Marcus Miller M2 5 TBL 2nd Gen

Hi. I apologise in advance for the long review,

I purchased this bass almost 2 years ago, as a budget-friendly choice and an introduction to the 5-string world. It is still my only bass guitar. It arrived with a bump on its head and the dual pot knobs were stuck together and they were spinning as one, but that's not the main problem because i asked a luthier to fix it and he did. The main problems with this bass are its electronics, its pickups and ,therefore, its sound. Here are a few ways I found to make it work better, in my 2 years of playing with it:

1. The tone knob was not working, so i asked a technician to make it work. It appears it needed a few more capacitors (3 actually) and it turns out it is not even a tone knob, it's more of a mid booster.

2. The pickups are made almost exclusively for Marcus Miller-style slapping. They don't sound that good in other styles. I had to get an EQ to practically mute the 1kHz frequencies, so now it doesn't sound THAT bad, but it is still bad. I also have the lower frequencies fully compressed the whole time.

3. Even more about the pickups, their circuit was TOTALLY WRONG. Maybe it was a mistake from the factory, i don't know. The wiring of the humbuckers was parallel, when it actually needed to be in series. The technician couldn't believe his eyes! Changing the wiring made the bass sound bigger, rounder and more powerful than before, but still...you know, pretty bad.

Conclusion:
If you slap like Marcus Miller, then by all means go for it. Me, personally, I don't do that. I needed an "all-around" 5-string bass with a pretty descent sound for performances and recording, as many other basses in this price category have. This bass simply can't offer that. I was really close in selling it, but I kept it because I love its beautiful appearance and I got used to playing it. Finally, I put new pickups and now it's all good, but I'm sure you don't want to spend extra 300 euros just to fix your new bass. Maybe something else will suit you better.

Oh and good luck finding strings for this one, it might take you a while.

I just received a Marcus Miller M2 and when I tried to adjust the truss rod I saw that the nut was completly worn out!!
no way of turning left or right.
I am assuming that this isn't Thomann's fault, but the thing is that I have to send it back and wait for the replacment one.
Bottom line, if I was satisfited with the set up of the instrument (as it came from the factory) I would have a bass guitar with a permanent problem of adjusting the neck ,down the road ...
Besides that the sound and over all instrument is nice.
I would suggest to everyone else who is interested in this bass guitar to be very meticulous whith the details, or the function of the product becuse in this price range the quality control is really poor!!

2 weeks Later...

FINAL OPINION:

Today I received the replacement.

CONS:
The bass needs a very meticulous inspection before buying.
The tuning pegs and the fretboard nut are the first upgrades you should do.
There is also an Allen Key which comes with the bass , and is supposed to set up the truss road with it!
BE CAREFUL with that, because is not the right SIZE for the truss road,OR the factory uses the most horrible truss road nut I' ve ever seen!!!!
It's unacceptable!!!...
If you want to adjust the truss road you have to be extremely careful with the given tool, or any other tool because the truss rod nut is not a perfect fit as it should be....somehow it fells cheap, and worn down from the beginning .
The Main volume/ tone knob and the mid frequency knob are turning each other when you try to adjust them but it's an easy fix...
The bridge is ...."ok " you could say that ,it does the job.

PROS:
The Pre amp of the bass is really nice and it gives you a lot of options.
Also the pickups for this price range are nice.
Frets are smooth and even through the fretboard.
The paint job also is ok for this price range...
of course if you trying to find small imperfections you will see them.
In my case is almost not noticeable.

Over all it's a nice "first" bass guitar, which lacks in quality control and it sounds nice because of the pre amp .
Hope that I was helpful .