Ibanez Ergodyne bass

[MrBassManG]

Seen one of these cheap (300€) second hand and not much info on the net about it except it's not made of wood. Anyone got any experience or know anything more about these basses? Does it matter it's not wood? It sounded ok in the ten minute sesh I had in the shop,but then I'm not the best so maybe they'll all sound good at my level.

Help!!

 

[Rage1331]

Those basses are made out of a light-weight synthetic material called luthite. It seems people have a love-hate relationship with instruments made of this material. I would look into the basses a little more and see if it's what you really want.

 

[CORBS]

They have a feel and tone all their own. The edb models have a more traditional shape and two magnetic pickups as opposed to the EDA which has one mag and one piezo and is weird looking.

The orangey ones are rarer then silver or black.

 

[number11]

They sound and play great.

Ligthweight, they are not

Some are made of wood, by the way

 

[Hapa]

The luthite body basses don't take damage well... If it falls the entire body can cleave in half. I saw it happen at a music store I worked in once, then the upper horn in a different situation. Tonally i heard an Ergodyne modded with EMG's and aftermarket Pre and was an impressive sounding bass.

 

[khutch]

The luthite body basses don't take damage well...

If you do a search on Ergodyne here you will uncover quite a few reports of this. There is (was?) a lovely fretless model in a shop near me and I was tempted. I don't care that it is not real wood nor anything like a "tone wood". I'd play it and make my own judgement as to its tone. But I never got that far because I read the damage reports first and they ring too true of a body material that resembles particle board. They are wonderful looking basses for sure, I just wish Ibanez had made them out of something that could be counted on to endure.

Ken

 

[CORBS]

They are also, aside from the neck, completely not repairable. Any damage to the body is permanent. I had one for 3 years and it served me well, though. I wasn't babying it and it never got any body damage through many shows with no instrument stand.

 

[Bobster]

I have heard, (no firsthand experience) that the luthite doesn't hold screws will and it's not uncommon for screwholes to round out.

It's apparently difficult to get a good fix for this.

Best of luck!

Bob

 

[solderjunkie]

My Mom plays an Ergodyne with active 'buckers. I dig it. It has a nice feel and a cool "modern" tone.

 

[BBox Bass]

They sound and play great.

Ligthweight, they are not

Some are made of wood, by the way

My EDA905 weighs 8 pounds and is made of Luthite. It's one of the lightest basses I own.

 

[derg]

I have a couple and the EDB 600 weighs a ton!

 

[darkstorm]

Heard about screw problems with those and of course the doesnt take knocks and bangs well. Id pass.

 

[number11]

My EDA905 weighs 8 pounds and is made of Luthite. It's one of the lightest basses I own.

I had a 10 lb EDB500 and a not-much lighter 600!


Absolutely DON'T pass! I've seen broken wooden basses, and my 500 took some knocks and never broke in half or even dented badly.

Any screws in the ones I had, had brass inserts in the body to take them.


"I have heard" is not good enough to go on IMO. If its cheap, go for it - the sound of those humbuckers is fantastic.

Goo for it!

How cheap can you get it, BTW?

 

[MrBassManG]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.

Hmm, sounds like it could be a bargain as long as I don't drop it.

number11 - It's going for 300€ second hand (about 380US). Is that cheap?

 

[Wallace320]

Man,
the latest (up to 2010 models) EDB series were wooden ones with very good single coiled soapbar pickups, with a more conventional look to them and a slap tone of their own. They are more recent and made out of wood, so they could deserve
a price like the one you mentioned.

Former EDA/EDC models are synthetic and, mid '90s fashion apart (Paige Hamilton from Orgy... d'you remember their New Order's "Blue Monday" cover on Korn's Family Values '98 tour?) €. 300,00 are way too much for nothing more than "factory tech archeology".

Contemporary Roadgears or ATKs are better soundin' Ibanez...

Cheers,
Wallace

 

[PatQ]

I owned ab Ibanez EDC 705 for a long time. It's heavy and sounds pretty dead.

 

[number11]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.

Hmm, sounds like it could be a bargain as long as I don't drop it.

number11 - It's going for 300€ second hand (about 380US). Is that cheap?

I'd push to get it for 150 - 200

As fopr the wooden ones they're much smaller and don't have the contoured body of the Luthite ones. I had an EDB550


I found it lacked in tone compared to the 500 I had.

 

[Texdem9900]

The neck on these basses is so slim it was good for me being my second bass when I was young. It has a versatile amount of tone controls on the bass. (2 pickup controls and a full eq on the bass) Pretty decent for a cheap bass. I don't think the quality of electronics makes the weird body material matter but I do remember it being heavy....

 

[Dagumol]

A beginner level bass at best.

 

[SPYD3R #9]

hi!

i just bought used EDA905 yesterday, and found out that the piezo on G-string was dead..

i've sent an email about part inquiry but it only for united states

Anyone here had an experience about the dead piezo? what should I do?