Ibanez BTB400QM

2003 Ibanez btb 400qm made in korea if im not mistaken.
Came in a nice red color. same features as all others havesaid.
I got this bass for 210 dollars (including shipping) with a free 110 dollar hardshell case off ebay brand freaking new! Lots of knobs on her , lets you shape the sound to perfection.

I play punk,jazz, a little metal, and some funky stuff. this bass suits it all, although i wish it had a more bassyer tone, this thing is a mid range monster, so its hard to kill the midrange, even with cutting it all.A neat thing about it is, with all knobs turn up, tap a tune , and mess with the mid frequency knob, it sounds liek a wah pedal!

The bass came to me with the neck way to stright and the action was to low , wich caused buzzing on evertyhing, i did a little truss rud adjustment and raised the action , now its fine no buzzing no wheres.

This bass can definatly be used by even a pro at big gigs no problem, its build like a freaking tank , ive droped it a few times, and acidentaly droped other basses on it, no scratches at all! id definatly gig with out a backup. It always stays in tune.

After playing many basses and owning a few of my own, id say this is a great bass all around, Awesome looks, awesome sound, great playability, rock solid. And since i paid less then half of what id have to pay at a music store , its a win win situation!

As above.. My likes are wide variety preamp.

Sound can be weak on the top end, But if you are looking for low end this thing can thunder. I like it, I was able to dial anyhting I wanted. I bet 90% of the idiots on here who gave it a bad sound didnt even have fresh batts in it, or have no patience to go through the EQ. I give it a 9 because i still cannot find the hi-mids and Hi end

Decent... I bought it used with some missing knobs.

This bass has to be prefessionally set up!!! IT has to be. You cannot do it yourself, no matter how great you think you are. IF you dont know a good lutheir then dont get this bass, Once this bass is set up it is a beatiful bass to play on, but before it is proerly set up it sucks.

As far a the retards who claim the cannot get rid of the buzz above the 15th, then that just shows that they cant set up a bass. My Luthier Set it up perfectly afteri spent hours trying to set it up.

I give it a 7 because the factory set-up was that bad.

Now here is where this thing has pissed me off... I have had two problems.
1. the upper horn screw stripped once... easy fix.
2. When changing the Batts for the 1st time, the Preamp fried... Dont knwo how or why, but it smoked and died(all i did was switch batteries fellas). After 4 months at the shop Ibanez finally sent my luthier a new preamp... since then it has not had a siblge problem. Im pretty sure this was a Lemon pre-amp so dont let this stop you.

LAme.... Took 4 months for my second pre-amp to show up.

I like it, Its my main gig bass, I would take it anywhere, and It playes good enough for me. I wouldnt get another one though if it were stolen, I would get an Iceman bass... Not that I dont like it, but I wouldnt shellout the cahs to play something I already played for a while. I like new basses.

i'm assumming it's a 2003 model since i bought it in 2003. i bought it at a local store.
BTB4 neck
5pc. Maple/ Walnut Neck Material
Basswood w/Quilted Maple top Body
24/Medium frets...25 on D@G strings
Rosewood Finger Board
Mono- Rail II bridge
IBZ DFR-N4 Neck PU
IBZ DFR-B4 Bridge PU
Pearl Dot Inlay
SN : Hardware Color
Vari-Mid IIIB (18V)

my style would be considered "all over the place" and it suits it just fine. i mostly am i heavy rock to heavy metal person though. currently i have no amp other than going straight into my Behringer mixer and into my computer. there is no noise that my ear detects. with a little tweaking this thing can achieve any concievable sound i think. perfect for a studio bass. i haven't been on a stage with it, but i would say that with a nice amp it would be just as at home there as a studio. likes? eveything!
dislikes? not a thing.

action was a little low for me, but i think the store might have had something to do with this. nothing was amiss when i purchased it.

i've only had it a few months, so this section is a little useless to me. i would take this thing with me as a main instrument though, no worries!

no need for this yet!

i've been playing for about 20 years. i have a Yamaha guitar and my little "persoanl studio" that i'm working on getting setup. if it was lost, i would get another one, no questions asked. if it was stolen, i would kill the SOB! i'm an Ibanez bass man, i had a SR800 when they first came out and i absolutly loved it. there's nothing bad about this bass that i can think of. i did a lot of "online" shopping looking for a bass. it wasn't until i visited the store and actully picked it up that made a decesion. it was this or another of the Ibanez line. i layed out my needs and it came down to versitility. this thing felt solid and had a great tone without an amp. the fist thing that got me was the finish, so f'n beautiful, the next was the solid feel and awsome sound...un-amped! i just knew this was the one!

Black Stain one made in 2001 Korea

everything as above

No straplocks means 9

Good for metal/fusion rock/modern jazz but not for classic jazz or ballads, becouse of growling mids that are difficult to be removed either by onboard EQ and outboard compression and EQ

I saw some reviews saying that this bass has a bad slap sound, I connsider it great but still not for nice jazz.

It's hard some times to play with pick on this one maybe becouse of string tennsion.

There is no noise no at all in all settings

I connsider the sound of this bass as growly/hard/heavy byt variety of sounds it can make is wide almost too wide due this EQ.

For me sounds great best with good amp

Action can be kept realy low. factory setting was OK. When I was buing this bass it was strung with Elixr strings which are great.

Two soapbars are set up perfectly no need to readjust.

Finish is Ok gets dirty fast in my opinion. Pots get dirty fast too.

It needs new straplocks when bought for 100%, those made by Ibanez don not hold strap and don't stay in the body.

All screws should be tightent.

After 2 years finish dosen't seems to wear off at all.

Becouse of the contruction of monorail II bridge strings sometimes bail. But it happends only with old strings so no need for backup.

N/A

Try it if you do'nt like it don't buy if you do buy. Just this. geat bass

look at the others

ive been playing all kinds of music on this bass in the last year that i have had it and you can make almost any sound you want from this bass.

i got this used but when i got it it was almost perfectly set up, i jsut like the action a little lower than it was

this is very reliable and durable as long as you remember to change the batteries for the active eq every so often, and all you have to remove is 2 screws and they are easy to change

never had to use it

i love the feel of this bass and the electronics are pretty good too, i dont think I'll be replacing it any time soon

Check the ibanez site for a full list

fully kitted out, locking jack, isolating bridge, 18v EQ, 35 in scale etc

this sounds great for anything ive played, i havnt been playin for that long, but my friend has, and he loves this bass, my trace elliot amp always helps though i suppose. the pickups are a little too quiet for my liking, but thats nothing. you can pretty much get any sound out of this you want.

it was set up beautifully by the man in mccormacks, batteries were low but that doesnt matter, people complain of all the fret buzz, but i barely get any..at all, everything was fine. it came with elixer strings too. it looks beautiful very nice finish.

seems pretty durable, ive whacked the headstock off walls and roofs a few time, but no marks and it stayed in tune, i could proabably gig with this without a backup. had no probloems with the strap locks or anything for that matter. pickups get a bit worn from the strings when you slap or whatever. the laminate on the body looks like it could b easily damaged though

never had to use

year warranty from place i got it from.

great bass, reccommend it to anyone, id love to try the 5 string version.

See previous review for feature details. This bass should come with straplocks (seen durability).....

Battery compartment should be accessible with no tool.

I use it to play Jazz, Blues & Rock. I play fingerstyle and slap a bit. Dial in a good slap tone IS possible but you need adequate string for that.

The preamp allows for some heavy tone tweaking although not all sounds are musical.

I guess my next statement could be said of any basses but I feel it's particularly true of the BTB: the BTB needs suiting strings to have a good tone. The BTB basic tone is not very "woody" it's rather brittle sounding string and it can sometimes sounds artificial and harsh with some stainless steel string.

The sound is very versatile. Whereas it may lack in the "woody"/traditionnal tone department this bass really shine if your looking at "HI-FI" kind of tone.

All in all for its price it's quite good. But it simply isn't in the same league as, say a StingRay, Sterling, a Cirrus or Warwick. Still for the price it is quite good.

For me the sound versatility (thanks to its preamp) was the deciding factor in getting it!

For slap I string it with DR High-Beam or Low-Rider.
For other style I prefer the Sunbeam or some old High-Beam.

When I got the bass it had a REALLY bad setup, too much bow, high action, crappy string. AND battery were almost dead.

The finish though was perfect even though it was a demo model. Neck was sound and the fret were properly filed.

One pot is a bit scratchy though.

After changing strings and adjusting the bridge the action became somewhat ok although I experienced quite a bit of fret buz. I tried various string height adjustment to compensate but to no avail.

I hate to mess with truss rod myself and so I kept the "bow" as is for a while (After seeing the kind of setup the shop had done I guessed I was better to do it myself...)

After adjusting the truss rod properly the action became REALLY good.

I should state that I've been playing guitar for 2 years and I started on bass a year ago. This BTB is the first bass I got.

Adjusting to a 35" scale was long for me. For the first few months any bass I'd try (and I tried a few) would feel better than mine. I especially dig the StingRay 5 neck and some Spector I tried.

Now I must say I love the action AND the neck but it was long to adapt to it

I haven't gig with it but it is really well built. I was playing (without strap lock) and the strap got loosed I was standing and the body it the floor quite hard while the headstock hit the wall and the neck bounced on the edge of a desk......

Results:
Well the wall got a ding the headstock is still immaculate
The fretboard got a very small ding but the edge of the desk lost big chip of wood.
The body had no mark but the cord plugged in got bend.

The bass was slighlty out of tune!!!

I guess that's what I would call durable.

Not contacted so far

As mentionned previously I've been playing only 1 years. I also own an ATK 300 fretless.

It took me quite a while to actually love the bass but now I really like it. Would I buy it again? Well given more money I would definitively upgrade but given the same budget YES in a wink.

For the price a very good value and it is not a one trick pony.

And to those that find it sounds synthetic or sterile try putting some DR Sunbeam on!!!

Read the other reviews or the Ibanez website for a list of features.

The only thing this bass is missing is a whammy bar! I believe it's the latest edition 2002 one, which will probably be the last BTB for the time being. The guy in the shop told me Ibanez have stopped selling them as they are too feature rich for the price. I didn't want to, but I liked the passive pick ups with the active preamp, I play some songs with distortion and this bass is easier to control feedback with than any of my other basses. The long neck is good for detuning, one band I am in plays in drop Db which I think this bass was built for!

I play slap and finger style, and I think this bass sounds great for both. I spent a day playing every bass I could get my hands on in London. I really liked the look of this bass so I thought I wouldn't like it's sound, but I couldn't help liking it. I knew I was going to buy it so I asked the guy in the shop to set it up for me, after 3 set ups I found the one that worked for me and the sound suddenly became amazing. I think this bass likes to be played hard as it sounds best when I really thump it.

You can use the tone controls to shape your sound quite a bit. You can get honkey Jazz or Music Man tpye sounds and then you can also make it growl like a P-Bass.

Its' not noisy at all. I think the electronics are pretty good.

I think you must get the shop to set up the action for you when you try it out. I had the action changed 3 times. Because it's such a precise neck I think you notice more when the action doesn't suit you. I've managed to get the action really low now, well much lower than I've ever had on a bass before. The neck is pretty wide, which is what I was looking for as it lets you play harder.

The pickups sound great, not played around with them very much to be honest - not felt the need to.

Overall the bass seems pretty well made, I could see a couple of screws needed a tighten when I bought it. I suggest going over everything and making sure its tight as I think the factory QA is a bit slack. Or do what I did and get the guy in the shop to sort it out for you.

The finish on the body is really nice, I got the black finish looks better than my friends Carvin which is a similar bass to look at but it cost 3 times as much.

This bass is solid. All seems fine on that front. Maybe the only gripe I would have is that some things needed tightening in the shop, but everything has stayed tight whilst at home.

Never had to use it. No comment.

I've been playing over 10 years. I own a Fender Jazz, a Westone Thunder 5A, a Honer B-Bass IV and now this one. Out of all of them I think the Ibanez is the best all rounder. I bought it mainly to play heavy rock as none of my other basses liked being tuned down to Db. The long scale of the Ibanez really helps this. Also the Ibanez makes me play harder and has helped me progress a bit more with my playing. The wide neck is well suited to my style.

When I bought the bass I spent a day trying out basses in 5 different shops in London, I tried everything, I was prepared to spend a great deal more than the #400 I spent on it, but this bass sounded better than basses over twice as expensive - and it played much better than them too.

Once I got the action sorted I was amazed.

I borrowed this bass for a concert from a friend. After talking to him about it for a while, he told me that these are the features: Ibanez BTB400QM with BTB 4 neck, quilted maple top/basswood back, large frets, Monorail II bridge, dfr-n4 neck pickup, dfr-b4 bridge pickup, Vari-Mid 3 band EQ. Made in korea, medium output passive pickups with active 18 volt electronics. The neck has a 35" scale. The neck is hard to play after learning to play on a jazz-neck, the pickups are really bland (i'll get to that in the next section), and there's a pretty thick buzz around the 12 fret on every string that its owner CAN'T GET RID OF.

I give it a 6 because even though its got alot of features, it still doesn't feel right, and doesn't have a great sound.

I play all sorts of styles, soft rock, funk, metal, punk, classic rock, and jazz. Of the above, the pickups have a very bland tone with no sustain, kind of like a dull *thunk* instead of actually a bass note. At first, i thought that this was because of the EQ. I fiddled with the EQ to no avail. I learned how to play on a \ squier P-special, and i currently own and play the squier and musicman sterling 4. Finally, after 2 hours of playing this pile of garbage before the show, i just decided to use the squier (my sterling was in the shop). The sound on this bass is actually THAT BAD. Side note: If you ever try to slap on this bass, the awful NOISE that is produced will simply make you want to jam sharp things into your ear.

I give this a 4 because the sound is truly "that bad". If you don't believe me, go to your local store and try it. The dull "thud" that ensues after fiddling with the EQ and trying to play will surely convince you that this is truly the worst bass ever.

The finish is definetely the best thing about the bass. It looks so damn cool. The pickups and strings were at the perfect height for my style of playing, although there WAS a nasty buzz around the 12 fret (which the owner told me wouldn't go away, after HOURS of adjusting the action and truss rod). There was this thing around the cable input that like locked it in place, which i thought was pretty rad cuz i move around ALOT and a feature like this definetely helps.

I give this a 8 cuz there was some pretty cool stuff about this bass.

Seemed pretty durable, although the owner told me that when he got it, the straplock on the front horn thingy fell off.

Its a 9, because its solid aside from the straplock.

wouldn't know, its not my bass.

Overall, waht matters most about a bass is the feel and sound, not the look. Whereas this bass is obviously roadworthy and built to last, the sound is terrible and the neck feels like a 5 string. Don't just take my word for it, go out and test this out for yourself so you can see just what i'm talking about.

I think its a 2000 model, but I'm not sure. look at the others for all the specs

you can make almost any sound you want with it. I've played it through several small practice amps, a bassman 100, and a hartkie half stack and it sounded good through all of them. It sounds great for the price.

the action is somewhat low, but i like it, and everything else was jsut fine too.

I've been using it for about 8 months, and I keep care of my stuff so i havent had any problems with it, except when i got the strap button ripped out, but that was easily fixed (just one screw). I would trust the bass more than I trust new strings, so i woudl gig without a backup any day.

havent need it

To me there is nothing better than the BTB bases. I WOULD RECOMEND THIS BASS TO ANYONE AND I CANT SEE MYSELF GETTING ANY OTHER BASS BESIDES THIS OR ANOTHER IN THE BTB SERIES