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Post subject: Anyone else have a Fender MB-5 (not squier)?
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:44 am
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I have one, I got it off Ebay for a real low price and have really had great luck with it. It's actually my first 5 stringer and it sounds great. Anyone else have one of these?


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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 2:03 pm
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I just picked up one today. I wasn't familiar with the MB5 but I knew at the price I paid for it, it was a steal. The neck feels great and the Seymour Duncan pickups have lots of punch. I'd really like to get my hands on a wiring diagram for this baby. I've not been able to find it on Fender's online archives.


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Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:55 pm
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Hi:

A friend of mine has one, It's one of the very few 5 strings i have enjoyed playing, It's a nice bass


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Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:24 am
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I had one for a while - Fender, not Squire. They are an 'under the radar' bass, but really excellent. I just didn't play it enough, so I sold it and put the money towards an Am Dlx P-bass. Great instrument, though.


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Post subject: I have a Fender MB5 too!
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:58 pm
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hi people, i have a fender mb5 too i bought it in sale, and it´s really good, it sounds good and is confortable but not to playing the slap and popping... the space beueen the strings are very narrow...
bye


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Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:33 pm
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i have a japaneese mb5 and absolutely love it.. i also have a mexican zone 5 and it's also GREAT... but it just sits in the corner, cause the mb5 is so combfortable to play. and theres someting about the passive tone that just hooks me in.. i would recomend it for any sesoned player..


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Post subject: Japanesse Fender MB5: A Great Bass!
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:51 pm
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I have a Fender MB5 (not the Squire) which I bought in late 1996, and after all these 12 years of having it, I must say: It's a great instrument: comfortable, nice to play, great sound...

It's hard to find reviews about this great instrument, but finally I've found people who have bought it and what I see is that they share the same points of view about it.


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Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 12:20 pm
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Have a Japanese MB5 too....sunburst
Swapped out the bridge for a Schaller.
This is one very fine electric bass and is a pleasure to play.
Does anyone know what wood was used for this model. Also someone made reference to Seymour Duncan pickups in an earlier post. I would think that strange that Fender would use SD but anything is possible. Can anyone confirm that?


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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:07 pm
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:D I just picked up a 94 model (Sunburst) for 200.00 at an area pawnshop. Light weight, nice 5 String Jazz profile neck and J Bass Pickups. Played it through an old Peavey Mark III Head/Carvin 210 cab. Very nice sounding bass. It's gonna' make an excellent recording bass. Reminds me of a Passive 5 String Yamaha that came out a few years ago. Makes you wonder why you need an active bass at all. headroom I guess. It's beautiful to look it, familiar to play yet different enough to make it unique. They are kind of rare I understand and way different than the Squier version. I played one of those before and it was simply.........dead!!!


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Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 7:05 am
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:?: Does anyone know if this is true? The MB-5 is a spin-off of the Heartfield DR Series-particularly the DR-5 that Fender marketed in the early 90's. Heartfield made great instruments btw.


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Post subject: MB-5 Pickups
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 4:25 pm
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Hey everybody,
I bought one of these Fender (not squier) MB-5 basses back in the mid 90's and it has always been one of my fav basses to play,, but lately I had one of my pickups go on it and now I need to find a replacement. Anybody here know of any good places to find some decent pickups for a good price for this particular bass? I have been looking on ebay but am not even sure what type of pickup I should be looking for.
Thanks


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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 4:41 pm
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I think any Fender Jazz Bass pickup should fit and work. That said the range of cost is anywhere form $50 to $400 for a set. I've purchased pickups from Reliable Fender on eBay without problems and got pretty good value. Alternatively watch eBay or Kijiji for a while and I'm sure lots of varieties will become available. I would however guess you will need to buy pairs.


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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 11:42 am
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I have a made in Japan MB4 which I bought new in 1993 (not a squier). It has been a great bass for me. It is very comfortable to gig with, has great action/feel, easy to tune, and stays in tune. You can get a very nice range of tones with it just by turning one knob. The controls are uncomplicated and effective. I would agree it is an "under the radar" bass.

I'm only an intermediate player and used to play in a part-time country rock band. I've only ever played one other bass in a gig situation, a 1973 Telecaster. So I can't offer much in terms of comparing the MB4/5 to other basses. I will say, that even though I loved the sound and playability of the telecaster, I couldn't get the range of tones I wanted out of it, especially, the "punchier" sounds. Also, it was too heavy to stand and hold for several hours at a time. For those reasons, I got the MB4 and only performed with it after that. It was much more comfortable to play, and had a greater range of tones.

Hope this helps.

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ca.1983 Larivee L-07
50s replica Tele kit
08 LP Studio-Wine Red
07 Squier Bullet Strat - MIC
94 Fender MB4 Bass
84 Squire Standard Strat - MIJ - black
19?? Samik "Artist" acoustic - "peacock"

Fender Superchamp XD
Crate B160XL Bass Combo


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Post subject: Re: Anyone else have a Fender MB-5 (not squier)?
Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 3:22 pm
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I've bought MB-5 a couple of months ago, a very nice bass for the price. The thinnest 5string neck I ever played, it's so thin, I can bend it. Very comfortable. Mine has active EMG pu's, but I've heard people complain about the noisy stock pickups. EMG's are fine. My trusty '62 reissue jazz stays at home now and I play MB5 on every rehearsal.

It has a very nice focused sound, but still there are a couple of bad things about it:
First, it's too light, and it translates into the tone. Higher strings don't have much meat compared to my jazz bass.
Second, the B string is much less inspiring than E. Probably also due to the lack of mass.
Yes, the string spacing is pretty narrow but I still manage to slap it and it works for me.

When I strung it for the first time the B string sounded really dead and I've thought it's just like that, but after some bridge tweaking I've got a much better sound. The saddles look good, just like any standard fender bridge, but somehow the B saddle was not seated properly and the string vibrations were cancelled. I'm thinking about replacing the bridge, but most of the good bridges have wider spacing.

Overall, a highly recommended bass. Bought it for some heavy metal downtuned affair but ended up using it on everything.


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Post subject: Re: Anyone else have a Fender MB-5 (not squier)?
Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:19 pm
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Hi engels,
Nice to see this thread is still going. Mine is a 4-string so no "B" string of course, but I do agree the highest string on my MB4 (G in my case) is a bit more anemic than I would like. I haven't experimented much with different strings or bridge tweaking, but now I'm thinking maybe I will after reading your post. I'm wondering if lack of mass in the guitar's body has that effect as you suggest.

Can anyone out there suggest some strings to try that might emphasize the bass on the higher strings on a bass guitar?
Kurt

_________________
ca.1983 Larivee L-07
50s replica Tele kit
08 LP Studio-Wine Red
07 Squier Bullet Strat - MIC
94 Fender MB4 Bass
84 Squire Standard Strat - MIJ - black
19?? Samik "Artist" acoustic - "peacock"

Fender Superchamp XD
Crate B160XL Bass Combo


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