After several years of playing bass guitar I fancied trying a 5 string bass so I could play certain songs
without the need for drop tuning but didn't want to spend a fortune in case I didn't get on with the 5 string after years of playing 4 string basses.I bought the Peavey Millenium BXP5 second hand for £130 from a friend who hadn't got on with the 5 string and decided to stick with 4 string basses. My bass is one of the earlier Peavey Milleniums which were made in Indonesia before production moved to China
for the later models.

The bass looks fantastic especially for an entry level priced bass the body is basswood with a maple
quilt finish on the top which looks like rippled water or ruffled silk under the transparent top coat.
Although my bass is transparent black in colour so doesn't show the maple quilt quite as well as the
tiger eye colour shown in the Dooyoo picture the maple quilt still shows through and looks great under stage lights.

The Peavey has a 34" scales hard rock maple neck with a rosewood fretboard which is well finished
with no flaws or dodgy fret work. The neck is really thin compared to most 5 strings at around 44.7mm
at the nut it's not much thicker than my 4 string Fender 50's Precision bass which is 44.45mm at the nut. Although the slim neck means the string spacing is quite narrow the neck is fast and easy to play once you get used to the string spacing. The bass has the option of through body stringing or bridge only since I've owned it I've only used the bridge option but the bass has plenty of sustain even when only strung through the bridge.

The finish and build quality of the Peavey is excellent for a bass of this price there's no flaws in the
finish and the neck fits perfectly. Although my bass had been set up by the music shop when my
friend bought it he said it played well straight of the shelf when he tried it before the set up so it only needed a couple of minor tweaks and a string change to get it perfect for him. The only thing I've changed since owning the Peavey is the strings as I prefer to play with flatwound strings rather than
the roundwound strings that were on it when I got it.

The Peavey Millenium has 2 passive Jazz style pick ups which are unbranded but do the job nicely without any unwanted noise. The bass sounds good and I've used it for playing everything from blues through to punk and rock with no problems. The bass has a decent range of sounds if you play around with the 2 tone controls and 1 volume control you can get anything from smooth and mellow from the neck pick up to a growling attack from the bridge pick up.

The Peavey is finished with plain black unbranded hardware which looks good and sets off the look of
the bass nicely. The bridge has adjustment for each string and is easy to use and adjust the tuners
are slightly cheap looking and I'm not convinced they will last but the bass stays in tune so I haven't
felt the need to change them yet.One of the problems with many 5 string basses is that the B string which is the lowest string can be a bit loose and flappy but the Peavey has a decent amount of tension on the B string which makes for an easy transition to playing 5 strings over the usual 4.

One of the great things about the 5 string is having the extra 5 lower notes in standard tuning which
is BEADG this allows me to play certain songs which would require drop tuning on my standard 4 string
which is usualy strung EADG. As I've learned many of the tracks of our set in standard tuning I was
always worried that if I started drop tuning to faciliate certain new tracks I would get confused and
fret the wrong notes on the tracks I've played for years in standard tuning so having the 5 string has
given me more range without having to alter my tuning.

The other bonus with the 5 string is you have a larger range of notes available in one position without the need to be running your fret hand up and down the neck like a maniac. Although to be fair it doesn't look quite as cool it is nice to have the option to play more intricate parts in one postition without being all over the neck to get to the notes especially towards the end of a 2 hour gig.

The Peavey is one of a rare breed of entry level basses that are capable of taking you from learning
through to playing live without any upgrades required. This makes the Peavey Millenium range ideal
for learners but also for any bassist on a tight budget who need a workhorse bass that can cope
with gigs and won't let them down in a live situation. I've happily played this bass at gigs with no problems and received many compliments on the sound and looks of it and have seen several other
bassists at local gigs playing either the 4 or 5 string Peavey Milleniums.

I'd happily recommend the Peavey Millenium to anyone looking for a low cost bass that can do it all.
I've owned and played everything from Fenders,G&L, Musicman and Warwicks over the years I've
played bass and although I intended using this as a cheap way to try a 5 string then buying a better
one the Peavey has surprised and impressed me so I can't see myself parting with it anytime soon.

The Peavey Millenium costs around £230-£290 for the 5 string and the 4 string is available for around £190 -£230 depending on where you shop so it obviously pays to shop around for the best price.
Second hand prices on the 4 or 5 string Peavey range from around £100 - £180 which gives you a
great bass guitar for the same price as many of the shop own brand instruments which don't even
come close to the quality of the Peavey.