Lakland 5502DLX
September 2008 Guitarist 133
LAKLAND SKYLINE DARRYL JONES 4 & 55-02 DELUXE £1,075 & £1,329
BASSES
super-fine and beautifully
finished. The overall weight here
is very agreeable, thanks to that
down-sized body, but ash is
notorious for differences in weight
so don’t expect a totally consistent
figure. However, with excellent
balance and the well-tried and
tested body chamfers and scoops,
this instrument just feels so right
in every aspect.
Sounds
Given the particular visual stance
of this signature model we
naturally expect certain sound
characteristics from this bass.
A clean tone that’s subtle, but
expansive, with nice pickup
blending and forceful delivery.
We can confirm that this Skyline
positively delivers on every count.
The standard passive
electronics keep the tones pure
and clean and the twin pickup
blending is achieved simply by
adjusting the individual volume
controls, leaving the smaller
knobbed tone control to provide
the emphasis towards warmth or
a degree of edginess. It’s not
complicated, but has a very even
string delivery and some
genuinely fat and full sounds. The
ingredients are all there, so it’s up
to the player to add that spark
of originality that we all try to
achieve in our
performances. This might
be a workhorse bass but it’s
so tactile, that upon picking it
up, it immediately feels like an
old friend and that alone
elevates it to a higher level.
With the sounds and feel fully in
place you know that this is an
instrument you can rely on.
55-02 Deluxe
The Skyline five-string adopts a
more individual design but is just
as appealing. Our review model is
the Deluxe version, hence the
beautiful cherry sunburst finish
that reveals the quilted maple top
– a veneer that’s laid over a swamp
ash body core. The lack of
scratchplate gives the body a clean
and spacious look, allowing this to
be seen in all its glory and plays
down the necessary increase in
hardware size.
The slightly exaggerated and
offset positioning of the body
horns maximises instrument
balance and upper-string access at
the same time. The neck profile is
relatively flat-backed and again
the fret finishing is excellent.
The robust five-saddle bridge
features the same through-body
or top-load stringing while the 3/2
tuner positioning offers both
compact style and the straight-
line pull for each string from
bridge, through nut and onto the
tuner posts.
Sounds
With a longer, yet practical
889mm (35-inch) scale length, an
active onboard circuit plus a J-
style pickup at the neck and a
humbucker at the bridge, this has
a vastly wider range and type of
sounds compared to the more
traditional-sounding Darryl Jones
model. However, pulling up the
volume control does introduce
a passive mode where the tone
controls become inactive.
The active circuit includes a
three-band EQ with bass, middle
and treble controls – all work
either side of a centre detent. The
bass boost available here is
absolutely massive, the mids are
tightly focused depending on your
dipswitch choice, while the treble
control concentrates more on note
Sandberg’s Panther 5-String
Special Bass (£1,249) is
equipped with both split-coil
and a humbucker and the
powered circuitry provides a
good range of sounds. The
Music Man 5-string Bongo
bass (£1,575) offers highly
individual looks, a single coil
paired with a humbucker and
some very unique and powerful
sounds. With five-bolt neck
joint, tapered posts and
matching body/headstocks
there are a few similarities, but
we still remain impressed with
Clover’s Xpression XP15.5
bass (£1,199). It also offers
active/passive electronics, a
pair of Humcanceller pickups
with a similar three-band EQ
and coil-splitting ability.
The Rivals
5502 Deluxe
The exaggerated and offset positioning
of the body horns maximises balance
and upper-string access
The hardware on the Darryl Jones 4 is familiar, yet different
GIT307.rev_lake 133 11/8/08 5:31:28 pm