Model Year: 2001
Price: $649.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Music123.com

I love my ESP! I can't say anything bad about this bass! The 5-piece maple neck through a mahogany body gives seriously impressive sustain. The low-B has great tension and tone, avoiding the usual 'floppy-B' problem with a lot of 5-strings. The best feature is the, misleadingly named, Active EQ system (this bass uses passive humbucking pickups in the neck and bridge positions) the EQ system provides you with a bass, mid and treble boost/cut knobs, mix this with pickup balance and you have a massive range of sounds without reaching or stomping on anything!

I generally prefer high action and high tension so this bass was a bit of a departure for me. I was expecting to have to do a setup or at the very least give a week or two to get used to it, but it was surprisingly comfortable. Another strong point is playing positions, I find I have more choice in where to rest on this bass than with any other. Without resting on the 5th-string I can rest on one of the very wide pickups or find a comfortable position on the neck giving me a huge choice in playing style! And another good feature is the fast neck, not quite as fast as my Hohner J-F1 but still an absolute screamer!