LTD just recently introduced the B-208SM 8-String Bass.

I have always been a little skeptical of 8-string basses, because over the years I haven’t had much luck with them. Most of them really didn’t sound like a bass, in the way that I am used to a bass sounding. It appeared more that the bottom end was lost. However, the LTD B-208SM has restored my faith in 8-string basses.

While the LTD B-208SM is great for rock bands, I took that a little further and played it at church. The first gig I used it on was with a rock band at a biker event. It not only sounded great, it filled in nicely during the guitar solos.

There are a few bassists I can think of that use multi-string basses…

Tom Peterson of Cheap Trick and duG Pinnick of King’s X fame both come to mind. I can see why they use them. That extra octave really adds a lot to the timbre of the bass. Yeah, there are octave pedals, but that isn’t the same and never will be. On my church gig, I actually had to turn the bass EQ down just a little. The LTD B-208SM doesn’t lose the bottom end at all, even with the bass tone backed off a little and that to me is a good thing.

The LTD B-208SM is a 34” scale bolt on with an ash body and Spalted maple top with a natural satin finsh, and a 5-piece maple and Jatoba neck with a 24-fret roasted Jatoba fingerboard. The tone woods not only look great together, they help define the distinctive sound and tone. The neck pickup is the ESP Designed SB-5N and the bridge pickup is the ESP Designed SB-5B complimented with an active ABQ-3 3-band EQ with controls for volume balance, bass, mid, and treble. The tuners are LTD and the bridge is TOM and tailpiece. All hardware is black nickel. The strings for the LTD B-208SM are D’Addario XL.

Check out the LTD B-208SM 8-String Bass online or at an ESP LTD retailer near you!