What bass in a cover band

Zonular

That ibby is lovely

Zonular

It's a little back to work treat

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

In my covers band I play a 5 string with an active 3-band EQ and Chrome Flatwounds. Nicely covers all the bases (see what I did there?!). 

ICBM

Zonular said:

That ibby is lovely

Thank you .

It's so nice I've decided that if no-one wants it for what a Japanese-made bass of that quality should be worth, I don't mind keeping it even though I'm not really a 'modern active 5-string' player... I bought it on a whim really, but I now don't have a musical purpose for it.

Stratavarious

Wedding ceilidh dep. calls. . Lot of tunes in D.

I use a 4 string with rounds but find myself reaching for or wanting a note that is not there.  Mulling a 5 string for max versatility.

mike257

I've played in many function bands and flip flopped between my Stingray and my Sandberg JM4 (souped up Jazz bass). 

A four is fine in most situations, but we used to have dep singers shuffling keys round regularly and I often found myself wishing I had a five string when they'd drop the key so far my low notes fell off the end of the neck. Worth considering. 

A lot of modern pop benefits from a 5 too. 

Straight up indie/rock stuff I'd see no need for anything more than four strings. 

Used flats on and off with a Motown band, any bands where I've needed a bit of grit I've stayed with rounds. Flats sound beautiful, but it's a particular sound and it's not for everything. 

pineweasel

A four string with rounds and a Hipshot Xtender has served me well for years. But experimenting with a five during lockdown, so things may change. 

Creed_Clicks

Depending on how serious you want to get with the covers band, maybe a 4 and a 5 string. Or if you want just one, I'd say maybe a PJ config 5 string. That way you can blend your pickups depending on the song etc, and the extra low string could come in handy. As they say "it's better to be looking at it, than looking for it!".
I see you are in Ireland. There seem to be plenty of options on the Irish classifieds at the moment. In fact I'm selling an Ibby talman and P bass with flatwounds in Ireland at the moment, as I'm high tailing it out of the country next week!  

ICBM

Shameless plug: I have both a 5-string bass *and* a Hipshot Bass Extender available for purchase . (Although you probably don't need both .)

Zonular

I actually pulled the trigger on a Yamaha bbg5 a (passive 5 jazz to go alongside my atk)

The headstock on the atk is weird, wonder if the hipshot would fit? (What demensions are needed?)

ICBM

Zonular said:

The headstock on the atk is weird, wonder if the hipshot would fit? (What demensions are needed?)

Unfortunately not - from a Google search all the ATKs appear to have the Kluson cloverleaf-style machineheads. Hipshot do an extender for those as well, but mine won't fit.

Funkfingers

Hipshot Xtender/D-Tuner 'heads come in numerous shapes and sizes to match most of the popular 'head designs. Usually, the Hipshot product is an adapted example of the original design. Occasionally, this fact makes things look odd. e.g. On a Warwick headstock, the Hipshot is a modified genuine Gotoh GB7 whereas the W-badged 'heads are Ping Well lookalikes.

tomb11112

4 string passive Jazz with rounds.
Easy to darken if you want a more mellow tone. I sometime even put foam under the bridge if I want that tone for a whole set.

thegummy

It's it's a variety of covers then the question is really about versatility. I'd rule out flats straight away. You can play a Motown song on rounds with the tone down but any genre that needs rounds won't sound right.