How Ibanez got it right.

[NG51]

I bought my first Ibanez about a year ago-a GWB1005. It is an absolutely stellar instrument.

 

[HubbardsFate]

I have owned two Ibanez basses: A mid-2000s bolt-on BTB 6-string (bought used from a friend in 2008/sold in 2011), and an Ibanez ATK200 (bought new in 2012/sold in 2015.)

Both were great basses. In the case of the BTB, I had been scared to even look at anything other than 4-strings until I tried this bass. It was the bass that made me realize why I had had so much trouble with a Ric 4003 I had owned for years - Ric necks just don't work for me. The wide, flat profile of that BTB 6 neck was a revelation. Whereas with the Ric, my hand/wrist would start cramping and aching within 30 seconds, I could play the BTB all day with no problems.

The ATK is still one of the best bang-for-the-buck basses I have ever owned. I am giving serious thought to eventually buying the Premium walnut 5-string model they are currently making.

I have never been that much into small-bodied "ergonomic" basses, so for that reason their SR basses have never held much appeal for me, although I'm pretty sure they are great basses in their own right.

 

[matthewbrown]

I had a Roadmaster that was the best cheap bass I've owned, although the neck was not destined to last, I think. I now have a Volo BTB33 that I'm delighted with. An excellent design for a player like me, it has a a huge range of usable tones, is well-balanced and light for a five-string, and it is a beautiful bass, built with careful attention to detail.

 

[Mister Boh]

I enjoy Ibanez instruments as well, both guitars and basses. They are well made and I've found them to be generally pretty versatile.

 

[WaynerBass]

The SR series bridges were made out of a soft metal and would get bent out of shape. It was an ongoing problem for some time and, as far as I know, still is.

I've owned a few SR models without any bridge issues what so ever. Now Fender Jazz V yeah issues with a weak B tuner hole cracking.. yeah a highly known issue, at least you can replace a junk bridge but a whole neck.. meh

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Really? I have a couple SR's and know a bunch of others that do as well. Never heard or experienced this.

Have you owned a SR and experienced this or repeating something you read somewhere?

Are you talking 1983 or current production?

It was a common enough in recent production to be talked about regularly. Apparently they have corrected the issue, thanks for pointing that out @stingray69 .

 

[mmbongo]

Now I know not everybody likes Ibanez basses and Ibanez basses are not for everybody but you have to give the Japanese credit for this one. Ibanez basses are fantastic. I play the SR models usually the 500 and higher because I like the Bartolini pickups so I can't really speak for the other models. But even the lower number SR's with the stock Ibanez pickups sound good.

I have not played one bad Ibanez bass. Unfortunately I can't say the same thing about other basses I've played. The Ibanez brand name has been around since 1929, 17 years before Leo Fender founded the Fender Musical Instrument Corporation. Whatever Ibanez is doing I'd say their doing it right.

Actually those basses don't have Bartolini pickups. They are MK1's which are Korean made G&B pickups. They have nothing in common with Bartolini's, other than licensing the name.

 

[MrLenny1]

I recently played an Ibanez fan fret 5 bass.
Really nice axe and easy to play.

 

[Shpigel]

The worst bass I've ever played was a cheap Ibanez...
Their more expensive SR models are much better but I think you can get the same quality for less money from other manufacturers.
.

 

[wvbass]

I like Ibanez basses. I also like that they do innovative things, and they offer choices you may not be able to find elsewhere. But...AFAIK, Ibanez doesn't build instruments. If you like the quality of your instruments that say Ibanez on them, I believe you need to thank the Korean, Indonesian, Japanese, and Chinese factories that Ibanez contracted to build their instruments. Those will be the same factories that make some Fenders, Squiers, Schecters, Laklands, G&L's, etc.

 

[DigitalMan]

I thought you were announcing that 2017 Ibanez basses might be available in a color other than brown.

 

[bassstrangler]

This is my RD900. This is a bass Ibanez should have not discontinued in 2006. Mine is a 2005 and it is awesome.

 

[Sparkl]

They are fantastic! I'm on my third Ibanez bass, an SR1200, and have owned a Musician and an ATK. All were/are great. The SR1200 sounds and plays excellently and is a real bang for the buck. I just had it Plek'd and it's even better. I really like the exotic woods and the fact that it weighs less than 8 pounds. The other nice thing about Ibanez is that you can usually find them in local stores. Which reminds me, I saw a fanned fret model at Steve's Music. I should go down there and check it out!

Well seems like the TB community is a lightweight fanbase, but I must tell you guys that a lightweight body for bass not always works. I have a 6 string indonesian Ibanez SR1206 Invalid Link Removed - Exactly the same wood finish.

What bothers me with this bass is the stiffness of the bridge which is not what I would expect. The whole string feels pretty loose when you play it even if you have thicker strings on although it partially solves the problem.

Next thing is the weight of the bass. The body is so light that the actual headstock weighs enough for the bass to constantly slide towards the ground with the headstock side when in standing position. Can be dealt with but it is far from ideal. A correctly done instrument needs to have balance. Lightweight body also makes the sound thinner, the string has no mass to vibrate nicely. Not that big of a deal for the most part, especially when playing solo, but put a jazz bass or a pbass on the same sound system and both of them will be richer and wider in tone. Especially on the 6 string, the sound looses itself somewhere if you don't have a massive body and the 6th string is a nice example on this bass which just doesn't want to sound more wide. You need to mess with the mids to make the string sound wider but that brings consequences to the overall sound of the bass too.

Next thing, the tuners - they are put in a way so that the string does not sit nicely through the nut but starts to bend the string immediately after coming through the nut. It is because of the tuners positioning. The result is that the string sounds more dampened, does not vibrate as nicely as it could which is not necessarily a bad thing although it could indicate that the guitar itself sounds too bright and needs to be dampened in which case they chose to do it with the tuners. Me myself, I would rather choose a different bridge, different wood selection, to make it more massive. The body is also really small which is another thing.

And finally, the nut - my bass came with a weirdly set nut. Set so badly, that the 5th string (when tuned to lowB) simply sits on the 1st fret. Of course the result is annoying fret buzz that cannot be solved even with raising the bridge to compensate. Forced me to get some strong copper cardboard paper to put underneath the string when it goes through the nut to raise the string from the nut side. In the end one day, (if I don't decide to sell it first that is) I will simply hae to replace the nut. Which would make this instrument much more playable but unfortunately there are still many design decisions that really make no sense there. And here is the thing, you can always switch and replace hardware but you can never modify the geometry or wood elements of the guitar.

The indonesian version comes with Nordstrands and those pickups are great sounding. Nice position, nice warm tone, but it really makes it clear that this bass is more of a solo or jazz instrument, certainly not the best option for other stuff.

All in all it is far from a bad bass, but it is just a bass. Nothing special, not bad sounding but fails to show itself as a prominent competitor when paired against the Fender family for example. And since I have a Musicman Stingray5 H/H, Jbass and PBass (both am std) aswell, my Ibanez mostly just collects the dust on the shelves. I only really mainly use it to practice a 6 string bass (to get familiar with 6th string notes) and for chord practicing on a bass.

As soon as I get enough cash to buy me a Yamaha TRB6 JP2, Ibanez goes either to ebay or under my bed for the next 60 years.

 

[RumbleRocker]

I love playing Ibanez basses! That being said i hear people saying there are other manufactures with the same quality but perhaps better bang for buck? If so what manufactures and model compare to the SR505? Really curious about that.

 

[Lowness]

Now I know not everybody likes Ibanez basses and Ibanez basses are not for everybody but you have to give the Japanese credit for this one. Ibanez basses are fantastic.

Well, as you stated - we don't have to give them credit.

 

[bassstrangler]

I like Ibanez basses. I also like that they do innovative things, and they offer choices you may not be able to find elsewhere. But...AFAIK, Ibanez doesn't build instruments. If you like the quality of your instruments that say Ibanez on them, I believe you need to thank the Korean, Indonesian, Japanese, and Chinese factories that Ibanez contracted to build their instruments. Those will be the same factories that make some Fenders, Squiers, Schecters, Laklands, G&L's, etc.

So, with that logic all instruments made in those countries and factories are all made by an entity that remains nameless and companies like Fender, Ibanez and Lakland are only putting their name on it. Therefore my Lakland 55-01, my MTD Z5, my Ibanez RD900 and my Sterling by Music Man basses are actually not made by those companies. So my Chinese Dr. Marten's aren't Doc Marten's. I think that logic is understandable but not correct, if it has an Ibanez logo on it and it's official it's an Ibanez.

 

[edencab]

almost bought an ATK a few years ago......thought it was too heavy....still GAS for it

 

[Ric5]

Ibanez makes good basses ... some are attractive and some are not. The cheaper ones have cheap pickups and electronics. They all pretty much have good necks.

And my favorite ... they make good 5 and 6 string basses.

 

[Benny the Finger]

I've got and '83 Roadstar II (on right) that is strung with Rotosound 77 flats...it's not my everyday gig bass, but not a day goes by that I don't pick it up for 5-10 minutes...
It feels better than almost anything I've played...I love the neck...very quick
If they made a new run of these I'd certainly get one

 

[flam]

I like Ibanez as a company, they have a bunch of great offerings. It's unfortunate that they don't tend to produce instruments that I personally like. I own a 90's sr800, and my only real complaint about it is how incredibly thin the neck is, making it move from really small temperature changes and things like that.