Ibanez BTB33 Electric Bass, 5-String

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.

Overall User Ratings (based on 1 ratings)
  • Overall:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Sound:
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Features:
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Ease of Use:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Quality:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Value:
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Manufacturer Support:
    3 out of 5 stars
  • The Wow Factor:
    2.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
(1) (see rating details)
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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