Having now moved to the same town in southern California as my pre-pandemic bandmates did about three years earlier, I apparently have my old gig back. I arrived back in October, but I have been so swamped with couch-surfing, finding a place, and the holidays that I had no energy to even think about playing with anyone. But now it’s decided. We’re doing this. Again. This time from SoCal instead of Wisconsin.
The immediate problem was that I only brought one instrument with me when I moved. The others I sold. And while my Sire V5 passive j-bass is excellent, I need a modern active fiver for this band. Since my Ibanez BTB745 is gone, I had to replace it with…something.
Say hello to my little friend, the Ibanez EHB1505MS. Yes! Not only headless but multi-scale as well. I get to keep that 35″ B string but on an instrument that weighs about 7 pounds instead of 9. And it has Nordstrand “big splits”; single coil pups that are hum-cancelling and a sweet preamp with mid-sweep knob.
Throw in stainless steel frets, glow-in-the-dark side markers, and a nine-piece panga panga/maple neck reinforced with graphite reinforcement rods, and you’ve got yourself a hell of a bass. Or, rather, I do.
Or I will. In just a few days I should have it in hand. While I bought it from a San Diego store that is a mere 40 minutes from me, I don’t drive anymore. It just made more sense to have them ship it to me in San Marcos. I bought from Pitbull Audio. They treated me very well and I highly recommend them. Ship it to you? Sure, and for free! Plus, here’s 15% off for some reason! And the sales guy I talked with clearly knew what he was talking about and gave me some good advice when we talked.
If you think, as I did, that shopping local rather than from a big online store will be more expensive, think again. I probably saved a couple hundred bucks at least. And if I have any problems, I have someone local to help me.
I shall soon post my first impressions of it. And I haven’t even told you about the Darkglass Microtubes Infinity that is also arriving this week. Stay tuned!