Download image

Merlos ST 5 Bass (used)

José Merlos is a master luthier based in Monovar-Alicante (Spain). He’s been building basses for quite a few years and has produced more than 200 top quality instruments. His instruments share many specs with some of the top notch basses in the world such as selected tonewoods, painstakingly attention to detail, etc., but there’s something that makes his stand on his own: Merlos builds his own pickups and circuit boards and these are among the best we’ve ever heard. This allows the luthier to fit the exact type of pickups and electronics for each model.

As you can see it is a headless instrument with a clean and cool design, perfect playability, perfectly balanced and a with a great sound.

At the same time, it is incredibly easy to move around if you move on the subway, bike or motorbike as it fits into a nice guitar gigbag

Specs for this model are:
Neck through body made from 3 pieces of hard rock maple with carbon fiber rods and two way truss rod.
Maple fingerboard with 24 medium sized frets
Soft C neck
Matt finish throughout (very organic feel)
Zero fret (improves intonation and delivers great tone)
Swamp ash wings with flamed maple top
Individual bridges for the best acoustic resonance
Merlos ceramic humbuckers wired in parallel and 100% noise free
Merlos 3 band Active-Passive electronics. Completely shielded, again 100% noise free. Boost/cut is +/- 14 dB in all 3 bands. Bass is set at 40Hz, Mids at 450Hz and Treble 8kHz. Treble control acts as Passive tone in that mode (0.33 microfarad condenser for that trademark “Jaco” sound when completely rolled off.

The sound is absolutely noise free and clear. Notes ring full and true. Even if you boost all 3 bands up to the max you'll get no noise at all. Amazing.

The Low B is really good, no problems here at all.

Apart from being lightweight, the balance is absolutely perfect. You can put the bass on your lap without a strap and move your hands away from it and it will stay in place. Now, not many basses do this. We are firm believers in ergonomics because a bass that balances so good will free your hands to play and will be far more comfortable than a bass that tends to neck dive.

Please note: This is a used bass and there are some dings here and there. Nothing serious, just aesthetics. Everything is in perfectly working order. Buy it now and save some good money and the lead time for a new one.