Features:

  • With unique coloration and grain pattern, spalted maple is a great look to stand out from the crowd
  • An affordable yet high quality 6-string bass that offers an ash body with a spalted maple top in Natural Satin finish
  • Designed with an extra thin U-shaped 5-piece maple/jatoba neck for excellent playing feel
  • Includes passive ESP Designed SB-6 pickups, along with an active ABQ-3 3-band EQ, and good-looking black nickel hardware
Which flavor of ice cream is best?

There’s good ice cream and bad ice cream, regardless of flavor, and the first thing you want to know is is this bad ice cream. No, this is good ice cream, although like most cheap instruments, it needs some set up work, in this case I even went in and cleaned up the neck joint a bit. The second thing you want to know in a review is what flavor is this? If a J bass is classic vanilla, and a P bass is chocolate, this ESP LTD B-205SM is vanilla soft serve. Vanilla because it doesn’t impart too much of its own character on the strings, and soft serve because it doesn’t have the thump and punch of a passive Fender, but instead is full and round and somewhat compressed sounding. A major competitor in active 5’s is the Yamaha TRBX305, which would be chocolate soft serve, having a lot more of the P bass character but not as much punch again. Which flavor is right for what you do? This bass might excel when you want a pure tone that is easy to manage, also a great platform for effects and amps that give their own character. Maybe the idea of a perfectly fine bass that lacks its own punch and character doesn’t appeal to you. I can’t answer that for you. Get them all? But it’s a beautiful instrument if you get one with nice spalting. I am amazed at how some people don’t know what spalting is and think the wood is rotted or something. Yes, but in a good way.

It's easy to lose hours of time while playing on this thing

I've always enjoyed the warm, resonating sound of a fretless bass, but I've never been able to justify shelling out money for an instrument that might just end up collecting dust due to its limited applications. However, I already own several other LTD basses (F1550x, F205, and B204) and I love them all so I decided to take a chance on this one as my first fretless. It has quickly become one of my favorite instruments! The unique grain of the spalted maple makes this a gorgeous one-of-a-kind piece, and it plays as impressive as it looks. The lack of frets demand greater accuracy than a fretted bass would, but the neck feels thin and fast - it's very easy on the fingers and the construction is undoubtedly solid. The pickups (I prefer the one on the bridge) offer a full, beefy tone with lots of sustain and very little excess noise. This bass is indeed quite heavy, but it's well-balanced and sits comfortably on the shoulder if you have a decent/wide strap. Overall, I'm extremely satisfied with my purchase. The bridge needed some minor adjustments to correct the intonation before I could use it, but a luthier/tech can easily set it up for you (or do it yourself with a 1.5mm allen wrench - there are plenty of tutorials online.) One thing to note when buying new strings: you'll need to make sure you buy "super long" strings or they might not sit properly in the nut. I'm personally a fan of light-gauge D'Addario Nickel-Wound XL's on all my LTDs (which is conveniently what they come pre-strung with.) However, I've noticed after a few weeks of regular playing that the strings have left slight indentations/scratches on the fretboard of this bass. I replaced them with Chrome XL (flatwound) strings, which make it sound and play even better, and will prevent further fretboard damage. Hands down, flatwounds are the way to go for a fretless.

Best Bass for the Price

I have been playing this bass now for a good five months and I love it! I got an Ibanez Bass when I turned 15 and played it up till 5 months ago. Great bass but age was really setting in. 20+ years I have used it. So it was time. I have an ESP LTD Guitar and I love it so thought I’d go with a bass. Read reviews and nailed it to this one... ESP LTD B-205SM. I am so glad I picked it up. The sound can go from super clean to dirty slap. This was also me going from a 4-String to a 5-String. I wanted to challenge myself and I’m glad I did. I don’t use the low B string to much but I have it when I need it. If you’re in need of a new bass. I highly recommend this bass. I love it. I have so much fun playing it and it sounds amazing!

Gorgeous to look at and listen to.

This is the most gorgeous bass I've ever owned. Despite my fear of rejection, I'm seriously considering a marriage proposal. The bass arrived about 10 hours ago and that's about as long as I've been playing it. So far I can say the design is superb and the sound is sweet. I now understand why there are so many unattractive guitars and basses on the market. I normally abuse my instruments ...the day I scratch or dent this bass I'm going to fall into a deep depression. UPDATE: 3/20/16 I neglected to mention that while the color of this bass is described as "Black Satin" it (or rather mine) is more of a very dark espresso brown in the front and dark ashen gray (as pictured on Amazon) in the back. I don't know if this is intentional or a manufacturing error but it's not much of an issue for me as it's still a very lovely bass. The knobs and bridge are a dark bronze if that matters to anyone. I should mention that the texture or finish of the bass is indeed silky to the touch. Very well made. Keep in mind, this bass eats 9-volt batteries by the fistful.

what a gem of a bass

i just got my 6 string bass guitar and its currently in the shop getting setup, but oh my god what a stellar deal for such a quality crafted instrument. I couldn't be more happy with this peice of art, the spalted maple is gorgeous. I love how the satin finish makes you feel more connected to the process of craft involved in its creation, such a raw feeling.

Best bass I've ever owned

I've owned two ESP B-205 models, one black that i bought used and this natural satin finish. The natural satin look is my favorite by far. The bass may need a little bit of set up out of the box to keep the lower frets from buzzing. Comes stung will good strings. But this thing is a beast. It's well made and heavy. It can definitely wear out your shoulder during a long live set. Just make sure to get a decently padded strap and you will get used to it. I've played this model with a metal band, a rock band and a jazz band. It's suitable to any style.

Sharp Sound and growls nicely!

I was impressed. The bass was played through my SWR baby blue amp, it is brite and clear with a really nice growl sliding around. I also have a fretless music man, which sounds a bit more low end. Overall however this bass really sounds good, worth the money. Only minor negs it is a bit on the heavy side and the lines shown on the body in the picture are limited, I wish it had a bit more graining. Also remember the body has more of an egg shell finish, which I happen to like, but don' expect a high gloss finish. After playing this a few days Im changing to 5 Stars. Amazing Sound, Great price!

I love this bass

I don't play a ton of bass but I needed a 5 string to do some bass tracks and I was looking for something that would sound decent without breaking the bank. This bass is phenomenal; it's beautiful, it has a great sound, and it's very smooth to play. Exactly what I was hoping for and more.

For the price of this you get a REAL nicely made bass

this bass is unbelievable. For the price of this you get a REAL nicely made bass, the electronics are nice w/ the exception of the high's , it doesn't push that much like the mid and bass eq's do. but that shouldn't stand in your way..i have played with a Tobias 6 string for many years and this bass stacks right up there with the toby, but it's a little lighter (thank god for that)..i have played a Yamaha and Ibanez 6 string at a cost of about $500 each and they just don't compare to this bass.. I say if your ready for a six I would recommend this bass

Beyond expectations

I have a heavy music background mainly in voice - always wanted to learn to play the bass. Started about a year and a half ago using a borrowed Ibanez 4-string from a friend. Shopped around and loved the look of this ESP, went to a few local stores to play one they had in stock and liked the sound (but not the look of that one) so I decided to buy this as my first owned bass. DOES NOT DISSAPOINT. I may not be a bass afficianado, but it plays really well and has a great tone, not to mention the spalted maple grain is absolutely incredible in person. I'll agree with others about it having fret buzz, but it doesn't seem to be a consistent issue, and I've found that with keeping enough pressure on the string it seems to solve the problem. Overall - extremely pleased and a bass well beyond my expectations. I'll look to purchase from ESP again in the future.

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