Ibanez BTB33 Electric Bass, 5-String

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The Ibanez BTB33's wide cutaways let you explore new territory across its rosewood fretboard. Tuned from E to C, this 5-string bass has incredible range.

What's special about this item?

Feature: What it does:
5-piece maple/bubinga neck Smooth feel; increased midrange bite
Bartolini BH1 pickups Tight, focused tone with a huge depth
Mahogany wings Rich, warm tone and smooth resonance
Rosewood fretboard Open, warm tone and smooth playing feel

The mission of the Ibanez Bass Workshop is to pioneer new frontiers in bass development by pushing the boundaries of conventional designs. The impetus behind each one of these unique instruments comes from the desire of the Ibanez bass development group to satisfy the specific needs of a very particular player and to hopefully inspire new vistas of creativity.

Designed for players looking to explore the upper region of the fretboard, the BTB33 is a 5-string bass tuned from E to C. Excellent for playing chords and soloing up by a 33" scale neck. This 5-piece Maple/Bubinga "Medium Scale" neck helps to create the proper tension and tonal quality for the C string without compromising the deep tone of the E string. It also facilitates faster playing and easier chording.

Another innovative feature of the BTB33 is the inclusion of a height adjustable Rosewood Finger Ramp. The ramp prevents players from digging in too hard when plucking finger-style and encourages a lighter playing technique, which helps promote a broader dynamic range and better tone. It also acts as a thumb rest that provides access to a wider plucking area, allowing players to explore more tonal options by varying the distance of their hand from the bridge.

The BTB33 includes a Mahogany with an Ash top, the neck sports a Rosewood fingerboard with Abalone inlays and a Mono-Rail V bridge provides optimum adjustment for superior intonation. Electronics feature the excellent tone of Bartolini BH1-5 pickups through read more an Ibanez 3-band EQ with a mid frequency selector switch for advanced tone control. read less

- Neck: BTB5 5pc Maple/Bubinga neck-thru
- Body: Ash top/Mahogany wing
- Fingerboard: Rosewood
- Inlay: Abalone dot inlay
- Frets: Medium
- Neck Pickup: Bartolini BH1
- Bridge Pickup: Bartolini BH1
- EQ: Ibanez Custom Electronics 3-band EQ with Mid frequency switch
- Bridge: Mono-rail V bridge
- Hardware color: Black matte

For support or warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer:
Phone: 800-669-8262
Web: https://www.ibanez.com/usa/support/

Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars. (1 ratings)
Submitted January 22, 2016 by Chris C in Waterbury, CT

"Great potential, but missed the mark"

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Played this in a store a few times and loved it. Ended up buying one. The neck is extremely comfortable, the High C string makes it a lot of fun to jam and play some chords on. The instrument has a nice balance and weight. Unplugged the natural tone is very pleasing. Sadly the pickups are horrible. Lifeless and dead and usually lost in the mix. The ramp and the pickups are also too long to function as they should. If using it as an anchor it should be (to me and most others I've talked to about this) about the same distance and length as another string would be. Like a J pickup anchor is just long enough to feel like another string. Frets work is nice and above average. Out of the box I had to raise the action a hair and set the intonation a bit. For $1000 I would expect a) better pickups and b) at least a decent gig bag if not a case. I like the idea and with some tweaking Ibanez COULD have a winner here.

Musical Background:

35+ year performer. Teacher, composer, and side man for hire. Guitar, bass, percussion, brass, woodwinds and strings

Musical Style:

Mostly a jazz and blues player, but love playing classical and punk as much as sitting in a power trio
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