I own two headless S2 Classics, a 4-string and a 5-string, both with bolt-on necks and both in a solid colour without fancy top woods, tone blocks or the like. I absolutely adore them, since I got them (almost 3 years ago) the 5-string has quickly become my main axe. I bought the 4-string first, based on looks alone, and was blown away when it arrived. I then bought the 5-string too.
They're versatile, but I wouldn't use them for blues or classic rock. The tone is tight, modern and with a bit of natural compression, with lots of clarity and a very even tone across the fingerboard. The string spacing at the nut is fairly wide compared to some of my other basses, but I'm quite comfortable with that.
I'm not sure when the 4-string was made, but I know it's an older model because it has the old Hyperactive pickups and a Board 300 preamp without a gain trimpot - it is wickedly loud compared to all my other basses, the output level is just crazy. I only ever play it at home. The 5-string was made in 2012 and has a Board 303 preamp,
with an internal gain trimpot so the output level can be adjusted to match my other basses. It looks black in the picture, but it's really a metallic anthracite finish and looks great in person.
The onboard EQ is unlike any other active bass I own. The bass and treble controls work like you would expect and are both cut and boost. The mid control is a filter-based tone control, the mid knob controls the filter sweep from 300 Hz to 3 kHz and the tiny 3-way switch selects boost (+6dB), off or cut (-6dB).
I use Status Hotwire double ball strings on both, but the headpiece also accommodates regular single ball strings which can be clamped with Allen bolts. I haven't tried it yet, but I have a set of the bolts for both of them.
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. Plus the tuning stability of headless designs is unrivalled, because there are no windings around a tuning post (unless you have a Kramer Duke or something similar) and the carbon neck just doesn't move.
