Feedback on Ibanez SR 1206

[Antiloco]

Hi everyone

Please help me with my my GAS for this bass, is there anything negative anyone of you have experienced with one? Go ahead and give me your opinion! It doesn't matter if you own one or just tested one at the music store.

I can't find data about the weight either, is it unbalanced? Does it feel "cheap"?

Thanks!

Edited November 10, 2012 by Inti

[ezbass]

You want BC to talk you out of GAS? Seems unlikely. IME the higher you go up the Ibby range, the more solid they feel. My GWB35 feels way more solid than my SR505 and I can only imagine this increases as you up the quality/price tag quotient.

[Chris2112]

Why do you want talked out of it? The top end Ibanez SR basses are, and have long been, top quality products!

[PURPOLARIS]

I've got an SR1300 and love it. Very slim body and one of the best necks I've ever played. You won't
be disappointed.


Sorry if it's not what you want to hear.

[Antiloco]

Thanks for the feedback, it's just that I've changed basses more than "needed" lately and because I'm a simple music teacher/bassist I can't keep all the basses and have to leave an instrument in order to get another, but hell, it looks like this Ibanez won't disappoint and I need a six!

[lee4]

Don't do it.Spend the money on beer and loose women instead.

[Antiloco]

I am going for it today, any other comment on the subject?

[geilerbass]

I tried the 5-string version and found it a very solid, quality instrument. The price point seems great for the specs, but that's because labour in Indonesia is still relatively cheap.

My only hesitation would be that for the new price of these, you could get an Ibanez Prestige Soundgear second hand, which some would argue are superior.

[Satrugar]

I also find the premium SRs pretty nice...
But just as geilerbass said, I'd be on the lookout for a used Ibanez Prestige.
They are greatly undervalued on today's used market.

For example: A few months ago I found a extremely nice SR 7005 MP from the mid-90s for a pretty good price.
It's a fantastic instrument, I definitely like it better than the premium instruments.

Edited January 17, 2013 by Satrugar

[geilerbass]

[quote name='Satrugar' timestamp='1352728030' post='1866564']
I also find the premium SRs pretty nice...
But just as geilerbass said, I'd be on the lookout for a used Ibanez Prestige.
They are greatly undervalued on today's used market.

For example: A few months ago I found a extremely nice SR 7005 MP from the mid-90s for a really good price.
It's a fantastic instrument, I definitely like it better than the premium instruments (and I paid quite a bit less than for one of those...).
[/quote]

An SR7005? The one with the walnut tone block? Those are really rare. In fact, I thought that was a custom shop model? Certainly that and the original SR5005 (not the Wenge faced ones that came out in 2009) were always the holy grail of Soundgear basses.

[Satrugar]

[quote name='geilerbass' timestamp='1352752655' post='1867084']
An SR7005? The one with the walnut tone block? Those are really rare. In fact, I thought that was a custom shop model? Certainly that and the original SR5005 (not the Wenge faced ones that came out in 2009) were always the holy grail of Soundgear basses.
[/quote]

Exactly, walnut toneblock with maple wings and wenge/bubinga neck with wenge fingerboard.
Custom Bartolinis and 3 band Bartolini NTCT electronics with 3x switchable mids module, i believe it's called MCT-3MC.

It's exactly this model, those are the only pics I could find on the net:



And you're right, those instruments seem to be extremely rare....when I bought it I was told it was a custom endorser model made for the bass player of Melanie Thornton sometime in the 90s...
And I have to agree once more, I found the newer wenge-faced SR5005s to feel and look quite a bit....hm, "cheaper" compared to the older series.

Anyway, I'm very happy with my SR7005.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Satrugar

[Antiloco]

Satrugar, thats a VERY nice SR, maybe the finest I've seen. I pulled back in the last second today, sat and played the 5 stringed version and could never feel well with the position the right hand "gets" on it naturally. Unbalanced in a strange way because it really shouldn't! But it is...strange design.

[Satrugar]

[quote name='Inti' timestamp='1352841931' post='1868353']
Satrugar, thats a VERY nice SR, maybe the finest I've seen. I pulled back in the last second today, sat and played the 5 stringed version and could never feel well with the position the right hand "gets" on it naturally. Unbalanced in a strange way because it really shouldn't! But it is...strange design.
[/quote]

Thanks, I also quite like it (although mine has a bit more wear...).
Well, if you didn't feel comfortable with the premium SR then it can't really be helped.
Although maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it....
For example I normally play basses with 19mm stringspacing and at first it felt weird to play the SR with 16,5mm, but after a week or so I started to adapt to it and now I don't have any problems with that any more. Actually it's pretty comfortable now...

Edited November 14, 2012 by Satrugar

[geilerbass]

That SR7005 is truly stunning! I've not seen the maple wings before, so maybe what I thought was a 7005 was actually the old 5005 - I think that had mahogany wings. Either way, I agree that these 'custom made' basses from the mid-90s were probably the pinnacle of the SR range.

Those old MIJ SR's are definitely worth a shot if you can find any.

[Satrugar]

[quote name='geilerbass' timestamp='1353859238' post='1879046']
That SR7005 is truly stunning! I've not seen the maple wings before, so maybe what I thought was a 7005 was actually the old 5005 - I think that had mahogany wings. Either way, I agree that these 'custom made' basses from the mid-90s were probably the pinnacle of the SR range.

Those old MIJ SR's are definitely worth a shot if you can find any.
[/quote]

Yes, definitely. Those basses are really undervalued these days.
I believe there were different versions of the 7005, so you could be right about the mahogany wings....but I don't really know as there are so few of them around. Also the main difference to the 5005 seem to be the upgraded custom bartolini pickups and electronics, while the bodys/wings came in different woods.
[url="http://ibanez87.it/english/gallery/models/bass/sr7005-figi.html"]Here[/url] is one that seems to be mahogany.

[Antiloco]

Did they not build any 7006?

[geilerbass]

[quote name='Satrugar' timestamp='1353928642' post='1879726']
Yes, definitely. Those basses are really undervalued these days.
I believe there were different versions of the 7005, so you could be right about the mahogany wings....but I don't really know as there are so few of them around. Also the main difference to the 5005 seem to be the upgraded custom bartolini pickups and electronics, while the bodys/wings came in different woods.
[url="http://ibanez87.it/english/gallery/models/bass/sr7005-figi.html"]Here[/url] is one that seems to be mahogany.
[/quote]

That's the one. Those pictures used to be on the old Ibanez Register website. I think you're right about the Bartolinis - though they've become standard on Prestige models since the SR300xE line in 2003, I think. The Bartolini Pre-amp was a one-off for the 7005 thought I reckon. All the others have used some variation on the Ibanez Vari-Mid.

[quote name='Inti' timestamp='1353950436' post='1880147']
Did they not build any 7006?
[/quote]

Not sure, but I've never seen one. The 6-string range was fairly limited and in fact, I don't think there was an actual Prestige 6-string model, again until the SR3006 came out in the early 2000's.

That said, the high-end, non-Prestige 6-ers, like the original SR1306, SR1016 etc were very nice and not that far off the Prestige models, certainly in terms of specs.

Gerald Veasley has been an endorsee at least since the mid 90's, so he may have had some custom 6 strings made up. From what I've read, it sounds as though he played some variation on the SR because of the narrow string spacing and the incorporation of chords in his playing style. His signature model is very much based on the SR design and spec.

[XB26354]

Havin briefly owned one of the new prestige models (SR5006), I can safely say, that for over £2K, they're not worth it. For a "prestige" instrument it felt like a tarted-up cheap bass. Some basic details are flawed in both the design and the build. For example, the bridge units are tiny and only allow a very small range of intonation adjustment, which meant that I couldn't get the A-string spot on - unbelievable! The small headstock combined with the tuner arrangement meant that the c string has a very sharp bend over the nut. Don't try anything wild or it'll snap. The eq is total crap - it uses a 3v circuit that is so subtle that I couldn't hear any difference in the whole range of the mid control, and all the treble did was add a bit of hiss, and no clarity. The choice of woods makes for a very rock-like tone that simply doesn't work on the top C string - in fact this was probably the worst 6-string I have tried in that the C that sounded totally different to the other 5 strings. The whole tone was clear but really nothing special. The other weird thing was the very dry acrylic type lacquer finish - it was brand new but the neck felt very slow. IMHO with this type of wood they would have been better advised to have used an oil finish.
All of this may mean that the SR1206 may well be a much better value bass - just make sure that you can intonate it. I'd lose the circuit immediately too as it is the weakest part of the bass (all too often the case with Ibbys).