Ibanez SR basses

[PainInTheBass]

8 hours ago, SumOne said:

 Ah nice one! As a 4 string equivalent is it all good?

It's a lovely instrument. I don't slap much if at all. I have large hands but no sausage fingers so the slim neck feels good. The Aguilar pickups are quite dynamic and I like the preamp, especially the mid frequency selector.

[Pinball]

I've had a  bunch of Ibanez's over the years. My favourites were an ATK805 and an SR3005. The 3005 was the 1st high quality bass I had owned and I picked up another on here in a trade recently. The stacking knobs have been replaced but it remains a killer instrument. so well made and sound amazing so sharing some pictures.

 

[Paulhauser]

@SumOne we all have preferences and I happen to like the tighter spacing because I feel like I fall in between the strings on basses with wider spacing.

 

[crazycloud]

13 hours ago, Paulhauser said:

@SumOne we all have preferences and I happen to like the tighter spacing because I feel like I fall in between the strings on basses with wider spacing.

 

Agreed, and I would go even tighter if I could get a GVB36 locally.

[Woodinblack]

3 hours ago, crazycloud said:

Agreed, and I would go even tighter if I could get a GVB36 locally.

I had ne, the spacing was great but the neck spacing was actually quite wide

[crazycloud]

51 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I had ne, the spacing was great but the neck spacing was actually quite wide

According the the Ibby site the nut width is the same as my other SR 6s, but the root of the neck puts it in line with my SR5s so I think I'd be happy with it. If I were to get one I think I'd make a new brass nut and string it E-E, but I have to find one first and even importing them is difficult due to rarity. In the mean time I should order some Newtones and string the BTB up the same way.

[Paulhauser]

5 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I had ne, the spacing was great but the neck spacing was actually quite wide

I remember this being discussed, maybe it was you? Something along the lines of the neck not tapering as expected, even considering the very tight spacing at the bridge. 

[Woodinblack]

Probably was. I found that the taper was almost non existent, and while the spacing at the pickup end was great, the spacing at the neck end was wider than I was used to.

[PainInTheBass]

My SR1600D has a panga panga and purple heart neck which I only noticed as I was running a cloth up and down to clean it that the neck carve feels somewhat lumpy, or wavy. Has anyone else noticed this with their panga panga neck? It's almost like it goes with the grain pattern. I don't notice it while playing though.

[Woodinblack]

Yes, I noticed it on my 2605, but it certainly wasn't an issue.

[80Hz]

Hope this is not a thread hijack, but I thought I'd give a bit of commentary on my '94 SR890. Photo shamelessly stolen from the seller:

 

 

I've always liked Ibanez stuff, and I've been on a bit of a mission to own styles of basses that are new to me, so the venerable Soundgear was on my list.

 

This one had been for sale for months, and it was one of those situations where I looked at loads of different SRs, budget, high end, old, new, then came back every few weeks, and um'd and ah'd over it! Finally decided to take a punt a few months ago.

 

I was initially underwhelmed with the sound, it had lower output than I would expect from an active bass, noisy preamp, lacking low end, and I had an issue where the volume of the A string was significantly lower than the others. I fiddled with it, checked the nut and saddle, changed the pickup heights, changed the strings, etc, but to no avail, so I could only assume there was an internal problem with the pickup. On checking the electronics I found green corrosion, so that was the final straw, I was doing a pickup swap!

 

I settled on a Wilde (Bill Lawrence) PJ set (P-46 and J-45 pickups). I'd been previously impressed with Wilde guitar pickups so this was a good opportunity to try the bass offerings. Bill Lawrence's designs seem to share a "hi-fi" family sound which I felt would suit a contemporary bass (well, it's a 1994 model, so might be stretching the definition of "contemporary" there  😆). To keep a lid on costs I decided to pair them with an Artec SE3P-A preamp. (Had cost been no object I'd probably have gone with the obvious choice - EMGs)

 

Long story short, I got the bits and pieces in but the preamp was a tight squeeze - I knew when ordering that it would be borderline. I lived with it for a while but didn't find the EQ options to be particularly useful - I tend to be a "set it and forget it" person when it comes to preamp settings - so that plus the tight fit led me to decide to go passive. I'm very glad I did - it's like a taking a veil off everything and the P-46 in particular is a monster. But I now have the issue of what to do with one of the holes  I have it wired volume volume master tone. I may try a low cut like on a G&L. Or just a dummy pot!

 

I also made a weird judgement in choosing this bass as the one I'd try with TI flats (I was going through a flats phase). I came to the conclusion that this was not a good combo and popped D'Addario rounds back on. At last I was moving towards the SR sound I had in my head!

 

One peculiarity IMO is that the J pickup is very close to the bridge. I don't consider it to be a usable tone by itself, less low end than 60s jazz spacing, but it definitely adds some good overtones to the P pickup.

 

There remains some setup to do. I had the neck shimmed but I still feel string height could be lower. A bass like this should be pretty effortless to play IMO. So we might be looking at a proper fret level and more shimming at some point.

 

I'm clearly well into the sunk cost due to fiddling fallacy here, but I'm convinced there's a great bass waiting to get out!

[PaulThePlug]

@80Hz Loves an SR, got several, well 7, 4 of em modded

[crazycloud]

4 hours ago, 80Hz said:

but I thought I'd give a bit of commentary on my '94 SR890.

I like the colour. Not much of a 4 player any more, but if I'd seen that locally for a good price, the temptation would have been great to snatch it up too. 

 

4 hours ago, 80Hz said:

 

I settled on a Wilde (Bill Lawrence) PJ set (P-46 and J-45 pickups). I'd been previously impressed with Wilde guitar pickups so this was a good opportunity to try the bass offerings. Bill Lawrence's designs seem to share a "hi-fi" family sound which I felt would suit a contemporary bass

I've liked the guitar PUs I've heard, and have wanted to try the bass PUs, but don't have a donor to try them out in. The bass PUs have a good reputation, and I wish they'd do a 5 string set.

 

Wilde are lovely to deal with; though I've bought nothing (yet), they've answered my numerous enquiries promptly and pleasantly.

 

[crazycloud]

4 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

@80Hz Loves an SR, got several, well 7, 4 of em modded

Got 7 myself, 4 of which are on the list to get mods. Excuse me getting boring here, but I'm recovering from a very hard workout this morning.

 

SR706: EMG45DCXs, maybe with a BQC later. I need to rout to fit, but that's fine. Ordered and waiting on local stock as it's cheaper than importing direct.

 

SR256B (GSR206 with an EQBIII pre): Lace Alumis. I have the PUs already. Body will probably get sanded back to bare, stained black and clear coated too - waiting for a mate to finish his house renos to help with this.

 

SRC6: EMG DCs. Same friend as above has extensive luthiery experience and will bring his nut files to take the stock strings to .100 from .84.

 

SR375E: I want an SR2605, but they're $A2800 / 1350UKP and the 375 plays so nice and is really good looking in blue, I think a set of Nordy Big Blades ($A500 - bit more modern sounding than the BS apparently) would get me close enough, except for the aesthetics. I don't buy into the tone wood or hardware making any significant difference. The 375 neck doesn't move even with the big temp and RH swings here, and the body is most likely more than one piece of maple, but even in sunlight, I struggle to see the joins - note that this is Aussie sunlight, not the tepid stuff you have in Blighty. I purchased this new a couple of years back on a whim.

 

There's no point in selling the 375 to put it towards the 2605 as the market here sucks at the moment. I bought a used guitar recently for an absolute bargain, getting it basically for the cost of the EMGs in it, and my high bid, which I thought was modest, was significantly higher than what it sold for.

 

With the BTB and the Cort A5 UA and A6, I really think I have everything. Except for the GVB36 I mentioned earlier.

[80Hz]

8 hours ago, crazycloud said:

I've liked the guitar PUs I've heard, and have wanted to try the bass PUs, but don't have a donor to try them out in. The bass PUs have a good reputation, and I wish they'd do a 5 string set.

 

Wilde are lovely to deal with; though I've bought nothing (yet), they've answered my numerous enquiries promptly and pleasantly.

 

So far my impressions are very positive, the P-46 in particular. I feel less able to comment on the characteristics of the J-45 pickup itself - in the SR890 I get the sense it's there to complement the P pickup, and running both is "the" sound of the instrument IMO. There was some work involved with adjusting pickup heights to get a similar volume output, but I think that's partly the inherent imbalance in PJ sets exacerbated in this case by the placement of the J pickup so close to the bridge.

 

I know some peoples eyes swim with the 5 + 5 pole piece arrangement on the P-46 pickup and the 9 pieces on the J-45, but I actually like it, it's a bit unconventional and makes them distinctive. It has no adverse effect on the ability of the pickup to sense individual strings - I'm sure BL had a clear rationale for this design choice. I wonder if Bill, Becky or Shannon discussed this anywhere.

 

I'll also add that an initial concern I had when doing the pickup swap was whether the pickup routs on the SR890 would be too small - it turned out fine, the P-46 + J-45 are a snug fit but they're in there okay. But I would flag this as a consideration for anyone doing a pickup swap on a Soundgear of this vintage.

 

 

[80Hz]

8 hours ago, crazycloud said:

13 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

@80Hz Loves an SR, got several, well 7, 4 of em modded

Got 7 myself,

 

Clearly that's the threshold number for being part of the SR inner circle!! I'll need a new house first 🤔😄

[tempo]

I've had this SR1306 since 2010ish. It's no lightweight at 10lbs but the body is solid Padouk, so that's expected. It's from 1993 and they only made it for that one year before changing it to a sandwich body (mahogany with Padouk veneers), and changing the pickups. 

The catalogue & promotional material of the time had GV playing one.

I have recently fitted a Lusithand BMF800 preamp,which works well. Neck is a dream like all Soundgears.

[biro]

Oh, wow, the 1306 series is incredible. Here is mine, with the sandwich body, which actually now has coil splittable EMG TWX pick ups.

 

 

[tempo]

Yep, great instruments. The guy who I bought mine from had been using a Roland pickup on it, still has the small screw holes by the bridge.

 

Great value on the used market too. 

[Paulhauser]

9 hours ago, biro said:

Oh, wow, the 1306 series is incredible. Here is mine, with the sandwich body, which actually now has coil splittable EMG TWX pick ups.

 

Very nice bass and the X series TW's are killer. I used to have the same 1306 but sold a good ten years ago. 

What are the round wood inserts in between the pickups?

[biro]

Ah, just some little rubber feet I had for a shelf. One sure fire way to avoid digging into the wood with my fingernail!

[Paulhauser]

42 minutes ago, biro said:

Ah, just some little rubber feet I had for a shelf. One sure fire way to avoid digging into the wood with my fingernail!

Clever! 🙂

[crazycloud]

11 hours ago, 80Hz said:

 

I know some peoples eyes swim with the 5 + 5 pole piece arrangement on the P-46 pickup and the 9 pieces on the J-45, but I actually like it, it's a bit unconventional and makes them distinctive. It has no adverse effect on the ability of the pickup to sense individual strings - I'm sure BL had a clear rationale for this design choice. I wonder if Bill, Becky or Shannon discussed this anywhere.

The magnetic field above a round magnet is quite wide, so having the extra ones evens it out a little across the width of the PU. It's why Fender did this on the original P and J. From a manufacturing perspective, it might be easier as they already have a supplier and stock of the rod magnets and bar magnets in wider bass sizes may not be as cost effective for a small operation as they're unusual and far less common than bar mags in guitar sizes.

 

Carvin did similar way back with guitar pickups having IIRC, 11 across the width of the PU. These may have been slugs not magnets, but the concept is the same.

 

It also could simply be a combination of the above and marketing to make them a little distinctive from the million other P and J shaped PUs out there.

 

Or Bill just liked to annoy OCD people.

[RichT]

On 11/04/2025 at 11:54, SumOne said:

One issue I have with the 5 string SRs is the tight string spacing, the odd one out is the SR1605DW that has 18mm spacing though.

 

 

Odd it's not on the Ibanez European website (only the USA one), and out of big range of 5 string SRs it is the only one with 18mm spacing - so not just a new paint job, I'd guess quite an investment for that one bass to have a different neck/headstock/fretboard/pocket/body but it is only on the 'specs' on the USA Ibanez website that mentions 18mm. It is available in European shops but none mention the 18mm. Almost seems a typo on the USA Ibanez website but I assume not as the 'W' is probably for 'Wide'. Scan GuitarGuitar Gear4Music None of them mention string spacing, odd as it is the unique selling point.

 

I like a loud paint job, but am not too sure about this. And at about £1,500 there is a lot of other competition. Still though, I am quite keen.

 

Edit: Video of it from 4 years ago - so I guess this isn't a new Bass at all and is perhaps why it isn't on the Ibanez European website: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua2rtDiPTdE

 

 

 

The W will definitely be for Wide. I can't get on with the narrow spacing on most 5 strings, so I very briefly bought a SR2405W a few years ago, the W being specifically for it's 18mm string spacing. Unfortunately it turned out to have a total dog of a setup which I didn't trust to be resolvable so it got sent back pretty sharpish. I do remember the Aguilar Super Double pickups being very nice though. 

 

I eventually settled on a non-ms EHB1505 as my single 5 string, again the 18mm spacing on the EHB's being a primary draw, along with significantly lower weight than the SR fivers I tried. The neck specs on the EHB1505 and the 'Atlas-5' carve on the SR2405W look extremely similar on paper, with only the radius really being different, so probably fair to think of the SR 'W' models with the Atlas neck carve as almost an SR body & headstock with EHB style neck dimensions. 

[crazycloud]

14 hours ago, 80Hz said:

 

 

 

 

 

That's a really good finish, especially as basswood can be a little plain - it almost looks like maple. The burst is nice and subtle too like my 375.

14 hours ago, tempo said:

I've had this SR1306 since 2010ish. It's no lightweight at 10lbs but the body is solid Padouk, so that's expected. It's from 1993 and they only made it for that one year before changing it to a sandwich body (mahogany with Padouk veneers), and changing the pickups. 

The catalogue & promotional material of the time had GV playing one.

I have recently fitted a Lusithand BMF800 preamp,which works well. Neck is a dream like all Soundgears.

That's pretty and would look great on the stand next to my SR655E and those J6 pickups are very good from what I've heard.

Is the string spacing the typical 16.5mm of modern SR 6 strings?

Edited 18 hours ago by crazycloud