In brief. Very good bass for the money. Arguably too many controls for a novice.
Use. I bought this because the electrics on one of my spare basses died. As the bass I use for live performance is an M7 I decided to get the entry level M2 as a spare. I picked the maple fretboard because I like a bright tone.
Pros. Looks amazing for a start. Beautiful translucent blue that is far more attractive than the photos. Like all M series the fretboard has rounded edges which makes playing a pleasure, even if in this case the fret edges are not as smooth as they are on the M7. 18v active electronics with a huge range of tonal options, or passive. In passive mode only the main tone control has any effect, this is the bottom half of the volume knob. And the effect it has is pretty limited – stick to active. It has a really nice growl to it if that’s what you want to dial in – and for me that is it. String through body. Lots of premium features here. Intonation was perfect out of the box.
Cons. No split coil, but this really doesn’t need it, the humbuckers sound full and fruity. The body is made of three bits of wood, which doesn’t really matter but is worth mentioning. The bridge is not a high mass one, but with string through design this is not noticeable. Fret edges could be better dressed – I’ll do this myself when I change the strings. The tone control in passive mode is largely vestigial. I changed the batteries for alkaline.
Conclusion: I am super happy with this bass and have started using it in all our rehearsals because it sounds how I like and it plays so well. A worthy backup for the M7
