Shop Keyboard Deals, Financing, and More

ESP LTD B-1005 Multi-Scale Bass Guitar - Natural Satin

5-string Electric Bass with Ziricote Top, Swamp Ash Body, 5-piece Wenge/Purpleheart Neck, Multi-Scale Pau Ferro Fretboard, and 2 Nordstrand Big Splits Pickups - Natural Satin
Building your custom Guitar Gallery
$2,199.00

Earn $110 back in Bonus Bucks OR pay $92/month with 24 month financing*

Find it used on Sweetwater's Gear Exchange
listed for
$1500.00
In Stock!

Add to Cart
Notify me about deals

Ask An Expert

Our expertly trained Sales Engineers are ready to help!

What is a Sales Engineer?

Most Popular Accessories & Related Items

Certified Fit Cases

No more guesswork! These cases are hand-tested and guaranteed to fit your guitar. See how we do it

Certified Fit Cases

ESP LTD B-1005 Multi-Scale Bass Guitar - Natural Satin
In Stock!
$2,199.00
Add to Cart
Add to list
Back to navigation

This article was Written By

Our Product Research Team

Get to know them!

Multi-scale Bass with Bold Looks and Tone

Designed with sonic versatility in mind, the ESP LTD B-1005 Multi-Scale electric bass offers a stellar playing experience. If you've never played a Multi-Scale instrument before, you're in for a treat — the LTD B-1005's Multi-Scale fretboard creates deeper, more focused bass in your lower strings, with better playability and definition for higher strings. And with a pair of Nordstrand Big Splits pickups, plus an active 3-band EQ with mid-frequency selection, you've got huge tone-shaping potential in your hands. Whether you're recording or performing, the ESP LTD B-1005 Multi-Scale is an amazingly capable bass.

Multi-Scale fretboard enhances tone and playability

Fanned-style frets give each string on the LTD B-1005 Multi-Scale a different scale length: 34" for the 1st to 37" for the 5th. This optimizes each string's tension, resulting in a deep-reaching low end without sacrificing playability in the high registers. And as musicians at Sweetwater can confirm, switching to a Multi-Scale fretboard from a traditional fretboard feels much more natural than most players would assume.

Shape your signature sound with Nordstrand Big Splits pickups

A pair of low-noise Nordstrand Big Splits pickups gives the LTD B-1005 Multi-Scale a wide range of sonic territory to explore for modern rock, pop, and metal. Cycle through the B-1005's 3-band EQ to find aggressive picked tones, fat thumping bass, and everything in between. To fine-tune your place in the mix, use the mid-frequency selector to find just the right focus point for your midrange.

Active/passive switch for even more sonic options

Many fans of ESP LTD basses love their active electronics, but many others prefer the sound of a completely passive signal path — or simply don't want to mess with 9-volt batteries. Whatever type of player you are, you'll appreciate the LTD B-1005 Multi-Scale's active/passive switch — engage it to take advantage of the powerful 3-band EQ and higher output, or disengage for classic passive bass tone.

ESP LTD B-1005 Multi-Scale Electric Bass Guitar Features:

  • 5-string electric bass with Multi-Scale fretboard
  • Multi-scale fret design (34–37-inch) gives a fuller tone to low strings
  • Nordstrand Big Splits pickups for low-noise output with a modern edge
  • 3-band active EQ offers big tone-shaping capability
  • Adjustable offset Hipshot Solo bridge offers greater ability to customize action, intonation, string spacing, and scale length

Why Buy Your Guitar from Sweetwater?

See how Sweetwater goes to great lengths to give you the very best online guitar buying experience. From our online Guitar Gallery that allows you to see and select the exact instrument you want to our 55-point Inspection process and our in-house guitar techs, we take the guesswork out of buying your next guitar online.

Additional Media

Warranty Info

Sweetwater's FREE 2-Year Total Confidence Coverage Warranty

Extra peace of mind at no extra cost.

  • Save money with FREE parts and labor
  • Get back to making music with the industry's fastest turnaround time
  • Fix it the first time with our award-winning, factory-certified Service Department
Learn More about Total Confidence Coverage

Free 2-year Warranty

Sweetwater's 2-year Total Confidence Coverage™ Warranty gives you extra peace of mind at no extra cost.

Learn More about Total Confidence Coverage
Tools Icon

Save money with free parts & labor!

Fast Icon

Get back to making music with the industry's fastest turnaround time.

Award Icon

Fix it the first time with our award-winning, factory-certified Service Department.

Back to navigation

Tech Specs

  • Number of Strings: 5
  • Left-/Right-handed: Right-handed
  • Body Shape: LTD B-1005 MS
  • Body Material: Swamp Ash, Ziricote (top)
  • Body Finish: Satin
  • Color: Natural
  • Neck Material: 5-piece Wenge/Purpleheart
  • Radius: 15.7"
  • Fingerboard Material: Pau Ferro
  • Fingerboard Inlay: Offset Dots
  • Number of Frets: 24, Extra Jumbo, Stainless Steel
  • Scale Length: 34"-37"
  • Scale Length Type: Multi-scale
  • Nut Width: 1.85"
  • Nut Material: Black Bone
  • Bridge/Tailpiece: Hipshot Solo
  • Tuners: Gotoh
  • Neck Pickup: Nordstrand Big Splilts Single-coil
  • Bridge Pickup: Nordstrand Big Splits Single-coil
  • Controls: 1 x master volume, 1 x blend, 3-band Active EQ, Active/Passive switch, Mid-frequency selection switch
  • Strings: D'Addario, .045-.125
  • Case Included: Sold Separately
  • Manufacturer Part Number: LB1005MSNS

What Makes Our Sales Engineers Great?

Sweetwater Sales Engineers are a world-class team of experts dedicated to you. Hand selected from across the globe, each brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the world of music gear to provide you with unparalleled service completely free of charge. Friendly relationships, real trust, and the right gear are only a call or a click away!

Back to navigation

Customer Reviews

Write your review
Rated 5/5

Phenomenal

I've had this bass for roughly a year now, so I can review it better.

Firstly, the extended scale is perfect for lower end. In fact, I worked with Sweetwater to get a specific tuning, specific strings and gauges, and install EMG pickups. This bass handles the low F# like it's no big deal. (I got it that low to match my 8 string electric and acoustic) The team worked very well with me, and though we had some back and forth, we eventually did get on the exact same page, and they did amazing work.

The feel of the bass is natural; there was not much of a learning curve for the fanned frets, though it is a little trickier with the first fret on the low strings when working with octaves on the higher strings. That's my only word of warning.

The bass is very responsive - though I can't say anything for the stock pickups since I never played with them. I play multiple styles of music, including acoustic, and it can accommodate all of them just as well.

Looks-wise, I could stare at it at all day, even still. The red of the wood really comes out in the sunlight/bright lights (though obviously you wouldn't want it in the sun for very long).

As far as basses I've owned, it is the best. The only contender is a Warwick Pro-line Corvette 5.
Rated 5/5

I absolutely love this bass!

The bass itself is absolutely gorgeous. This is my first multi-scale bass. I have to say I was quite pleased with how easy it was to get used to the fanned frets. Paired with the Nordstrand pickups it sounds AMAZING! I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to make the jump into multi-scale. If you are looking to play in a really low drop tuning this is definitely the instrument for you.

Some might ask....Does it? I'm going to tell you...it absolutely does.
Rated 4/5

Great bass, bad setup

I got this bass in June, but due to some wrist and back injuries, wasn't able to get much use out of it until now. Finally getting to play it, I've noticed some problems with the neck and frets. The frets are so far from the fretboard that they're ripping up my fingers. There's also a spot where it almost seems like the fretboard is seperating from the neck(pic attached). Other than that, the bass plays and sounds great. Should be able to get these issues resolved with my local tech.
Rated 5/5

Amazing

This is an absolutely amazing instrument. I rarely leave reviews, but if you are at all considering a 5-string, I honestly don't know what could be improved beyond this.

I play with an E-C tuning (rather than standard low B) that Sweetwater set up for me. I have had it for about a year and it has made me want to play and improve.

Also, bite the bullet and get the case with it. It fits perfectly and snugly hugs the bass.

After having one, I would buy it again tomorrow and I would pay more for it.
Music background: Hobbiest.
Rated 5/5

The Tone Beast

I was looking for a Dingwall style bass for standard to low tunings, and spent many months researching what I wanted. It arrived with a dead battery, that I have since replaced, time will tell if there is a soldering issue. The Daddario strings are fine and sound great, but I feel the 125 is too light a gauge, a 130 would be better in my opinion. The neck needed a truss rod adjustment, the B, E and A strings were fretting out from 8th fret up, very badly. The sticker around the volume and tone controls, tears when you try to remove it, like an illegal parking sticker, very annoying removal and totally unnecessary. Just put it on a piece of cardboard we can figure it out.

Now to the good, it has great tone, passive and Active. Thumping the B string is just massive and focused, same goes for the E String. The bass sounds great no matter how you play it, finger style, pick or thumping. Tone controls and electronics work and sound great, no complaints there. Tuning Keys have a nice feel to them. Pickups Sound amazing.

It's a big bass, it's long and fairly heavy. Playing the 1 fret on the B string, requires your finger to come over the Nut, which is pretty tall. The scale is bigger, playing near the nut (left hand) and playing near the bridge (right hand), you notice it, but with time on it shouldn't be an issue. But these were all things I knew about going in and I considered acceptable to get that tone. It is a tone beast, especially if you do low tunings. It's a keeper
Music background: Middle aged part time musician
Close Close $2,000 Pick Your PRS Giveaway -- input your email address below to enter or click here to learn more.

See giveaway details & rules or check out our past winners!

Success!

Your email, has been entered to win this giveaway. Good Luck!