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an unexpected surprise - ibanez GSR100EX

#61
Re this Ibanez GSR100EXMOL.... WOW!! Hard to believe such an inexpensive bass ($179 new at Sweetwater, just like the Mikro) can be this good! It looks (great to me); the stained bare wood body has a nice grain to it and the simple looks of one PU and two control knobs sits in my head just right!
But the biggest surprise is in the playing; I don't know what kind of soapbar Ibanez stuck in there but it's powerful and good! And tone? -I can go from deep mellow to a sharp growl without even touching my amp's eqs by just a quick twist of that lone tone knob! I'm feeding it thru my Bam200 micro amp and a Trace Elliot 1x10 Elf speaker, and it sounds terrific! I can once again 'feel' that good tone... ;>})
And if this '100' is that good already with the no-name roundwounds it came with, I can't wait to see what a good set of tapewounds might do for it.
My Mikro, while admittedly easier to handle, doesn't come close to the sound I'm getting from this '100'! And yes it is larger (34" scale) than the Mikro, with a slightly wider neck and a bit heavier body, but for some reason I'm still finding it almost as easy to handle as the short scale Mikro. -Am very happy with this new axe, very pleased! ;>})
(But please keep in mind that I'm not out gigging with it; I'm just happily jamming and doodling and relearning my long forgotten basics at home... So if you're an active pro with big amps and stage cabs, YMMD...)
Enjoy!
Greywoulf
 
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#62
Greywoulf said:
Re this Ibanez GSR100EXMOL.... WOW!! Hard to believe such an inexpensive bass ($179 new at Sweetwater, just like the Mikro) can be this good! It looks (great to me); the stained bare wood body has a nice grain to it and the simple looks of one PU and two control knobs sits in my head just right!
But the biggest surprise is in the playing; I don't know what kind of soapbar Ibanez stuck in there but it's powerful and good! And tone? -I can go from deep mellow to a sharp growl without even touching my amp's eqs by just a quick twist of that lone tone knob! I'm feeding it thru my Bam200 micro amp and a Trace Elliot 1x10 Elf speaker, and it sounds terrific! I can once again 'feel' that good tone... ;>})
And if this '100' is that good already with the no-name roundwounds it came with, I can't wait to see what a good set of tapewounds might do for it.
My Mikro, while admittedly easier to handle, doesn't come close to the sound I'm getting from this '100'! And yes it is larger (34" scale) than the Mikro, with a slightly wider neck and a bit heavier body, but for some reason I'm still finding it almost as easy to handle as the short scale Mikro. -Am very happy with this new axe, very pleased! ;>})
(But please keep in mind that I'm not out gigging with it; I'm just happily jamming and doodling and relearning my long forgotten basics at home... So if you're an active pro with big amps and stage cabs, YMMD...)
Enjoy!
Greywoulf
Click to expand...

sounds like you like it :D

i still like mine, and now that the bronco has increased in price to $199, the GSR100 is one of the best values in name brand basses.

i must say that neither of my GSR100EXs have powerful pickups, but then i don't actually like powerful pickups. also one of my 2 mikros sounds great, but then my experience with mikros (i've owned 5, played over 30) is that they're iffy when it comes to tone consistency. none have sounded bad, but they don't all sound like each other, and my green mikro had a rich PJ sound while my black mikro sounded okay - but sounds much better now it has a pair of jazz bass pickups in it :D
 
#69
After not playing (for some strange reason?) my GSR100EX for a while I found the strings sitting too low on the frets, creating a lot of buzz. Have no idea why this happened, but I took the stock round wound strings off (always thought they were too thick anyway) to replace them with a set of medium gauge GHS Pressure Wounds. But first I did a truss rod adjustment to loosen the relief and raise the string action... The new Pressure Wound E string is a .106 and looks considerably smaller than the previous E, so those stock strings were indeed pretty heavy! Anyway after the truss rod adjustment and the new strings the setup is excellent again, with no more buzzing and good intonation...
I'm still really liking this GSR100EX and still consider it to be one of the best inexpensive 'sleeper' basses around!! :eyebrow:
Enjoy,
Greywoulf
 
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#71
bassically_eli said:
Is the pickup location on the GSR100 about the same as on a MusicMan bass? If so, then with the right pickup and/or preamp, it should make a pretty good imitation.
Click to expand...
I think it's PUP is a little bit higher up than a MM but not by much. (See photo...)
And I don't think it sounds that much like a MM either. (I had a Sterling MM). Probably closer to a P-bass, but with more variety, more range?
GSR100-thumb_rest.jpg
 
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#72
Greywoulf said:
I think it's PUP is a little bit higher up than a MM but not by much. (See photo...)
And I don't think it sounds that much like a MM either. (I had a Sterling MM). Probably closer to a P-bass, but with more variety, more range?View attachment 4304917
Click to expand...
Higher up meaning further from the bridge? I've yet to find a very good demo video, but what I did find also made me think p-bass more than MM.
 
#76
pcake said:
so the bass showed up a little over an hour ago, and imagine my surprise! it sounds great - a little music man-ish, lots of low end. the neck, which is a hint wider than more expensive soundgear basses but is the same as the GSR200, is nice to play. in fact, within about 2 minutes, i no longer noticed it at all, always a good sign. the neck is smooth but not glossy.

while there are some slightly rough parts on the body, it's not parts where it bothers me. the finish is only oil, so since there's some end grain, that's probably why it's not perfectly smooth. their gloss black version is probably smooth, but i have only seen this version at GC. oh, we like the stripey body, too.

i played it for most of an hour - i didn't mean to, but in addition to a nice sound and feel, it doesn't hurt my shoulder when i play it while sitting down, and that's unusual for a full sized bass.

my husband doesn't want to do surgery on it - he said he'd take it off my hands if i didn't want it, and we'd buy another bass to mod :laugh:

Ibanez GSR100EX

Ibanez GSR100EX

Full bass GSR100EX
Body Ibanez GSR100EX

Body Ibanez GSR100EX

Body closeup Ibanez GSR100EX
Headstock Ibanez GSR100EX

Headstock Ibanez GSR100EX

Soundgear headstock
Click to expand...
I've been tempted by these basses for years, but was skeptical because of the low price.

I really dig the simple layout and two-knob controls!
Thanks for the write-up!
:thumbsup:
 
#77
Curious if there was any update on this? I'm looking for a summer project, planning on maybe gutting one of these, or any other inexpensive bass with a MM or soap bar pickup that preferably does not have a pick guard.
My plan is to sand down the body completely, refinish it, replace pickup and tuners. This one seems like a great candidate.
 

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