Information on these early Japan-made Ibanez SR basses seems to be difficult to find. They are active and each volume and tone control has its own attached circuit board. I've had two SR800s where one of the control knobs did nothing. Looking around the forums, it appears this may be a common fault. Some have speculated that the chip on the board had failed. I know nothing about electronics, but I took them to a friend of mine who does. The chips were fine, and he managed to fix both basses by replacing all the electrolytic capacitors on the affected boards. All the controls now work and the basses now sound their characteristically very punchy selves. Just posting this in case it's useful. Happy Christmas everyone
I had been considering a ATK Ibáñez, but I got a look at their circuitry & changed my mind. My SRX (SR eXtreme) also has a small board attached to one pot (treble boost/cut I think). If it fails, I'll probably just gut it & change it to Vol/Vol/Treble/Bass & make it passive. Doesn't the SR800 have the vari-mid controls? Happy 3rd of December, John Osbourne's birthday.
Thanks for this info. I was looking at getting one of these. Most will except the first few years where I believe it's a four knob v/blend /treble/bass