I am fond of medium-scale basses and at $299 this baby was difficult to resist, so I pulled trigger and I am very excited to give a brief first-impressions mini-review:
This one is in a cream-yellow Vintage White. I like matching headstock a lot, especially since it is outlined in black. The tuners, bridge, and knobs all seem to work fine. Not sure if the stock plastic nut will remain or if I will replace it with a bone nut. The 32"-scale, 22-fret maple fingerboard and rounded neck feel really good. I actually found the low area of the neck (around frets 1-3) to be a little too narrow; it felt kind of like a stalk of rhubarb to me.
The body is made of poplar and is very light and ergonomically shaped. This would be a great bass for long gigs. The most exciting thing about it, though, is the sound: thick, powerful, punchy and very flexible. The two-band active EQ works will along with the master volume and blend. One odd thing I noticed is that it appears that the bass pot and master volume pot have a nut beneath them while the treble pot and blend pot apparently do not, resulting in the two groups of knobs resting at different heights. Maybe there's an explanation for that, but I can't think of one.
Anyway, I was immediately struck by how good this bass sounds. I am not normally an Ibanez fan, having formed the impression (fairly or not) that Ibanez basses often feel like noodle-necked toys. Such is not the case here. The narrowness of the neck will take a bit of getting used to, but I found this bass very comfortable to play. Beginners and kids will appreciate the fact that the fingers do not need to stretch as they would on, say, a 34"-scale Fender. I don't play a whole lot of chords, but when I do, it's nice that it is so easy to do on an instrument of this design.
As far as I could tell, the J pickup cover over the bridge pickup is removable but the P pickup cover over the neck pickup may not be.
One drawback: No string ferrules means you are most likely stuck buying medium-scale strings for this bass instead of long-scale ones, which limits your choices.
All in all, I am excited to add this low-cost, high-value instrument to my arsenal!
This one is in a cream-yellow Vintage White. I like matching headstock a lot, especially since it is outlined in black. The tuners, bridge, and knobs all seem to work fine. Not sure if the stock plastic nut will remain or if I will replace it with a bone nut. The 32"-scale, 22-fret maple fingerboard and rounded neck feel really good. I actually found the low area of the neck (around frets 1-3) to be a little too narrow; it felt kind of like a stalk of rhubarb to me.
The body is made of poplar and is very light and ergonomically shaped. This would be a great bass for long gigs. The most exciting thing about it, though, is the sound: thick, powerful, punchy and very flexible. The two-band active EQ works will along with the master volume and blend. One odd thing I noticed is that it appears that the bass pot and master volume pot have a nut beneath them while the treble pot and blend pot apparently do not, resulting in the two groups of knobs resting at different heights. Maybe there's an explanation for that, but I can't think of one.
Anyway, I was immediately struck by how good this bass sounds. I am not normally an Ibanez fan, having formed the impression (fairly or not) that Ibanez basses often feel like noodle-necked toys. Such is not the case here. The narrowness of the neck will take a bit of getting used to, but I found this bass very comfortable to play. Beginners and kids will appreciate the fact that the fingers do not need to stretch as they would on, say, a 34"-scale Fender. I don't play a whole lot of chords, but when I do, it's nice that it is so easy to do on an instrument of this design.
As far as I could tell, the J pickup cover over the bridge pickup is removable but the P pickup cover over the neck pickup may not be.
One drawback: No string ferrules means you are most likely stuck buying medium-scale strings for this bass instead of long-scale ones, which limits your choices.
All in all, I am excited to add this low-cost, high-value instrument to my arsenal!
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