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NBD: Ibanez SR Mezzo 32" scale - review

#141
I played one of these (4 string) in a store on the weekend. Wow! One of the nicest feeling instruments I've played...sorely tempted. I've felt for a long time that Soundgears are too cramped for me, but for some reason this one worked. Tasty. I've never touched a 32" bass before but I'll be on the lookout in future for sure.
 
#143
do all the Mezzo basses come with maple fretboards or wonder if they will someday offer ones with rosewood or pau ferro fretboards? Not really into maple, and prefer rosewood as they seem to have a warmer sound to them. The Mezzo was pretty high on my list of basses to consider as I was looking for a more comfortable bass to play on-that got put on the backburner with this whole Covid thing. I did get a Fender Urge mid-scale recently which is terrific, but think I may still want to add another mid-scale at some point soon.
 
#145
Already have an Ibanez Mikro and a Squier CV60's Mustang, both short scalers that I
like a lot... But I was surprised when I tried an Ibanez Mezzo at GC today and discovered that unlike those other two it had absolutely no neck dive at all when it was seated in my lap! -Just about perfect balance! Hmmmmm.... And it looks like a set of Ultralight tuners would drop right in...
-Temptation!! :confused:
 
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#146
Seriously thinking about buying a Mezzo - but I play flatwounds on my other basses, and love the Fender flats. Does anyone on this thread play Fender flats on a Mezzo? I'm curious if the long scale sets will work on this bass. THANKS in advance!
 
#147
CassiusS said:
Seriously thinking about buying a Mezzo - but I play flatwounds on my other basses, and love the Fender flats. Does anyone on this thread play Fender flats on a Mezzo? I'm curious if the long scale sets will work on this bass. THANKS in advance!
Click to expand...

I dont think so. There's winding lengths earlier in this tread. That should help you figure it out. I'm interested in the winding length of the 5'er for a very similar reason. I dont want to be married to rounds because nothing else is available.
 
#148
I picked up a used Roadster Orange Mezzo a couple of weeks ago for cheap, to leave at the shop for downtime fun.
My initial impressions were not good, but after giving it a chance and playing it for a couple of weeks, it is now pretty much in line with the rest here. I will keep it, and do a few minor tweaks. Had this been in a store I would not have bought it because of the initial feel.

When I first picked it up if felt like a toy, it weighs just under 7lbs, the skinny 38mm neck felt raw and unfinished, it took same tinkering to get tone from it pleasing to my ear, I thought it was broken at first, all I could get was mud or shrill.

After playing it for a while, my arthritic old hands have grown rather fond of the wispy thin neck, and I found a few useable tones, though it is still a bit bright. My TMB 30 has the same pickups in a passive configuration and I like them well enough, so I am going to just remove the preamp and run them passive.
The round wounds will have to go as well, ordered some D'Adarrio tapes. The nut was cut too low and the open D and G were buzzing on the first fret, I stuck two strips of copy under the nut to raise it, until I can cut a brass nut for it. Not too fond of the color, but at least it's it's not horrible.

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#149
CassiusS said:
Seriously thinking about buying a Mezzo - but I play flatwounds on my other basses, and love the Fender flats. Does anyone on this thread play Fender flats on a Mezzo? I'm curious if the long scale sets will work on this bass. THANKS in advance!
Click to expand...
I did buy one - and I love it! I had it set up at a local shop, and the luthier did a terrific job. I'm playing D'Addario ETB92M black tapewounds on it. I also installed a hipshot detuner. I had been concerned that on a medium scale bass the drop-D might be a little floppy, but I have not found that to be true (at least for my playing style, YMMV). Amazing what $300 will buy in this bass.
 
#152
Awesome, thanks, good to hear.

The conversion is pretty easy, while I haven't taken out a preamp I have wired several passive basses. Should just be able to find a wiring diagram for a PJ configuration and wire it up after you remove the preamp. You may need to by a tone pot (cheap) to replace the treble/bass knobs as they are now. I'm sure someone will chime in with how to do it exactly. You have spare holes too so you could change it to V V T for the P & J pickups. Anyway, good luck with it!
 
#153
BassTheory said:
Ahhhh Zombies!

Just wondering if anyone is still using their Mezzo and how it has held up? Tone and neck stability specifically? Oh and in the mix.

I'm keen to get the new white one with Jatoba fretboard and make it passive.
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mine was absolutely perfect out of the box, one of the nicest stock instruments i owned. but after a few months the frets sprouted considerably and the neck needed much adjusting. i live in the dry midwest so it's not unheard of to need some adjustments once it settles in..but this one needed much more than any other instrument i've owned. i personally attribute it to the pencil thin neck. the neck on this thing is super tiny as is the whole instrument. it felt more like a 30" than a 32" like my jaguar h . i ended up selling it in the end as it just felt too dinky for me. i had no complaints about the tone, thought it sounded great for the price.
 
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