Marc S

I would have tried one out before... if only one had come up locally to me... Actually, about 3 years back, one did come up for sale on a local Facebook "Guitar, equipment sale & exchange" group. I even knew the fella selling it I had even messaged him about it, and he offered me a discount.... sadly, I dithered a bit and it had sold. So I could have been a Lyte Convert sooner. I used to wonder why, in For Sale threads, people asked for the weight of a guitar or bass..... but my advancing years have underlined why this is important. This might also be down to a lack of gigs and / or rehearsals - I'm doing more noodling at home and on the sofa - so now when I stand up to play, my shoulder is feeling it more I stood yesterday for ages, jamming along to YouTube videos and albums on MP3..... and the Lyte felt great - my shoulder was fine. I think this is the most pleased I've been with a new bass in ages, and I was pretty pleased at getting my lightweight SR505 a few weeks back Also, it struck me that the active pickups & circuitry didn't sound typically "active" - or at least to my ear, the P pickup still sounded like a P bass, if a tad cleaner. Both pickups were certainly very "hot".

It's actually a darker red than it appears to be in the mobile phone pic above. And the darker burst around the edges is a darker, more contrast than it appears in these pics too....

I've been having a bit of a bass clear-out and something of a change recently. It's now 4 out, two in.... and I have another bass currently for sale - so no more new basses after that...... he says, fingers crossed behind back Just got myself a MIJ Fender Lyte Precision from BC's very own blues business - a thoroughly decent sort of guy indeed - thanks mate I had never tried a Fender Lyte before. What with increasing age, and wear & tear on joints / shoulders / back etc. After having bought my sub 4kg five string Ibanez recently, - I thought I might like to try out a nice sub 4kg Precision. I was pleasantly surprised at just how light & comfortable this bass is. Plus, the neck is a comfortable Jazz profile. The construction quality feels great, and so far, I'm liking the sound. I like a P/J configuration anyway - but this is going to be different, as it's not the usual VVT controls. It has a "Blend" control for the pickups. I'm sure I'll get used to it though. Plus, I'm not normally a huge fan of active pickups - but through my amp headphones, and through my home practice amp, I really like the sound, and I like it a lot. I've got a garden-room / semi open-air acoustic trio jam coming up - so I'm going to take the Lyte along to that, and I must say, I'm really as excited as a kid with a new toy about it The bass came with La Bella Flats on it, and was in need of a set-up. I tried the LaBellas for a day, and decided they were a bit too high-tension for my liking. So I put some new TI flats on it, and obviously had to tweak the truss rod again - but it's playing like a dream now. It's a lovely colour IMHO, but the only (slght) downside, is that it's Foto-flame finish. There's some slight crazing to the finish, on the front of the body. I can live with that though..... There was some cracking & lifting of the finish at the back, where you normally get "Buckle rash". I sealed this area, running PVA glue underneath the lifting finish, and when that had dried, I filled any gaps and secured the lifting areas with a combination of modellers filler and some super-glue powder. I've roughly painted the area with some acrylic paint for now - I can lightly sand it back and re-paint when I find a tin of suitably coloured modelling paint. That's enough waffling on from me

I had a BF OneTen at the same time I got my Epi 110. The BF was a great cab - really tiny and lightweight. But I preferred the EPI - I felt it handled the lows better, and the tweeter in the EPi is brilliant, and really controllable. To my ears, the EPI has a warmer, richer sound. I know BF have lots of fans on here, who are all probably all shaking their heads in disagreement - but I took both cabs to a local bash (a number of years back). Most of the folks there preferred the EPI, all bar one if I recall correctly. Like I said, the BF is a super cab - and I suppose it's down to personal taste. I just found the BF was less "warm" - perhaps some might say it's a more "accurate" tone? But bear in mind I played upright, and EUB as well as bass guitar through it. And it was easier to get the tone I wanted from the EPI. I did wish at the time, that I could have got two BF OneTen's to see how that sounded. Again, I'd need 2x separate units (rather than a single BF 2x10) - so I could gig with either, or both..... for many different situations

Hi @jazzburger as per my post above, I had the 5 string version of the Ibanez Mikro bass, and I was pleasantly surprised at just how good it was. Good quality construction, good finish, and the B string was particularly well defined and nice & "deep" sounding - which really surprised me. The bridge was pretty heavy duty too, and I wouldn't have changed that. Same re the tuners.... Perhaps I would have only changed the control knobs, which were a bit light & "plasticky" feeling. I had played a 4 string Mikro, and that convinced me to buy a 5 string. If the string spacing hadn't been a tad too close for my clumsy fingers - Then I would have kept it. Anyhow, enjoy your Mikro, they're great little instruments

I've got 3 cabs, all of which are lightweight. I use different combinations of them - depending on gig / venue etc. For some folk or acoustic duos / trios and especially in small venues, I often use just one cab. I have played acoustic gigs in some really tiny places, or at least the space allowed for us to play in was tiny Anyhow, the cabs are; Markbass 210 traveller, Epifani UL110, and a Greenboy "Crazy8" For larger, rockier, louder gigs, I usually use the Markbass 210 and the Eipfani 110. I know, that's 3x 10" speakers - but it works really well IMHO. It's certainly loud enough with my MB 500W head. Anything bigger, and I tend to go through either the bands own PA, or house PA (again, depending on gig / band / venue) Intermediate sized gigs in pubs, I sometimes use the Traveller 210 cab alone. More acoustic settings I tend to take the Epifani 110, and perhaps take the Crazy 8 "just in case" i.e. in case I suddenly feel the urge for a bit more oomph. I have even gigged as an acoustic trio with just the Crazy 8. On one occasion, at a fairly big venue, I used the Crazy 8 merely as a monitor, and went through the house PA. Although even during sound-check, I was really surprised that the Crazy 8 held its' own before I was plugged into the PA - it really is a "crazy" cab, considering it's tiny size. The MB traveller 210 is light, and loud and crisp & clear. The Epifani is an utterly superb cab - another that punches way above its' weight. The crazy 8 is just crazy

I just posted a belated NBD - but I thought I'd add the pics (again) and my thoughts on being a "returning Ibanez owner" Got myself an SR 505 recently, I used to own the 4 string SR 500 years ago, and I liked that bass at the time. Since then, I also owned an Ibanex acoustic bass - but my son loved that so much, I gave it to him In my efforts to fall for 5 strings, I also had a not often seen Mikro 5 string... I liked that bass, but the strings were a tad too close for my right hand So in short, I was looking for a 5'er which was lightweight and had a narrow-ish, shallow-ish neck, but which had wide enough string spacing at the bridge (Fussy old so-and-so eh?) On my return to the Ibby fan club, I have to say - this bass ticks all the boxes. So far, I'm enjoying playing it a lot. Whether I'll gig with it all the time (when we can get back to gigging) is another matter - but I want to have a 5'er as an option. I'm loving the feel of the neck, the light weight, the build quality, the finish, the sound and the control over EQ options. I also like the fact that this bass will work without a battery - something my 4 string version didn't (as I found out just prior to a gig!) So maybe it's just a common old SDGR 505 - but this is my favourite 5 string yet

I probably should have posted this over a week ago.... when I actually bought the bass! lol However, I decided to play it for a while first - to see how I got on with it I keep thinking I should play a 5 string - then I keep falling in and out of love for 5 string basses, for various reasons. Usually, my reasons for selling are that I find the necks just a bit too chunky, or I find the bass is a tad too heavy..... or a combination of both. Sometimes, I don't find the string spacing to be very comfortable. This isn't something I find with 4 strings - I can usually adapt my playing. But with 5 strings I've found on a more comfortable width neck, the strings can be a bit too close for my right hand plucking (i.e. not enough room between strings for my fattish fingers) To cut a long story short, I bought & sold a few 5'ers for a combination of the above reasons (or excuses). Actually, on the point of the weight of a bass - it's not something that used to bother me too much. However, my increasing age and ageing joints / shoulders / back have made this factor ever more important. So my thinking was - where can I find a lightweight 5 string bass, which is lightweight and has a neck which isn't too wide (or wide plus deep) but isn't too narrow string spacing at the bridge? Fussy old BC'er, aren't I? So I turned to Ibanez. I've owned Ibby's in the past and always found them to be great instruments. In fact, I once owned the 4 string version of this bass, the SDGR 500 - a bass I was well pleased with. I have to say that so far, I'm really liking this bass! It was a local purchase too. It's very light for a 5'er - I think it's around 3.5kg. The neck is a comfortable width, and it's slim front-to-back, so I can get my hand around it easily enough. Also, the string spacing seems very comfortable too. It's narrow-ish at the nut, but the neck tapers enough to make the spacing good for my right hand... plus, the bridge allows for some lateral position adjustment too The quality of construction is really good - it feels a solid build, and the finish is really nice. No sticky left hand on a glossy neck - it's really nice satin sort of feel. I like the dark wood colour too. The electronics are great, and the 2 active Bartolini pickups are superb. As I expected, It's more of a modern sounding bass than my current collection of basses - but that's not an entirely bad thing. It's another choice for me to make, depending on the gig I'm playing. Another added bonus is that the pickups and electrics work in passive mode, and it even works with no battery - so no worries about a battery going flat mid-gig. Now all I have to do, is to get my spatial awareness up to speed for 5 string playing. I've been noodling at home, and took the bass to one garden room / semi-open-air trio jam. I did make a few errors, hitting the wrong string DOH - but it's been a while since I last played a 5'er for any length of time.

Hi @sambecker1 Just wondering whether you went for this bass? As others have said - that body could be a refin. And that adaptation to make it a body-through string arrangement is all wrong. I'd have thought the break-angle at the saddles may cause problems. Also, as you tune + re-tune, it would put stress on the strings - they're at a 90 degree angle.... on a sharp (ish) edge, rather than a curved, grooved slot. Having said all of that - if the neck was genuine, and the bass felt good and sounded good, and critically - if the price was right.... it could be worth going for But again, that would depend on it being priced as a '62 neck on a replacement body. The bridge is easy enough to sort, and the holes in the body could be filled. As others have also said - a better replacement decal would be something I'd want to sort out. Finding out whether it's a genuine neck is another matter....

I've not tried any of the LaBella strings (to my own shame) Has anyone had experience of comparing LaBella Low Tensions, to TI Flats? TI's are great strings IMO.... on some basses - but oddly, they don't feel quite "right" on a couple of basses I tried them on. Sorry @lobematt - it appears I'm hijacking your thread - but hopefully, such things are always interesting..... to someone, somewhere lol EDIT: I'm definitely curious to try some LaBella LTF's at some point

Came back for another look at this bass And I like it now, more so than when I saw it the first time! It might just be my new favourite colour