The B-204 surprised me, nice guitar for the money
I'm a guitar player and finally got my first bass last summer to use for recording. My gut feeling when I started looking was to go with a Jazz, but after playing as many as I could in my price range I narrowed it down to three - the LTD B-204, a MIM Jazz Deluxe, and a MIM
P-Bass Special. I was really surprised by how much I liked the ESP.
They all played well, were an easy adjustment from playing guitar, sounded good (but all three sounded different), and the active EQ on the ESP and Jazz made them both pretty versatile. At the time I thought that the ESP was different simply beacuse it wasn't a Fender, plus it was the least expensive of the three, so I bought it (note that I am NOT anti-Fender, my guitar is a Strat and even after 17 years I still love it).
I recorded with it for a few weeks and even though I liked it I still couldn't get the Jazz sound out of my head. I took it back to the store and tried all three again. It was a tough decision but I ended up swapping it for the Jazz Deluxe (the "gut feeling" rule). However, I still think the ESP was a great buy so if $400 is your upper limit I'd say it's a good choice.
Of course the best choice is the one that really does it for you, whether it's the ESP or some other guitar. Don't decide until you're absolutely sure so that you buy the right one for you the first time (I was lucky I was still within my 30 day return window). If you're not sure, give it some time and then try looking and playing again later.