Initial review of the Ibanez BTB805MS - (I wish I could update the thread title...)
I am liking this bass a whole lot. It's very versatile. It's easy to dial it in to where I couldn't tell the difference between this and a Jazz Bass, but it has a whole range of other tones available with the dual humbuckers.
It produces a distorted tone that's very pleasing and responds very well to picking. It's got enough brightness for me to use a muff style pedal without losing all the clarity which is something I appreciate for those Muse type sounds. It can do the whole range of heavy tones but cleans up nicely too. I think the looks put your mind in one mode but you could play any sort of repertoire with this.
I like the controls as well, I will always take a blend control over a pickup selector switch, and a mid frequency switch over a sweep knob. The latter is just overkill when you know you want one of two basic mid curves and this give you three. Being able to switch back and forth easily is nice. This lets me play with the amp flat and normally I don't need to make any adjustments. If I need something else I can do it on the amp.
I wanted a multiscale bass because I was tired of floppy and dead-sounding B strings on 34" scale basses, which affected my 5 string Jazz Bass even in standard tuning. I was also weary of the approximate intonation I was living with on the lowest string when playing with our keys player, I was hearing weird overtones on notes the B string's lower range that were dissonant and distracting... at least to me. Nobody else seemed to notice
It did not take me any time to adapt to the fanned frets. Occasionally when dropping from higher frets down to the first three frets I'll make an error or get a clank, but I think this is temporary. I had more trouble adapting to a 5 string the first time I played one than I have to the fanned frets.
As far as the things I think could be improved or aren't the best, there isn't a whole lot but-
When the bass is in passive mode, the passive tone knob drops off pretty steeply at the end. In a way this is good because 80% of the range is usable, but I don't like the "tone turned all the way off" sound on a bass. Maybe others wouldn't care or would like this.
As far as the stainless frets go, I think there's a tonal difference you'll notice but it disappears in the mix, or maybe you just stop noticing it after playing a few lines.
The bass feels quite long in the neck. This isn't an issue for me, but for short players with short arms it might be a reach to the first fret. And of course due to the size and the fact that it's a 5, it's got some heft - but I will say that it balances perfectly on a strap, it stays where I put it and I'm not moving it around all the time like I am with some basses.
For the money, I think this is the most value I've found in a bass that I've ever purchased. The only thing it doesn't have is that totally pure P thing, and it can do a perfectly good grunt midrange sound that's close but it's a little different in character. But again, how many of us want the P sound and don't already have a P?
There are a few places where you can see a tooling mark on the neck, the binding has a small nick around the nut area, but otherwise the initial quality is great.
Calling the case it came in a "hard case" is a big stretch. It's cloth covered foam inside, with a sort of a fitted gig back on the outside. It's certainly better than a gig bag, but not like a hard case at all.
Hope this information helps someone someday.
