NBM - Ibanez SRSC805

[BassiklyAC]

Took my recent acquisition on tour with me figuring what better way to get familiar with it, right? Not only was it fun putting it through its musical paces, but I got to enjoy the initial responses it elicited at our first soundcheck; visually, it's a rather stunning looking instrument.

First, some minor prep was done at home before hitting the road:

> A new set of DR strings were installed. (First time trying that brand. Turns out a good hoice for this bass).

> Set action & intonation. This bass feels like it likes to have you dig in a bit, so I raised the action to give me some flexibility to do so when I'm so inclined.

> Fresh battery for the onboard preamp. (Which, by the way, sounds terrific).

With that, off I went to points in the Midwest and Canada! Tunes were mostly in the pop realm with several ballads to get a sense of the tone/musicality/sustain of the bass. Definitely delivered in that department. Nice round warm tones were found with plenty of clarity and, when needed, some high-end snap via the very flexible EQ controls on more uptempo numbers.

Stage set up was very minimal:
> Fender FXA2 IEMs
> Eden WTDI preamp/DI
(No amp)

The bass itself is very light. With all the wood in play (it's a single cutaway body style) I had assumed it would be on the heavier side. Not so. That said, it may even contribute to the resonant tone it produces, allowing the body to resonate more freely and having a more prominent role in the sound production chain. Not all about pickups and electronics.

I'm very pleased with this newest addition to my bass arsenal and glad I purchased it.

Tomorrow, along with my upright and my Yamaha TRB6P, I will be using it on my gig with Groove Lexicon (a fusion band with horns) at Alva's Showroom. (Humble gig plug).
A clip from recent show with the Ibanez SRSC805:

 

[Nighttrain1127]

Was looking at those Basses but with the single cut they look like they would not balance That well. Not knocking the bass just a thought. So how does it balance? From the video it sounds great.

 

[laklandplayer]

Was looking at those Basses but with the single cut they look like they would not balance That well. Not knocking the bass just a thought. So how does it balance? From the video it sounds great.

I have 2 of these basses and they balance just fine, no problems standing or seated. They are among the best basses out of the 23 that I own. They have a boutique look and feel with out the boutique price. Ibanez is doing a great job across the board with all of their models. These SRSC 805's lend themselves to easy upgrades so you can experiment with pickups if you want. I'ver loaded mine with Nordstrand Big Splits in one and Lane Poor's in the other.

 

[Basehead]

Yeah, I'm loving my SRSC805DTF. Upgraded mine with US Bart MK5's and Pope preamp. It sounded GREAT completely stock but I wanted a bit more flexibility (single/dual coil modes and a tone control). Played my last three performances with it while my Fodera is getting some work done and this bass has delivered the tones. Highly recommended!

 

[BassiklyAC]

Hey folks. An update on the bass with recently shot video playing it through an amp, with a fusion band with horns.

Jacked up the action even a bit more since last post. The whole bass really plays a role in the tone with the strings vibrating so freely. Try and listen through some decent earbuds or speakers and you'll get a good sense of how the bass sounds. Very happy with this bass!

 

[Basehead]

Sounds great and some nice playing!

 

[laklandplayer]

Hey folks. An update on the bass with recently shot video playing it through an amp, with a fusion band with horns.

Jacked up the action even a bit more since last post. The whole bass really plays a role in the tone with the strings vibrating so freely. Try and listen through some decent earbuds or speakers and you'll get a good sense of how the bass sounds. Very happy with this bass!

Excellent!!!

 

[BassiklyAC]

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone! Much appreciated.

Adam

 

[Great Hobo]

I have 2 of these basses and they balance just fine, no problems standing or seated. They are among the best basses out of the 23 that I own. They have a boutique look and feel with out the boutique price. Ibanez is doing a great job across the board with all of their models. These SRSC 805's lend themselves to easy upgrades so you can experiment with pickups if you want. I'ver loaded mine with Nordstrand Big Splits in one and Lane Poor's in the other.

Hello,
I'm considering swapping my pickups too, I find the highs of the MK1s a bit too harsh for my taste in some situations.
Could you tell me more about the results you got with the Nordstrand and the Lane Poor pickups on the SRSC805?
Thank you

 

[laklandplayer]

Hello,
I'm considering swapping my pickups too, I find the highs of the MK1s a bit too harsh for my taste in some situations.
Could you tell me more about the results you got with the Nordstrand and the Lane Poor pickups on the SRSC805?
Thank you

The original Lane Poor pickups were discontinued many years ago, mine were made in 1998. They are known today as Legacy Pickups. They have a web site but they mainly make music man style pickups as far as I can tell. But, they have a big, open, organic high fidelity sound with wide frequency range and are very neutral. They reproduce the strings faithfully. They are low output and benefit well from using a preamp. The lane poors react well to eq.
The Nordstrand Big Splits are a hum canceling single coil design and sound like a cross between a p and a fat j pickup to me. They are excellent and the wide range of tone that you can get with just the balance knob is amazing. They don’t require much eq at all and they sound great in passive mode too. The high end is smooth, very musical and not harsh at all. Nordstrand staggers the magnets so it has a wider appeture and they position the magnets to follow the curvature of the fingerboard which makes string to sting balance perfect. The big splits are Fenderish but have a distinct sound of their own. I tried the USA bartolini MK’s and the Delano’s too. The big splits are the best by far. You won’t go wrong with the Nordstrand’s. You’ll need the P2 size. I hope this helps.

 

[Great Hobo]

Thanks a lot for the details laklandplayer, I appreciate very much.

The Bartos MK1s don't sound too bad on the SRSC805, they actually sound much worse on other basses, but I quite often find myself cutting highs on the EQ more than I'd like.

I'll start shopping around for Big Splits and buyba pair when I find a good price.

I was thinking about Aguilars too, but I'll wait to hear some informed feedback from someone who had them in a SRSC805 first, PUs can sound so different depending on the bass.

Cheers.

 

[PeaveyPlayer]

take a look at the AGUILAR DCB pickups!

 

[laklandplayer]

Thanks a lot for the details laklandplayer, I appreciate very much.

The Bartos MK1s don't sound too bad on the SRSC805, they actually sound much worse on other basses, but I quite often find myself cutting highs on the EQ more than I'd like.

I'll start shopping around for Big Splits and buyba pair when I find a good price.

I was thinking about Aguilars too, but I'll wait to hear some informed feedback from someone who had them in a SRSC805 first, PUs can sound so different depending on the bass.

Cheers.

The ibanez preamps sound fine with good pickups. You will be surprised.
I have seen no need to change mine out. I’d go for the new pickups first and decide on a preamp change after that.

 

[laklandplayer]

Thanks a lot for the details laklandplayer, I appreciate very much.

The Bartos MK1s don't sound too bad on the SRSC805, they actually sound much worse on other basses, but I quite often find myself cutting highs on the EQ more than I'd like.

I'll start shopping around for Big Splits and buyba pair when I find a good price.

I was thinking about Aguilars too, but I'll wait to hear some informed feedback from someone who had them in a SRSC805 first, PUs can sound so different depending on the bass.

Cheers.

The Aguilar pickups have straight ceramic bar magnets just like the bart MK1. The Nordstrands are alnico and radiused to match the curvature radius of your strings. I don’t see the dcb being that different in terms of sound of the mk1. Ceramic pickups tend to be harsh in the high end and aggressive. The straight magnets under a curved radius makes the b ang g louder than the e and d strings and leaving the a the weakest string of the 5. You can’t fix that or get good string balance with a flat magnet against a curved set of strings. The weak a on the mk1 was the original reason I switched pickups.

 

[liquidsunshine]

Hi everyone
I'm about to get this bass, witch I bought impulsively,arrival is supposed to be in around 15 days ... I can't wait

I had the opportunity to play it in a shop , needed to dig it before ... It's a pretty killer bass with almost everything I'm expecting from a new bass.

As I was looking for infos on this one, I was suprised by the lack of review on the net... And I appreciate what I can read here.

I'm wondering about keeping or not the stock pickups, I'll decide this after having playing it a few hours, but as I tried all the Ibanez with MK1 PU I could see, I'm pretty sure they will not stay.

The problem is that in that shape we do not have so many choice for replacement.
I read about Nordstrand, Bart, Delano, Aguilar and I know Crel does it (french pickups builder)
But WAW ! it's not cheap !

What disturbs me a bit with MK1 is a bit of lack of warm, of character, a bit too modern when when there is no need when you see the quality of lutherie...
Of course it's allways a big advantage on a bass to have a nice electro with many options ! but If there's not possibility to go back to a more close-to-wood output, I kind of wonder what this lutherie is made for ( except for esthetic of course). And I find the MK1+ preamp not thin enough to enjoy the real sound of that bass.

So what PU would you advice me for a warm and precise sound ?

thanck you

 

[laklandplayer]

Hi everyone
I'm about to get this bass, witch I bought impulsively,arrival is supposed to be in around 15 days ... I can't wait

I had the opportunity to play it in a shop , needed to dig it before ... It's a pretty killer bass with almost everything I'm expecting from a new bass.

As I was looking for infos on this one, I was suprised by the lack of review on the net... And I appreciate what I can read here.

I'm wondering about keeping or not the stock pickups, I'll decide this after having playing it a few hours, but as I tried all the Ibanez with MK1 PU I could see, I'm pretty sure they will not stay.

The problem is that in that shape we do not have so many choice for replacement.
I read about Nordstrand, Bart, Delano, Aguilar and I know Crel does it (french pickups builder)
But WAW ! it's not cheap !

What disturbs me a bit with MK1 is a bit of lack of warm, of character, a bit too modern when when there is no need when you see the quality of lutherie...
Of course it's allways a big advantage on a bass to have a nice electro with many options ! but If there's not possibility to go back to a more close-to-wood output, I kind of wonder what this lutherie is made for ( except for esthetic of course). And I find the MK1+ preamp not thin enough to enjoy the real sound of that bass.

So what PU would you advice me for a warm and precise sound ?

thanck you

You need to play it with the stock pickups for a while before you decide to change them.
My only real problem with the MK1's was the flat bar magnets under a curved string radius.
The string balance was off and the A string was weaker than the rest in terms of volume.
I went with the Nordstrand because the magnets in the pickup follow the radius of the fingerboard and the strings.
The string to string balance is perfect and the A string is not weak in volume.
String balance doesnt bother some players live but in the studio I can definately hear it when recording.

 

[liquidsunshine]

Well i received the beast finally... gorgious !
Well I see what you mean about the unbalanced strings's sound . To me it's not because of the curved radius, but isn't MK1 pickup a PB actually ? I'd bet the A string is below just beetween the 2 coils or something like that.

Anyway I have a huge B and G and a shy A. So maybe because of the radius but ... the bass's almost flat ! Strange. But upgrade's not for soon, now I'm broke.

 

[liquidsunshine]

I've read somewhere that the MK1 are "B" and "T ; as "Bass" and "Treble", and the T is on Neck position to grab some high and the B on Bridge to get some bass.
Did anybody tried to exchange them ?

 

[laklandplayer]

Well i received the beast finally... gorgious !
Well I see what you mean about the unbalanced strings's sound . To me it's not because of the curved radius, but isn't MK1 pickup a PB actually ? I'd bet the A string is below just beetween the 2 coils or something like that.

Anyway I have a huge B and G and a shy A. So maybe because of the radius but ... the bass's almost flat ! Strange. But upgrade's not for soon, now I'm broke.

Congrats on your new bass, you are going to love it.
No, there is no break in the magnet coils under the A string. I did all of the research, its just the radius issue. Ibanez used to make a curved pickup called CAP, I don't know why they don't use them anymore.
Save up your money and buy the Nordstrands P2 Big Splits, they will work great with the existing preamp.

 

[laklandplayer]

I've read somewhere that the MK1 are "B" and "T ; as "Bass" and "Treble", and the T is on Neck position to grab some high and the B on Bridge to get some bass.
Did anybody tried to exchange them ?

B bridge and N neck, not bass and treble.