Ibanez BTB406qm or Ibanez SR1005 Prestige Please Help

Bassey56 · #1 02-05-2009, 11:45 PM

Hi there, I'm new to talkbass so I'm not really sure how things work here, but I'm a gigging bassman who plays genres like Soul, Reggae, Funk, Gospel, Alternative Jazz etc. I've owned the Ibanez BTB406qm for about 5 years now. I love my bass in terms of feel because its very comfortable to play, and I get a wide range of tones from it. One dis-advantage is that its kinda heavy and I do alot of slapping now, so I'm looking for a slightly different sound which I can't seem to tune in on my bass. I tried the Ibanez SR1005 Prestige and loved the feel and sound, but it has a $1200.00+ price tag. The other problem is I live in Beijing, China, so American basses are not really easily accessible. I was wondering if it would be better to change the pickups on my BTB 406qm to Bartolini and save some money instead of buying the Ibanez SR 1005 Prstige. Anyone has good advice on this situation?

bbell639 · #2 02-06-2009, 01:08 PM

I'm an SR man (& have been for over 20 years) - so of course I would tell you to buy the SR...

Bottom line: They are both the SR & BTB are excellent bass lines - but are polar opposites in many ways.
The SR boasts a very thin neck, minimal string spacing and is certainly lighter than the BTB. The BTB produces different tones, is heavier, etc. and I have heard many "slap" players prefer the BTB due to it's string spacing - but since I'm not a "slapper", I wouldn't know for sure.
Best of luck with whatever you decide. I will point out that the SR1005 you looked at is a Prestige series which includes neck-thru construction. Production stopped on 10/2008. The 2009 Ibby's (even prestige series) has NO neck-thru's (theyr'e all bolt on) - so if your gonna buy it - better do it quick before word spreads.

Bassey56 · #3 02-06-2009, 05:22 PM

Thanks for the advice bbelle639. That helped! I'm gonna go down to that store to try that bass one more time and finally make my decision.

J-taperEd · #4 02-06-2009, 10:18 PM

Bassey56,

Just to throw another thought into the mix, you could just change pickups and get a new sound while saving alot of money. I'm not sure of your exact p/u specs but I'm sure there's a Bart that'll fit. Off the top of my head I can think of 5 excellent bass brands that we carry that use Bartolini as stock pickups. There's a reason for that.
Try the bass tho', it may be the one for you.
If it isn't, you could change your sound for about 1/10 of the price of a new instrument.
If you really want to change it up, think about a Bartolini preamp too...
Now that I think about it, Bart pickups and an Aguilar pre isn't a shabby setup either...
If you have any questions OR need further option anxiety

, send me an email.

Ed
ed@basscentral.com

Bassey56 · #5 02-07-2009, 04:36 PM

Hey Ed,

I did get that bass today. Right after I bought it, I attended a practice session with my funk band. At the practice room I ran it through a Warwick Pro Fet. 3.2 with a 4x10 speaker cabinet (not sure which model) and the rich tone and clarity I got from this bass was amazing... One of the sweetest basses I've played. I'm very pleased with my purchase. One thing I noticed after playing it for a while is that my BTB is easier on the hands in terms of string tension. I had it set up at the shop where I bought it so I havn't really spent time to set it up myself but I don't think the strings can be any less tight and sound as good... Anyway I'm gonna mess around with it and see how best I can arrange it. I'm eventually gonna set up the BTB406qm with Bartolini pickups and pre amp because I still love its feel and playability. Thanks for the thought Ed...

Best wishes
Bassey