NBD. Seduced by the power of the Dark Side, I have been.

ICBM

Or more accurately, by the power of a low B string and active electronics... two things I thought would never occur in the same sentence as "I bought a new bass" .

It's an Ibanez Soundgear SR765JM (Jade Metallic), which after a lot of research turns out to be really quite a rare bass - made in 2003 only, in Japan. It has a Warwick-style dished back, and weighs surprisingly little - although not too little, so it doesn't feel insubstantial. Narrow neck and string spacing for a five, but again not *too* narrow. And in near pristine condition.

You may ask why! Well, I've played it quite a few times over the few months when I've been testing bass amps in the shop, for no other reason initially than I wanted something that would stress the speakers as heavily as possible when I was testing a cabinet. Then I noticed that I was starting to pick it as my bass of choice for testing anything, because it was just so nice to play and sounded so even and powerful. I also realised that it was making me play things I thought I couldn't, after I broke my arm last year - so as well as just liking playing it, it will double as a form of physiotherapy, and hopefully I'll end up being a better player than I was before.

I'm not going to suddenly give up my Rickenbacker, pick and fuzz pedal - in fact, it's unlikely I will ever use it with the current band, it's just totally wrong for that - but that's not what it's for, so that's fine.

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

... sounded so even ... 

This is the trick with five string bass guitars. (And sixes, for that matter.)

JezWynd

Winny_Pooh

5s are fun.... being able to play that low D... ooh!

Jimbro66

The perfect alternative to the Rick. A nice pair of basses to own.

Bridgehouse

ICBM

Winny_Pooh said:

5s are fun.... being able to play that low D... ooh!

Given what happened to my elbow, being able to play the low C is the greatest achievement I've managed on a musical instrument for quite some time .

Jimbro66 said:

The perfect alternative to the Rick. A nice pair of basses to own.

Yes, about as much the anti-Rick as it's possible to imagine while still being a solidbody bass with frets!

Moe_Zambeek

That’s not a bass I would have associated you with but it looks relatively restrained for a ‘modern’ bass!

KKJale

https://i.imgur.com/dsZtW9K.jpg

axisus

I didn't get on with Ibanez basses personally (I'm sure it's a great bass though!). I used to play 5s, I eventually changed to 4's. Now that I plan to make a bass I can't decide whether to go back to 5s.