ESP B-154

This one was made in 2006 i guess (where to see?) in Indonesia.
It has 24 jumbo frets and 4 strings. The included strings are very low-end nickle. I changed them to DR Hi-Beams.
It has volume, bass, treble and a "balance" knob to choose between the two humbucker pickups.
The Pickips are ESP's own SB-4 pair. It has active electronics driven by a 9 volt e-block battery.
The body is made of agathis, the neck is made of maple and the fingerboard is made of rosewood.
This model is the see-thru red and it just looks awesome.
The mechanics are black which fits the colour "outfit" very good.
There was a crappy cable included, some tools and a battery mounted. Nothing noticable.

The sounds is just awesome. I play hard rock and metal and have played for 5 years now. I am just happy with this.
I use a Behringer V-Amp Pro Pre-amp, with a Behringer BX4500H amp and a 1500 Watt slaveamplifier.
It is impressively noiseless!!!
It has a bright sound, but it depends on what EQ settings i am using. With setting it correct, you can get a "thick" sound like the one in the Metallica track Enter Sandman.

The sound generally is very good. Definately worth all money!

The factory out-of-box setup was unstatisfyingly. But thats probably just my opinion. The neck had to be adjusted slightly, the strings were to close to the fretboard. By doing some small adjustments it is just perfect! With the included tools you can quickly adjust these things.
The pickups were adjusted fine in my opinion.

This is definately a roubust bass.
The hardware seems very solid. The knobs are mounted directly on the wood, hence no protecting plate. But the wood seems thick so it wouldn't break like it do on thin wooded guitars and basses.
The finis seem very good. It can take a lot of scratches without it is noticable. The strap buttons are surprisingly solid, but i changed them to some Schaller straplocks.
I would not mind taking it to a gig without a backup bass, though i always have my short scale crappy bass as reserve.

Never needed

I have been playing for 5 years as mentioned before.
My gear:
Pre-Amp: Behringer Bass V-Amp Pro
Amp: Behringer BX4500H - 450 watts
Slave-Amp: InterM M1500 - 1500 Watts
Speakers: One 1x15" cabinet with Peavey Black widow speaker. Two 1x15 Mach i151 cabinets as subwoofers.

I would definately buy another one if it was lost or stolen or broke.

I love the finish. The red see-thru body realy gives the feeling of heavy metal and hard rock.
I tried some of the Fender precision basses, and i like this much better. Both the sound and the look.

This is definately a great bass for the money!!!

Mine is a 2004 B-154 4-String made in Indonesia. It has 24 Jumbo Frets on the Rosewood fingerboard. The body is Agathis with a flame maple top which looks great under the See-thru Red finsih. It has generic ESP humbucker passive pickups with an active EQ.

I've only been playing for 2-3 months, so I don't have much of a style yet. I use it with a Berhinger BX300 combo amp and I don't get any extra noise.

The bass was almost perfectly adjusted from the factor. I made a small adjustment to the trusrod to clear up some buzzing from the frets playing an open E but that was it.

I"m sure the bass would be fine for live playing. I haven't gotten to do any yet though. The hardware seems pretty good and should last pretty well. I replaced the strap buttons with Dunlop strap locks right away so I'm not sure how the stock ones are.

N/A

Simce I've only been playing for a couple of months on a frieds old Peavey (which was too heavy and the neck was too think) I can't compare it to much else. It felt the same as some of the more expensive Ibanez's and Fender's I tried out at the shops before I ordered it. But they only had single coil pickups and I wanted humbuckers.

This is a 4 string, 24 fret 2004 bass made in Indonesia. Agathis body with see thru blue flamed male cap...gorgeous! Pickups are two passive SB series ESP soapbars in design with two-band active eq; treble/bass. You also get the standard volume/pan pot controls. Body looks somewhat like a Fender J, with sharper defined horns. Fretboard is rosewood, with black hardware...control knobs, bridge, tuners and headstock. I really like the looks of this bass! The black hardware really looks tough against the blue flamed cap. I actually had a previous ESP B 304 with a natural flamed cap and gold hardware. I like the looks of this bass somewhat better. I bought this at my local store, and they didn't have a case for it. They gave me an Ibanez case instead, which in my opinion, was far better than the standard ESP case...more durable, plusher interior, tighter fit. Hey, I just slapped a sticker over the "Ibanez" name...no problem! This bass is heavier than my previous B 3-4, which had mahogany wings. Not sure if this is attributed to the agathis wood or not. Agathis isn't considered to be a prime tonewood, but hey, I can't really tell the difference, except for weight.

I play a variety of styles. Grew up with the 70's hard rock...Sabbath, Zep, Who, Queen, Nugent, et. Also like prog stuff like Genesis, Yes, Floyd. I use D'addario XL 170's, which have been my favorites for years. They gave this bass a real punch and presence. PU's are pretty decent...loud and full. I may replace them with EMG's or Bartolini's down the line, but they'll do for now. Overall, this bass just kicks royal ass.....you can really dial up some punch with the eq. I just bought a Digitech BP 200 before Christmas along with some nice Sennheiser phones...sounds great. I'm in the market for a combo amp...150-200 watts, maybe a "15" or 2-"10" set-up. I tried it at the store through the Fender Bassman 200, and it sounded very robust. As best as I can tell, this bass probably leans toward the mid-higher end punch range. Unless you use flatwounds, you're probably not going to get that lush, warm, Fender P or J sound. This thing was meant to rock! Can't say I have any dislikes.

I bought this at my local store, so they had it all set up for me. The factory strings sucked...bad intonation at the top, but I just replaced them with the D'Addarios...problem solved. No complaints. I've ordered from catalogues before...that's when you take your chances with shipping, et. I love the neck action on this axe...fast and smooth. Finish is great. as I said before, Agathis isn't known as a top tone wood. But with the lovely satin blue finish, it's hrad to tell.

Well, I'm, mainly using this as a hobby at work during breaks, and at home during weekends. With 4 kids at home, I don't have time for a band right now. This axe is built like a tank. Although the hardware is plastic...no big deal, it all seems solid. I wouldn't hesitate to use it alone, I think it's that well built.

Under warranty from store. No problems yet, I don't anticipate any.

I've been playing bass for over 30 years now. I've owned several basses over the years to include Ric 4001's, Fender P. MM Stingray, several mid to late 70's Kramers and Yamaha BBG4SII. Oh yeah, let's not forget the ESP B-304 FM. I think this is the best bass I've played for the money. I even like this better than my B 304, which retailed for twice as much as this one. I don't know...there's something about this bass that just makes me want to play it at every chance. I mean, for $270.00, I'm still shocked at how good this thing looks, feels and plays. The neck action and intonation is superb. It just feels like a $1,000 guitar. I tried out similar Ibanez and Yamaha price range models, but this thing blew them away. If I lost it, yeah, I'd probably get another. I can't spend a lot on instruments...my wife would kill my ass, so you have to search out what's best for the money. If you decide to get this, I hope you enjoy it as much as I am with mine.