Marcus Miller P5R Alder-5 TS

I've been sitting in a paradox for a while. The P sound is close to the ideal bass sound for me because it always sits well in the mix. However, I also love a five string because you get more positions and the extended range is always nice for Eb or D.

I've been dreaming of a 5-string P for ages for this reason, but the options are expensive (for a multi-instrumentalist), or they are cheap and you don't trust the stock pickups. I have no objection to changing pickups, but there are very few options to replace 5-string P pickups, so in this case I want the stock pickups to be good.

This bass is the answer to the problem. The stock pickups are great. The P sound is perfect, to my ear, the low B string is also very good.

In terms of sound, it sounds like a P bass. For me, that's the highest praise I could give. I'm not a vintage aficionado, so it's not about capturing vintage tones (which this bass does), it's about sitting well in a mix for normal bass playing, and this is what a P always does. There are no bad settings on this bass. You can slap or thump or tap, and every note comes through. To be clear, I'm not looking for infinite total variety, just for sounds that work with a band, and the beautiful thing with this bass is that there are no bad settings. It always works. The bass is rich and there are plenty of mids for presence. If you're going for the deepest bass or the sharpest highs, this is not an ideal bass, but if you want a bass that works in a band, this does it, always. It's a P. It does the P thing. I also got complements from the sound guy, which is the most important complement for me.

In terms of features, I gave it five stars. This is not because it has many features. I give it five stars here mainly because of the simplicity—which is to say, in a live setting, fewer features are a bonus. There is no battery to die. There is no setting on the tone knob which fails to deliver a usable sound. Whatever sound comes out of this bass, you may be sure it will work. In a studio, I might want more options, but live "no possible bad sounds" is what you want. This is really a case of "less is more" in terms of features.

Now to the bad parts: the final rating criteria on Thomann ist quality, and while the quality is very good (the rolled fretboard feels amazing), there are a couple frets which are slightly high on mine. I couldn't get the action quite as low as I wanted. The action is still quite low and very playable but I wanted it just slightly lower for tapping. The 7th and 12th fret would not comply. I may take it to a luthier.

Overall, exactly what I wanted. The build quality (a couple slightly high frets) is not immaculate, but for an instrument in this price range, I would be surprised if it were.

To get a Fender P of comparable quality, you'd probably need to get a pro series for more than double the money.

Would buy again. If it ever breaks, I will get the same bass.