Carvin V49K Vanquish Bass, Burl Maple/Koa

Well, this was a real budget-buster of a bass.

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Carvin's been on a new-model tear lately, and two of those new models are explicit riffs on the Knaggs Chesapeake Severn Tier 1, as seen here: [gallery ids="1639,1640"]

Joe Knaggs came up with the idea of a "beveled body" with a different finish on the beveled portion. The new Carvins do the same thing, as you can see. It's not as elegant as the Knaggs bevel, nor quite as well executed, but the pricing is substantially different; a Severn Tier 1 is every bit of six grand new and it's hard to spec these Carvins even to $2500.

Hard, but not impossible. The V49K you see above has a extra-plus-grade burl maple top and a flamed koa body beneath the slightly transparent blue finish. How's it look in person? Stunning. How's it sound? Even better. As soon as I can get a couple people together to play some music I'll show you. It really is the most playable, best-sounding bass I've bought yet. At the very least it's on par with my Brombergs, which for a bolt-neck bass is really saying something.

And from a distance it's even kind of subtle looking. It avoids the PRS furniture-guitar thing by hiding the complex wood grain beneath deep finishes. I'm pretty thrilled, is all I can say!