NBD: Ibanez Portamento SRF705

[SteveCS]

I found the stock piezo on the Portamento to be pretty good - quite well balanced and responsive. And more importantly it seemed tonally 'compatible' with the mags. The Portamento very much hangs together as a well integrated system, IMO, compared to some which are more like collections of parts.
Certainly superior to the Spectorcore. I found the piezo to be very clackity-clack, harsh, brittle and poorly isolated from unwanted noise and difficult to blend with the mag pickup.

Back in the day I fitted a Shadow MaxiBass aftermarket system. That was very natural and mellow sounding, maybe due to the plastic saddle inserts. That also seemed to play nicely with the mag pickups.

As for the Chromes, I would give them more than a few weeks to settle before binning them off for pressures. YMMV.

 

[Borgben]

Ok, I'm a pretty novice bass player and I got this bass a few days ago. It's my first fretless and I love it. Only problem is its buzzing at and above the 5th fret. The action is extremely low imo and the neck is pretty straight. Should I try adjust the truss rod?

 

[Inara]

Thanks @SteveCS ... I binned them for D'Addario tapewounds already, which I'm loving. I'm keeping the Chromes though, and will try them again at some point, I'm sure. I've used them a decent amount on other basses.

 

[GlueKill]

Should I try adjust the truss rod?

Only do that as a last resort if you have to raise the action uncomfortably high to get it to stop. Also, mine needed a the fingerboard to be smoothed out a bit to remove imperfections so you might want to check for that too.

 

[StatesideRambler]

Ok, I'm a pretty novice bass player and I got this bass a few days ago. It's my first fretless and I love it. Only problem is its buzzing at and above the 5th fret. The action is extremely low imo and the neck is pretty straight. Should I try adjust the truss rod?

Your bass most likely needs to be set up. As a novice you'd be best served by taking it to a reputable shop. Down the road you'll probably want to learn to do it yourself. It's great to know how. Here's a link to a how-to PDF: http://www.jerzydrozdbasses.com/akcndfr54jdhrei567/Ultimate_Guide_ver100.pdf

Only do that as a last resort if you have to raise the action uncomfortably high to get it to stop. Also, mine needed a the fingerboard to be smoothed out a bit to remove imperfections so you might want to check for that too.

Adjusting a truss rod is by no means a "last resort" but it's got to be done with understanding. As to other imperfections, a decent tech will check everything in the course of a setup. It pays to ask him outright to do that when an instrument is new to you.

 

[ErnieD]

I finally settled in to my Portamento 5er more now. Main issue was learning how to best use the on board pre w/Piezo and mag pups to get a usable tone, for me.

Only real issue I had was the much louder B string on mine. I used the B string Piezo adjust on back of the bass and I now have an even sound on all 5 strings. Still using and liking the DR Black Beauties on this bass but want to try some Tapes soon. The neck has played well from low to high since day one.

Still getting to learn this bass but liking it more each time I pick it up.

 

[Inara]

Sorry I've been away from my own thread for a while! I'm still loving the bass, and am getting more and more experience with it. I've gigged it a few times and recorded an EP with it. I'll post some clips once I have them.

Last night I used it on an amazing gig opening for Hail Sagan, an awesome dark rock / metal band from LA who came through town on tour. As I've found over and over, this bass works great in a rock mix, even though it's not what it was designed to do.

I still have the D'Addario tapewounds on it, though I keep threatening to try the Pressurewounds I bought a while back. I might do that this weekend. I have gigs on the 25th, 28th, and 30th, so I'd have time to decide whether to keep the Pressurewounds or put the tapes back on.

I do love the replacement preamp ... Having that mid control on board with switchable frequency is very nice.

 

[Aidil]

Sorry I've been away from my own thread for a while! I'm still loving the bass, and am getting more and more experience with it. I've gigged it a few times and recorded an EP with it. I'll post some clips once I have them.

Last night I used it on an amazing gig opening for Hail Sagan, an awesome dark rock / metal band from LA who came through town on tour. As I've found over and over, this bass works great in a rock mix, even though it's not what it was designed to do.

I still have the D'Addario tapewounds on it, though I keep threatening to try the Pressurewounds I bought a while back. I might do that this weekend. I have gigs on the 25th, 28th, and 30th, so I'd have time to decide whether to keep the Pressurewounds or put the tapes back on.

I do love the replacement preamp ... Having that mid control on board with switchable frequency is very nice.

the tensions are quite far different between D'Addario Tapewounds and the Pressurewounds, especially if you have bought the M7200-5.

My SRF705 is also strung with D'Addario Tapewounds and I do have other bass which previously strung with M7200-5 but then I swapped the EADG with L7200 since I prefer lighter tension (which I also get with the Tapewounds).

 

[Inara]

the tensions are quite far different between D'Addario Tapewounds and the Pressurewounds, especially if you have bought the M7200-5.

My SRF705 is also strung with D'Addario Tapewounds and I do have other bass which previously strung with M7200-5 but then I swapped the EADG with L7200 since I prefer lighter tension (which I also get with the Tapewounds).

Thanks! They are the 7200-5, I think. Do you know how the tension compares to the stock D'Addario Chromes that come on the bass from the factory? I was comfortable with those. However my favorite of all strings are Thomastik flats, which are very low tension. But I do seem to be fine with higher tension strings than this, in general.

 

[Aidil]

Thanks! They are the 7200-5, I think. Do you know how the tension compares to the stock D'Addario Chromes that come on the bass from the factory? I was comfortable with those. However my favorite of all strings are Thomastik flats, which are very low tension. But I do seem to be fine with higher tension strings than this, in general.

well, the Chromes ECB81 45-100 are known to have high-tension (and stiff) as well as its 5 string set ECB81-5 that came stock with SRF705. I actually used them before on a 6er (with additional Chrome .032 single) and It was the setup that made me fall in love with flatwounds, mainly cause the high-tension and almost no fret rattle sound enabled very low string action.

In case of SRF705, regret to say that I have no memory of playing it with the stock Chromes, cause I restrung it with ETB92-5 almost immediately after owning the bass.

And I just looked at the string tension tables provided by both string manufacturers in PDF files (not the numbers found on D'Addario website), the ECB81-5 had total tension of 215.7 in/lb while the PW M7200-5 had 221.1 in/lb. So, you'll get higher tension on your SRF705 with the PW (but if you use the figure on D'Addario website, the Chrome has higher tension).

 

[Jon Jensen]

Yeah, I love mine... Plays great, but, it just sounds too distorted when the Bartolinis are anywhere past the jumping point. I've been meaning to contact Ibanez about the issue, but it seems like a common thing (?)

Would I be wasting my time contacting Ibanez?

 

[Aidil]

Yeah, I love mine... Plays great, but, it just sounds too distorted when the Bartolinis are anywhere past the jumping point. I've been meaning to contact Ibanez about the issue, but it seems like a common thing (?)

Would I be wasting my time contacting Ibanez?

Have you checked the following thread Jon:
Ibanez Portamento Club ?

 

[Jon Jensen]

Have you checked the following thread Jon:
Ibanez Portamento Club ?

Thanks Aidil Good info on there... I'll take her apart and see what I find. Thanks, again.