Ibanez SW20 Sound Wave

Made in China in 2003. Single channel with switchable gain, headphone jack, cd-in. Would be nice if it had a metal grille rather than fabric. Could throw it in the car a little more carelessly then. I use this amp for practice when I don't want to lug around the big 120Watt combo I have. It could be a little louder, but it does what I need it to. I'm sure the guitar players in my gorup are happy it's a little quiet.

I use it with an Ibanez SR640 and a Fender Fretless Jazz bass. It sounds clean and warm and just fine. I have no style, that why I have to work for a living. It's very quiet, at least so far. Distortion is at a minimum.

I would never gig with it, but it seems to be nicely built. Time will tell.

5 year warranty. Ibanez is notoriously unhelpful, so I'm not optimistic about my chances with them.

I have been playing bass for many years (over 20, but just recently again.) I own a whole load of stuff from 6-strings to basses to amps to effects, you name it. I love the size and weight of this amp for traveling (I'm old, remember.) I don't hate anything, but it could have a little more power. I compared it to a Hartke B150 and B200 (both pieces of junk...they rattle like tin cans) and a Fender Rumble 15 (not bad, but this sounded MUCH better.) If you need a small practice amp, go get one. If you need an amp for playing out, forget it. Try a Behringer BX1200 Ultrabass.

2001 model... blah blah... read the other ones, they have it all.

It has a fine sound for a small practice amp. I played an Ibanez BTB through this amp, and never had a problem getting the sound i wanted, but it is only 20 watts so its not that loud.

well i used it almost every day and after a little more than a year, then one day a ton of white smoke somming out and it shocked me when i went to turn it off. Dont expect it to last like Ibanez equipment normally does.

i fried it and i was out of warranty, so i didnt even bother fixing it.

its good but unlike most ibanez equipment it doesnt last. Im dissapointed with it honestly and i expected something i could go on to use as a small practice amp for years. I woudl say get this as a quick fix if your beginning, but dont expect it to really last.

This is a great low cost amplifier for a beginner
or someone who wants to practice. It has a decent Bass-Boom
and exceptional volume for it's limited power.
The volume is better than the SW-35 big-time.
This is only true because the defect of the SW35 is
it's distorting, thus useless, limiter.

The box seems to be tuned correctly and actually would sound
better if the electronics were less noisy. It has a very wide
dynamic range - Bassier than Fender's 25 and many others.
It fills the room with the right tones close up and at a distance.
This positively surprised me.

I cannot reccomend it's use in recording or live because
the amp's defect is it's inability to control RF Noise.
Also there is a hiss at all times. I played other SW20's
and all have the problem of noise. This is it's only problem
and unfortunately, a very bad one. Although it's cheap, there
are other amps that will sound cleaner like the Fender 25.

** We love Ibanez for attempting to get us sensible products at
a great cost, however - They are cutting corners - the wrong ones.
Despite the issue, I like what the product represents.

I've been playing for over 20 years and own/used some ~stuff~.

I would reccomend this for all level players who want to hear
somthing from the instrument quickly. Beginners looking for a
practice amp would be best to get this amp without hesitation.

Ibanez is to be praised for making this product because the real truth is "No small amp is ever worth hundreds of dollars - except the SWR working man's 10". All you really need is something to use as a
reference amp that can provide a full quality of dynamic range
instead of powering up your 500W and above stuff at home.
This works for that purpose and is cheap enough to
justifiably take home immediately. It's a blast of a unit.

I only wish I could take it further to small gigs and
recordings with mic's. The noise gets in the way and there is no
way to stop it at all. I've tried everything reasonable and
have seen the problem on each SW20 I tried. Not a warranty issue.

This amp would be somewhat perfect if the noise was gone.
The size, weight, dynamic bassey tone, and surprisingly room
filling loud volume is actually superb. The electronics inability
to deal with RF interference and it's constant hiss defeats it's gains when contemplating professional uses.

However, Ibanez was indeed on the right track in thier thinking.
They made a critical error on cutting electronics quality somewhere.
Maybee the case should have been less jazzy instead.