Lakland Skyline Darryl Jones DJ-5 5-string Bass Guitar - White Pearl with Maple Fingerboard Reviews

Owning several Laklands my expectations were indeed high. This bass far surpassed them.

LOOKS:
This is an absolutely gorgeous instrument. From the finish to the matching headstock to the bound neck, to the inserts, to the pickguard. I was in love at first sight.

PLAYABILITY:
Typically, the first thing i do when i get a new bolt on neck is rip the neck of, shim it and do a complete setup. None of this was necessary with this instrument. I had to make just a slight neck adjustment and she was ready to go.

SOUND:
I had originally planned to immediately drop a John East Retro preamp in this bass, BUT it sounds so good passive I may not touch it at all. All the Jazz bass tones you would expect, only better.

DO YOURSELF A HUGE FAVOR AND BUY ONE! This is now mu #1 and will probably stay that way.....until I purchase my next Lakland.

Thanks so much to Lakland and Sweetwater!! I'm in love.

This guy is a monster. It works great for so many genres. I play worship mostly with it, but I've done some metal and other genres and it's really nice. Deep sound, very heavy, and easily the best bass I know.

First, the reason for 4.5 and not 5. This bass is surprisingly heavy! Okay, on to the good stuff. This bass is totally absolutely gorgeous. Photos don't capture how striking this is! From seasoned players to people that wouldn't know a bass from a mandolin, everyone commented on how beautiful! But that's just looks, right. The tone is very thick, Not muddy boomy thick,but very full yet defined. The high G doesn't sound thin, like all your tone fell off, and the low B doesn't just rumble, it's also defined. Action and play ability? I've played 4 string (an old 4001 Ric) for 40+ years, and didn't know how I would adjust. Right hand string spacing was no adjustment at all, surprisingly, and adjusting to 5 was easier than I'd expected, probably because I couldn't put it down! A shout out to Sweetwater's inspection; no dead frets, great action, etc. Having had this about a week now, it already feels familiar and comfortable in my hands. In fact, the more I think about it, let's change this to a solid 5!!

I was waiting for this bass to come back in stock and then I changed my mind and purchased a dingwall. Well, the bass came and I was going to just return it. My curiosity got the best of me so I opened the box. Needless to say, this bass isn't going anywhere. My only con is that it's on the heavy side for my old back. The design and layout are very well thought out. The maple neck is smooth, comfy and really gets out of the way. Electronics are minimalist and it's very easy to build a tone relationship with this bass. The pickups sound fat and incredibly balanced. You can get a jazzy snarl or a warm P-Bass tone. This is a tool, built for getting down to business and despite me purchasing the dingwall, I'm going to put this thing to work. Highly recommend

Wow I have had every fender p to jazz bass sire Ibanez all of um. This bass is by far the best jazz bass I have ever had I love the 35 inch scale beautiful to look at and play Im a Lakland fan forever now

This was not a surprise to me, since I read reviews on these basses before hand. Just vintage, fantastic sound and modern playability. The construction is as good as the Sadowskys I've owned (or anything else.) I managed to snag the light one at just over 8 lbs and it is very well balanced.

It's 35" scale, which gives the B string a ton of boom. Haven't regularly played a 35" scale for a while but I'm sure I'll adjust. So far no big deal. The vintage style pickups do have a little hum when they aren't both dimed but it's bearable. That's the trade-off: noiseless J style pickups just don't sound as good as the original vintage style.

Big props to Richie's inspection and set up work at Sweetwater plus Mike Picotte's customer service. These guys are the real pros!

Have had the DJ5 for six months now. At this point it has become a favorite of mine. The maple neck really provides some clear articulate notes - this bass cuts through a mix very easily. Mine is lightweight and balanced, easy to wear all night. I particularly appreciate the craftsmanship from the neck to the frets to the to the inlays to bridge and tuners, everything is well done and feels good. My action is pretty low and am now able to pull off licks that were messy before. Darryl Jones requested a slightly under-sized body and that really helps with the 35" scale. I was used to playing 34" basses so this was a shock at first but I have grown into it even with my small fingers. I upgraded mine with a Audere pre-amp (easy drop-in) which helps me shape the tones from reggae, to funk, to slap. The pickups are fantastic in this bass and the aftermarket pre-amp puts tone shaping right there at your fingertips. My only wish was that Lakland offered better colors for this bass. I had a custom pickguard made as well.

The rest of my basses hit the shelf when this bass entered my arsenal. The Pedulla, the Jag, the Marcus Miller Jazz, they all disappeared. Ever since I bought it I haven't even looked in their direction. This is my main axe.

If it's playing a set my the rock band or a 4 hour cover set this bass has the versatility I need. I never feel like it's getting in the way.

This bass is worth every penny. The tone, the playability, it looks great. Seriously the neck is super comfortable. I love it.

Outstanding bass in every regard ,this bass has everything a player would want and pray to the Bass Gods for . The tone ,weight , string spacing. This bass can do it all . I used to play DJ4 and a 55-02 a number of years ago and in the past couple of months I've purchased a Adam Clayton Jazz and a 64 Jazz Bass and after playing the DJ-5 , I HAD TO BUY IT !

When I first played the DJ5 I couldn't believe the action; low... crazy low, and I personally love low action but this was on another level of low. I literally researched 'Plek'd' and learned about the machine Lakland uses for the setup. Next, and possibly due to the low action, was the timber; bright and infinitely telegraphic. Every little nuance, anything I did was amplified to a shocking degree, and very bright. I mean I was really having to adjust my touch to be light and careful. On my Jazz, I feel more free to dig in or just groove in a surupy way, (music is difficult to describe in words) but my Jazz with La Bella's feels like a comfy pair of worn-out jeans??? But the DJ5 is to me not as forgiving, but more at the ready to broadcast anything my hands do. Not bad, just kind of shocking. It also has an attack that is pronounced, a percussive attack, but musical. I actually ended up raising the action slightly just to calm the instrument down. I just slightly loosened the truss rod, maybe a quarter of a turn, and also raised the bridge guides for the D and G string. Subtle adjustment, but massive results, helped the sound for me. I just want to reiterate, I love low action and I've never had to raise the action on any bass, but there y'go, first time for everything I guess. The pickups are amazing, and I like the tone, but I will say one thing about mine that is for me a slight negative; this bass is very heavy. I haven't weighed it, because it is what it is, but man, compared to all my other basses, this one is just noticeably heavy. To the point that on occasion I ponder what a USA DJ5 might weigh... who knows. This is a very true bass, almost Steinway-esque. Hoping my description of this bass is helpful. I appreciate helpful reviews, they've been a factor in my research whenever I can't demo or play something I'm interested in, and this bass is one of the basses I could not find anywhere to try.

i would say this is my favorite bass i've owned in my 20+ years of playing, great neck, string spacing, and tone, different than fender, but not worse, just different. Its worth the doe