fretmeister

The pickups seem fine. I think you'd be better off upgrading the preamp instead.

It does look cool. But being a luddite I think I prefer the Boss EQ-200 for ease of use and old fashioned slidey things!

The 802 sounded amazing there. But I see US prices are about $2500 so it will probably be about the same in pounds, or maybe £2000 ish. I'd never get away with that.

I've got the 10 inch cone cabs. But I'd like to get something from the other range just to see what it is like with my existing amps.

I don't think I've ever tried a 5 string Soundgear so I can't help with that. It's a tiny bit wider than my 2005 Stingray 5, and a little thinner front to back. I like a medium ish neck and sometimes my Ray is a bit big and hard work depending on the tunes. The Ibby seems more comfy - but some of that might be the smaller stretches with the shorter scale. I should probably mention that I've managed to do zero work this afternoon as I've just been playing the damn thing. And I've gone into the pedal trunk to see what I can off load to get the other colour!

You and your child sized 16.5mm!

Ok... I'll help. Negatives. 1) No bag or case 2) Only 2 colour choices 3) Err..... I'm running out here!

I've had 30 mins with it so far. First impressions - it's remarkable, and not just for the money. The Low B is full and fat and not twangy. It's genuinely up there with my Stingray - and it has the same D'addario strings. I haven't set the action up to my usual as yet but out of the box it plays very well. Will only need a tweak or 2. The neck profile is lovely. 18mm bridge spacing (I find the Ray at 17.5mm a touch tight. Amazing what another 0.5mm can do!) and a nice C shape on the profile. The Flat tone is very balanced and nicely away from the over-bright trend that seems to afflict many modern basses. The EQ is ok. Bit noisy with the treble boosted to max, but 1) it's a cheap bass, and 2) that's not my sort of sound anyway. I would say that the bass is good enough for an EQ upgrade in future if I feel like it. However I tend to set my sound up on the Amp and then only tweak on the bass for the room if needed - and most of the time that will be to cut rather than boost. P pickup alone is very much like a P except I think the pickup is a little bit closer to the neck (difficult to assess on a different scale) so it's quite deep. Similarly the J seems further from the bridge so it's doesn't quite bark as much as a J on my other basses but it's a good sound, if not quite full Jaco. So far I've tried it with my Helix using a "straight into the desk" sort of DI sound with compression, then into Yamaha HS7 studio monitors. I'll try my real amps and other amp patches later. And for those of us afflicted with age and injury... it is 6.9lb - that's nearly 2lb lighter than my PJ-Ray 5. I have a youtube playlist of the tunes my Jazz band plays so I'll be cranking it after work for a proper run as close to being in the mix as I can. I am now seriously considering getting the other colour as well!!! @therealting

That's the V2 I was under the impression it was fixed on some V1 as well. Is that not the case?

I'm pretty sure they changed that Mine's a very early one, but I'm sure I read it was sorted out later. Don't know how long or what serial numbers though. Doug is on facebook and IG a lot and is responsive. I bet he could tell you.

I swap between 4 and 5 but mainly use 4 at the moment. No problems swapping, but I don't like to change basses on a gig. If the set needs a 5 then I'll play the whole thing on the 5. I like to minimise changes at a gig - do the soundcheck and then stick with what I've got. The pickups in my 5 are very different to my 4s and I'd need different EQ set ups. And I can't be bothered with that!

What dilemma? Buy another one so you can have both!

I always take one. There's always a chance something will go wrong and I do not want to be the reason why we can't play or that we sound wrong. I view it as being disrespectful to the other performers and the audience, even more so if they have paid. I also always take a back up amp or if the PA is good enough a good di / preamp.

This was always at least part of the right answer.

Definitely. It's always the shortest bit across the wood ignoring the angle.

My word! The Mezzo 5 is supposed to be about 7.5 lb! So the EHB is lighter again. I think the nut widths are all the same at 45mm, but of course with 18mm spacing rather than 16.5mm it's going to splay out faster. My current 5 is a Stingray and the bridge spacing is 17.5mm and I find that a tiny bit cramped so I'm hoping for good things.

it will get 1180 louder. Glad I could help!

When you get a mo, can you weigh it? I'm very curious about these - especially lightweight 5 strings. As it happens I have an incoming Mezzo 5 (Medium scale) and from what I gather from the specs the neck profile is the same even with the same 18mm bridge spacing, just the scale is different. If I like the Mezzo5, and the EHB is light enough I can foresee a purchase!

I know that feeling! It's coming from GAK as they had stock and because they actually answered my questions about it. Unlike some other retailers who actually answered my emails to tell me they didn't have time to answer!!!

@therealting I've given in and ordered one. Should be here on Wednesday with a bit of luck. This will be my first medium 5 string ever so I'm very curious about how the low B will do. I like the D'addario's that come as standard, but I have a bigger B in the house anyway to experiment. Although I think it is a Tapered. I never used to like tapered strings, but on my Stingray a tapered B sounds much better and with less annoying overtones. So I'm open minded.

I’ve never known a drive pedal to sound good in a loop.

Markbass + Barefaced works for me.

Looking forward to your review of the BB2 when we get back to loud music.

Wow. I never expected that. Might get it to 7 3/4 or even 7 1/2 with some Hipshot Ultralites

1: Lovely! 2: Aren't those Yamaha's stupid heavy?