Description

PLAYER’S PERSPECTIVE

Innovation, ease of use, and versatility is the name of the game for today’s top session players and bass enthusiasts, including for those of us here at the shop, and those are some of the qualities F-Bass has brought to the forefront with the 5-string BN5 series bass.

This axe combines the classic pairing of a sunburst-finished ash body and maple neck with some unique touches – a fresh take on the old-school sunburst with some awesome color-matched pickup covers and a maple fingerboard adorned with vintage-style block inlays that take you right back to the 1960s.

In addition to the bass’ handmade craftsmanship, the attention to detail can be seen in the ergonomic improvements, from the easy-playing neck profile to the innovative new body shape that improves balance and eliminates neck heaviness. We also dug how the 34.5″ scale length feels no different tension-wise than a 34″ in our hands but the low B string still remains tight and punchy.

The versatile stacked single-coil pickups, which are individually fully hum-canceling, provide a rock-solid tonal foundation that your mixing engineer will love as much as you do. The pickups pack a serious punch used individually or together. The neck sounds huge with plenty of bark while still able to sit nicely on a recording, while the bridge pickup can stay tight, punchy, and present in a live mix. And even if that wasn’t enough, the extremely flexible active preamp can achieve any amount of tone-shaping you need. We also appreciate the controls to split the pickups into true single-coils or bypass the active preamp if desired.

For a truly world-class instrument that will serve you more than well both live and in the studio, this F-Bass BN5 checks every box!