Model Year: 2002
Price: $850.00 CDN (new)
Where Obtained: Long & McQuade

A great middle of the road bass. Made in Canada, all Godin basses are put together by hand, and have top of the line workmanship and materials. The active Bassline pick-ups are responsive and give great tone and the bass with it's tobacco burst looks fantastic.

Beautiful fast, slim neck and excellent control over tone. The bass is also quite light compared to a Fender

I use a G-K 700RB and a yorkville 4 x 10 cab rated at 500 watts. The control over tone and volume are excellent and infinitly adjustable if your so inclined

Electronics have been trouble free since buying the bass. The one annoyance of the bass is the neck needs to be adjusted a couple of times a year. This may not be outrageous, but I also have a Fender Jazz and if the neck needs to be adjusted once a year, its alot.

Model Year: 2001
Price: $1199.00 Cdn (new)
Where Obtained: The Arts - Newmarket, ON, Canada

- Made in US from Canadian parts, 5-bolt 3-pc maple neck, body is maple, 5-string - Seymour Duncan Basslines soapbar pickups with master volume, midrange, blend, stacked treble and bass controls and pull-up "slap" contour. Active Seymour Duncan STC-3 preamp. - Kind of J-type body style with less cutaways in the body than a Fender, solid and squarish. Schaller bridge with all-black hardware. Beautiful "tobacco burst" flame-maple top with jet-black hi-gloss back. - Angled-back headstock with flame maple finish. Looks sharp. - Separate battery compartment with pop-out door and holder, much nicer than having to unscrew a plastic lid every time you change batteries - The bass came with 2 allen keys for adjustments but the owners pamphlet detailed the specifications for a previous model that had a different control knob configuration - Came with a nice Godin hardshell case

- flat neck which is nice and shallow around the lower frets, easy playability for my smaller hands. - Make sure you have a wide strap or the neck will dive on you - Only one flaw, the hole for access to the truss rod adjustment in the body is not cut deep enough so it's quite hard to actually get your allen key on the truss rod end. It takes a bit of work so that you don't harm the front finish to adjust the truss rod - I have the action set quite low, so I don't think it's that great for slap. - Because of all the high frequency detail, it forces you to play cleanly with good technique

- I use a Peavey Delta Bass head (160W into 4 ohms) with Peavey BX BW115 4 ohm cabinet and Peavey TKO 115 practice amp - Play many different styles in gospel / praise band (soft rock, ballad, complex classical, you name it) - Sound is on the midrangey side with lots of high frequency detail - Lower strings still have some kaboom to them, but not as "full" sounding as some other basses (like my Godin Freeway 4), more of an articulate, and pitch accurate sound. I was really surprised to hear that it had more percussive and thumping low end than a Fender Hot-Rod American Precision Bass (passive) that I tried at home. - Bass is dead quiet, no hum or hiss at all - A great bass for live playing because you can always hear yourself, doesn't get lost in the mix and probably good for recording too because it's quiet - B string rings true and doesn't flop around too much for a 34" scale guitar - Can sound a bit hollow sometimes, currently using Ernie Ball Slinky lights, I think I should go with some mediums for some more low-end. There's a bit too much zing and sizzle with the Ernie Balls. The bass sounded better with the standard D'Addario lights that came with it. - The BG-V has really good sustain, notes ring on and on. I'ts hard sometimes to shut up the non-plucked strings, everything just wants to resonate. To me this is a good thing because it shows how structurally solid the BG-V body / neck platform is. - Electrical output is on the low side, acutally less than my passive Freeway 4, you won't need to use the attenuated "high level" input on your amp

- This is a very structurally solid bass, it is a simple bass, a bit on the heavy side but I find it comfortable - Strap buttons are quite small, it could use some more substantial strap buttons that held on to the strap a bit better IMO - Nothing loose, nothing broken

Model Year: 1998
Price: $1100.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Kennelly Keys Music

This is a great, mid priced five string bass. The current model features a bolt on rock maple neck w/ rosewood fingerboard, silver leaf maple body with rock maple center,highly figured maple top, Seymour Duncan Basslines active soapbar pickups, active electronics. Schaller hardware.

This is a great quality bass, and the action can be set to just about anyone's preference. It plays as well as any I've picked up, up to and including the ultra expensive "custom production" type basses

The best reccomendation I can give for this bass as far as sound quality, is that it replaced my Fender "mutt" as my main bass when I heard the difference in the sound, on tape, on different tracks of an album session I was doing. My Fender "mutt" is no slouch either; active everything, really heavy mahogany body etc.

This is a professional quality, gig with it seven nights a week type bass. The truss rod needs to be adjusted about twice a year, once when the western Washington weather changes from the rainy season to "summer", then again when it changes back, but I've found the same to be true for any bass. The hardware and electronics are top notch