ESP M-IV

Ok to start this off there's a guy that put his under M-44 on this site but M-IV is the true model name ESP gave it. But check out his review to if you need more. Anyways, this bass is amazing; ESP at it's finest. My model is an '89 and is very versatile. Has passive electronics in it which I prefer counting on most of the gear I use. It has P/J combination in pickups which make it versaSTYLE. It has a three way pickup selector for just the P pickups, just the J or both. Has one volume and one tone knob and the input jack is nicely built in to the side near the bottom. Mine has a little cutaway which isnt a total cutaway; its hard to explain, it sort of slopes in a little down near the bottom of the neck and is helpful sometimes, but definitley was just 80s style put into it. The body is a typical P bass shape for the most part (minus the little "cutaway"). Has a simple string through bridge bridge. Not sure what body is made of probably alder, has a maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. I bought this used, but I got a junky beat to hell case (what a nice consellation gift).

Ha, I can't say enough about the sound out of this bass. Other musicians around me love my bass and my sound. I string it with some DR Highbeams and the sound can fit any music style. I play anything from Christian to Rock to Punk to Funk to Blues THIS THING IS versaSTYLE! The pickup selector helps out a lot not just to tone the volume down, but to switch between certain styles or progressions in a song. I can't put a specific word to the sound it gives me just that it's awesome especially for its age. I have Sunn 200S with a 215S cab and it works very nicely through that I also have a Fender Bassman 25 and I run my bass through a Tech21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI as a preamp when using that, it only adds more wonderful sounds to this amazing bass.

Once again this is an '89, so I don't know how it sounded straight out of the factory, but the action is pretty nice; with mine it has little buzz sometimes, and I'm just too lazy to fix it myself plus I don't have an allen that small to adjust the bridge saddles. For a 15 year old bass the neck is straight and solid, no problems. Mine has a couple dings and scratches I just filled them in with some nail glue and its somewhat smooth again, but they're on the back so no one can see them anyway. The paint is holding up pretty well still has a nice little pearl type shine counting how thats the color of it.

This bass is very reliable. My strings stay in tune all the time throughout all the beating I give to it. It can be used for live, studio, or just home use. All the hardware is in contact and works fine. As before the finish is fine hasn't worn off with my abuse, so it seems to last a long time. Strap buttons are still there and stuck in tight. Haven't had to adjust the truss rod, but hopefully I won't have to its not easy getting to. You have to take neck off to adjust it. With this bass the only thing I may need to be an extra of is maybe some strings.

I'm sure the warranty isn't good anymore, but I haven't had to deal with them with any problems so its all good.

This bass is awesome, don't forget that. It's an awesome mix between P and J bass and all within the ESP name so you know it's good. If you saw this in a local shop or eBay or whatever have you it'd be a good choice to snatch up while you could. I fell in love with this bass at first sight and the sound only backed it up. Excellent bass for any style. Just a great bass.