NBD!! Ibanez SR505

[Adrenaline]

It came in today and im freaken in love with it. It feels and plays so nicely, I got practice on sunday and im really going to break it in. Its my first New in box guitar/bass I've ever owned. And one hell of an improvement over the ibby 4 string I picked up at a pawn shop, although it has played quite a few live sets and never failed me*and she was purple like my first bass*






*edit: Fixed, it was like 2 am brain no work well!*

 

[Hankey]

SR505

Congrats. Those are nice basses. My main bass is a SR605, which is basically the same bass as the 505, but with an ash body instead of mahogany...

 

[revlover]

Looks really nice. I'm very interested to hear what you have to say about this when you have spent some time with it. I tried a used SR500 at a local shop today and I liked the feel but never plugged it in. What kind of music are you going to use it for?

 

[Adrenaline]

Most the time I play at home I go for either some Maiden style or a little bit of funky rush stuff.
But I play in a 3 piece death/thrash band so I play a lot of tremolo picking doing a weird mix of following the rhythm guitar part while playing to my drummer. So far it plays really nice and is a lot easier on my hands on the fatigue and stress issue I had with my other bass. I have my first practice with it tomorrow on my bass rig instead of my crate practice guitar amp I use at home. Ill report back how well it holds up after an hour or more of beating it around.

After sitting down playing a lot of different basses at a lot of shops I always came back to this one because it felt so damn nice to play. Honestly I think it may be one of the best bangs for your buck out right now.

 

[Ocara-Jacob]

Nice, Ibanez basses are awesome, and to me, they seem to have the best value for the money.

 

[Lankles]

That's hawt. I will have to collect the full SR50x set.

 

[ZEBOV]

These have some mega bang for the buck, and I enjoy how they sound and feel. My only complaint is the weak bridge.

 

[VBCheeseGrater]

Awesome, my main bass is a 4 string soundgear - love the tone and playablity of 'em. is it an active EQ?

 

[Adrenaline]

Awesome, my main bass is a 4 string soundgear - love the tone and playablity of 'em. is it an active EQ?

Yeah its active, my first active bass. I was worried about it but so far so good. Really adds to the pop but also I feel like the string buzz is thrown way higher but could just be my practice amp.

 

[VBCheeseGrater]

^^ yeah i know what you mean on the buzz, active really lets every little sound be heard. lots of options there, EQ it out, better set up, or just raise the action a bit. I'm starting to prefer medium action just to let the notes ring better, for both bass and guitar - lots of legendary players preferred high action for that reason - SRV for one.

 

[Adrenaline]

Yeah im in the process of setting it up a little more. Im just gonna lift the action a tiny bit because I still love the sound of the buzz but I dont want it that loud. Their is something about that sound that is just cool to me.

 

[revlover]

My only complaint is the weak bridge.

Could you elaborate on this please?

 

[Adrenaline]

FYI
My first experience with it playing with my band was amazing. The only real complaint I have is the bridge design, it has a couple pieces of raised medal. But that is just a minor annoyance where i had to move my hand just a bit to fix it. Change my picking style up a little bit and there we go.

Sounds friggen amazing.

 

[ZEBOV]

Could you elaborate on this please?

The bridge might have been improved since the last time I played an SR50X, but every time I plucked a string, the bridge itself moved. Not the entire bridge, but just the piece that the string rested on. I would pull up on the string before plucking it, and that piece of the bridge would move up too, and after plucking the string, the part of the bridge mostly moved back to where it belonged. The K-5 still has that same bridge, and it just fucking sucks.

 

[Hankey]

The bridge might have been improved since the last time I played an SR50X, but every time I plucked a string, the bridge itself moved. Not the entire bridge, but just the piece that the string rested on. I would pull up on the string before plucking it, and that piece of the bridge would move up to, and after plucking the string, the part of the bridge mostly moved back to where it belonged. The K-5 still has that same bridge, and it just fucking sucks.

The bridges on mid to high end SR's have been significantly improved since then. They're very strudy. My 605 (the 505 has the same bridge in a different finish) has none of the problems you mentioned.

Here's a good shot of the bridge:

 

[ZEBOV]

That's a lot better!

 

[revlover]

thanks for the input guys, very interested in this.

 

[hairychris]

Congrats from another SR505 user...!

 

[revlover]

Guys, the general consensus seems to be that the 500 series is great bang for the buck in general. What about the sound properties? I' ve noticed that some basses are acoustically loud and metallic sounding (my preference) others are really quiet. The one I tested was somewhere in the middle. How Do you rate the ability to cut through in a mix? Is the high/low mid switch working in reality?

 

[hairychris]

They're active with a 3 band EQ so can punch quite well. Acoustically my one's pretty loud fwiw.