NBD: Ibanez Premium 1406

[josie]

I've had this (see below) for a couple of weeks now and it threatens to take over from my original beloved GMR5 as my main gigging bass. 

A bit of a back-story of GAS and regret - I wanted the easy range of a 6 for my ex-band (indie-pop) and impulse-bought a Warwick Thumb on BC. Fine bass, but too heavy for me, body shape that didn't fit mine, and a growlier sound than I wanted. I wouldn't have bought it if I'd had a chance to play it first. It did confirm that I did want a 6 that suited me!

So now in a blues band, do I really need that high range? No, until our lead guitar player left (for understandable personal reasons) leaving us with a very good, but a bit flat rhythm guitarist. So space for some crisp high-end detail in the bassline, which I love playing. I'm using all 6 strings, and can play all sorts of stuff just between frets 3 - 7.

It's incredibly light for a 6, fairly flat satin neck, relatively little taper from the nut to the bridge, super-easy to play. All six strings equally tight and clear. Lovely sharp bright sound on G and C, good punch on B and E. Decent sustain although not as good as the GMR. Nice detail that the battery is in a compartment of its own with an easily opened cover, separate from the rest of the electronics, so one doesn't need to faff about with a screwdriver to test or change it. (Why don't all active basses do this?) It will take some time playing with the controls to figure out how to get the exact sound I want, but that's part of the fun 🙂 

And the owner of my good little local independent music shop - a bass player himself - believes he can get enough for the Warwick to cover what I paid for it with a decent commission for himself, so all's well 🙂 

 

 

[FinnDave]

I bought my first six string about 3 months ago (Ibanez SR506) to cover the range needed for Grateful Dead material, and now have a second (SR1006) and haven't touched any of my four strings since the first six appeared in my life. 

Pretty much everything you say about yours applies to mine as well - astonishingly good basses for the money.

[Al Krow]

Just like yours, my Ibanez SR Premiums with their immensely playable necks, 3 band EQ and fantastic Nord big single pups have eclipsed both a German Warwick $$ and a Sandberg TM4 (both of which were very good basses!) 

Edited November 1, 2018 by Al Krow

[Al Krow]

Gratuitous pic of my SRs including my 1206  

If you really want to impinge on the guitarists sonic space(!) then what I've done (really just for home solo use so far) is to re-tune the 6 string E to E and compliment that with a Digitech Mosai. That gives me a rich 12 string guitar sound and octave down from a traditional 12 string guitar. Mrs Krow loves it! So much so that I used it as an excuse to get an 8-string bass  

Edited November 2, 2018 by Al Krow

[Woodinblack]

Still haven't bought into the 6 string world yet. Had the GVR36 for a while, but the neck was just too wide for me, even though the string spacing at the bridge was glorious. Considering I have a SR705, 1000, 1605 and 5005 (and previously had a 505, 805 etc) it would be logical to get some kind of SR.

Maybe I just need to pick up a cheap 506 and see if I can get used to it!

[Al Krow]

27 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Still haven't bought into the 6 string world yet. Had the GVR36 for a while, but the neck was just too wide for me, even though the string spacing at the bridge was glorious. Considering I have a SR705, 1000, 1605 and 5005 (and previously had a 505, 805 etc) it would be logical to get some kind of SR.

Maybe I just need to pick up a cheap 506 and see if I can get used to it!

Get yourself an used SR1206. You know you love those Nord pups! 

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Get yourself an used SR1206. You know you love those Nord pups! 

If I was going to actually spend real money on it, it would have to be one of the others, 1306 / 1406 etc, I am not as keen on the plain mahogany but first I need to see if I could live with a 6, so cheap is the way to go!