Upgrading from Ibanez SR500?

[ReeV0]

Hi all,

I'm thinking of upgrading from my Ibanez SR500, which is my first and only bass for the past 10 years. It's been great and I love it, but fancy a change. I play a lot of fingerstyle funk rock and aggressive slap (RHCP/RATM style)

I've currently got 2 basses in mind:

 

Ibanez SRMS800

or

Musicman Sub/Stingray 34

 

I'm leaning more towards the Ibanez because I'm used to it, like the slim neck and 24 frets, but it's a fanned fret so I'd need to try it out first. All the reviews I've read say that they get used to it really quickly, and it actually feels more natural...

Which do you think would be the better buy?

Thanks

[horrorshowbass]

I have a sub and an sr600.

Get the sub, nice thin neck. Not ibanez thin but what is?

Alternatively put nordstrands in your sr500 for 200 quid

[ReeV0]

14 minutes ago, horrorshowbass said:

I have a sub and an sr600.

Get the sub, nice thin neck. Not ibanez thin but what is?

Alternatively put nordstrands in your sr500 for 200 quid

Thanks, I'll be trying both out in a couple of days. I remember trying a MM Sub a long time ago and not particularly liking it, but I think the reason being was that it had pretty heavy strings on it. The neck did feel quite thick though, compared to the Ibanez. I also like to have the 2-octave neck when soloing so not sure how limiting the 21 frets might feel...

[donslow]

For what it’s worth, I’m a bit of an Ibanez fanboy for much the same reasons as you but mostly just the neck, I started off with a vintage SR800LE and sold it because I “fancied a change” spent a looonngg time going through precision’s, jazzes, MM basses to name a few but none of them ever felt right or comfortable to me, 

I sold the lot and started buying SR basses again I now have two SR’s (with a plan for two more) and a precision, never touch the precision, always feels too...lumpy...personally, I’d stick with the Ibanez’s because, among other reasons, you’ll not find a nicer 24 fret neck to play IMHO

Just my 2p worth

[horrorshowbass]

I tend to agree with the don, 

nothing feels like an Ibby neck.

[donslow]

1 minute ago, horrorshowbass said:

I tend to agree with the don, 

nothing feels like an Ibby neck.

I did find a close second on a J&D brothers  through neck bass once, pretty much identical in feel, great bass to play but pickups sounded pants and it would’ve cost more than the bass was worth to get them swapped over so I sold it

[Paulhauser]

I think that some of the most important part of the Ibanez SR experience is the neck and those who love SR's do so because of the ergonomics (body and neck) I'm certainly like this, I started out on a SR500, switched to 506 and even though I almost exclusively use Spector 4 and 5 string basses the Ibanez SR 6 string basses' ergonomics have been the benchmark for me in terms of sixers (and currently own two of them, a SR3006 and 5006)

So based on my experience I'd recommend getting the fanned fret Ibby. I had a fanned fret Dingwall some years ago and I have to say that the fanning was really easy to get used to.