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Best Ibanez Bass?

#61
Depends on what you're looking for. I own an SR700 and an SRX695DX and love them both dearly.

The SR500 and 700s have thin, fast necks. I absolutely love this feature, but some people do not. However I have my 700 strung with medium light D'Addario nickel wounds tuned to C# and a proper setup. This baby THUNDERS. It looks gorgeous and people are amazed at how great of a bass it is whenever I let them play it. The bartolini MK1 pickups are well known and give great tone shaping ability. I will put this bass against similar and more expensive Warwicks and take the SR700 every time. It's a little more boom and chug than a warwick growl, but I can still get some great warm tones out of it when necessary.

The SRX is slightly thicker but still has the signature fast Ibanez neck. Not sure on the specs but it has the Ibanez pickups and they sound great. This thing purrs very nicely, especially the low B string.

I recently played a BTB 6 string and that will definitely be my next purchase. Absolutely great basses!

I've personally never played an ATK, but have heard great things about them. While the SR line is commonly linked to metal players, the ATK is kind of Ibanez's rock and roll bass.

My advice is to just go try a bunch. Decent ones pop up on craigslist all the time for great prices. Ibanez seems to have excellent quality control, as I've never played a medium to high end Ibanez that didn't play well.
 
#63
I have a 1977 Ibanez Silver Series Jazz Bass that I like a lot and to me plays and sounds better than a number of American and Japanese Fender Jazz basses that I have played.

I also have a 1983 Roadstar II bass which is a pre-bass with a head more like a Gibson. That one is also very nice and as good as or better than similar basses in that range by other companies.

Both those basses were set up over the years and played, so that probably goes a long way towards what makes these very nice.

I think it comes down to which model is best for your type of playing, how you have the bass set up and what you run it through - whether in recording or in live settings.
 
#65
This one.

:bassist:
 

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#67
I've owned a ton of instruments but the one that I let go that haunts me is a mid 80's Ibanez Modulus series. I've never seen another one. It had a pearl white finish. Factory EMG P/J setup and a Modulus graphite neck with the typical Ibanez RG headstock.

I found it in a really seedy pawn shop in Wilmington, DE in 1995.

I called Modulus back then and had a cool conversation about it. They said only a handful were made and were very expensive.
It played great and looked amazing. I ended up trading it for a very early Steinberger. Wish I hadn't.

This was by far the best Ibanez bass I've played.
 
#68
I've played the sound gears and a couple other of the higher end ibanezs, can't remember which ones, they were all pretty nice. My main bass is an ATK 300 and I love it. My vote would be for that. Or a higher up one, 800 or 1200. There is def a difference between most ibanezs out there. I like the ATK for its aggressiveness and bite. It has great tone and I've never once been lost in the mix. It plays really nice too. The neck is a little chunky but I like that about it. It's just a great bass. I'll probably have mine for as long as I play.
 
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#69
FloridaSam said:
I've owned a ton of instruments but the one that I let go that haunts me is a mid 80's Ibanez Modulus series. I've never seen another one. It had a pearl white finish. Factory EMG P/J setup and a Modulus graphite neck with the typical Ibanez RG headstock.

I found it in a really seedy pawn shop in Wilmington, DE in 1995.

I called Modulus back then and had a cool conversation about it. They said only a handful were made and were very expensive.
It played great and looked amazing. I ended up trading it for a very early Steinberger. Wish I hadn't.

This was by far the best Ibanez bass I've played.
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Wow, that sounds awesome. I'd be kicking myself too. That sucks.
 
#71
ive been playing a long time. almost 30 years. ive put my hands on and spent time with many basses. some custom some i could never afford without paying a
small house note on it. and ive looked for right sound foremost, the right feel second, and third weight, and forth colors mattered least when picking the right bass. sometimes a good deal doeant come with color choice. by far and 30 years of chposing, ibanez is the best bass for the dollar. if u ask which model id be hard pressed to say. do you buy a car cause you lile the brand tires they put on it? long story short, i love the 805ff and sr905. which took a lot years patience to stumble across one for.sale. people that have a 905 just dont let them go. try to.find one onsale. i love the neck through amd resonates like a cesium atom. nonstop perfect. the pickups bartolini mk1s are to die for on this bass. 900 is same but 4 string. many of those around. goodluck choose wisely
 
#72
Look into 80's ibanez. All one of the best basses I have is an 86 RB850. It smokes must be production basses in time and build quality and they are cheap. I paid nearly nothing for mine must are in the 300 range. I dare you to find a better bass made today for that money and there are some good ones!!!
 
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#74
I had a K5 (not because I wanted to sound like korn) that was an amazing instrument. It had a wenge neck and a pauduk body with a mahogany core. If it had different pickups I would have kept it. The preamp was nice as well, sweep able mids. Very tight tolerances and beautiful gold hardware.
 
#75
BigOldHarry said:
The annoying thing about Ibanez is that they make SO many models that it's hard to keep track of them... There is something to be said for the simplicity of what Fender does...

There DOES seem to be a very bright dividing line, price-wise, between the MIJ Ibanez instruments and those made in the 2nd/3rd world. Heck, some of the MIC/Indo Ibanez's are downright cheap - and are decent basses.

If someone said "you can have any Ibanez bass they make..." I'd get the Gary Willis MIJ 5 string fretless.... Mostly because I like narrow string spacing for fretless, wider for fretted (Ibanez SR basses are pretty tight...)
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Willis model looks and sound awesome, I'd take one (fretted please).
 
#77
i'm sure the OP has by now bought his choice of ibanez, sold it and bought several more basses :D

i have an SR500, and it's a really super bass.

but i just thought i'd mention that for me, the ibanez SR1800e is the best ibanez. the nordy pickups, preamp, controls that allow for so much variety of tone, lightness of body and everything else make this bass just awesome. it even looks great.
 

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