I know Ibanez does not get much love here, but you guys do not want to sleep on the RD505. I got one last week as a backup to my 55-02 and the more I play it, the more I'm impressed. The build quality is very solid, as are most mid priced ($450) basses out of Korea these days. The body is basswood with a maple veneer and sunburst finish. The bass in the picture is from the website, but mine is nearly identical. The tuners are solid, the bass stays in tune after being put in the gig bag and being transported. The bridge is pretty large and seems solid also. The scale is 34" and the B string is nice and tight with clear notes and good definition. Ibanez seems to be improving here because the first RD505 I ever played was weak in terms of its b string.
The electronics of this bass are sweet. The volume can be pulled up for a coil tap that allows this bass to have a configuration similar to a Jazz bass, much like the 55-02 (my main bass.) The preamp is two band, which is fine with me. I can get a fair amount of tone oout of this bass. For my taste, the treble is way to powerful, if turned all the way up, the sound is pretty glassy and brittle. The slap is also weak with max treble, however, turn the treble down to half, and this bass really comes to life. The sound is much more organic, with a bit of a vintage vibe. I was playing this bass through my Yorkville XM200 2x10 and really filled up the church sanctuary.
I also have to mention the pickups. They are Seymour Duncan designed, and they give this bass a powerful personality. The MM style humbucker sounds really bright and agressive when soloed, but it does not quite capture the Stingray sound (which is fine with me.) Usability of the bridge humbucker totally solo is an area where this bass shines in relation to several other SC/H basses that I have owned or played such as Bart equipped 55-02/55-94, USA Peavey Millennium V, or the SC/H Bongo. On those basses, the back humbucker sounds more like a fat Jazz bridge pup instead of a powerful humbucker, I suppose the difference with the Ibanez is partially the Duncan deisgn pup, and the pickup may be closer to the Stingray postion (I may have to measure.)
Either way, I really like the way the humbucker on the RD505 sounds great soloed.
The bottom line is that the RD505 is a great sounding bass, and since it is $200 cheaper than a Tribute or Skyline 55-01, it is in my opinion, the cheapest really good bass on the market that I know of. It is no wonder that Rufus Philpot gave his Ken Smith a rest and picked up a RD505, it's that good.
The electronics of this bass are sweet. The volume can be pulled up for a coil tap that allows this bass to have a configuration similar to a Jazz bass, much like the 55-02 (my main bass.) The preamp is two band, which is fine with me. I can get a fair amount of tone oout of this bass. For my taste, the treble is way to powerful, if turned all the way up, the sound is pretty glassy and brittle. The slap is also weak with max treble, however, turn the treble down to half, and this bass really comes to life. The sound is much more organic, with a bit of a vintage vibe. I was playing this bass through my Yorkville XM200 2x10 and really filled up the church sanctuary.
I also have to mention the pickups. They are Seymour Duncan designed, and they give this bass a powerful personality. The MM style humbucker sounds really bright and agressive when soloed, but it does not quite capture the Stingray sound (which is fine with me.) Usability of the bridge humbucker totally solo is an area where this bass shines in relation to several other SC/H basses that I have owned or played such as Bart equipped 55-02/55-94, USA Peavey Millennium V, or the SC/H Bongo. On those basses, the back humbucker sounds more like a fat Jazz bridge pup instead of a powerful humbucker, I suppose the difference with the Ibanez is partially the Duncan deisgn pup, and the pickup may be closer to the Stingray postion (I may have to measure.)
Either way, I really like the way the humbucker on the RD505 sounds great soloed.
The bottom line is that the RD505 is a great sounding bass, and since it is $200 cheaper than a Tribute or Skyline 55-01, it is in my opinion, the cheapest really good bass on the market that I know of. It is no wonder that Rufus Philpot gave his Ken Smith a rest and picked up a RD505, it's that good.
). Very nice bass indeed. Quite similar to my ATK's. I have to say, I know they are somewhat Lakland-inspired, but the ATK 400 series had the bridge humbucker/neck jazz/chunky bridge (albeit a LOT chunkier than even the RD bridge) thang going on years ago, so I don't think the RD's are just Lakland knockoffs - to some degree they're revivals of the ole' ATK, which can only be a good thing!
