Hi all...this is my first post after a long hiatus.... Currently I'm looking for an affordable 5 stringer (price rage around 500 - 600 US$), and I've narrowed my choice into Ibanez BTB405 and Cort Artisan B5. I think both are Korean made. Which one is the better one (playability, reliability, stability & sound ?). Personally, IMO Cort comes with such great features (exotic woods:ash & wenge, Bart's electronics, etc). I just not too confident, as I don't have any experience w/ Cort products.
Man, that's a tough choice. Besides the MTD Kingston 5, those are IMHO the 2 best basses in that price range. The BTB is killer. but I think that the wenge neck and Barts give the Artisan the edge. But I thought that the Artisan was discontinued. How good is Cort? They build a lot of the Korean models, such as Ibanez(I don't know if they build the BTB, but they probably do), Cort Curbow, Conklin Groove Tools, just to name a few. They do turn out some lower priced junk, but they make some really nice stuff too, for the price.
I've got a BTB405QM-TK, which is official transparant black, but to me it seems more like a very dark shade of purple. It has a pretty wide fretboard, and monorail bridges, both a very good feature tone-wise, but if you have small hands, this is not the bass for you. it has 35" scale, also a huge plus, specially for the B-string. The greatest power of the BTB is the EQ.. which is the most versatile ever seen on a bassguitar. you can go from fender-like, to musicman-like and back to concklin-like... very nice.. Am i satisfied with it ? well.. i'm getting a BTB-logo tattoo next month, enough said
I don't think Cort discontinued Artisan, at least they still have it on Cort website and there is an online music store in my country offer it.
Yesterday I went to a local music store, saw a BTB405, and got the opportunity to test it. I'm completely agree that BTB has a very nice electronic, thanks to its mid contour control. But its too weak for a 18v. The playability was suck, at least compared to my old 4 string Status Graphite, because the strings are too high. Tapping is nearly impossible on this setup. I think the action needs an attention. This is a light bass for a 5 string and has good finish. Overall construction is good, except for the battery compartment, I prefer flip model from Gotoh. I will come back to the store later and see if they can setup this bass to my preference, if they can do it, this bass will be a good choice for me.
the btb is a better choice because of the 35 inch scale witch will help the low b like AllodoX. im a huge fan of ibanez though. the cort nb5 is not that bad the neck is alil wider than the ibanez.. its also based on your personnal preference too.
I think that the BTB 405 is a killer bass for the money. I use mine as much as I use my StingRay 5 basses.
