise, since i feel stimulated....love it.
 

oli@bass

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 23, 2007
Messages
4,272
Location
Switzerland
Thanks for the review. Good reading. Also interesting to see that the sounds of the standard StingRay (4) HS seem to be similar. But I guess the SR5 20th would have more punch, growl and definition.
 

ekb16b

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 15, 2006
Messages
756
Location
Sydney
Ive got the HH version, love it to bits, a boatload of tones but i always seem to head back to the bridge H and when i do that i always grab the 30th instead. I really ought to start playing around with different positions and discover new things about this about this bass.
 

bovinehost

Administrator
Joined
Jan 16, 2003
Messages
18,200
Location
Dall-Ass, TX
I play my 20th regularly. It's the only bass I have that can pull me (at least temporarily) away from the Bongos.

And it's such a heartthrob, too, really.
 

strummer

Enormous Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2005
Messages
4,516
Location
Safe European Home, Stockholm, Sweden
I make picture of mine yesterday, nice bass:D

sr5_20th.jpg
 
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Big Poppa

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2005
Messages
18,598
Location
Coachella & SLO, California
Jackie let me give you some art direction (numerous art direction awards given to bp)

try not to use a background color that is the same color as the item you are featuring unless you are selling a new camo print for the military....

Seriously the burst of new stuff from us in the last few years has beena blur and most of the stuff didnt get the time focus to allow it too develop on a commercial level. This is one of them.....but what it did do is show you the future and served as a key evolutionary process....the sr 30th brought us mahog the 20th sr5 showed the mahog tone block and the three tone wood cocktail and the 25 takes us to the integration of new electronics with the tone wood combo
 

fidooda

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
467
Location
Montreal
Seriously the burst of new stuff from us in the last few years has beena blur and most of the stuff didnt get the time focus to allow it too develop on a commercial level. This is one of them.....but what it did do is show you the future and served as a key evolutionary process....the sr 30th brought us mahog the 20th sr5 showed the mahog tone block and the three tone wood cocktail and the 25 takes us to the integration of new electronics with the tone wood combo

glad to be part of your beta testing team ;) that means that each new bass i get from you is an improvement en the previous one....i like the sound of that!

i didn't say it earlier, but it was the first SR5 that really cought my attention. it's quite simply the most beautiful SR5 i've ever seen.
 

laneline

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 2, 2008
Messages
763
Location
North Jersey
Nice tone report mine is an HH, I can't find a bad tone on it, I find it nuts that this model took a long time to sell out. Another EB/MM masterpiece for me.
 

stretch80

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 1, 2004
Messages
358
Location
massachusetts
Someday I really want a 20th SR5 HS. I know that I'll love that H pickup for the muted round tones. And it's beautiful. The economy sez I'll have to wait, but I've got my SR5, so I'm still cool.

As a designer, I applaud BP and the whole gang for moving forward, while not losing their footing. Hard to do!
 

ekb16b

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 15, 2006
Messages
756
Location
Sydney
Sweet so I own the foundations of which the 25th was based upon, so technically i wouldn't have to buy one right?

I love 20th appreciation threads where in the end everyone post their pics :D
IMG_1423.jpg
 
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