The overall sound on this bass is great. The style sweeper is mainly what I like to adjust depending on if I'm tapping, slapping or playing finger style. But with that said, it goes to show how versatile this bass can be for only $349. I play a lot of jazz, rock, and r&b. And anyone who has ever played an Ibanez knows how punchy the sound is. When the style sweeper is turned all the way left its perfect for jazz, rock and r&b. It's punchy with good amounts of bass. However when you turn it all the way right it's in "slap" mode. It sounds like the bass it cut down and too much high mid-range. I personally don't use it in this setting because I don't like the sound. But that's just me. I keep mine usually around 70 percent to the left. But you can get a lot of different sounds out of this bass. I play this bass through a Hartke HyDrive 210c 250-watt combo. So of course this bass sounds a lot better! I play a lot of Stu Hamms music so that tells ya right there!.

To me honestly this bass is simple with no fuss electronics. You have your main volume, pickup pan knob, a stacked bass and treble pot, and style selector. And the stock pickups aren't bad for the price. Of course they aren't Bartolini's but they do the job! And Ibanez's thin neck makes playing a breeze. SR basses have a nice cutaway so you can access high frets easily.

Easy, easy and easy! This bass is great for beginners like me to intermediate players. It isn't heavy either so it's great on the shoulder. Now if you go from playing an MTD or Fender to ANY Ibanez 5 string you will have to get use to the narrow string spacing. But it works out great for tapping!

Ok this is where it gets it's lowest rating. I have had this bass for 2 months now and there's one problem with the bridge. The more I slap on the A, the saddle keeps getting lower. So I have to get the alley key and raise it up almost 4 times a week. Weird thing is that these are the same bridges Ibanez puts on their 6 string models. So I'm not sure if this problem I'm having might be universal. Besides that the orange sparkle finish looks flashy and the hardware is great. Comes with D'Addarios!

Best 5 string bass out there for under $400!

Ibanezs support is usually always great!

Ok sex appeal with the orange sparkle is damn fine!

Hobbyist

Jazz, Rock, R&B, Funk

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.

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.

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!

Beautiful all around. Feels sturdy and well-made.

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.

No experience with this.

Looks awesome! Very slick!

12 years active musician

all types of rock

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.

It comes with all you need to hit the ground running. The active pickups and controls are quite good for the price.

Just plug it in and hammer away.

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!

Great value for the money. This bass is great for starting out before moving on to high caliber instruments. Perfect as a backup too.

Never had to deal with them.

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.

Active bass player, band director

Jazz, Rock

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.

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.

It's a Soundgear!! These are the easiest basses to play in the world!!

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...

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.

I don't know

Its fun, but not fun enough...

Professional Studio Session Bassist, Occasional Live Performances

Anything and Everything

I play this bass through a GK Backline 600/GLX Golline 4X10, directly into house (church). I use my amp as a monitor. Overall is sounds okay, I am still experimenting with it.

I am still messing with the sweeper feature

This is my first real attempt at 5-string. I am getting use to it. It plays very fast. I have small hands so I love this neck.

so far, no problems

Nice bass for a low price, so far the only thing I have had to do to it was swap the battery. If you are looking to explore 5 string I would get this one. Very fast neck. In fact, I think my next 4 string will be an Ibanez

ne need yet

very sexy, and very comfortable light weight

intermediate

Christian/Gospel, rock

As far as I know the sound is absolutely amazing although I am having trouble simulating a P-bass tone even with extensive Line6 tones. It might just be me being a beginner. Or it could be that the bass simply can't reproduce it (I know it'll never be exact anyway). Fortunately the style I play doesn't really require that tone. Although, it would be nice to have.

Active preamp. Lots of tone adjustments. Great pickups. Thin neck. Everything required for a feature packed bass. This thing has everything except the kitchen sink!

I'm still new to playing bass so I'm still figuring out all the tonal possibilities of it. The thin neck does make it incredibly easy to play but the controls can be a bit confusing to a beginner.

The only reason I gave this part an 8 is because it is a bolt-on neck (albeit a very sturdy one) and the volume pot was a little loose upon receipt of the bass. Nothing an allen wrench couldn't fix.

Absolutely the best value for a 5-string bass. It has everything anyone would really need to play just about any style of music anyone could possibly think of and for a rock bottom price. I purchased a blem model for just $289! You can hardly even notice where the blem is! I was amazed at what I got for the price.

I have no experience with customer support as of right now.

This is one sexy bass! Thin and curvy lines that feel great in your hands! Paint is flawless and the chrome is as bright as you'd find on your favorite classic car.

Recording Artist

Hard Rock, Metal

Side by side you can't get a better sound on this price range. The electrinics/controls are very high quality, which give distortion free, high output signal, low noise ratio. Fantastic Bass considering that you would pay much more for a brand name instrument that at the end of the day will sound just as good.

As expected of a quality instrument. Tone controls, and volume well place for ease of use during performance.

Controls are as in all basses. They repond well and no noise noted. Good well written manual. manufacture set-up is flauless and musician friendly.

Materials used are top quality. Attention to detail. Flauless finish. Strings are also of high quality.

For the money that I spend - I got a top quality instrument. Great value...

The looks of the instrument, specialy at low light is amaizing. The size and design are such - that the industry will follow their looks. The color choices are limited but on the money.

Church Choir Leader

Latin, Church Music

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

I don't know never dealt with them.

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.

Non-Professional Musician

Classic Rock and Blues

Have been playing for two years praise and worship/rock for church and local ministries

Praise and worship and rock/metal

Have been playing for two years praise and worship/rock for church and local ministries

Praise and worship and rock/metal