Jackson C5A

Japan made, 5st., ash body, rosewoood fingerboard, Duncan desing pickups and preamp -I upgrade it to Basslines STC-2P-, 34" scale neck with good string spacing, almost flat neck radius... I eally love the string spacing -not too close, not too far- perfect for slap, pop, tap, walkin' or combine them all at every moment!!! Mine are translucent red, it has a great look, stage ready!!!.

I upgrade the preamp to a Basslines STC-2P, and the sound become a lot better!!!! This is the best thing you can do to this bass... stock preamp has poor highs and no-growl mids; Basslines preamp give this bass a distinctive sound with lot of versatility (cause of the ash body)... I play jazz to rock to funk to latin, and it suit every style, every bassist that play it love tone and growl of this bass. It's a little noisy, for me it's better for stage, but on record it don't make any problem....

Bad factory action, and to obtain a good low-action without buzzin' can be a little hard... I noticed the frets has to be leveled, but I don't have problem with hardware.(aluminium-lile finish gives diferent look than bored and common chrome-plated.)

I dont have to make it big repair, only normal setup and care... but if you don't give them manteinance, it will become a bad instrument... hey, it's not a Fodera!!!!

I been played around 10 years, and this bass is a good deal for the money, if you buy and upgrade the electronics, will be a instrument you love for good time. I prefer this one over similar price Yamaha or Fender, because it looks great and sound very good!!!

5 strings, 1999 model, made in japan, seymour duncan designed pickups and preamp (2 band EQ). wide neck with satin finish in the back, so is really fast. good string spacing, feels like a 4 strings, so is very confortable for slap.
electronics: 2 soapbars H/H. exist 3 variations of the c5a, and the diference is the preamp: 2 band EQ, 2 band EQ duncan (i have this), and 3 band EQ duncan. so open the back cover and see if exist a duncan sticker!! this is a biiiiiig diference in the potential sound!!
i dont know if this bass is passive/active or active/active (i think that is active/active because use 30k pods for the volume).
maple bolt on neck, Rosewood fingerboard, 24 jumbo frets, Mahogany rounded body (very nice shape!!).
the tuners looks good but are crap (but do the job)

if you think that "jackson" is only in the "hard" sound that is not true. this bass is very versatile, the only thing bad is that is not a splaper bass, the pickups are too alive and made a "click" sound with the slap tecnic. but if you are a finger or pick man, the bass sound really good!
if you put the right strings the bass do the job (jazz, funk, metal, blues, even jaco..).
the bass fit perfect in a gig but sucks in studio.. is too noisy for my taste.
in general is a good mix of a J-like sound with a more versatile and modern posibilities, but too noisy for studio and a bad slaper

the finish is great, the construction is very good "0" flaws.
the factory set-up was too high action for my taste, so i have to make a few truss rod and intonation changes, but i think this is normal for a bass thas was 1.5 years in stock

the only thing that looks weak are the tuners..

his playability is great, is so easy to play!!
the construction is very good too.
if you do a lot of studio work, or you are a slaper man this bass in NOT a option.
with a pickup and a preamp upgrade this bass could be a almost perfect value/sound ratio

O.k. 34" scale, 24 frets active pre-amp vol, bass, and treb. Soap bar pickups (Duncan Design). Translucent red body. Finish is very nice! Full string spacing at the bridge, another plus.

Sound is not bad. Once went into my local music store with my bass and compared it to a music man 5 string. It held it's own pretty well. Gets a little noisey when the treble is boosted. Very bright sounding bass, cuts through well. Can also get some beefy lows out of it also. I play through a digitech BP-8 into a peavy CS-800 driving a peavy 410 TXL and a peavy 15" bottom. Sounds best with both pickups blended together and the bass rolled off just a bit. With the bridge pickup soloed I must boost the bass. It looses bottom end if I don't.
I play mostly alternative and classic rock from sweet home alabama to Rage against the machine. Can get most anything out of it.

From the factory it was set up like shit! The action was a mile off the board and the neck joint was loose. After fixing both problems the bass played like a dream. Also had to raise the pickups a little to boost the output a little more. The finish is beautiful and was flawless. After about a month the volume pot was a little scratchy. Wost thing about the bass is the TUNERS, THEY SUCK TOTALLY. Very sloppy and hard to get bass in tune. Easy upgrade if you like the bass. The neck is very playable and a low action is obtainable.

No problems thus far and have had it for over an year now.

Have not yet had to deal with them.

I have been playing for almost 16 years. Compared to ernie ball and other high end basses, it holds it's own and cost's anbout half as much. Why I like the bass I guess is becouse of the neck. It is wide, the action is great, and the neck is also very thin.
Aside of the tuners I enjoy playing It and just ordered another one, the C5MJ. Looking forward to playing it. Purchased it sight unseen. Has the updated electronics with the mid control and a slap switch. Also has a music man style pickup in the bridge position. Stay tuned.