NBD: Ibanez SR1200L VNF 4 string bass

Greetings, TB'ers. I recently received my Ibanez SR1200L VNF from London. Cost a pretty penny to get here and took 6 weeks! When the package arrived it was very well packed and covered in duct tape every inch of the box! Upon taking out of the nice rectangular semi-solid case, it exuded quality beyond my SR300L and SR500L. The body is multi-layered and the neck five piece. Norstrand Big Single pickups and an Ibanez Special active system. This model is called "The Premium" for good reason. All the components look and feel premium.

I had to tweak the bass a bit as I string my basses upside down. I cranked the bridge as far as I could and now intonation is fine. The strings get right down to the neck and the bass plays easily. The neck is denser and more sturdy than the SR lower end models and the headstock thicker. I had to turn the 4mm truss rod a quarter turn and it turned very easily. The tuners move like butter. All gold hardware will look very nice on stage. The controls are high quality and you can feel it when you turn them.

Plugging into my GK MB108, I found a very nice, upfront growly tone characteristic of Nordstrand. What I like about the Nordy's is that I can emulate most sounds -- J, P, or even Ric, using the mid switch and tone controls. I enjoyed the bass so much when I started to play at 10:00 last night I was only going to play an hour. Wife sat up and listened and finally told me to turn it off at 1:00am!

All in all a beautiful bass, it will definitely be an eye catcher on stage. By the way this lefty bass is very hard to find nowadays. People who own them are holding onto them for good reason. If you like the Premium series this is the ticket. Highly recommended for almost all styles.

 

I'm still loving my bass!

 

Anybody else out there own the Premium SR1200 VNF?

 

Thanks for the response! Were you happy with the pickups and electronics as they were? I found the only thing I had to change was the string nut because I string a lefty right-handed.

 

Gorgeous bass. I see you have the same oversized Ibanez case I have. Seriously I could pack it like a luggage for a weekend trip it's so big!