NBD: Ibanez EHB1505 headless (bad QC but love the bass)

[Lunatique]

Don't have time to do fancy "professional photography" of it, so for now I just took a couple of phone pictures.

I had been drooling for the new Ibanez headless basses ever since I saw the leaked photos a while ago before they were even announced. The specs and the design ticked all the boxes for me, and I only wished it had more choices for finishes. Once I had seen enough videos posted about them and was sure they were what I had hoped, I placed orders for two of them--the EHB1505 and the EHB1000. My intention was to replace my main 4 and 5 strings with these (Ibanez SR650 and Dingwall NG-2 5-string), as I just didn't want to deal with headstocks banging into stuff or getting the tuners knocked out of tune anymore, and I never got as comfortable on the multi-scale as I had hoped--normal scale still feels more natural to me.

After a period of agonizing wait, the EHB1505 finally arrived today. My wife made me spray everything down with alcohol as I unboxed, due to Covid-19 concerns (we're in Northern California and it's currently in lockdown).

The bass is a bit heavier than I had hoped, weighing 7.9 lbs. Considering it's a headless with chambered body, I think it could be a little lighter. I was hoping for 7.5 lbs or less, but I guess I can't compared it to something like the Strandberg Boden 5-string, as that body's got a large chunk of its corner missing, so it's bound to be significantly lighter (it's about 6.5 lbs.).

The neck is thin, fast, and smooth. I love how low the action is but without any fret buzz--this is by far the best action I've ever played on a basd with default factory setup. But from here on things went bad.

In the brief moments I was able to play a few lines without problems, it sounded awesome--punchy and aggressive. The neck feels significantly faster than my Dingwall NG-2 5-string, which in comparison is chunkier. I also much prefer darker fingerboard for better contrast against the strings (when I got my NG-2, I was bummed when I saw maple fingerboard was the only option).

Now, on to the bad.

The electronics are not put together properly at all. There was no sound from the active preamp, and the treble/bass knob was very loose. When I jiggle it, it would make loud static noise. I unscrewed the back cover and checked, and it seemed okay, then I took off the treble/bass caps with the smallest Allen wrench supplied with the bass (there are four sizes included) and tightened the knob. That gave me back sound for the active preamp, however, there was still stuff loose with the connections, as the sound was intermittent, punctuated with loud static noise, and if I tried to use the treble/bass, mid/frequency knobs, touching them made the loud static noise too, and applying light pressure to the instrument cable at where the jack is, created the same loud static noise. Even slapping the strings caused the noise, and at their worst, they sounded like the loud pop you get when you plug/unplug your bass without turning down the amp first.

It was basically unplayable, and needed to have to electronics repaired/tightened/whatever. I'm not an electronics expert so I had no idea how to troubleshoot and fix it myself, and I was going to call Guitar Center and tell them send me a replacement and return this one (unless I figured out how to repair it myself).

For $1,500 the quality control is unacceptable. What the hell is happening with Ibanez's quality control in Indonesia?

I tried to troubleshoot a second time and opened up the back again, and this time, I found the problem. It was a friggin' badly soldered wire that has disconnected from the connector jack, and I'm guessing every little movement I made caused it to connect/disconnect, creating all that noise. I'm glad it wasn't something more serious, because I just need to redo the soldering on that wire and it'll be fine.

Despite the negatives (which fortunately were things that were easily fixed and not deal-breakers), I love this bass. It plays so smoothly, sounds great, is easy on the eyes, and I'd be happy replacing my Dingwall with it. Don't get me wrong, the Dingwall is an amazing instrument, and to another person it could be the perfect bass, but unfortunately, I just prefer normal scale, headless, and darker fingerboard.

I hope when my EHB1000 arrives in May, it won't have any QC issues. I already know the Bartolini BH2 pickups are a bit darker than the Nordstrands, and I'm fine with that, because I don't always want the more aggressive sound of the Nordstrands.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Lunatique

[grayn]

Sorry to hear about the QC issues but it looks a really cool bass and I love Nordstrand pickups.

I've always found Indonesian gear to be spot on.

I reckon you should email Ibanez about the issues.

Have fun with it, once sorted out.

 

[Al Krow]

Congrats - she's a beaut. Not sure whether that is bad QC or just dislodged in transport - not experienced any QC issues at all with any of the 4 Ibby basses I've had (3 of which are still in my herd), so am sorry to hear about the loose wire, but glad you managed to sort it out.

[Lunatique]

4 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Congrats - she's a beaut. Not sure whether that is bad QC or just dislodged in transport - not experienced any QC issues at all with any of the 4 Ibby basses I've had (3 of which are still in my herd), so am sorry to hear about the loose wire, but glad you managed to sort it out.

The loose treble/bass knob I had to disassemble and tighten was definitely a QC issue. I also forgot to mention the white marking on the knobs are pretty rough and uneven. I'm going to have to touch them up too.

I'm now the third or fourth person who's posted about shoddy manufacturing of their EHB basses (on talkbass), and considering how few people have received theirs currently, it seem like a QC issue. Maybe we're unlucky and these are just coincidences, but if more examples pop up, it"s going to be a bad look for Ibanez.

I have three other Ibby basses and they're all fine. This might be a rare anomaly.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Lunatique

[Lunatique]

I should also mention that the B-string is completely dead and sounds nothing like the other four strings. No metallic zing that new roundwounds are supposed to have (which the other four strings has plenty of).

I checked on the Ibanez's site and it states that the strings used as D'Addario® EXL165 + .130.

This means they probably have a bunch of of the EXL165 per their contract with D'Addario, and they for whatever reason didn't include any 5-string packs in that deal, and simply adds the extra B-string to the 4-string pack, and we have no idea what company that B-string is from or if it's even a matching set to the other four strings. Even if it's from D'Addario and a good match, there's still the chance it could be a dead B-string that the employee at the factory installed without realizing it, since it didn't come with the same pack and could have aged differently. 

So I called up Guitar Center and played my bass over the phone, and the customer service guy said, "Yeah, even over the phone that B-string sounds totally dead." He got permission to send me a new set so I can put a fresh B-string on, to make sure it's just the string and not the bass. If it turns out to be the bass, then I'll have to return it for exchange, because who wants a bass that sounds dead in the lowest notes, no matter if the string is fresh or not? I suspect it's just the string and once I put a fresh one on, it'll be fine.

 

[Guest]

That sounds unfortunate and most unlike Ibanez. I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with their basses but even the cheapest models have had pretty faultless fit and finish. Shame really as I was gassing for the EHB1506MS but a) I’d much prefer it in a natural finish and b) it looks like it’s worth waiting until they’ve ironed out these QC issues.

Edited March 25, 2020 by FDC484950

[Lunatique]

Okay, the new strings arrived, and yep, it was indeed a dud B-string that Ibanez's Indonesian factory put on my bass, and as soon as I swapped it out with the fresh B-string, I got that metallic zing that was missing.

[Al Krow]

20 minutes ago, Lunatique said:

Okay, the new strings arrived, and yep, it was indeed a dud B-string that Ibanez's Indonesian factory put on my bass, and as soon as I swapped it out with the fresh B-string, I got that metallic zing that was missing.

Phew! 😊

[Grahambythesea]

When you spend that sort of money n a bass you have a right to expect it to be right. You need to complain to Ibanez. Also your retailer should have checked too.

[Lunatique]

6 hours ago, Grahambythesea said:

When you spend that sort of money n a bass you have a right to expect it to be right. You need to complain to Ibanez. Also your retailer should have checked too.

Guitar Center said they stopped doing pre-shipping inspections/setups, because too many people were taking advantage of it. They'd complain that the instrument they received had the box opened and not 100% new, and then return it--it became this petty strategy to "try out" instruments for free. There was no way to do inspection/setup without opening up the box, so they had to stop. I wonder if Sweetwater has to deal with this problem too.

 

I did complain to them, and they said they do reflect customer feedback to the manufacturers. So if they get enough of these complaints, I'm sure they'll talk to Ibanez and tell them to shape up.