I saw an Ibanez Jet King bass at GC today and I played it a little. I thought that it was an ok bass. I am curious what everyone else thought of the Jet King.
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Ibanez Jet King
- Thread starter blues_bassist
- Start date
It's kind of interesting, but you can tell it's a corporate approach to retro cool. Forced and awkward.
Part or all of the pickguards have to go or be restyled or replaced with something hipper.
The bridge is a Traben stepchild. It could stand to be restyled - chopped down a little. Same with the headstock. No big deal.
I would want to measure the pickups to see if their dimensions are close to any other PU's out there, in case there was a need for a swap out down the road.
(Just yank the PU's out an old Lakland Hollowbody you have laying around and see if those fit).
Final verdict: pay as little as possible and send it to the Teutul family for an OCC makeover.
Part or all of the pickguards have to go or be restyled or replaced with something hipper.
The bridge is a Traben stepchild. It could stand to be restyled - chopped down a little. Same with the headstock. No big deal.
I would want to measure the pickups to see if their dimensions are close to any other PU's out there, in case there was a need for a swap out down the road.
(Just yank the PU's out an old Lakland Hollowbody you have laying around and see if those fit).
Final verdict: pay as little as possible and send it to the Teutul family for an OCC makeover.
I played it and I didn't like the feel of it at all. It felt difficult to play and I didn't think it sounded very good, IMO. The neck was slow and it didn't sound unique enough for me.
This post made me curious - so I checked out some images...
*ick*
Well, to each his own - but I think Ibanez would do better to stick to what it does well with its sound gear basses. I've always liked the higher end models...
*ick*
Well, to each his own - but I think Ibanez would do better to stick to what it does well with its sound gear basses. I've always liked the higher end models...
I have one, i think the retro look and feel of the bass is cool. It is a spin off of the Gibson Thunderbird, the sound is also retro not made to sound like today's basses in mine.
I use it as a practise bass when doing some classic stuff.
I use it as a practise bass when doing some classic stuff.
It sounds and plays just like the Iceman with the same pups. I would rate it overall as a resounding 5 out of a possible 10 
Have to agree that high end Ibanez basses are okay but this bottom end stuff is disappointing. I like the retro designs but it aint worth what you lose in terms of feel , tone and re-sell when you decide to junk it.
No, it's not. A Traben bridge is the stepchild of an ATK bridge; and the Jet King bridge is a variation of the ATK bridge. Traben copied Ibanez here, not the other way around. I agree that the headstock stands out as looking rather large in real life; something I didn't notice in the pics of the bass, but definitely saw it when I looked over the actual bass.
