Found a fairly sweet deal

I was scoping out ad's at a local music store and pricing out basses and certain amps. Then I stumbled across a black Ibanez SR886 (Im not sure of the model #) but it had the vari-mid 3 band eq and was a 6 string. It was on consignment

It didnt have any huge dents, dings, or gouges, no deep or noticable scratches in the paint. The neck was straight with slight fading and very smooth, slight fret ware, in short the construction was pretty solid.

Its playability was great IMO/IME, I prefer a slightly narrower neck on 6 strings due to having smaller hands. So this bass was very easy for me to play. Chording stuff was even easier than if I do it on my 5 string. The B string didnt feel much different than my Fenders does (loose and requires a lighter touch IMO)

Acoustically it sounded good IMO. The harmonics rang out clear as a bell, had decent overall tone, no noticable dead spots on the neck. (but I'll have to go over that a bit more to find any cause Im sure there is some somewhere.) It lacked some sustain and pressence that other basses do acoustically, but didnt sound bad either. It's something I could live with, especially since this wouldnt be my main bass.

Amplified, well it sounded like an Ibanez. Hence the problem. On the whole Im not very thrilled with the Ibanez SR series tones. It didnt sound bad, but I know theres a lot better sounding out there. Id also put in either a set of EMG's or Barts, then a Bart preamp. (in that order) So I know I can always improve the tone in the near future.

The bass is going for $395 on consignment. With gig bag. (or as the store put it "soft shell case") I'd like to try and get them down to $350 but with it being on cosignment, I dont think thatll happen. I cant find any like this on ebay to find out if its a good deal or not. $395 sounds somewhat fair, but like I said $350 sounds a bit more reasonable. *sorry Im clueless on Ibanez resale values now*

Ive been gassin for a 6 for quite some time now & ideally this isnt the 6 I was wanting. I wanted a Peavey Cirrus 6. (or considering a Lakland 55-02) But the price is really influencing me a lot on this. I know they arent the best, but they arent exactly the worst. So Im a bit torn.

Any one that owns one or owned one, Id really like to hear more about the pro's & cons of these particular basses & if $395 is a good deal. I personally think it could be a little bit lower. But again could be wrong, cause Im not up to snuff on resale values.

 

Thanks for the input Rick, I do appriciate it.

Im especially conserned about the fact you upgraded pickups and didnt get any for them. Id mod it out to improve the tone and I know that Id wanna sell it sometime down the road. I dont wanna take a bath on it when I go to sell it, especially if I put Barts and Bart preamp in her.

Taking it for what it is is kinda hard for me. I know Id never buy one new. The only reason this is even a consideration is the price.


I dont forsee it being sold any time soon. So each week when I go in to look over the want ads there, I plan on picking it up for a good hour and get down and dirty with it this way I can really get a much better feel for her tone.

If it sells before I have my mind made up then no biggie either. As I said earlier its not exactly the one I want. Just a fairly decent 1st time 6 with decent price.

Its a store up here in Port Richey. (Encore)

 

Which one did you play Rick? Was it new or used?

Yeah, the pickups and electronics are a serious weakness in them IMO. Now you can maybe relate to my dilema a bit more. Good feel, sub par tone, but good price tag to entice you into buying it.

Id have met ya there its only a 30-40 minute drive from my house.

 

Ya'll are missin the point. Im not sure if I wanna drop $350 on it just yet.

 

If I sell later, its going to be at a profit period. If not then whats the point of selling it?

 

exactly Johnny, Thats why Im thinkin it over long and hard. Im trying to avoid what could easily be an impulse buy.