5-string bass - pros and cons?

Ibanez should be good. I was just browsing Musician's Friend for models and relative prices.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Ibanez-GSR205-5String-Bass?sku=519525

Then there's Dean, which I don't know if they're good these days:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Dean-Edge-09-5String-Bass?sku=512905
35" scale length which may not be a problem for you Vic.

Then I saw a couple of Squiers, one kinda cool looking

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Squier-SQ-MB5-5String-Bass?sku=510645

And the other's more traditional; still cool

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Squier-Standard-P-Bass-Special-5-5String-Bass?sku=510581

I also heard good things about MTDs, and here's one:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MTD-Kingston-5String-Bass-?sku=511543

All in about the same range, though I don't know how they're priced where you are.

The Peavey's don't look half bad either:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Peavey-Millennium-5-AC-BXP-5String-Bass?sku=511402

I'm seriously thinking of upgrading my bass....at the moment, I have a cheapo Freshman bass - it may be cheap, but hey I like the feel of it and I like the sound of it....but I'm thinking of trading it in, buying a 5-string bass....I can see a lot of pros, chief among which is, I write a lot of songs using A, D and E or derivatives of those chords, and I'm thinking it'd be nice to use the bottom string for a D root note....

I can't really see a lot of cons, I tend to use the E A and D strings mostly, very rarely use the top G.....
Might be worth just buying a single E string for tuning to D in the bottom position, shifting the others up a slot (forget the G for a mo!) - try out your configuration and see if you like it before you splash the cash? The nut might be a problem though...

so I'm looking for something in the £150 range (about $300, but bear in mind guitars tend to be a lot cheaper in the US than the UK....
Tell me about it. £50 they're getting their '51s for, cheapest I've seen over here is £125 :roll:

That's a good idea too; I've tuned down to BEAD and gotten that low sound I needed - before I got the actual 5-string. Had to play just a tad lighter on the strings though because they got a bit floppy. Still sounded okay though.

But I think Vic is really 'wanting' a 5ver just for its own sake. ;)

But I think Vic is really 'wanting' a 5ver just for its own sake. ;)
Aye, 'tis another bout of GAS by all appearances :mrgreen:

with a fiver you want to be careful with the floppiness of the low string. It usually comes BEADG. IMO, the scale length needs to be 35" vs. 34" to be able to handle the extra low end better. good luck

with a fiver you want to be careful with the floppiness of the low string. It usually comes BEADG. IMO, the scale length needs to be 35" vs. 34" to be able to handle the extra low end better. good luck

+1

Also consider how that string will sound through a smallish amp, which may not reproduce the DEEP bass very well.

Yes, 34" scale length would be the minimum, and I think that holds true in that you don't see many short/medium scale basses offered in 5-string configuration. Like a Mustang or a Viol type bass. Of course with those kinds of basses (and others), there's the tendancy to have one because a person is maybe playing 50s/60s type stuff, and in the original basslines there was never any dipping down below that bottom E.

--But that's a whole different thread - about how 5-strings have changed the shape of basslines.

With a small amp you may or may not hear the lowest part of the B string depending on how the cab is made and tuned and all that. You'll still hear it, but maybe less of the fundamental frequency. With direct-in recording it should come out pretty clear though.

I'll be honest, I don't have a fiver. I have played many and compared them to many 4bangers and the 34" 4bangers I own and the 30" 4banger I own. The reason I don't have a fiver is the fact that I want a 35" scale 5-string bass. I am very limited on cash currently, also. Rondomusic.net has two versions of a Brice bass for $270 that are 35" scale, but I'd really rather have my hands on one to determine the feel of it, before I were to purchase one. Rondo has a pretty good return policy, but I am still hesitant. Any other fiver I am interested in are much more expensive (to me at least, they are several hundred more).

I've only got one and to tell the truth, it doesn't see much action. It's a Rondo Essex from a few years back and I recorded a couple of things on it - including one tune on our most recent Hawaiian album, which is weird because that genre is mostly 4-string stuff - and I like it, but as I said, there's this whole thing about how basslines have changed since 5-strings have gotten popular. You know, you're writing a bassline and normally you'd have to 'go up' to catch a D (for instance) and so the shape of the line jumps at that point. Now you could 'go down' to the lower D and the line is now way different than it would've been back in the 60s or 70s and a lot of the 80s even. Not a big thing to most people, especially if you're covering tunes that are already out there (you just don't use that B string), but when you're trying to come up with stuff, it gives you options that weren't available before and so therefore it affects the music. Like take some 60s Motown line (nothing in particular), and the guy's playing down in the low E or F area and doing a riff, and then the music modulates down, and he has to jump up to match. Not a big deal, but then the arranger guy will put horns to fill the gap, or the guitar will put something else in so everything's filled up nicely, and...it would've sounded different if the bass had simply gone down to the lower key instead of up.

That kind of thing.

So, I'm not really anti-5-string (I mean I love feeling that low B or D against my chest), but when I'm working on original stuff, I keep it in mind that as soon as I venture into that B string territory, the rest of the arrangement will have to change to keep up with it.

On the other hand, if I'm trying to go someplace else, I'd get out the 5-string and let it do what it has to do :)

with a fiver you want to be careful with the floppiness of the low string. It usually comes BEADG. IMO, the scale length needs to be 35" vs. 34" to be able to handle the extra low end better. good luck

As mentioned elsewhere, using slightly heavier strings can reduce the floppiness.

with a fiver you want to be careful with the floppiness of the low string. It usually comes BEADG. IMO, the scale length needs to be 35" vs. 34" to be able to handle the extra low end better. good luck

As mentioned elsewhere, using slightly heavier strings can reduce the floppiness.
Very true. I had some rather "thin" strings come on my 30" scale and the only way to alleviate the floppiness of the the strings on that bass was to put thicker guage on it. Thicker strings, longer scale both help IMO. If you find a fiver that screams at you, "take me home" and it is a 34" scale, the thicker guage strings may make it even more desirable

Then again - I'm pretty pleased with the bass-line I did for my last SSG song......Peace of Mind, you can hear it if you're sufficiently masochistic by clicking on the www at the bottom of my posts.....

So why fix what ain't broken? I've got by with it so far, and money's a bit tight at the moment, but it's not just GAS - I played a 5-string bass in Texas last year, it belonged to Marvellous Optimist....I liked it, especially being able to play a D note on the bottom B string.....and I really wanted one then....

I love playing bass, but the big problem is, I can't imagine a future in which I can play play bass and sing at the same time - I find it incredibly difficult.....it's hard enough playing rhythm guitar and singing, but playing bass and singing is like playing lead and singing......hard to do both at the same time.....

I think I'll put off buying a 5-string for now and concentrate on getting better on the 4-string.......not that I've mastered the 6-string beastie yet, but I like to think I'm a fairly competent rhythm guitarist.....lead guitar is a different story, though....

Anyway, thanks as always for advice.......

And just as a curiosity - do any bass-players play in Drop-D, the way certain guitarists do? ie do any of you tune the bottom string to D instead of E?

:D :D :D

Vic

I've only used drop D once, and it was when a band I was in covered "Love is a Battlefield" by Benatar. Other than that, it's been standard tuning. I think I have an unnatural fear of drop D (I'll have to take a mental look at that phobia :) ) because there was a Downland piece I had to do for my second year classical guitar finals back in college, and...the 2nd page suddenly was a complete blank. Half the piece was just gone from my memory so I strummed a big D major chord, stood, bowed, and walked off.

Yah, I think it really is a phobia. ;)

Yah, I think it really is a phobia. ;)
Phobias have to be irrational to be classed as a phobia, but altered tunings really are evil :twisted:

...either that or I'm too stupid and lazy to get my head around them :wink: