Carvin Guitars V59K Vanquish Series 5-String Bass – Gear Review

Carvin Guitars has released a few new models of basses recently, one of them being the V59K Vanquish Series 5-String Bass also available in 4 and 6-string models V49K and V69K.

There are so many great features with this bass, I’m not sure where to start. The Vanquish series basses have a beveled body that is comfortable to play weather standing or sitting. The lower cutaway on the body gives you access to the 24th fret across all strings. The neck has dual carbon fiber rods and features bolt-on construction with a 5 hole neck plate for added punch and stability . The options are countless with choice of woods, inlays, fret type, hardware color, and finishes the choices are endless. The standard pickups are the radius top humbuckers which give you even balance across the strings, optional Radius JVA single coil pickups are available. 18 volt passive/active electronics are standard and feature master volume, pickup blend, push/pull active/passive tone control and stacked knobs for treble and bass frequency cut/boost.  Equipped with the Hipshot A-style bridge with 3/4″ (19mm) string spacing makes for a great playing bass with the right amount of room.

This is a true active/passive bass!  When playing in the active mode of the bass, the tone is warm, yet punchy, and cuts through the mix. When playing the bass in the passive mode, it gives out the tone of a classic vintage bass. One thing I do like about active/passive basses is that if the batteries die, malfunction, or whatever, you still have the passive mode to fall back on however battery replacement is quick and easy with the pop-up style battery compartments so that you can replace batteries with ease. I know many bassists that carry two or more basses to a gig because of this. With this bass being active/passive, that is no longer a concern. The Carvin Guitars V59K Vanquish Series 5 String Bass could very well be the last bass you will ever need. With the selection of tones that you can get, it will cover any genre of music. I played the bass on a couple of gigs and it performed on the job really well. The setup of the bass from the factory was perfect and no adjustment was needed.

When the Carvin Guitars V59K Vanquish Series 5-String Bass arrived, it was shipped in their new Ultimate Soft Bass Case (SC8). The case opens fully, unlike most soft bass cases, and is lined with 3/4” padding and neck support. There are two pockets on the front that have more than ample space for cords, effects, strings, etc. This Soft Bass Case is more durable than a gig bag and not as big as a traditional hard case. I tried a few of my other basses out in the case, and they all fit just perfectly. On the inside of the case, there is a canvas type fabric in the sections where the bridge and headstock are located to help keep from digging into the soft case. I have had many gig bags where that portion of the bag was always torn or ripped, and with this feature in the soft case, that will be prevented.

Check out the Carvin Guitars V59K Vanquish Series 5-String Bass and the Ultimate Soft Bass Case on the Carvin Guitars website CarvinGuitars.com.