View other reviews for this product:
MGR/Mike Parenteau « Godin BG5 5-string Bass »
Published on 11/26/02 at 15:00Purchased at The Arts in Newmarket ON, Canada. $1,199 MSRP Cdn. Helpful group of guys at The Arts, they fixed the action and set up the neck before I left, even though the store was closing.
I'm a drummer who has just taken up the bass for quite versatile praise & worship band at church (many different styles). I purchased two bass guitars and two amplifiers in a three month period STOP!!
Clean and articulate sound. B-string is nice and tight, not floppy. The neck is beautiful, a flat 16" radius, nicely finished frets, not a thick neck, can get your hand around it easily. Basically it's very comfortable to play. That's what sold me on both of my Godin basses.
Stays in tune.
The finish is hi-gloss sunburst (jet black on back of guitar and front edges with tobacco colored flamed maple, looks beautiful. They also had one in blue, it was hard to decide which to take.
Lots of tone flexibility with the Basslines pickups and active electronics.
The bridge is quite easy to adjust.
Battery compartment with flip-out and snap in installation. Much better than taking out a screwdriver every time you need to change the battery, a nich quality touch.
The guitar came with a really nice and sturdy hard case plus allen keys.
It's a bit heavy, and if you don't have a 3-inch wide strap the neck will definitely dive.
The truss-rod adjustment access is extremely tight. It almost looks as though the neck pocket was cut a little low. The truss rod is positioned somewhat lower than the access cutout, very little clearance, very tough to adjust.
The electrical output of the guitar is actually less than my passive P-J style Godin Freeway 4 bass. When I inquired via email whether or not there was an adjustment for this I received no response from Godin.
They had answered two previous email questions I had about my Freeway bass within two days (good) but didn't respond to my inquiry on the BG5 (bad).
The owners manual I received was for a previous model which didn't share the same control knob configuration.
Aside from the truss-rod access issue mentioned above, the bass is really structurally solid. There's lots of sustain, and the bridge looks like a high quality Schaller unit that has multiple adjustment (not like some of the cheap Fender stamped units).
Finish is top notch. The mechanical integrity of the bass is top notch. Did I say it was really solid.
The mechanical solidity of the unit helps it to be very pitch articulate. Some basses make it really hard to hear the difference between semitones on the B and E strings. The Godin BG5 rings the notes out without any doubt.
It tends to be a bit more "modern" in sound with lots of midrange and treble if you want it.
It doesn't have the round and punchy tones of my Godin Freeway 4 (which has a string-thru-body that I think gives it that character) Vive le difference!
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I'm a drummer who has just taken up the bass for quite versatile praise & worship band at church (many different styles). I purchased two bass guitars and two amplifiers in a three month period STOP!!
Clean and articulate sound. B-string is nice and tight, not floppy. The neck is beautiful, a flat 16" radius, nicely finished frets, not a thick neck, can get your hand around it easily. Basically it's very comfortable to play. That's what sold me on both of my Godin basses.
Stays in tune.
The finish is hi-gloss sunburst (jet black on back of guitar and front edges with tobacco colored flamed maple, looks beautiful. They also had one in blue, it was hard to decide which to take.
Lots of tone flexibility with the Basslines pickups and active electronics.
The bridge is quite easy to adjust.
Battery compartment with flip-out and snap in installation. Much better than taking out a screwdriver every time you need to change the battery, a nich quality touch.
The guitar came with a really nice and sturdy hard case plus allen keys.
It's a bit heavy, and if you don't have a 3-inch wide strap the neck will definitely dive.
The truss-rod adjustment access is extremely tight. It almost looks as though the neck pocket was cut a little low. The truss rod is positioned somewhat lower than the access cutout, very little clearance, very tough to adjust.
The electrical output of the guitar is actually less than my passive P-J style Godin Freeway 4 bass. When I inquired via email whether or not there was an adjustment for this I received no response from Godin.
They had answered two previous email questions I had about my Freeway bass within two days (good) but didn't respond to my inquiry on the BG5 (bad).
The owners manual I received was for a previous model which didn't share the same control knob configuration.
Aside from the truss-rod access issue mentioned above, the bass is really structurally solid. There's lots of sustain, and the bridge looks like a high quality Schaller unit that has multiple adjustment (not like some of the cheap Fender stamped units).
Finish is top notch. The mechanical integrity of the bass is top notch. Did I say it was really solid.
The mechanical solidity of the unit helps it to be very pitch articulate. Some basses make it really hard to hear the difference between semitones on the B and E strings. The Godin BG5 rings the notes out without any doubt.
It tends to be a bit more "modern" in sound with lots of midrange and treble if you want it.
It doesn't have the round and punchy tones of my Godin Freeway 4 (which has a string-thru-body that I think gives it that character) Vive le difference!
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com