exin said:
how's the lakland?? .. i was thinking of trying one out ..but never had the chance .. do you know where to find them? ..
how's the low B string .. (that's kinda important cos i use it alot .. )?
YOU WILL LOVE THEM
Seriously. Sinamex is supposed to have the dealership for them (on the Lakland site, anyway) but I don't remember seeing any the last time I went.
The neck is the slim "D"-shaped one. Perfect balance between a Fender and an Ibanez, and then some -- the playability on that one is awesome; you don't feel like you're playing a huge fiver at all. Running up and down the neck is loads easier than on any Jazz I've played, 4- or 5-string. The headstock is nice too
The tuners are probably Hipshot Ultralites if I'm not wrong.
The body's alder if I'm not wrong. I can't see the construction inside because it's all covered in that obiang gold (the only bad point about it) but I've seen their JO basses and the construction on those is pretty good. Standard Lakland string-through or top-load bridge and set up for very low action. Couldn't really dig in but that didn't seem to be a problem. It balances great too; you can let go both of your hands and it'll balance perfectly on your shoulder.
Bart J/MM pups and preamp... They are wired volume (pull to bypass preamp), treble, mids, bass and pickup pan. All have a center detent at 12 o'clock so it's +/- for the controls. There's also a 3-way on-on-on switch for coil selection on the MM pup... Could get anything from a huge, room-filling growl to smooth, silky tone and everything in between. It's hard to get a bad tone out of this bass la, no matter what you do.
The low B is tight! Especially if you string it through the body. The string tree is the more modern bar-type, as opposed to the vintage circleish things that come on Fenders. This provides more tension overall, and you can feel it!
I know there's a Joe Osborn 5 (with or without a J-Retro preamp; maybe the guy sold it for parts) floating around out there... tried it for a few days once as well. I've no idea who has it now, though.
Get one! You will love it. I want to sell my Fenders and just buy a Lakland and use it for the rest of my life. Seriously.