I would say Ibanez is every bit as popular and every bit as good as fender in the real world, and I say that as a fender owner. The only reason I don't have an Ibanez is I don't get along with their skinny necks, but they're great basses.
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Do Ibanez basses have bad reputations in general
- Thread starter Cory rich40
- Start date
i haven't heard that ibanez has a bad reputation ever. people seem to really like them, and in my experience, the lower end ibanez basses have better QC than squier's. squiers are hit and miss, and some need a lot of work, which hasn't happened to me with ibanez.
i have run into only 1 problem with my ibanez basses over the years. 2 of them - a mikro and a mezzo - had frozen truss rods. one came that way, ad i got a discount on it, however the mezzo's truss rod worked fine when i got it, but after a couple years of not adjusting it. it froze solid. this hasn't happened to me with other brands, but it also hasn't happened with my many other ibanez basses.
i have run into only 1 problem with my ibanez basses over the years. 2 of them - a mikro and a mezzo - had frozen truss rods. one came that way, ad i got a discount on it, however the mezzo's truss rod worked fine when i got it, but after a couple years of not adjusting it. it froze solid. this hasn't happened to me with other brands, but it also hasn't happened with my many other ibanez basses.
Reddit is the absolute last place I would look for information. In fact, I wouldn't even look for information there, I'd give up before I got that far.
How about just "no"? Ibanez can fit anywhere and do the job of any brand equally as well. They "kinda" get the same tap as Peavey used to. (Or still does) People that put down any brand other than what they play are brand specific. These people miss the boat daily. It's like Chevy or Ford people. What they drive is the best! To each their own.
I own two Ibby basses, a Volo BTB33 and an SRH500f semi-hollow fretless. They're both great instruments and they didn't break my bank account. What I like about them is how much UNLIKE most basses they are. Ibanez continues to develop new designs for different purposes, and I admire them for their willingness to push in new directions.
I've owned a few of their mid-priced basses ($700-$1,500). No longer my cup of tea but they were well built, sounded good and never became problematic. What more can you ask for?
John Wetton played a Roadstar/Roadster while in the band U.K. (trio version)
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I've always thought that they have a great reputation. I don't like the way they look, and I only like four strings, but as far as sound and quality go, I've haven't heard any negativity. But I don't have much experience with them. I did have a bottom end SR bass. It was quite nice, but I hated the color (metallic blue).
I think quality is probably the last issue that Ibanez has. I can think of one time in 20 years of playing where an Ibby in a guitar store played poorly, but I can't even remember how many times that's happened with Squier/Fender, because it happens fairly frequently.
I know my personal feelings towards Ibanez are the same as my feelings towards a brand like MarkBass, in that they both make great, well built, reliable stuff, but with a few exceptions, most of that stuff isn't what I'm personally looking for. Ibanez basses, while pretty versatile and great playing, have a tendency to lean towards clean and articulate tones, which tends to favor guys playing jazz/funk/r&b, which is where I tend to see them most (or they do that scooped clanky metal thing really well as you noted).
I've owned a handful of Talman basses that were all solid, and I've tried some of their older basses like the TR50 or the old PJ Roadstars, but these models all have more of a Fender flavor to them, and I think Ibanez has tried very hard to build their brand up to be something for the people who don't want that vintage Fender tone (and have done a great job of it too). And that's not to say that you can't get close to those classic tones with an Ibanez (let's not forget guys like Phil Lynott and Sting, who both moved from Fender to Ibanez at some point in their careers), but it's a lot easier to just plug in a P or J if you wanna sound like Jamerson or JPJ, the same way it's easier to grab an Ibby with soap bars if you wanna sound like Thundercat (and let's face it, lots of weekend warriors on Reddit are probably going to be covering Zeppelin before they ever try learning a Thundercat song).
I know my personal feelings towards Ibanez are the same as my feelings towards a brand like MarkBass, in that they both make great, well built, reliable stuff, but with a few exceptions, most of that stuff isn't what I'm personally looking for. Ibanez basses, while pretty versatile and great playing, have a tendency to lean towards clean and articulate tones, which tends to favor guys playing jazz/funk/r&b, which is where I tend to see them most (or they do that scooped clanky metal thing really well as you noted).
I've owned a handful of Talman basses that were all solid, and I've tried some of their older basses like the TR50 or the old PJ Roadstars, but these models all have more of a Fender flavor to them, and I think Ibanez has tried very hard to build their brand up to be something for the people who don't want that vintage Fender tone (and have done a great job of it too). And that's not to say that you can't get close to those classic tones with an Ibanez (let's not forget guys like Phil Lynott and Sting, who both moved from Fender to Ibanez at some point in their careers), but it's a lot easier to just plug in a P or J if you wanna sound like Jamerson or JPJ, the same way it's easier to grab an Ibby with soap bars if you wanna sound like Thundercat (and let's face it, lots of weekend warriors on Reddit are probably going to be covering Zeppelin before they ever try learning a Thundercat song).
I feel like guitarists love Ibanezes and while their basses might not get that level of love, I've never seen anyone bad talk a player that was using one.
I don’t know if they have a generally bad reputation. I do know I’ve had two and played others, and never bonded with any of them. Even the Portamento 6 fretless, which I did like, I never really loved. And I wanted to. It had ‘mwah’ and sounded good and felt good… I think what put me off was its very high maintenance need. Any slight change in temperature or humidity found me needing to adjust the saddles and/or truss rod. Note that I had another fretless at the time which had no such issues.
The other one I owned was a BTB1206E. Nice looking instrument, maple top, neck thru. But the low B rattled like crazy, no matter what adjustments or strings I tried, and the thing was voiced strictly for metal. I could not coax a decent clean sound from it. I brought it back within a month. Again I have a basis (ahem) for comparison with my Tobias KillerB 6, and that bass is rock solid. No rattling at all. And the voicings are many; I can do heavy rock with it, I can do smooth jazz, I can do funk. All sound great on that instrument.
So at least from my perspective, Ibanez basses might or might not be good for other folks - but they are not worth my time. I never even take ‘em off the rack anymore when I’m in a music store.
The other one I owned was a BTB1206E. Nice looking instrument, maple top, neck thru. But the low B rattled like crazy, no matter what adjustments or strings I tried, and the thing was voiced strictly for metal. I could not coax a decent clean sound from it. I brought it back within a month. Again I have a basis (ahem) for comparison with my Tobias KillerB 6, and that bass is rock solid. No rattling at all. And the voicings are many; I can do heavy rock with it, I can do smooth jazz, I can do funk. All sound great on that instrument.
So at least from my perspective, Ibanez basses might or might not be good for other folks - but they are not worth my time. I never even take ‘em off the rack anymore when I’m in a music store.
A couple years ago I counted and there were over 100 different Ibanez bass models.
The wild thing is, that's just models. If you count color variations within each model you could maybe add a couple dozen more.
Unlike Fender, where they might have dozens of different models of bass, but the models are: Jazz (cheap version), Jazz (made in one country), Jazz (made in a different country, but with a color the other countries don't use), Jazz (made in the same country as the other one but this one has different pickups), Jazz (limited edition color), Jazz (different fretboard markers), Jazz (made in a country where the cost of living is higher)...
This is hilarious how accurate this is.
Forums are always victim to group think.
Some aspects of their dominance absolutely have to do with the brands being decently represented and almost using TB as a customer support forum for them.
Went through 3 EHB1005MS before landing on a EHB1506MS. Ibanez is innovative and push out affordable instruments. That have to contribute to good reputation.
What...?
In my whole life as a noob bassist not once have I heard of Ibanez being a bad brand or their models being bad.
The really cheap stuff can be bad, but same for Fender, Music Man, Epiphone etc etc really cheap can never be good at times.
Ibanez though has it planed out nice. I think they attract metal players more often but they are for sure not just meant for metal and far from it I argue.
I struggle with taking online opinions too seriously, don't take Reddit seriously, most users are in the age range of 12 to 19 year olds and think reading some random comment is a forum of a source. It's a crappy echo-chamber, I don't even want to get into somethings I read attacking players for things so stupid. The voting system also is bias to whoever is dominating that sub, people say the most insane comments in the real world most people would have an eyebrow raise. I can go on all day but I won't.
I will agree that the know brands like Fender will probably always be a beginner with a good budgets first choice but that is nothing more than my opinion.
In my whole life as a noob bassist not once have I heard of Ibanez being a bad brand or their models being bad.
The really cheap stuff can be bad, but same for Fender, Music Man, Epiphone etc etc really cheap can never be good at times.
Ibanez though has it planed out nice. I think they attract metal players more often but they are for sure not just meant for metal and far from it I argue.
I struggle with taking online opinions too seriously, don't take Reddit seriously, most users are in the age range of 12 to 19 year olds and think reading some random comment is a forum of a source. It's a crappy echo-chamber, I don't even want to get into somethings I read attacking players for things so stupid. The voting system also is bias to whoever is dominating that sub, people say the most insane comments in the real world most people would have an eyebrow raise. I can go on all day but I won't.
I will agree that the know brands like Fender will probably always be a beginner with a good budgets first choice but that is nothing more than my opinion.
