ibanez sr500 with and without mid frequency switch

My Sr500 has the switch.

I almost never use it......

When it's on it just punches up the mid range more.....giving a sharper more pointy tone.

Most of the tones I like I get by adjusting the EQ's on the bass or the amp.......

My preference is for the lush stand-up "old school" type sound......and I don't like the "modern' bass sound......but others of course will want it.

Guess it depends on what you like as to whether it would be necessary for you.

 

Well.......when you toggle the switch to activate it, you will immediately notice the difference in sound.....

And that sound can be further EQ'd by onboard settings and amp.

But the question is if it's a tone that you might find is necessary for you or not......

Maybe go on YouTube and see if there's a demo that includes somebody using the switch.....

 

Strings are a tough one to call........

Personally I'm using D'addario Chrome XL flats on mine...45/100.......ECB81 Regular Gauge Light.

I'm not a slapper......I finger pick and also use a pick. When using the pick I often roll down the treble to take the pick sound out of it.

I play reggae now and again.

Also blues, some rock, jazz,.........I don't do Punk or Metal.

However what is a good sound in the basement might not be great for onstage etc. when you need to cut through the mix more.

You may find you need that switch in a live setting....... or not....it's really hard to say.

I find that finger picking flats is easier than roundwounds...due to the design of the flat (much smoother). Flats have a "warm" tone.

But it's not just the strings....depends what amp you're playing through and how the amp is dialed in......

And of course the EQ settings on the SR500.

Surely there must be an SR500 around somewhere near where you live that you can listen to that has the switch?

 

I think they added the mid frequency toggle in the 2011 model year.

 

I have one on my 500F, but I always forget which setting is which--so I just switch it & listen.
Which I use depends on my setting and what I feel like.

 

all the mid switch does is switch between 600 and 250hz for the frequency center of the midrange eq knob their rely is no off or on, so if you set the mid control flat you wont hear any difference when you flip the switch but if you use a lot of mid cut or boost then the effects of the switch are more noticeable. personaly I don't think that preamp sounds very good with a lot of cut or boost anyway so that switch is not that big of a deal to me.
if its a good deal you don't want to pass up for the bass but you rely want the mid switch you can allways switch out the preamp for an aguliar obp-3 with a push/pull knob for the mid switch then you have your mid switch and a much better sounding preamp to, I put an aggie pre and some emg hz humbuckers in my sr500 and it sounds %100 better

 

Ibanez added the mid frequency switch in 2009 or 2010? I had a 2010 with the mid switch on it when they first came out.

 

Late on this one, but I would take the Korean version with the wenge/purple heart neck over the later versions with the switch from Indonesia with jatoba neck.

The switch would be nice to have, but the quality difference is noticeable. And I am a Warwick guy, partial to wenge. My sr500 is kind of a backup for my FNA, but of late the fna has been in storage and the sr500 is in use now. With .115 strings it is a killer drop c bass too

 

+1 ubernator. I have a MIK SR 505. It is heavyish but i much prefer it over the later Indonesian models. It can thump and then sound like a grand piano, sometimes all at the same time.