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Ibanez SR305 5-String Electric Bass Guitar
Upgraded with 3-band Style Sweeper EQs. 5-piece SR4 Maple/Rosewood neck.
"Good starter"
Feature:
The features on this bass are fantastic considering the price point! The neck is a typical Ibanez SR neck -- thin and FAST!! The neck is comfortable and fun to play on. The bridge is cast with saddle-mounting for the strings. Passive Ibanez soapbars and active 2-band EQ on board. The shape of the top of each pickup actually contours with the radius of the fingerboard, so the tonal response is slightly more even from string to string than a regular boxy soapbar. The body is VERY comfortable!! The 34" scale left the B string a little bit floppy, but I expected as much from a bass at this price. The sting spacing is a lot closer than I'm accustommed to -- my Traben has a thin nut and wide spacing at the bridge. There is a "heal" on the back of the neck at the top, where the neck transitions to the headstock. I found this very comfortable for playing in 1st and 2nd positions. This bass is very well equipped for the price.
Quality:
The quality of the construction did lack a little bit by way of the hardware and materials. The bass was well built, but the body wood is a cheap agathis, the hardware is 2nd rate, and the quality of the stock pickups weren't so great. I would say that this is a great bass to learn on, or to have around to do jams. This is by no means a pro quality bass though...
Value:
All in all, this bass is a decent value. If you are looking for a cheap bass to customize with your own pickups, electronics, and hardware, this would be a great bass for that. Looking for a budget 5-er, awesome for that. The bass sounds good enough for gigs, but not to record with.
Desirability:
Its fun, but not fun enough...
Sound:
I played my friend's SR305 at a church praise and worship service that I was hired to play. I typically play a Traben Chaos Obsession 5-string, Ibanez ATK700 4-string, and Yamaha RBX460 4-string. Any comparisons made in this review will be to these basses. The sound of this bass is decent. The bottom is VERY heavy coming out of this bass; it would be a good bass for pop, reggae, or any kind of music that needs a really big, round bottom. I didn't particularly like the way the midrange frequencies sang from the bass... The agathis body resonates the frequencies of the string vibration in kind of a weird way, actually mudding up the tone with the mids. I ended up boosting the bass/treble controls to give the effect of scooped mids, and that helped a lot. The high frequencies coming from the bass were a little tinny, but I would have rather had that tone than the muddy mids... The tone works, but it isn't great.
Ease of Use:
It's a Soundgear!! These are the easiest basses to play in the world!!
Support:
I don't know
Overall:
As aforementioned, great beginner bass or budget bass. Don't have unrealistic expectations of what this bass can do though... For the price, its a winner for gigging.
The features on this bass are fantastic considering the price point! The neck is a typical Ibanez SR neck -- thin and FAST!! The neck is comfortable and fun to play on. The bridge is cast with saddle-mounting for the strings. Passive Ibanez soapbars and active 2-band EQ on board. The shape of the top of each pickup actually contours with the radius of the fingerboard, so the tonal response is slightly more even from string to string than a regular boxy soapbar. The body is VERY comfortable!! The 34" scale left the B string a little bit floppy, but I expected as much from a bass at this price. The sting spacing is a lot closer than I'm accustommed to -- my Traben has a thin nut and wide spacing at the bridge. There is a "heal" on the back of the neck at the top, where the neck transitions to the headstock. I found this very comfortable for playing in 1st and 2nd positions. This bass is very well equipped for the price.
Quality:
The quality of the construction did lack a little bit by way of the hardware and materials. The bass was well built, but the body wood is a cheap agathis, the hardware is 2nd rate, and the quality of the stock pickups weren't so great. I would say that this is a great bass to learn on, or to have around to do jams. This is by no means a pro quality bass though...
Value:
All in all, this bass is a decent value. If you are looking for a cheap bass to customize with your own pickups, electronics, and hardware, this would be a great bass for that. Looking for a budget 5-er, awesome for that. The bass sounds good enough for gigs, but not to record with.
Desirability:
Its fun, but not fun enough...
Sound:
I played my friend's SR305 at a church praise and worship service that I was hired to play. I typically play a Traben Chaos Obsession 5-string, Ibanez ATK700 4-string, and Yamaha RBX460 4-string. Any comparisons made in this review will be to these basses. The sound of this bass is decent. The bottom is VERY heavy coming out of this bass; it would be a good bass for pop, reggae, or any kind of music that needs a really big, round bottom. I didn't particularly like the way the midrange frequencies sang from the bass... The agathis body resonates the frequencies of the string vibration in kind of a weird way, actually mudding up the tone with the mids. I ended up boosting the bass/treble controls to give the effect of scooped mids, and that helped a lot. The high frequencies coming from the bass were a little tinny, but I would have rather had that tone than the muddy mids... The tone works, but it isn't great.
Ease of Use:
It's a Soundgear!! These are the easiest basses to play in the world!!
Support:
I don't know
Overall:
As aforementioned, great beginner bass or budget bass. Don't have unrealistic expectations of what this bass can do though... For the price, its a winner for gigging.
"Beginners should buy! Pros should change electronics."
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:The style sweeper knob is pointless. It only sounds good when it's all the way to one side. The controls aren't the most complicated I've seen, but I don't know why bass designers think that it should be more complicated than 1 Volume for neck pickup, 1 Volume for bridge pickup, and 1 Tone knob. I also don't like this style bridge.
Quality:
Beautiful all around. Feels sturdy and well-made.
Value:
For a beginner - it's an amazing value. For a pro - don't bother unless you're willing to change out the pickups and pre-amp.
Desirability:
Looks awesome! Very slick!
Sound:
This is the only place this bass really fails at. Beginners can disregard what I'm about to say here, but Pros please listen! The Phat EQ electronics that the earlier Soundgears came with were way better. The highs on this bass are way too tinny and when you boost up the low end, the whole thing becomes way too boomy. It boasts being able to produce many different sounds for different styles, but none of them are that great. I only found one tone that's usable, but still haven't found a good balance that works across the whole fret board. Pre-amp is way too hot.
Ease of Use:
This is by far the easiest, fastest and lightest bass I've ever played on! The neck is the thinnest I've ever played and it is just pure comfort!
Support:
No experience with this.
Overall:
It's very lightweight and plays better than any 5-string I've ever played! Looks sweet, too! The sound is just not up to par for someone that knows the difference, though.
"IBANEZ SR305 - PRO FEATURES AT A BUDGET PRICE"
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:The 3 band Style Sweeper Active eq is one of the best features on this bass, because you can really fine tune your sound with percise accuracy. The slap/finger knob is quite an awesome feature because it really adds tones of versatility to your sound. Also the slim 5 piece neck is a nice feature to because it is so smooth and very player friendly. Ibanez really added alot of pro features for a budget priced instrument.
Quality:
This bass is well made and the finish was flawless! All I had to do was adjust the relief and raise the action just ever so slightly and I was off and rockin'! Ibanez offers impeccable quality at an extremely reasonable price. I always used to dis active basses until I picked up this bad boy and now I'm a believer.
Value:
This bass is a great value! I highly recommend it anyone! This bass will even please a seasoned pro who is very perticular about the gear he uses. Kudos to Ibanez!
Desirability:
This bass is very desirable in my opinion. And it looks frickin' awesome too! If this bass was broken or stolen I would definitley replace it.
Sound:
This bass sounds awesome! The 3 band Style Sweeper active eq allows you to shape your sound to fit almost any style of music you can think of. And the Ibanez house brand pickups really chuck out the sound with lots of beefy low end, growling mids, and crystal clear highs. I was worried that this bass would sound crappy because it cost so little, but when I plugged it into my ampeg rig I was BLOWN AWAY!!! Ibanez really knows what bass players want!
Ease of Use:
This bass is extremely user friendly and a joy to play! The first day I got this bass I couldn't put it down, because it is so comfortable.
Support:
I don't know never dealt with them.
Overall:
I'm very satisfied with this bass, and I'm a firm believer in Ibanez now. So keep up the good work Ibanez!
"A pleasant surprise!"
Feature:
It comes with all you need to hit the ground running. The active pickups and controls are quite good for the price.
Quality:
This bass was fully set up right out of the box. I didn't even need to tune it! The action was a little low for most people, but that's just how I like it. No dents or scratches or dead spots along the neck. The Low B is a little muddy. I dropped it and restrung the bass to EADGC. Perfection!
Value:
Great value for the money. This bass is great for starting out before moving on to high caliber instruments. Perfect as a backup too.
Desirability:
Ibanez basses don't quite have that "I want it" factor. I bought it as an experiment (and because I was flat broke!) and was pleasantly surprised.
Sound:
Very versatile sounds for almost and genre. From mellow jazz to gritty metallica. The style-sweeper knob is a good idea, but a mid control would have made this bass super. It's an 8 because of that.
Ease of Use:
Just plug it in and hammer away.
Support:
Never had to deal with them.
Overall:
If it were stolen, I'd replace it. There's no way this baby is going to break! It's built like a tank!
It comes with all you need to hit the ground running. The active pickups and controls are quite good for the price.
Quality:
This bass was fully set up right out of the box. I didn't even need to tune it! The action was a little low for most people, but that's just how I like it. No dents or scratches or dead spots along the neck. The Low B is a little muddy. I dropped it and restrung the bass to EADGC. Perfection!
Value:
Great value for the money. This bass is great for starting out before moving on to high caliber instruments. Perfect as a backup too.
Desirability:
Ibanez basses don't quite have that "I want it" factor. I bought it as an experiment (and because I was flat broke!) and was pleasantly surprised.
Sound:
Very versatile sounds for almost and genre. From mellow jazz to gritty metallica. The style-sweeper knob is a good idea, but a mid control would have made this bass super. It's an 8 because of that.
Ease of Use:
Just plug it in and hammer away.
Support:
Never had to deal with them.
Overall:
If it were stolen, I'd replace it. There's no way this baby is going to break! It's built like a tank!
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