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mooseherman « Decent cheap bass! »
Published on 08/23/11 at 15:10This is a Japanese made bass by Ibanez. This bass is interesting because it is made cheaply, and is a beginner bass, and it has pickups that replicate both a J-bass and a P-Bass style of pickup. It has controls for volume on both pickups as well as a tone knob. It has an agathis body, a maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard with 20 medium frets and a cutaway. It has a standard Ibanez bridge which is honestly nothing special.
UTILIZATION
This bass plays better than I would have expected it to. It isn't the most amazing playing bass in the world, but it gets the job done. It is difficult to get lots of complicated parts down on it, because it is slightly awkward and the fretboard isn't the smoothest-playing fretboard I've ever come across. But I do have to consider the price when thinking about this, so I will say that for the price, it does well. Other than playing, it's not too heavy, and it isn't too hard to get a decent sound, so it gets points for that.
SOUNDS
The pickups in this bass are not my favorite. However, you'd be surprised how well they do. They'll allow you to sort of replicate the tones you are hearing on record, allowing you to practice along nicely. Even with a small ensemble, you can maybe be heard with a decent amp. However, with a rock band, they aren't going to give you a great sound for gigs. Even with a nice amp, this bass sounds muddy and doesn't really cut through a live mix. I wouldn't want to record with this bass at all if I had other options. I firmly believe that if you were to switch the pickups out, you could dramatically improve the sound of this bass.
OVERALL OPINION
The price of this bass cannot be beaten. For what you pay for it even new, it's totally awesome. However, most professionals nowadays are willing to shell out more money for stuff, so I would say that they should look farther up on the price range for a newer, better bass, or perhaps a good old vintage bass. There's really not much here that should interest anybody except beginners, or perhaps people willing to try out new pickups on beginner gear.
UTILIZATION
This bass plays better than I would have expected it to. It isn't the most amazing playing bass in the world, but it gets the job done. It is difficult to get lots of complicated parts down on it, because it is slightly awkward and the fretboard isn't the smoothest-playing fretboard I've ever come across. But I do have to consider the price when thinking about this, so I will say that for the price, it does well. Other than playing, it's not too heavy, and it isn't too hard to get a decent sound, so it gets points for that.
SOUNDS
The pickups in this bass are not my favorite. However, you'd be surprised how well they do. They'll allow you to sort of replicate the tones you are hearing on record, allowing you to practice along nicely. Even with a small ensemble, you can maybe be heard with a decent amp. However, with a rock band, they aren't going to give you a great sound for gigs. Even with a nice amp, this bass sounds muddy and doesn't really cut through a live mix. I wouldn't want to record with this bass at all if I had other options. I firmly believe that if you were to switch the pickups out, you could dramatically improve the sound of this bass.
OVERALL OPINION
The price of this bass cannot be beaten. For what you pay for it even new, it's totally awesome. However, most professionals nowadays are willing to shell out more money for stuff, so I would say that they should look farther up on the price range for a newer, better bass, or perhaps a good old vintage bass. There's really not much here that should interest anybody except beginners, or perhaps people willing to try out new pickups on beginner gear.