PRODUCT REVIEW
SPECTOR
Euro5LX EX and NS-5H2 FM Basses
BY DAVID DUNAWAY
Since the mid-seventies when he built his first
bass, Stuart Spector has earned a reputation
for designing and building great instruments.
With the signature body style designed by
Ned Steinberger in 1976, the company introduced the NS series and has been handcrafting basses in New York since 1977. In 1986,
they introduced Korean import versions and
in 1993 began offering production versions
of their USA models made in their factory in
the Czech Republic.
also controlled by push-pull volume controls,
and the preamp is an Aguilar OBP- 3 active
preamp with active Bass, Midrange, and
Treble controls as well as selectable midrange
frequency via another push-pull pot.
Two in Review
We have two basses for review, the Euro5LX EX
and the NS-5H2 FM. The former has an alder
back and a poplar burl top with clear gloss finish. It is manufactured at their Czech Republic
factory and is a production version of their USA
handcrafted NS-5XL using the same maple neck,
truss rod, and graphite rods. The latter has a
mahogany body and a figured maple top; our
review model has a black matte finish, though it
is available in other finishes, including the amber
stain pictured (which is otherwise identical to
our review instrument). It is handcrafted at their
Woodstock, NY, workshop, and is numbered
and signed by Stuart Spector. Both basses
share the same NS curved body design, and
both have a 35” scale and a brass nut. Both
instruments carry a lifetime warranty against
manufacturer defects to the original owner.
Euro5LX EX
My first impression out of the box: this is a lovely
instrument! Though I am not a fan of glossy
finishes, this finish is very pretty, smooth to the
touch, and as far as I can see, perfectly applied.
Balance-wise, the Euro might be a touch body
heavy, and a little neck heavy on the knee. The
tone controls are easy to get to, and their layout
makes sense: the two upper pots are volume—
left for the neck pickup, and right for the bridge
pickup. The bottom pots are left for the treble
boost, and right for the bass boost.
The Euro5LX EX has neck-through construc-
tion and gold-plated hardware, including a
Spector locking bridge and Schaller tuners. It
uses 2 EMG 40CSTW single/dual coil pickups,
which are controlled by push-pull volume
controls, and the preamp is a Spector
TonePump, boost only, with active treble
and bass controls and +19dB of gain.
The 1. 84” neck width at the nut and 0.66” string
spacing at the bridge makes it narrower than I’m
used to, but it’s easy to adjust to. I was curious
how a 35” scale would feel, especially since I’m
used to a 34”-scale instrument. I really didn’t feel
a large difference between the scales, except
when playing a finger-stretching passage—I
found I had to stretch a little more than usual, but
not to the point of missing what I wanted to play.
Having the low B sound a little tighter thanks to
the longer scale is worth any chops adjustment,
so I think the 35” scale is a good compromise
before tackling a beast with a 36” scale! Spector
does offer 4-string models with a 34” scale for
those who prefer the standard scale.
The NS-5H2 FM has a bolt-on neck and
black hardware, including a custom alu-
minum Hipshot bridge with brass saddles
and Hipshot UltraLite tuners. It uses two
special EMG CS-TW single/dual coil pickups
When it comes to the electronics, I found that
you can have a wide variation of sound just
using the single/dual coil capability—just don’t
forget to lower the gain when going from single
to dual coil! Adding the preamp, I found that
the treble boost becomes apparent around one
quarter-turn, and optimal at around a half-turn.
Past one half-turn, you’ll start getting hiss. The
bass control pretty much boosts the moment
you start turning it, though with 19 dB of gain
possible, you won’t need much to get serious
