Riptide! - Vintage V950 Active 5-String Bass

Meet Riptide! 

Vintage V950 Active 5-String Bass

Some Strays arrive looking like they’ve spent their lives safely tucked away in a case.

Riptide is not one of those Strays, he wasn’t functional upon arrival.

This gloriously blue, 2000s-era Vintage V950 has the little knocks and scratches to prove he’s already lived a life, but underneath them is a seriously capable active five-string that’s now ready to get back to work.

The V950 comes from an interesting period for Vintage, when instruments carrying a relatively modest price tag were being equipped with some surprisingly serious Wilkinson hardware and electronics. Riptide pairs a Wilkinson WPBE500 five-string split-coil pickup with a WPBE900 J-style bridge pickup, giving you the punch and weight of a split coil alongside the definition and bite of a bridge single coil.

Those pickups feed into an active 2-band EQ, with individual controls for master volume, pickup balance, bass and treble. Whether you want something deep and rounded, bright and articulate or considerably more aggressive, there’s a huge amount of tonal flexibility sitting behind those four little black knobs. Also, of course, there is that fifth string.

With a 34” scale, 24-fret rosewood fingerboard and low B, Riptide can go considerably deeper than his rehoming fee might suggest. The maple bolt-on neck is topped with a distinctive 3+2 headstock, while the black hardware finishes off the wonderfully early-2000s aesthetic.

He arrived with us showing the evidence of plenty of previous adventures. His deep blue gloss finish carries scratches, scuffs and small marks, all of which we’ve photographed honestly rather than pretending a well-played older instrument is something it isn’t. What mattered to us was the bass underneath them. He also has a very narrow nut, making him feel more like a four string, than a five, and infinitely more approachable than he fellow five-string counterparts.

Riptide has been thoroughly cleaned and inspected, his rosewood fretboard cleaned and conditioned, his frets attended to, his hardware cleaned, his electronics checked and everything brought back together with a full professional setup.

The result is exactly the sort of Stray we love.

Not pristine, not precious, not pretending to be something he’s not.

Just a properly sorted, ridiculously versatile active five-string with a great neck, a fantastic set of features and plenty of life left in him, and at £225, you can venture into the murky depths of five-string bass without drowning your bank account.

Riptide has already weathered one journey, now he just needs the right current to carry him home.