Ibanez Prestige 4005E

[Jellyfish]

[b][u]From Ibanez:[/u][/b]

[i]The Ibanez SR4005E electric bass guitar offers powerful pickups, precise EQ, and an elegantly simple look.[/i]

[i]The Ibanez SR4005E 5-string electric bass guitar provides the playability and build quality you've come to expect from Ibanez's bass guitars. A member of the Ibanez SR Prestige Series, the 5-string SR4005E features a balanced mahogany body with cutaways for easy access to the upper frets on its premium 5-piece wenge / bubinga SR5 neck. The neck is topped with a wenge fingerboard. The Ibanez SR4005E bass guitar works well for practically any style, thanks to its Bartolini Custom passive soapbar neck and bridge pickups. A Power Curve 3-band EQ with a bypass switch lets you easily tweak the tone on the Ibanez SR4005E electric bass guitar.[/i]

[b][u]The Hardware[/u][/b]

The brigde is a mono-rail IV which boasts isolation of string vibration which means that vibrations won't naturally pass onto other strings while being left untouched. It does its job very well and, combined with the Gotoh tuners, helps keep my bass in tune almost perfectly on a daily basis. I was able to adjust the intonation perfectly without much trouble, which is a blessing.

The pickups are a curved set american made Bartolini Custom with a 3-band EQ as well as passive/active switch. The 4 small knobs control Bass>Mids>Mid Frequency and then Treble. The two larger ones control master volume and pickup panning. I can only comment on the electronics from a fairly novice point of view but they do everything I need them to do and the name should tell you that these will be able to cater to just about any type of music you want to play. In passive mode they're fairly strong and give a nice modern electric bass sound.

[b][u]The [/u][/b]


[b][u]Body[/u][/b] [b][u]& Neck[/u][/b]

As read above, you'll know that the body is made purely from mahogany which means the bass weighs about that of an average 5 string, if not a little bit lighter (this is compared with a G&L 5 string made of ash and maple and a Fender 5 string). It is transparent black and looks quite glossy from a distance but actually has a nice smooth feel to it. The shape of the body is like that of all Soundgear's and gets extremely thin towards the edges and even more so towards the top horn.

The neck joint looks as good as it actually is gives you a good image of what the 5-piece neck looks like underneath the frets. Like all Soundgear's, the neck is an absolute dream to play and, as someone who mainly plays fingerstyle i.e. very little slapping and popping, I find that the narrow string spacing (16.5mm) and the ability to adjust the action really low helps me to play with a lot more relaxed fingers while skipping all over the neck. The back of the neck is very 'matte' and is extremely smooth.

The wenge fretboard is very easy to maintain as it is very oily and just needs a damp cloth scrubbed over it every time I change my strings. As well as this, it looks rather wonderful as well. As far as truss rod adjustments go, only time will tell. For now however I've only needed to have it adjusted once (for the extremely low action I like) and it's been like this through cold and heat on a constant basis and has held in place very well.




[b][u]The Sound[/u][/b]

I don't have a wide array of clips for you, nor do I attest to the quality of my playing in them as being any good, but here are some clips demonstrating the Active circuit with various EQ settings.

http://soundcloud.com/xclusiveyt/sets/ibanez-sound-clips/

[b][u]The Result[/u][/b]

It's hard not to be biased with such a lovely bass. It's the most I've ever spent on a bass (I purchased it for £600 second-hand) but I feel like if I had spent anymore, it wouldn't have been justified in comparison. There's not a large amount of variety in higher end basses that stock this kind of gear and materials while boasting a super-fast playable string spacing and neck dimension. If I had to compare it with anything, it'd be a Euro Spector probably and luckily, I've also managed to play one and I do prefer the Japanese crafted Ibanez. It's all personal opinion of course, but I'd have to disagree with anyone who said that the Prestige line of Ibanez's can't hold its own against the bigger makes.

[jonunders]

Thanks for the article, I am considering purchasing one. I has helped me alot.

[Jellyfish]

I'd seriously urge anyone who is considering buying one to just do it. I would never tell me girlfriend this (as I told her it was so I could get something better!) but I actually preferred this over my Dingwall Combustion. The Combustion is a brilliantly modern and fantastic sounding bass but I much preferred the string spacing on this. My new custom bass is going to have very similar specs to this; really tight single string bridges, wenge neck, double humbuckers. I wish I had it back now!

[william64]

As written above, it's all personal opinion. I've been happy with my Ibanez Musician MC924 since 1982. So it was just natural, when I wanted to buy my first five-string bass some years ago, that I looked for an Ibanez. Eventually I bought Prestige 4005E from an e-shop in Germany for a good price. Unfortunately, the bass doesn't fulfil my expectations. At first, I felt everything on the bass too delicate, a ballet dancer like. The second thing I didn't like was the sound of that particular bass. It was somehow unnatural no matter how I tried to set the EQ. In two weeks I returned the bass back to the shop. To be fair, later I heard a bassist playing 4005E and I liked it's sound within the band. So, once more, it's all personal opinion, which can change over time.