Carvin BB75

Wide at the 24th fret, assymetrical neck,SP2 soapbar pickups, stacked vol/tone controls,passive/active option, alder body w/emerald green transparent finish.

I knew what I was getting into with a Carvin. This is their Achilles heel, so to speak. Certainly not bad-sounding electronics, but they certainly don't match the quality construction of the instrument itself. That's what took me so long to finally get one! I plan on putting some Nordstrand Big Split pickups in and run it passive...The 'B' string is average. New pickups might help...

Superb construction and set-up. Don't much care for the Carvin strings so I put DR Sunbeams on and it really hums along. I've owned Sadowsky's Modulus, Fender Roscoe Becks, Skjold's, Roscoe, Ken Smith, etc. This Bunny Brunel is as solid as any of them and plays like a champ. The only thing lacking is a better 'B' string and some tone!

I've had it 4 months and played quite a few shows and always go passive. No problems yet.

Great people to buy from. Heard some horror stories about after-the-sale service.

The only reason I don't give the BB75 a 10 is for the previous gripes. Average electronics and average 'B' string. For the money, however, slap some good pickups/pre-amp in and play!

2001 Carvin BB75P, cherry sunburst, black hardware, 5 piece maple and walnut neck, neck through, swamp ash sides, abalone block inlays, coil splitter, 18V active electronics

!GREAT SOUND!
This thing will play everything and sound good at it, i'm serious, everything: Pop & slap, pick, fingers, finger taps all sound immaculate.
Has a pull-up knob for active or passive electronics, built in EQ works great. Can easily taylor a sound to what you are playing.

This Bass was set up excellent from the factory. You will probably want to adjust the truss rod and set your string height and check intonation pretty regularly, but you should probably do that anyways. This is still by far the best bass i have played anywhere. Carvin's asymmetrical neck makes playing a breeze and their basses just hold tight tolerances better than most. Frets are dressed properly (unlike a new fender where they hang off the fretboard on either side), screws are tight. You would be able to pull it out of the box, tune it up, and go play your first song with it during a gig.

This is the only category that carvin starts to slip. It will hold up extremely well to occasional abuse (i threw it once), but the electronics in mine went bad after about 2 years and it really ate up batteries (even with the cord unplugged) since i got it. The finish holds up pretty well, it really doesn't rub off or scratch as easy as you'd expect. Instead it chips off because it is acrylic based and not lacquer based.
The truss rod needs adjusted, and actually needs adjusted, about every season change, but i check it everytime i restring it. You have to watch out what size/type of strings you use too. I, until recently, ran Elixir's on it exclusively and they were too big for the bass. They didn't ride properly in the bridge and the B string had to be crimped to fit in the tuner. I accidentally bought medium's once and had to file off the sides of the low B.
All of this aside, this has been my only bass (due to lack of finances) for the last 5 years and it has never once let me down (aside from the active electronics breaking) during a gig or practice. So all the other things really seem trivial, since it always produced the note i was playing.

Carvin does have pretty good support. I have e-mailed them several times about parts/ideas and got replies faster than a lot of places that are devoted retailers of something. Real friendly staff to talk to on Never had anything warrantied, didn't want to send my bass away for very long.

I have been playing bass for 8 years. I run monster cables (surprisingly, they actually do make more bass noise), an A.R.T. SGX Nightbass SE, and an old Peavey TNT 115. The amp is ready to shell and the tube needs replaced in the nightbass.
I bought this bass when i upgraded to 5 string primarily due to the respect carvin has as a luthier. Now i know why carvin has such respect.
If it were stolen, i wouldn't even consider anything else. I'm actually now considering a 6 string fretless model.
I love everything about this bass and hate only that the active electronics went bad.
There really isn't anything i wish this bass had since i ordered it with all the features i wanted or thought i needed.
Don't even waste your time looking around for other basses and just buy a Carvin.

My BB75 AKA "Dotty BunBun" (Bunny model with dot position markers...it's the first thing that jumped at my when I opened the bag.) is awesome. Anyone familiar with Carvin knows that the features are all dependent on what you select and you cashflow. Mine is a fairly new model I picked up off'n Ebay for 500 less than it must have cost new. 24 frets. It's painted so I imagine that it's the stock Alder body. The one I picked up had the pickup combination and then some. That mug has six knobs and a mini switch for the humbucker. This model has the piezo bridge sadles so there is a push/pull pot for active/passive volume. Trust me after you've heard the volume this thing can put out you won't use the passive except for maybe studio work. The brisge sadles are actually independently volume adjustable on the board in the control cavity A selector/blend between hum and single coil knob. A selector/blend between the pickups and the piezo knob. And Bass/Mid/and Treble boost knobs that will affect your volume. The one I have also has the switch to split the coils. The nneck position is either their single coil or their stacked humbucker. There is supposed to be a dot next to the Carvin logo to tell but the pickup covers are textured and mine on that edge is shiny from finger contact. The EQ is Active. Not the pickups themselves!! This model runs on 18 yolts for plenty of headroom. They've got the slickest battery rig I've ever seen. I can literally change to nine volts in under a minute. And that's taking my time. I'm pretty sure that the body wings are Alder and the neck is Maple. This beast is painted so I really hope no one really paid extra for exotic woods and then covered them up but then again, some people... The finish on mine is a metalic medium blue. The metalic flakes are really more like fat dust. I don't know what they called it but I'd guess like Pearl blue or something like that. As far as a body style...it's a wide body with a long skinny upper horn. Bridge is string through body or bridge. Carvin tuners. Let me say that my first reaction to this beast was that the tuners/pots were all first rate. The first thing you do to a new guitar is look at it. The second thing you do is tune it up and fiddle with the knobs. Man those knobs are solid. No woble at all. I went out on a limb with this model because I wanted to try out their Assymetrical neck. I am a short man. Just under 5 foot. I thought with less material under the palm side of the neck I'd be able to get around a full scale gitar better and I was right. It rocks! One last thing in this catagory...I went with Carvin basically because buying used I knew I could get my money back and mostly because I've owned a Gibson LP Custom before and I'm in love with Ebony as a Fret board material and they offer it stock on every instrument they sell.

Honestly I've never used this thing for studio. I've hasd this thing for about a half a year now and I've only played at Church with this...However...I've played at our main Church in 4 different rooms with 4 totally different sound systems andtwo other "Branches" with their own systems. THE beauty of this bass and the options that came on it with the Jazz style single coil/MM styleHumbucker/and piezo bridge sadles/the bass,mi,and treble boost! I get a huge amount of diversity with this thing. I'm an easy guy to please. Don't let the options on this thing fool you...I'm a trditionalist at heart but I can get that sound anywhere with these options. And my taste has changed sinse I've gotten this thing. Immeditaly the piezo(Which I wouldn't have gotten if I'd bought it new) was my favorite and I was shocked at the immediacy of it. But then as I played it more and more the Humbucker became my fave and now it's the single coil. If I was in a band and usin my own rig I'd buy another one with just the singles in it I think. And I wouldn't get paint although it's a fine job and solid too. Those Ash basses with that saphire blue with the blackburst edge job looks like a sweet number. The amps I use at Church ore all a combo of little Ampeg rigs and direct to the board except for the new branch Church I've started playing for has a Buttkicker and no amp at all. That's an interesting thing. It does the job and keeps the stage volume down but I prefer an amp on the side that I can control.

I bought this used but the key word here is solid. The only thing I didn't care for and still don't is that this model has the dot inlays between the second and third string and therefor offset. That's just dumb. Paintjob is great. Also this is a neckthrough and except for the experienced neckthrough player that can tell when they play it...I can now...you'd never know it by the smoothness of the body. That neckthrough design just adds to the stability and solidness of the guitar.

The bass is solid. It will live up to live playing and so far as I can tell it's pretty darn indistructable. I did have a problem with the bottom strap button and the screw was so tight I couldn't get it out. When I took it to my setup guy that was one of his duty's was to get it out. He destroyed the button to get the screw out. Since then I've had to put wood glue in the horn button to get it to stay in and I think I'll be doing that to the bottom hole too. I'm a sucker for straplocks or I'd have never had this problem. And I can't really attribute that to Carvin as I bought mine used. I won't have to have the "Guy" look at it again for a long time. Many times it's still in tune after several days. With car travel and sitting inbetween. I got a really crappy gig bag for mine from the Guitar Center I bought it from on ebay. If you buy new they won't sell it to you without a hard case.

Never dealt with them as I bought this used.

I've been playing bass for about eight years and guitar more before that. I didn't take it seriously until about two years ago and started taking lessons and such. Unless you're a sponge go take lessons! I can't stress it enough. I wasted so much time it's unbelievable. I own/owned a lot of other gear. If my Carvin were stolen I'd do it all over again. I love the diversity of sounds. Between the pickups and the knobs and especially those boost knobs I can get my sound with any rig and any soundman. When I was ready to sell My Dan Armstrong for a 5 string I looked at cheapo's and more expensive ones. I compared buying new to buying used. I looked at Music mans and Fenders and Laklands and you name it. I made the right choice and I will do it again. It comes down to this...This is the finest instrument I've ever played. You know musicians ...they always want more more more. The next guitar I buy will be a cCrvin. The next amp I buy, guitar or bass, will be a Carvin. The next bass I buy will be a Carvin. Get the picture? The wuality for the buckage just rocks!! I've converted my instructor and he is a Lakland FREAK!!! Buy it...You wil LOVE it!!!

I should say from the outset that I am not a gear-head. I'm a 20 year old Jazz musician and the only bass I've ever owned before I bought my BB75 was a Yamaha RBX-360.

I live in Australia and I bought this bass from a shop in my town which is pretty much the only place in my state that stocks Carvin basses and guitars... they order in both a range of guitars and basses to a variety of their own specifications and also returned instruments from Carvin's Gallery, to my understanding.

My BB75 was made in the last couple of years... not sure exactly when.
It's a Swamp Ash body with Maple fretboard. The body isn't painted, just the natural colour/grain of the wood, which I prefer. It has all the gold accessories which gives it the look of being a very classy elegant instrument.

It has the standard J pickup at the neck and the humbucker at the bridge, which I use almost exclusively as I much prefer the tone to the standard Carvin passive J-bass pickup, which I intend to replace.

It came with the standard case... which is pretty crap in my opinion but doesn't affect the rating I'm giving the bass.

The only thing I'd change if I'd been able to order this bass from Carvin directly to my specifications would be gold strap-locks instead of the standard pegs.

I'm a studying, performing and teaching Jazz musician but I play a variety of styles including Funk, Fusion, Trad Jazz, Alternative Rock, Reggae, Ska, Pop rock, Blues. You name it and I play it pretty much... so I need a bass that has a lot of versatility in sound.

I've only had the Carvin for a couple of weeks, not including the past 3 days when it's been in the shop getting a complimentary set-up and re-stringing so I'm yet to explore every sound this bass has to offer... especially since the amp that I have at home is a piss-weak 20w Ashton jobby that came with my old Yamaha.

On a decent rig I've found that I can get a good variety of sounds out of this bass using the active EQ settings on the bass itself and leaving the amp EQ flat... although at the moment it would seem that the middle EQ pot isn't working. From no-frills warm mellow tones for background jazz to punchy tones for funk and slap... finding the settings to get these tones takes seconds.

In terms of the pick-ups... I'm really not much of a fan of the Carvin J-bass pickup at the bridge, I don't seem to be able to get the sounds that I like very easilly out of it and it seems very flavourless a lot of the time so this will be the first thing getting replaced on this bass. The humbucker at the back sounds fantastic and I use it almost exclusively. The definition of the B-string on a decent amp is fantastic and much better than a lot of basses I've tried.

Overall, I love the sounds I can get and would give it a 10 if not for the fact that the Carvin neck pick-up is rubbish.

When I bought this bass off the shelf the action was perfect. The neck was nearly dead-straight. The harmonics were perfectly in tune. There was a slight buzz on a couple of the frets closer to the nut on the larger strings but they weren't getting picked up by the amp so it was no big thing. Really it didn't *need* the set-up that I sent it in for, but given that it was complimentary and that I'd be getting it re-strung and tuned I didn't see a reason not to. (The Carvin strings that were on it were dead)

The bass had nearly no flaws that aren't readily fixed... there's no noticable scratches on the finish... no wear on the fretboard. The only thing I've noticed is that at the nut there's an extra cut for a string that isn't there... probably whoever cut it just mis-measured the distance between the strings. That is such a non-issue that it's hardly worth mentioning.

The only thing is that the EQ control knobs are a bit skeewiff. Volume and pan pot are perfect... the treble EQ control is fine. I think the bass control is probably fine too but it seems to move the middle control whenever I adjust it. The mids control doesn't seem to work or sit properly and has a lot of resistance when I try to adjust it... apparently the guy who did my set-up didn't check these things, although I forgot to mention them so no fault of his.

Overall everything is sweet except for the middle EQ control.

I'm not going to give a rating for this section because I've only had the bass a few weeks.

It seems like it would take a fair kicking if it had to withstand one.

I've read reviews and heard from other players that gold-hardware is prone to oxidizing at the saddles which can mean a lot of broken strings so I'll be watching out for that.

I'd definitely use this bass without a backup... and probably will.

Never dealt with them and probably never will.

The store that I bought it from will honour Carvin's warranty as I believe any labour or hardware cost they incur in fixing my bass is invoiced to Carvin.

I've been playing bass for about 6 years now. As mentioned previously I've only ever owned one bass before this one and it's a beginner's POS.

Having said that, I have played a lot of basses ranging from the cheap to the very expensive (Alembic, Spectre, Fodera). When I chose this bass it was out of a rack of 4 other basses: A stingray 5, A Spectre 5, A Warwick Streamer and another Carvin, an LB75.

For me, it was an easy choice. The asymmetrical neck, wider string spacing, aesthetic look, sound and overall feel of this bass appealed to me so much more than any of the other basses including a Spectre that was triple the price.

Once I've made the necessary alterations to the electrical situation this bass will be the equal-best bass I've ever played (Mate's got a fretless Fodera that is the sex).

If I lost this bass I wouldn't hesitate to get another one exactly how it will be in a couple of weeks when it's upgraded. I just hope I can find some gold-trim straplocks for it too and a decent softcase for lugging it to and from uni.

It gets a 9 for being almost perfect... in a few weeks it will be a 10.

I traded a Warmoth 4 string I built for the BB75. It's It's all Koa with a tung oil finish and ebony fret board. It's light and the wood/finish combo feels fast and greasy in your hands.

I own a variaty of basses that fit whatever music I'm playing and for a modern in your face sound the Carvin is king. I love the slap tone through my Ampeg SVT and Avatar B212 cab. Lot of high end sizzle so you have to keep the treble boost down a bit. I'm a real physical player and tend to beat the crap out of my bass when I slap and this bass ia a rock! It raely goes out of tune even after a 4 hour sweaty gig.

The bass had been abused and needed a truss rod ajustment and string set up but after that the action is fast intonation perfect. There are no high frets and every note rings true. The Carvin people are arstist and my bass is testament. The only thing that seems to re-occur is the output jack gets scractcy and needs to be taken out and bent a little for a tighter connection.

This bass is tough and never lets me down. I ajust the truss rod occasionally. I generally take a couple basses just because but the Carvin usually gets most of the night.

I own a Carvin PA which I bought new and dealt with CArvin then and found them to be informative and pleasent. I've had no problems with my gear or the company.

I've been playing bass and giging for 30 years.In addition to the Carvin BB75 I own 3 Fenders, '68 P, '77Jazz, '83Jazz Fretless, Yamaha BEX4, Epiphone El Capitan fretless 5 and a '61 Roth upright. I use Ampeg SVT tube head with miss. cabs. SWR350X for backup. I'm in the market for a new bass and am considering another Carvin.

Mine was a 2003 model with two H50 jazz style pickups. I choose the quilted maple top over alder with a black stained finish and and ebony board with abalone dots. It came with a model B hipshot aluminum bridge. Everything else can be seen on the Carvin website. it also features a longer horn for better balance(great idea). I can't think of any additional features I would need except for better electronics which I will describe later.

This is the only category which has room for improvement. The Carvin pickups and active electronics sound very generic. The EQ bands are so wide that boosting the bass or mid knobs allmost sounds like a volume boost. The pickups don't have much personality either. I actually sent the bass back to Carvin after a few days because after replacing the pickups and electronics, it did't seem like such a bargain anymore. Also, I choose ebony only because they offer rosewood. I found that I don't care for the tone of ebony. They must be the only company who doesn't offer rosewood?

Finish and set up perfectly. The finish was a black stain over quilted maple and the effect was like a purplish/grey/oil slick kind of look. Very striking and original.

the company was very friendly when ordering and were more than willing to answer question on several occassions but they did drop the ball once. When the bass was completed, they sent a post card instead of calling. Just a bit of advice, call a week or so before the due date to check if your bass is ready.

I've been playing professionally for 20yrs. I've owned and played many basses including: Tobias, Fender, Kubicki, Musicman etc...
the BB-75 is a very comfortable and high quality bass for the money but the pickups and electronics don't compare to the their high end competitors. If you don't mind spending the extra money to upgrade, go for it. Better yet, buy a used one and upgrade.

This is a Carvin Bunny Brunel Signature 5-string ordered in late 1995 and made in the USA. It's fretted with 24 frets. It's a neck-thru with a maple neck and alder wings. Volume, pickup blend, treble, mid, bass controls. There are two active jazz pickups in the normal spots. It has the greenburst finish. The neck is asymmetrical with an ebony fingerboard with fret markers positioned as they would be on a four-string. It came with a hardshell tweed case.

I just got this bass a few days ago, and my first impression was that it's incredible. It still seems incredible. The finish is wonderful. The preamp gave me no trouble when dialing in a sound. The craftsmanship is terrific. I can see no flaws. It's got Dunlop straplock pins, but I don't use the straplocks because I haven't had the time nor the money to buy the strap part for my strap yet. That's not a problem, though, because the pins are still big enough to use a regular strap. I've never seen a bridge like the one it's got, but it's nice. The one problem that I see (it's really not a problem) is that when the battery compartment is pushed hard it makes a bit of a noise. How often does that happen though?

I'm not really sure what type of music I play...it's a lot of stuff. I just know that this bass gives me a sound I love and that I wouldn't be able to live without now that I've experienced it. Slap, finger, pick, it's all good. I don't use my amp's EQ anymore. I leave that flat and do it all with my bass. It's really nice having it right there for any quick adjustment.

The bass was set up great when I got it, except that the saddles were a little uneven. Considering this bass is almost 7 years old, however, I don't think that's Carvin's fault. The pickups are set to an ideal height. The finish is absolutely beautiful. It's on the entire bass. The back of the neck is green and it goes to black on the headstock and has the standard sunburst-style shading.

This bass seems to be built solid, and everything is secured nice and tight. It's held up for almost seven years already, but I don't know how much play it's got. It's practically in mint condition, so either it's not been played much or it's just that good. I think the finish will last a good long time. I'd use it on a gig without a backup any day. I'd just need an extra battery in case mine runs out. The battery compartment allows for easy battery changing in about five seconds.

Haven't spoken to them, probably never will.

I love the sound, finish, body, everything, and I hate nothing about it. There is a single thing that I could imagine improved - a rounder upper horn. That's trivial though. If I lost this bass, I'd be obliged to buy a new one because I wouldn't be able to live without it. If this bass were a woman, I'd marry her in a snap. You may think I've been generous with the ratings, but I think it's just that good.

I've got the BB75P setup with hipshot bridge, carvin tuners, graphite nut, 5 piece maple neck with walnut, 24 fret birdseye maple fretboard with abalone dots, hipshot detuner, quilted maple top greenburst finish, straploks installed, and a swamp ash body. It's got bass, treble, and mid boost/cut active controls and its got a jazz neck pickup , music man style bridge pickup, and piezo pickups in the bridge. The person from carvin stated that I needed to get the tweed case, and even though I like the style, I live in nw washington, so waterproofing is a must, i.e. scotchguard.
The finish and appearance are beautiful, and I get excellent comments by most who see it, I definately think the carvin catalog basses are quite a bit more quilted, but other than that it's great looking. Also, I personally despise the low boomy B string, so I strung and intonated the bass with a high C instead.

I like to play funk rock, blues, jazz style depending on guitarist(or banjo, fiddle, harmonica, ect.). It's the first active bass I've ever owned and I like the fact that I don't have to haul around any eq's or preamps to get a good signature style/sound out of my bass. I was playing a rickenbacker with a ne-1 parametric eq before I got this bass, and this bass sounds alot fuller even though it weighs much less. The controls on the bass are right on for what I need and I can get great slap/pop response,a good fender jazz fingerstyle, or with a bit of manipulation the the blend controls, a great almost-fretless-upright-acoustic sound out of the piezo pickups. One thing I also like is the fact that the bass sounds good passively and acousticly as well, which to me is a good sign of quality craftsmanship. I like the rounded tones available from the front jazz pickup, but the bridge pickup definately gives a punch that I've never had before. Overall, I've had four basses, and this one has the most versatility for sound, whether fingerstyle rock, or slapped funk, I haven't been disappointed by anything other than the cost of 2 9v batteries every couple of weeks.

I had to adjust the bass because I forgot to ask them to nix the low b instead of the high c. Action was fine before, but I had to change everything. I live on the west coast, so the neck didn't need any adjustment due to humidity, but I changed everything else so the action and intonation was good to go. This was my first >4 string bass, So I finally learned to set the strap a little tighter so I wouldn't get left wrist fatigue from the extended reaching. The action of the neck is good and fast, and the asymetrical design is perfect for those of us who can't palm a basketball. I adjusted the output of all of the pickups via the internal volume controls in the control cavity, because the boosted sound wasn't very much different than the passive sound before. Everything was professionally put together and the bass came with all the necessary tools to adjust it's setup and with howto sheets informing the owner how to maintain and setup the bass to fit their requirements.

I've been playing this bass with other musicians at my house for the past 2 months straight and have only had problems with the batteries going dead and me not noticing it until the active boost sounded dull and distorted ( It's my first active bass), It feels light, and even weighs less than one of my buddies Ibanez guitars, so I don't really know how well it would stand up headstock dive into the floor. The gloss coat seems reasonable durable, and I've got straploks on it, so I don't really question anything about the durability or worry about dropping it. I think even the carvin manufactured tuners are fairly durable, but I'll have to update this review in about a year and see what happens. As for playing live, other than playing at my house, I haven't in a long while, but I always bring a backup just in case. Also, when it's not in my hands, it's in my case, and I hope that will help the finish hold up.

Sales person was helpful and reasonable, and he became my point of contact after I purchased the bass during the construction, so it made it easier to get information because he was already familiar with my order. I haven't needed to contact their support services, but because it is a big corporation, as long as I act in a professional manner I'm sure they would as well. I believe carvin basses have a 5yr warranty. If the rest of their gear is as high quality as their basses, I wouldn't hesitate to buy other products as well.

I've been playing for 7 years, I've got ibanez,rickenbacker,and fretless fender basses. For volume I use a peavy poweramp with a mesa boogie road ready 15/horn and a hartke aluminum 15. I use an swr bass 350 as my main amp with a eden 15 with a horn and a black widow because the eden speakers are exceptionally prone to excursion and like to break 3 months after you purchase their cabinets (ok maybe it's just me). I would definately replace this bass with the identical model if stolen. I really do love this bass, but the one thing that seems to piss me off to no end is the lack of space for pulls and pops, I still cram my fingers into the bridge pickup with I get into a groove and try to fill with some funky pop. I've still got to adjust to the pickup location, but other than that it plays well. The thing that made me want to buy this bass was the complete "to custom" features of the company. I would've gladly paid up to 3,000 for a bass this year, but carvin's price was reasonable and I got everything I wanted.

I bought this bass used. I think its a 97. It has a blue-black burst with a quiltted maple top. the hardwear is gold but I have switched to black except for the wilkenson bridge which is no longer made to my knowledge. There are bass, mid, and treb knobs with a single blend knob.

The sound can be a little muddy but not bad at all. the active mid and treble are very sensitive. i play a lot of slap and finger style with funk, metal, and jazz fusion inclinations. I only use the carvin la bella strings which give a warm sound through my carvin r1000 and 4x10. with the bridge pickup soloed you can approach the jaco sound. with both pickups full on you can get a very wide variety of slap and finger style tones. i would have to say that I love this bass. I have played a lot of other basses and this one ranks right near the top. it is without a doubt the best bass for the money, period.

this is the strongest category by far. the quilted maple isn't the best i've seen but the action, finish, and setup are great.

I have never had any problems with the hardwear, finish, etc. I do get a little crackle from the active pots and jack but that is to be expected after its five years of heavy use.

Carl at carvin is great. if you have a question, call Carl and he'll tell you anything. I haven't delt with the bass through them though because there has been no reason.

The bottom line is, if this bass were to be stolen, i wouldn't hesitate to order another. It is unbeatable for the money.

I bought this bass in 1995 direct from Carvin's custom shop. It was supposed to have "offset" position markers on the neck (to enhance the feeling of a four string with one extra string). At the time, I was making the transition from four to five and thought it might make things easier. They screwed up though, and put the markers in the center of the neck, which ended up being no big deal. Onstage, I'm looking at the side position markers anyway, and besides, it only took a couple of weeks of confusion to get used to the B string.

Otherwise, the bass has two j-style pickups (which I've replaced--more about that in a minute), a Wilkenson bridge (they're using a hipshot bridge these days) and a natural-finish curly maple top. The wood is pretty, but not nearly as AAAA-looking as the models they show in the catalog. The wood on the headstock is much more heavily quilted than is the body.

The bass has sperzel tuners, which are handy for changing strings fast, though sometimes my G string tends to lose pitch and I have to keep re-tightening the screw thing.

Also, if I were buying one of these new, I'd probably get the piezo option, which wasn't offered in 1995.

When I got this bass, I was only moderately happy with the sound, which was a bit dark and plain. It sounded like a p-bass without the full bottom or subtle mids.

So I replaced the pickups with Bartolinis. At first, to save money, I kept the Carvin preamp in the bass and had my tech install a switch which would bypass the preamp and tone controls, and just send the output of the bridge pickup straight to the output jack. This sounded pretty good, but engaging the switch caused a loud pop.

Finally, I plunked down the money for the Bartolini preamp to match the pickups, and man, what a difference! This is now one of the best sounding basses I've ever played.

I went to NAMM last January and played every high-end bass I could find (Warwick, MTD, Ken Smith, Modulus, Fodera, Zon, Pedulla, ect.). To my ears and fingers, the only bass which sounded and played better was a Dingwall with the Novak fanned fret system.

I've used this bass on a number of sessions, and engineers always remark about the tone (I also bring a J-bass and a Stingray, and after hearing all three, they inevitably ask me to play the Carvin).

Since I replaced the electronics, this bass has a real complex tone, perfect for both fingerstyle and slapping. Before I did it, I'd have given the tone about a 6.

The workmanship is excellent, almost unbelievably good for a bass in this price range. That's why I decided changing the pickups was worth the extra money. Here I had a bass with workmanship equal to most expensive boutique basses, but a mediocre sound. The bass's crafstmanship deserved the upgrade.

The bass has held up pretty well, and I've been tough on it. I live in South Louisiana, where the weather is nuts--we have extremes of both hot and cold, and year-round ultra-humidity. Many times, I've been to lazy to pull the bass out of the trunk and have left it in extreme temperatures for a week at a time.

I did have some problems initially with the Wilkenson bridge, though. I got gold hardware, and the faux-gold finish began to oxidate, creating sharp burrs that popped G and D strings like crazy. I sent it back to Carvin, and they replaced it at no charge. I haven't had a problem since then.

Also the SKB-style Carvin case warped within about six months (probably from the heat in my trunk).

I also had to replace the battery compartment. I had a battery die during a gig (this bass needs a "passive" switch), and in my rush to get the annoying plastic battery door open before the next tune, I messed it up.

They were pretty nice to me. When I called them about the centered position markers, they gave me the option of sending the bass back while they made a new one, or keeping the bass and taking a refund of $100, which I accepted gladly.

When my bridge started to pop strings and the case warped, they took care of both problems quickly, and even send me a personalized truss rod cover for my trouble. Cool!

I've been playing guitar since 1965, bass full-time since 1990. I also own a four-string Stingray with a hipshot extender and a two-tech bridge and an early 70's Jazz bass with a custom made (Performance Guitars in Hollywood) fretless neck, a Badass Bridge, and Lindy Fralin pickups.

When I upgraded the electronics, the BB75 replaced the Music Man as my main bass. It just sounds sweeter, and I've grown to depend on the extra string. I've played everything, and this bass holds it own in any company. Probably the most similar stock bass out there, in feel and sound, is the Pedulla Thunderbass.

To be honest, if this bass were stolen, I'd probably spring for a Dingwall 5, which I played and loved at NAMM. I'd also like to own a Modulus 6; the idea of a composite neck appeals to me as a New Orleanian--it'd be nice not to have to adjust the neck every month.

But I don't covet those other basses because this one is lacking; I just like bass gear. Until something happens to the Carvin (or until I win the lottery), I'm perfectly happy where I am.