New bass day! (Ibanez BTB 675 p0rn inside)

Picked up my new baby from the store the other day, so I thought I'd post a flash.

Specs: Ibanez BTB 675 NTF, made in Indonesia 2008, 5-string, 35" scale lenght, light ash body w. walnut top, natural finish, 5pc maple/bubinga neck-thru-body, nut width 47mm, rosewood fretboard (24/23 frets), 15.7" fretboard radius, Bartolini MK2 pickups, Ibanez MR2 Monorail bridge (19mm string spacing), Bartolini active 3-band EQ, cosmo black hardware.

I've seen the looks on these vary a lot from bass to bass, so I was pleased to find that the bass I had ordered has very nice figuring. Both the walnut top, light ash body and rosewood fretboard have beautiful figuring with both dark and light areas. I'll post a review later, when I've had some more time with this bass, but my first impressions are definately positive.

Tuners and volume pots all work very smoothly. The bass was setup and intonated very well from the factory.

The bass came with a small note attached, where you could see, which person had been responsible for what parts of quality control (intonation, setup, electronics), very reassuring.

The neck feels substantial and has a great feel due to the natural finish. Upper fret access is extremely easy, due to the deep cutaway and neck-thru. The bass has a warm tone when the EQ is set to neutral. Sustain is great, without being excessive; notes ring on for a long time, if you want them to. The active electronics are noiseless and make a noticeable difference to the sound. Other reviewers liken the B-string sound to that of the deep notes of a piano, and I couldn't have said it better. The B-string feels pretty tight to me, there isn't a noticeably difference in playability between the different strings.

 

Thanks! I'm a happy lad!

Zach: Actually, there are two 9V batteries, they power the active electronics. That way, the tone controls can actually boost the treble/mids/lows, whereas on a non-active bass, the tone controls can just reduce the amount of treble/mids/lows. The advantage being that you can also shape the tone on the bass, instead of on the amp or soundboard. Also, it gives a strong signal with less noise. This is my first active bass, btw.

Edit: hehe, Progrmr you just beat me to it by a minute! I gotta learn to type faster

 

Lousy: yeah, that label is kinda funny. I'm gonna try and remove it. Too bad it doesn't have the easy access battery compartment, like the SRs. Don't know why Ibanez doesn't use that on all their active basses.