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Ibanez BTB575FM
- Thread starter elpezpr
- Start date
you may want to do yourself a favor and check out an ebay listing--Peavey btb--actualy it looks like a btb1005 and at the moment it is going for 225 +75 shipping.I would snap it up but I just bought a 1999 btb1000E that I love.
hey I own A BTB 575fm in transparent grey and will be posting about it in case anyone else looks it up
BUILD
the bass is built great i found no flaws at all in the fit and finish at all. the brightwork was nicely polished. the paint had no blemishes
one thing i have noticed though is that the grey finish appears different under different light usually green or purple more than the advertised colour
the strings that came with it were of really high quality and lasted me a year without requiring a change.
i would have liked a metal cover for the battery cavity and electronics cover though
the tuners are non locking but they keep in tune great. even with really hard playing the never go out of tune and i mean NEVER!
NECK
The nick is unusually thick for an Ibanez but then thats exactly why i bought it. the thinner neck makes it much more comfortable for people with large hands (ie ME). the fretwork is brilliantly executed. The twin trussrods (i beleive there are two, not so sure) keep the neck very stable. I live in new delhi, where the temperature can go from 35 to 115 degrees farhenheit (crazy right?) and i've had my action adjusted just twice. once for each string change.
ELECTRONICS:
the electronics are pretty solid. i personally do not like to mess with the onboard pre-amp that much. the problem is that the boost and cut are very dramatic so i keep the EQ flat mostly unless the gig venue has bad acoustics. Dialling in a slap tone is extremely easy though you don't have to fish around too much for that
It takes two 9 volt batteries. they last a lot if you use decent alkalines. mine lasted me a year and a half.
i would also like to mention here that although the picked are voiced very different they are equal in terms of output volume so you get a nice blend. in fact keeping the EQ flat and just messing with the blend knob can give you a plethora of sounds.
TONE:
okay now this one is a biggie. i like a very deep resonant sound. i like a lot of upper mids and bass with a little treble coming in for definition. so to my ears this bass sounds perfect. it is possible to get jazz and p bass tones with manipulation (the p bass tone is almost identical to an american made) BUT if you want a jazz bass sound it will be much throatier. so in case you are into vintage sounds, you might wanna check out a Peavey, i beleive those emulate better, but if low end is your thing look no further
now i was not initially happy with the response time of the bass ( the notes sustained a bit too much even after muting them and playing the subsequent one ) i started using a boss compressor on a friends recommendation and the response became ideal, which is strange but it worked.
so if you like a deep sound with rich low end look no further, if you like a more midrangely fast response sound, i would recommend not buying this
i play a lot of prog rock and sometimes will play blues or funk, so the deep sound is welcome, if you're into jazz that'll work great too. pop/rock will be a problem because the sound is so deep that you'll drown out the guitars in the mix
PLAYABILITY
the string spacing is massive (19mm at bridge) the neck is wide and fat couple that with a 35 inch scale and you need big hands. I'd say if you like big basses or have big hands you'll be okay but if you have tiny to medium hands, you wont be flying up and down the neck in hurry
the balance is dead on, the pickups provide excellent thumb rests and theres plenty of space above the neck pickup for all your slapping and popping
FEATURES:
Okay i love this bass but the fact is you're paying for what you get. so it doesnt offer you great features for the price because the price is great. i got mine 3 years ago for about 750USD. things i missed were a passive/active switch. i mean its not that expensive to add OEM and a screw type adjustment to dial in how much boost of cut you want from the knob (the ones you get on the circuit board of the preamp)
OVERALL:
i am extremely satisfied with the bass because i looked the internet up before i bought it and it fit my bill perfectly. i have listed all the features of the bass so you know what to expect. if my priorities meet yours then you'll be satisfied.
MISCELLANEOUS:
the high polish on the hardware means moisture can really mess things up, so i use a neutral polish on them and keep a few bags of silica gel in my case. a tech gave me really cool advice of rubbing (gently) an old white candle on the hardware whch gives it a protective layer
BUILD
the bass is built great i found no flaws at all in the fit and finish at all. the brightwork was nicely polished. the paint had no blemishes
one thing i have noticed though is that the grey finish appears different under different light usually green or purple more than the advertised colour
the strings that came with it were of really high quality and lasted me a year without requiring a change.
i would have liked a metal cover for the battery cavity and electronics cover though
the tuners are non locking but they keep in tune great. even with really hard playing the never go out of tune and i mean NEVER!
NECK
The nick is unusually thick for an Ibanez but then thats exactly why i bought it. the thinner neck makes it much more comfortable for people with large hands (ie ME). the fretwork is brilliantly executed. The twin trussrods (i beleive there are two, not so sure) keep the neck very stable. I live in new delhi, where the temperature can go from 35 to 115 degrees farhenheit (crazy right?) and i've had my action adjusted just twice. once for each string change.
ELECTRONICS:
the electronics are pretty solid. i personally do not like to mess with the onboard pre-amp that much. the problem is that the boost and cut are very dramatic so i keep the EQ flat mostly unless the gig venue has bad acoustics. Dialling in a slap tone is extremely easy though you don't have to fish around too much for that
It takes two 9 volt batteries. they last a lot if you use decent alkalines. mine lasted me a year and a half.
i would also like to mention here that although the picked are voiced very different they are equal in terms of output volume so you get a nice blend. in fact keeping the EQ flat and just messing with the blend knob can give you a plethora of sounds.
TONE:
okay now this one is a biggie. i like a very deep resonant sound. i like a lot of upper mids and bass with a little treble coming in for definition. so to my ears this bass sounds perfect. it is possible to get jazz and p bass tones with manipulation (the p bass tone is almost identical to an american made) BUT if you want a jazz bass sound it will be much throatier. so in case you are into vintage sounds, you might wanna check out a Peavey, i beleive those emulate better, but if low end is your thing look no further
now i was not initially happy with the response time of the bass ( the notes sustained a bit too much even after muting them and playing the subsequent one ) i started using a boss compressor on a friends recommendation and the response became ideal, which is strange but it worked.
so if you like a deep sound with rich low end look no further, if you like a more midrangely fast response sound, i would recommend not buying this
i play a lot of prog rock and sometimes will play blues or funk, so the deep sound is welcome, if you're into jazz that'll work great too. pop/rock will be a problem because the sound is so deep that you'll drown out the guitars in the mix
PLAYABILITY
the string spacing is massive (19mm at bridge) the neck is wide and fat couple that with a 35 inch scale and you need big hands. I'd say if you like big basses or have big hands you'll be okay but if you have tiny to medium hands, you wont be flying up and down the neck in hurry
the balance is dead on, the pickups provide excellent thumb rests and theres plenty of space above the neck pickup for all your slapping and popping
FEATURES:
Okay i love this bass but the fact is you're paying for what you get. so it doesnt offer you great features for the price because the price is great. i got mine 3 years ago for about 750USD. things i missed were a passive/active switch. i mean its not that expensive to add OEM and a screw type adjustment to dial in how much boost of cut you want from the knob (the ones you get on the circuit board of the preamp)
OVERALL:
i am extremely satisfied with the bass because i looked the internet up before i bought it and it fit my bill perfectly. i have listed all the features of the bass so you know what to expect. if my priorities meet yours then you'll be satisfied.
MISCELLANEOUS:
the high polish on the hardware means moisture can really mess things up, so i use a neutral polish on them and keep a few bags of silica gel in my case. a tech gave me really cool advice of rubbing (gently) an old white candle on the hardware whch gives it a protective layer
