Ibanez SR785 5-String Limited Edition Electric Bass

Feature:
3 band, what more do you need.

Quality:
as usual top quality from Ibanez.

Sound:
30+ years experience. Can't get the tone out of my head. Played it for about 20 minutes at the Music store. HAVE to get one soon. Solid construction as usual. The Bartolini's make it! Have a SR 1200 and this one blows it away.

Ease of Use:
Plays like a $4000 bass.

Feature:
The spalted maple top is dynamic and frankly, just makes the guitar gorgeous. However, I was absolutely stunned at the chintzy plastic knobs that came on the guitar. Even the lower priced SR models like the SR700 that I also own, had nicer knobs on it.

Quality:
The quality of the fit and finish is fabulous. I can find no fault with the fit and finish of the bass. The treble pot was extremely stiff and scratchy for the first 24 hours, but has now loosened up and does not hum as it did on the first day. As noted earlier, I can't believe the chintzy plastic knobs used (they still had molding residue on them - you know the little pieces of plastic that are normally trimmed off). But the rest of the guitar helped me to overlook these two issues (plus, new tigerwood knobs).

Value:
Great value for the money. A high-end money for medium money.

Desirability:
As noted, the spalted maple makes it a beautiful guitar and the neck-through design gives huge sustain (almost 30 sec. for a plucked open string E). It's light weight and thin design make it easy to play for long periods of time. The Bertollini pickups and EQ are their normal high quality.

Sound:
This guitar has got a great, mellow, round sound. Just the sound I was looking for in a 5-string.

Ease of Use:
This is a really, very, very playable instrument. It is the general SR neck which is thin and fast. I'm switching to a 5-string full-time and this beats every other 5-string I played. The wood combination (mahogany/maple) actually makes this 5-string lighter and thinner than my SR700 which in and of itself is a light, thin 4-string.

Support:
Have not ever had to contact Ibanez with issues with any of my Ibanez guitars.

Overall:
I expect that this will be the bass that I use for many, many years. I've played a lot of different basses, including many that cost multiple thousands of dollars. This bass, for me, beats them all. If Ibanez would just correct the cheap plastic knob issue and make sure all of the electronics are truly working when the guitar is shipped, it would be a '10' for me. As it is, no regrets (but new knobs!).