PJ-5 HTR Deluxe Series : Punches well above its weight.

Firstly I was really impressed with the speed of delivery - Germany to the UK in four working days!

The bass arrived well packed and in one piece so no complaint there. When I opened it up I was really pleasantly surprised at the quality of the bass. The finish on the body is flawless. The satin finish on the neck is consistent and feels great. The frets are all level and well dressed with no sharp ends at all. The tuners feel smooth and even and hold their tuning really well. The BBOT bridge is functional as you'd expect.

I did have to make a couple of adjustments though. I lowered the action (although it was perfectly playable when it arrived) but more importantly the treble side strings were noticeably louder than the bass side strings when plugged in with the neck pickup soloed so I lowered the treble side of the pickup and raised the bass side slightly which sorted it out.

Sound wise this can do a reasonable precision tone and a decent burpy jazz tone from the bridge pickup or obviously any blend of the two.

The other basses I own range from £800 - over £4000 in value and, while it can't compete on quality with my more expensive basses it still holds its own against many instruments several times it's price.