I put Chromes on mine. Really turned it into something good. I foolishly sold it during a short scale frenzy.
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Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
The cheaper Ibanez models have cheaper preamps and cheaper pickups. The higher end Ibanez basses have Nordstrand pickups and better preamps.
So either buy a higher end Ibby or replace the preamp and pickups in your cheaper one.
For the low and mid-priced SRs--300 thru 700/800-ish, you can always install real USA Bartolini pickups instead of the licensed Bart copies or Ibanez pickups they come with.
Around $200.
The right strings are a much cheaper way to make these basses sing, though.
On the amp side, the tube channel on my preamp has a "Punch" button that delivers some unspecified high bass/low mid spank that really puts some P-bass grunt into an SR500's tone.
Around $200.
The right strings are a much cheaper way to make these basses sing, though.
On the amp side, the tube channel on my preamp has a "Punch" button that delivers some unspecified high bass/low mid spank that really puts some P-bass grunt into an SR500's tone.
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Dropped a pair of Bill Laurence pup's in my sound gear and it sounds fantastic.
The two biggest factors for mine was strings and pickups.
The two biggest factors for mine was strings and pickups.
Switch to passive mode
. Ok, I'm half-joking. I own a 1205E... which I virtually never use in passive mode. I put Fat Beams on it, and I love the sound with the Nordstrands -- it's quite versatile. I play in an old-school funk band, so I think I know about the sound you're looking for, and I can definitely get it with this bass. Also, don't underestimate the impact technique has on your sound. I find that the Nordstrands really growl when I dig in.
I mean, after these mods, I had ordered a U.S. Fender P and compared the sound & the comfort. I sold the Fender and haven't looked back.
Buzz E, I agree with what you said about playing through a GK. I would imagine an Ampeg would really be the finishing touch.
It's a silly comparison, but I had to play my back-up bass Friday night - an old Ibanez SDGR 300. (My main is a Warwick Corvette ProLine.) I felt like I was playing a piece of furniture for two hours. As the OP mentioned, the action is low and the neck is fast, and that's nice, but the bass has no real depth to it at all. It excels at that very trebly/zingy tone that lends itself to be laden with distortion, but that's not the tone I use in my current band. But yeah I realize it's not fair to compare a German Warwick to an old MIK Ibby. And to be fair, the Ibanez is strung with D'Addarios whereas my Warwick has DRs, and another thing I realized Friday was I really don't like D'Addario bass strings. (Ironically, the opposite is true with guitar - love the D'Addario strings, hate DRs.)
Meh. There's a ton of better stuff out there to be had in the used market.
Is there anywhere on here, or the internet where I can get some instructions on how to remove the active set up on an SR500?
Strait into an Ampeg , i could buy any bass i want and i have my ibby, why, any sound i want out of it. Metal to motown, took the time to learn my amp eq and gain and using volume and tone knobs on the bass.it was $299 back in 2010, i have owned expensive basses and amps and it was all GAS fueled, now i play way more, i do get the hobby aspect of collecting gear but after years of having way too much, i felt it was all more of a distraction. Everybody who plays my ibby wants to buy it. Def tho, set the action and pick up height to "your" style, makes a huge dif when its right on.
Hmmmm. Well you're not hearing a lot of difference between Barts and Nordstrands (and to my ear there's a pretty big difference) so that tells me that what you're looking for is far away from either. American made Barts are an upgrade but not enough to get you totally out of that ballpark. I really like the stock Ibanez pickups - they are a hidden gem, but again probably not a big enough difference to get you where you want to be. The suggestions to go with flats seem logical, although you also mentioned wanting a burpy bridge sound which is not what flats are about.
Sounds to me like you're looking for a Music Man or Fender Jazz kind of sound with the ease of play and ergonomics that an Ibanez brings. I'm a huge Ibby fan but it sounds to me like what you want is not what they do best. A Jazz will have a nice neck and get you the sound you want and there are a hundred options and price ranges to choose from.
Sounds to me like you're looking for a Music Man or Fender Jazz kind of sound with the ease of play and ergonomics that an Ibanez brings. I'm a huge Ibby fan but it sounds to me like what you want is not what they do best. A Jazz will have a nice neck and get you the sound you want and there are a hundred options and price ranges to choose from.
I have an sr600. I love the bass but hated the tone until I changed cabs. When I bought the bass it sounded great in the shop through a markbass combo with a good range of tones. When I played it through my rig I was dissappointed. I recently changed my cab from a marshall 115 to a fender rumble 115 and it sounds great with a lot of tone options. It can sound warm and fat or bright and harsh depending on how I play and that's before I start playing with the eq.
I always found the Ibby preamps treble to be very touchy ... and quite ' Zingy ' when turned up ... I would think using your own rig you could gently tweek it to your satisfaction ... and the strings might still be fairly new = Zingy .. ?! I would also think the models with the Nordys would sound much better than ones with the MK1 pups .. !? I will going to check out some of their newer P/J 5vers soon ... and up into the Premium models ... all with Nordys .! which I think are the 'big singles' ... I've installed Nordys Big Splits and Dual Coils on a couple basses and liked them a lot .. !! but they where passive basses ...
Always have my treble completely backed off, when i learned that have able to get a great many sounds i can use, for some reason my Ibby and my Ampeg work together great, i have had fenders and fender amps and almost every other thing but for some reason i hit my sweet spot after all these years with the simplest bass and amp i ever used together
That's another good point - it's the combination that matters. Some basses just sound better with some amps/cabinets. And we always look to the amp, but the cabinet is a huge part of the equation as well.
Rolling the treble off can work in some situations - especially low volume ones, or ones where you use the bridge pickup. Treble helps with note definition in a mix and the louder a band gets, the more treble disappears into the mix anyway. So sometimes you have to have it up for clarity. But when that isn't the case, backing it off can help the sound seem fatter imo.
Rolling the treble off can work in some situations - especially low volume ones, or ones where you use the bridge pickup. Treble helps with note definition in a mix and the louder a band gets, the more treble disappears into the mix anyway. So sometimes you have to have it up for clarity. But when that isn't the case, backing it off can help the sound seem fatter imo.
s0c9
Supporting Member
I have to disagree.. owned a number of them with the 2 most recent being the BTB1405E and the SR755.
There's a HUGE difference between the onboard preamps and the Barts and Norstrands.
The Barts are much mellower, but still smooth, whereas the Nordstrands are much more of everything.. very crisp, very deep.
I guess it also depends on what you are playing them thru !
