Alvarez AEB5000

22 fret 5 string.
Quilited maple top.Brown and black.
Active electronics.@ Alvarez humbuckers.
Alvarez logo on 12th fret.
Amazing fretboard.Fluid playing.

Even though the only visible fret inlay is the Alvarez logo,on the side of the neck are the traditional fret inlays.
On quiet a few occasions other bass players have thought I've been playing a fretless,and are puzzled on how I get fretted sounds out of a fretless.Then upon a closer look they see it's fretted with inlays on the side.Even most seasoned bass players are suprised.

This bass well suites any style of playing,with any technique you can imagine.
Playing straight blues or Jazz? Sounds amazing.
Getting funky with some slapping,or doing a nice tapping piece?
Sounds amazing.
You can pretty much get any sound you desire from this bass and it sounds great for recording as well.
It handles the B very well,but like mentioned in the other review,Ernie Ball slinky's have tendency to be hard to string up.

I'm not sure how much this bass was set up before I purchased it,or how used it was,but the action is perfect.The playing is very fluid and the neck is easy to navigate.
The bottom Humbucker is missing a screw and sits a little higher on the left side,but hasn't affected the sound at all.But this happened after a bought it.

The electronics in the bass were messed up when I first bought it,and it took 2 weeks to get it fixed.A friend of mine and former guitar player in a band I was in took a closer look, and said the electronics were jammed in inside.Once while replacing the battery I pulled a wire lose and had to fix it.The connector to the battery seems pretty sensitive,but then again,I could have been to rough with it.

On the reverse side I have only had to change the battery twice,and I've had this bass for 3 years now and play it on a daily bases.
The battery door is somewhat hard to close too.
The pickups and action are great,but the issue with the battery and electronics drops this rating down a notch for me.

I would say this bass is very reliable.I've taken it on quiet a few gigs with no backup bass at all.
I've even dropped it once,and the bass never skipped a beat.
My strap has a tendency to come undone everynow and again,but only happens when I'm sitting down.
After getting the electronics fixed,I believe it will last a very long time (knock on wood)

Pound 4 pound I would say this bass is the best i've ever played.
After comparing it to Warwicks,Fenders,Music mans, and yamaha's i've played on, I can't say i've played a bass better than this Alvarez.
This instrument is a 5 string masterpiece,and hidden treasure you don't come across very often.
I've only seen one other copy of this bass,and the other review of this bass makes three.
In a way I wish they were more common,because if anything happen to this I wouldn't know what to do.

I dont kmow the year, but i would guess about 98 or 99. 22 fret 5 string. It has a laminated quilt maple top and is a beautiful and deep transparent green. I believe it has 2 volume & 2 tone knobs with 2 active EMG-HZ humbuckers. Body and neck are maple with a rosewood fretboard that has only the Alvarez logo on the twelth fret. The neck has a thin feel with average width and string spacing. The body has a Jazz bass type look, but lighter and more exaggerated. The bridge and tuners are normal and have never given any trouble except Ernie Ball Slinky 5's have a fat end that catches in the hole for the bridge on the B, but you can get it through by pushing a bit. I can't find this bass on the Alvarez website. I just went with the model # on the tag. It came with a free gig bag. The electronics can give you almost any style imaginable with minor adjustment. I play from metal to light surf-type rock with just a little adjustment on the tone knobs. It does pretty good, except I had to get strap locks because I wore down the end of my strap jumping around a bit, so it would sometimes fall, but (luckily!) I always managed to catch it. This is by far the best bass I have ever played.

I play almost anything heavy in my band, but also jam on blues and light rock at home, an this bass delivers in full for all of it. I play it through a Peavey Mark III combo with a Black Widow 15" speaker. The amp has a bit of noise on the preamp, but is managable. The bass is quiet when it needs it, and cranks out cool noises when you want that freak factor in the band to show. It can have any sound that anybody would ever want! It records like a dream, and is tottaly at home on the stage. I have never played a more versatile bass in my 6 years of playing.

I have put a few dents and dings around the edges, but it came from the store perfect. I had to tighten a knob and a couple tuning pegs, but mostly just general matinenance stuff.

This is the only bass I gig with. I replaced the strap buttons, but thats because it was cheaper to do that than replace my strap. I have had to do some minor adjustments, but it is all upkeep. The finish is still glossy, and any scratch on it is buffable. It has a couple of dings from bumping it late at night while working on songs and getting very tired. The hardware is rock solid, and stands up to live gigs verry well.

N/A

I got this bass because the one next to it was purple (not my favorite color). It was the exact same bass otherwise, and there was no contest between any others in the store. The only other basses I think can come close to this one is Schecters (diamond series) and the American deluxe QMT or FMT jazz basses by Fender. Everything else is, in my opinion, lacking something that just doesnt cut my standards. If this bass was stolen, I would personally find the person who stole it and give them what they deserve. I would definately replace it, or buy another for a backup or drop tuning bass. Unfortunately, I have never seen this bass anywhere except for the other one present when I bought this one.