ESP LTD B 50

This is an update of my review of the esp ltd B50 which I posted at 02/10/2000 23:01.

I've updated the bass with a Dimarzio 'P' style pickup in the middle position, but left the 'J' pickup stock.

Otherwise it's the same bass as before, save for a change to GHS Brite Flats.
** I like these esp. when I'm a bit out of practice. They are plenty bright, but have a more flatwound type of finish--easier on the pads!**

The neck is a bit wide, but fast. There's a bit of extra room at the outside of the E and G strings that just makes for a longer reach on the G side, and more weight on the E side.

Solid pocket though. Tough frets, they've been holding up for five years now. (using round wounds, mostly.)

The pots went crap fairly soon. Year and a half maybe? Just scratchy at first, then permanently scratchy. Then spots where the signal would just cut out.

Easy to rewire with new pots though. And about what you'd expect with a less expensive bass.

The Dimarzio gave it an edgier sound, more high end and a different resonant peak. It's very Fendery sounding now, P or J bass pickup.

Quiet, works well recording or live.

I'm moving this category up from 9 to 10, .. due to the Dimarzio.

As new, plays fast. Is holding up very well, finish and build quality have not let me down in the least.

I put foam rubber under the pickups, which helped keep them level and not have any free play or other movement. I recommend that.

Otherwise the only thing that's gone wrong with it is the paint came off a bit on two of the bridge saddles.

This is painted on 'black chrome'.
I think they advertise 'black hardware' so it's not really a lie, eh?
*s*

I used a magic marker on it. It wears off again after a month or so.
Means nothing to me, really.

I'm upgrading this from 9 to 10 because the instrument has proved itself for five years.

I added straplocks.
I almost forgot that. *s*
Jim Dunlop original design, in black.

This bass took gigs with no problems. Dead of Minnesota winter, in a gig bag.
*Carvin.. don't buy one.. get the Musicians Friend Elite Series Gig Bag instead*

I used no backup. Never a problem.

Stayed in tune very well. Always played nice.

Again moving it up to a 10 due to years of use!

Every time I have dealt with ESP they have gone way out of their way to communicate, commiserate when needed, and corrected every problem.

I had no problems with this bass, however. *s*

Still.. a definate 10 for ESP in this category. They reply personally, in detail, and quickly. They read what you write, reply with patience and in every way appear to care about their product and their services.

Though I have actually returned more expensive ESP LTD basses, which I bought based on how well I like this, their least expensive model.
I would still buy ESP guitars or basses.
I believe the negative experience was the fluke, and had to do more with the store than with ESP.

So.. are they perfect in every way.. no.. but for customer support, certainly seem to be.

If you can live with the slightly wide feeling neck, I understand they are now making these of Agathis body wood, which I think would be better than the Basswood mine was crafted from.. then this bass would make a great beginner bass, a good gigging bass, a nice bass for a guitarist or keyboard player, or for your home studio..

It's pretty basic, but with two pickup styles and so many aftermarket
pieces available such as bridges, tuners, pickups, etc., it's a bass you can really use, use well, improve easily, and keep for many years.
Cheap!

I think this summer I'm going to shave the back of the neck down a bit.. thin it some and see how it plays then. *s*

I think these basses now sell for 179.00... I payed 229.00 for mine.
That's fifty bucks!... go buy one now!

Made in indonesia(ugggh. Overseas manufactueres are starting to make some decent guitars though. P-J pickup config. Standard controlles which are different than most guitars. control for each pickup. better than crappy p - bass controls that every one seems to have.

unbelievable amount of tones can be reached. mainly because each pickup has a control. the pots are pieces of shit and suck balls. the stock pickups are surprisingly good and im a person who always want to change the way a guitar sounds. by the way im a lead guitarist and i play tons of speed. the neck and sound is so freaking good that im getting an ltd-mh50 with the floyd. perfect except for the shitty pots. o ya i use it through a bassman 100 in my school band.

intonation was out, every single fret buzzed and the pots were shit as i sed many times before because it pisses me off so bad. the

downside off the guitar is that its made off basswood. ive had it fore 6 months and i didnt even play it till school started because im a lead guitarist. i got 5 small dents and a chip. i love esp's some much though that im trying to keep it in good shape even though i know i cant. eventually i'll be replacing it with some sort of custom body for free$ because my dad's can make one. knobs also fell off wich was a pain, but 2 minutes with a allen key fixed it.

compared it to other standard squire and yamaha p.o.s's. wah better than them just get new pots. body can be dealt with.unbelieveable deal for 220$. the only bass ive ever liked that ive tried. when playing electric i'd only got with.... guess which brand. esp. but jacksons,fenders,gibsons,ibanez's rock too.

I don't know a whole lot about this bass, it's has a p/j pick up config that has two volume and two tone knobs. Nothing Fancy. It cam ewith nothing and has since proven to be worth next to nothing.

This bass is kinda versitile, but my volume pot for the p-bass pick up has broken twice, and the jazz pick-up makes it sound more like a baritone guitar, than a bass.

The neck sucks. I bought it to go on tour with a band( i was a guitarist and just went and bought a cheap bass) and have hated it ever since. Now I have a high-end bass, and I can feel how horrible the neck feels on the LTD. Plus like I said before, the Volume Pot broke twice! The first time it was not secured to the body and when I went to turn up the volume it spun around until the wire's broke! Then I took it to get fixed and the repair man said the pot was a piece of crap to begin with so breaking the wires really just helped me to find a bigger problem.

THis Bass Sucks!!!!!!!!!Everything about it sucks! I now play it in a very aggresive harcore band. I want to break it so I will have an excuse to buy another bass. I'm playing this Saturday and I hope it will be the last time I ever Play it!

I hated it so much I didn't even call the company. I just decided to spend my money on the enjoyment of breaking this piece of junk.

I hope you believe me when I say not to buy this bass. Look at G&L's, Warwicks,Music Mans, or even Fender before you buy this Bass. Whats the worst purchase you've ever made? well if you buy this bass It will be your new worst. I will have pictures of me breaking this bass, If you would like them my e-mail address is jcondit@wocinfinity.org And Once again unless you want to waste two hundred dollars on a piece of junk bass that won't last you three months much less three years, DO NOT BUY THIS BASS!!!!!!!!!
Thank You

It has Good features, just the same as all those fancy bass's, its tuning is good, it stays in tune, even if its in the garage waiting for the next practice, it stays in tune.

It sounds pretty nice, i liked how it sounded, and especially for the price. It played gigs, and practiced many times. Its a good bass.

the action is great! It fits almost anyones hands perfectly. There was no flaws in the action, nor the finish. It looks beautiful.

its durablilty isn't the best thing, even though i love this base, its not as strong as i would like it. After having it for a few months, it ended up with a big chip near the bottom, i took very good care of it, infact it was inside my hard case when i found it like that, another thing is the tone nobs are somewhat loose, one of them ended up falling off.

Overall, I think this bass is perfect for either begginers, or pros, because you can't be disapointed in this bass, its too good.

Made sometime in 2001. 24 frets, two vol one tone knob, basswood body maple neck with rosewood fretboard. Mine is black finish with all black hardware, very cool looking Axe! P&J pick-ups basic bridge. The tuners have ESP's name on them.

It has a great sound!! I like the pick-ups. Both pick-ups bring out a great range of tones for the type of pick-ups they are. I play through A J-Station & use the bass amp and cab models. It really sounds awesome through the J and sounds great just pluged into an amp.

WOW! I was soo amazed at just how good the guitar felt in my hands. The neck is really fast and feels really comfortable. The action was set up perfectly from the factory. The strings are bright and sound really clean. I always restring and set up a new guitar I purchase,but no need with this guitar. I'm happy with the way it is. The tuners are made by ESP. They really hold a tune. The tuners are real smooth turning as well. I went over the guitar really well looking for any flaws before puchase. the guitar is really solid!

It seems rock solid and is put together very well. As mentioned before is really stays in tune. That is good for playing out cause I have played guitars that did'nt stay in tune nearly as well as this guitar does. With that said a most definate yes for gigen out with it. nothing seems cheaply made and does it seem like quality was not over looked with this guitar.

N/a I heard ESP has an exellent Customer service,fortunatly I haven't needed to find out for myself.

It was love at first site. This guitar was in the shop window and I just had to play it. When I was told the price of it I was shocked. I would have paid a $100 more and would have felt I got a good deal. My friend has a Washburn Batam Bass he bought for the same price as I did and I by far got a better deal!! I have been playing lead guitar for 18 years. I just recently became interested in playing bass to do some home recording. I love playing BASS guitar!! I love playing this BASS guitar!! My musical abilty has grown in just the short time I started seriously playing on a bass guitar. Laying down bass lines and getting funkey riffs give me a musical fun groove I've never quite experienced before. I don't think I could experience what I have on any other Bass guitar in this price range. I have always liked what ESP had to offer, I'm pleased I got such a great guitar and one with the name ESP on it!

I belive this was made in 2000, thats at least when i got my hands on it. A basswood body, a "P" pickup in neck and a "J" at bridge, it has 24 frets, a satin black finish (gothic?) the neck is maple i think, thats what it looks like. the fingerboard is rosewood. its got what appears to be a blend volume and a tone control, and its sport'n some no name tuners.

This is where the bass cut's loose, in comparsion to every other 200 dollar bass i have played. which is a good number. this one easly sounds way better. the p, pickup is deep,bassy and warm tone, yet the j pickup is really brite and has not much bass in it at all. yet the x-treme differance between the pickup almost add's, cause you can get all kinds of sounds out of this bass. there is no noise from the pickups at all. I play mainly metal/hardcore/or emo-punk and it works fine. it seems to work fine for everything if you ask me. sounds great. for this much money you could not go wrong.

when i got this bass it was set up pretty good. no fret buzz. or anything. but the action was pretty high. after i set it up to the way i liked it, it ruled. the neck feels as nice if not nicer than alot of other much more expensive basses i have played like ibanez,fenders and the higher end peavy's. there is minimal fret buzz. really there is none at all. once you hit like fret #20 there is a lil. but who really spends a good deal of time on those frets? i know i dont so its not a problem. the finish is nice. since it is satin black it does not show scratches very easly, but the gothicness seems to be wearing off, its getting not so satiny up wear my arm rubs against it. i have had this bass for about a year tho, so thats not a biggie. the only think about the bass i do not like at all. is there is a small gap between the neck and the body on the bottom side of the neck. it does not affect playing at all. but it just bugs me. and i cat figure out the controls on it. one is blend that makes sense. but the middle one. if you turn it down it turns off the j pickup. but it does not turn off the p, which makes no sense to me. if it was the volume would'nt turn off both? and the other is the tone. but even with the weird controls it still works great. and that is not a big deal at all.

i have had this bass for about a year, and every thing has held up fine. except the screws that hold in the pickup's are a bizzzatch to get out. i striped 2 of em and had to do a home brewed removel of them. so i would get new screws for the pickups. if you can get the old ones out that is. but even with that. its still seems to be a very durabil bass. one of the strap buttons was coming loose for awhile. but i tightened it. i dont really "gig" it has happened before. but i am sure it would hold up fine unless your like touring the nation. but if your in a band that is doing that i am sure your bass cost more than 200. so you get what you pay for i guess

never delt wit em

i really like this bass. i have to admit. sure its not the nicest thing in the world. but it does me good. and if your a beginner or just a cheap person this would be a good bass to pick up. if it was stolen or lost?? i would prolly buy a diff bass. dont get me wrong its a nice bass. i would just go for something else for the sake of having something. yall can feel me there right? but if it did get broken or lost or something. i would cry, cause me and this bass have seen some good times. oh, and if you want to hear this basses tone's go to www.mp3.com/xconstraintx its my band. and i used this bass while we were in the studio. it really gave some soild tones. but. its a good bass for the money!

i bought this bass as my first bass after playing guitar for 3 years. This is a Korean-made 24 fret bass with P and J-style pickups. its got 3 knobs, two are individual pickup volume controls, and the 3rd is a tone control. the body is made of basswood, with a rosewood fretboard / maple neck. as far as features go, there are not a ton, but for the price i paid for this bass they are excellent.

so far, i'm fairly pleased with the sound. when i first got the bass, i put the action super-low, and i'm getting a little bit of buzzing when i play, but i'm sure that when i adjust the action, it will go away. i play mainly blues and r&b, with a little bit of fusion, and it sounds good. you can get some good warm tones with the neck pickup, and some brighter sound with the bridge pickup. i still haven't found my perfect settings about which ones i like yet, but thats a major plus to this bass that it offers such a wide range of tones.

the factory setup had the action a little bit high for my taste, so i spent some time lowering it. out of the box, the finish was FLAWLESS. wondeful gleaming black.

this is a good beginning bass. its well constructed, and i will most definately keep it no matter how many more basses i might aqcuire along the way. all of done is practice a lot with it, and gone to a few jam sessions. 6 months after buying it, i've dropped it, kicked it, stepped on it, and knocked it over, and it still plays beautifully.

this bass is bad a. i only paid $199 for it new. this is pretty much a super value, and i'm glad i bought it. i've since been to music stores looking at amps, etc. and i always play on some of the other basses in the store. none of the other entry-level (less than $300) basses can compare with this one in my opinion. buy one!

Just got it.. Feb. 2000.. Korean made.. 24 frets.. 4 strings.. solid basswood body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard... two volume and one tone.. P/J style pickups.. passive... black paint.. body style is.. well, it's rather small, and has a long upper bout horn.. which keeps it balanced pretty well. Very light bass, and comfortable. 6 bolts hold the neck on.. I bought it without case. It has black hardware, but it's painted not black chrome. I don't care, frankly. It looks great and gives me a very strong impression of having been done well. The tuners are smooth and easy to use.. accurate and hold tune. The bridge is adjustable for up down and intonation. It works fine.

So far.. and it's only a couple of days old.. I like it a lot. I like the controls.. I've owned ricks and fenders and gibsons and peaveys and ovations and G&L.. and this bass is nice in comparison control wise. I'll use it for rock blues folk country and more, with no problem, I'm sure. It's quiet.. I run it into headphones via my Tascam 424 MK III.. it's a peach. There is a variance in the pickups, both for output and for tone that I really like. You can back off the tone (treble) control.. or you can change tonality by using either volume control. Sound wise. I'm happy... I only use my digitech RP7 and my DOD fx7 for compression, cabinet emulation, a little chorus, right now.. and plan to use a bass efx eventually.. but this will do fine for my home recording projects. I've played bass since 1965, and I'd be happy with this bass for sound onstage.

The action was fine right out of the box. I set it up slightly different.. but not due to any fault, just for personal taste. It's very fast action before you touch it. The pickup adjustment is touchy.. the screws turn hard as hell, and if you're not careful you'll jam a screwdriver into the paint. They did need set up when I got it, because one was too close to the strings.. and overpowered the other too dramatically. But.. in the end. That's ok, because you had better expect a bit of hassle with a two hundred dollar bass. The fit and finish is flawless.. a small ding barely noticeable, probably due from the setup they did at the factory. You can hardly see it. The neck is straight as an arrow! The fretwork was really surpising.. man they are done nicely! Every single thing operates well on this bass except the pickup screws are awfully tight. Pots are nice, smooth, no static, no weak spots, NO complaints at all. The control cavity is sloppy, but it's also shielded and the soldering and wiring are fine. One problem I see is that if you wanted the action a tad lower, you'd have to shim the neck. Because the bridge saddles are already at their lowest setting... I think that since it has a sticker which reads 'inspected in the USA', this should not be so. They could have done that and saved me the hassle. No sharp fret edges, again.. level, polished, just nice. Even the neck inlays have no filler around the edges. One thing I notice is that there is a little extra room on the outside edges of the neck.. that is, the bridge isn't quite as wide as the neck.. so there is more room than needed from the outside edges of the E and G strings to the outside edge of the neck. I'll get used to it.. but ESP really should consider making this neck a bit less wide from fret edge to fret edge, or changing that bridge.

With the less expensive maple neck, even though it all feels very solid and well done right now, I expect to have to tweak the truss rod eventually. But, I don't consider that a problem or a fault. I had to do that with most every bass I've owned at one time or another. This bass seems very strong. I was concerned about a 24 fret neck on a bass this inexpensive.. but it has six bolts.. that baby is solid. The strap buttons, like all the hardware, are fine. I'd gig with it if I'd bought a case!

I'm going to email ESP about the minor things I've mentioned above, but I'd really like to use this space to say that 229.00 for this much bass (bought it at AMS http://www.americanmusical.com) is just great. This is purchased for home recording.. the idea was to get as much bass as I could for the buck. I've never tried an ESP bass, even in a store. I'm happy. I'm shocked, still, at how well the fretwork was done, how solid everything is, and how good it looks. ESP is doing a good job with these basses.. I'd bet a step up, or two, would give you a killer damn bass. So. I'm giving ESP a 10. incredibly kind and helpful for the job they've already done. I've limited the other scores to 9 each, because although they are indicitive of how well I think this bass was done in it's price range, I haven't played them all. I'm glad I have this instead of any of the fender basses from Asia.

I've been playing since 1965, I own a tascam 424 mk III and a digitech rp7 and a dod fx7 and an audio technica mic and an epiphone sheraton II. If this bass were stolen or lost, I'd get it, or the model just above it because I bet I'd outright shit over the better one. What I like best about it is the overall good job they did.. the complaints I have are as minor as those of many basses I paid much more for in the past. I guess my favorite feature is two fold.. 24 frets and p/j pickups. I compared this to the fender squiers.. and to the other asian fenders.. and to some others I saw but have forgotten even what they were at my local store. This one beat all of them costing up to 100.00 more. I chose this one, because of the 24 frets. the p/j pickups, because I'd seen an ESP guitar that was impressive, and because I knew I wouldn't like the stuff I saw locally. I wish they'd had this much bass for two hundred bucks when I was a kid. I'd recommend this bass to any beginner.. easily! To anyone needing a good sounding and playing bass for their home recording projects. To anyone who wants another bass, or a back up bass! And I say again.. I've played a lot of years, rickenbacker fender G&L and more.. and I'd play this onstage anytime. I was a little leery of the smaller body.. but it is comfortable and the wieght is great.. nice! This is a fantastic value, for sure. There may be good competition for it. Dean, or Ibanez.. some say the Yamaha in this price range can be very nice. But that doesn't change what I'm holding in my hands. two hundred bucks worth of everything I wanted, better done than I expected. Kudos ESP.