Ibanez BTB405QM

My Ibanez BTB450 QMHS Professional Bass Guitar is the last bass I will probably ever have to buy. There's so many features to these instruments, that I'd be here forever but the bottom line is I didn't have to spend 5K on an Alembic to get the EXACT sound and tone that I wanted. I'm considered a very fussy player, and I have no problem with that monicker. My bands are always in hgih demand, and we arm ourselves with suitable gear, only high end stuff.

The BTB450 wasn't cheap, it was almost $1200, plus another 4350 for a fitted heavy duty case. But it was well worth it!

Since this this series has been discontinued, the demand for this instrument seems to have gone through the roof. I'm happy I have mine, and I never let ANYONE touch it, zero, nadda, no one, because it can't be replaced. If Ibanez decides to re-issue this series down the road and I hope they do without changing anything, then I will get a couple, but at least one at the very minimum. I've never
picked up an instrument in my life that felt as perfect right from the start as this one. I actually didn't let go of it when I first played it until the salesman had found me my high end heavy duty flight case and it was inside. Only 4 of these got to L.A. not a whole lot were made. I consider myself lucky that I was in the right place at the right time, truly blessed.




And again, if I could by another one, or even two I would(I know I'm dreaming since, every session player here seems to want to buy mine...)

Oh yeah, Bartolini Pickups rule!

Nothing gets close! I'd easily compare this bass to any Alembic I've ever had.

Perfect from the moment I picked it up.

I won't gig with it in a live situation, it's my studio bass only. Far too precious to take on the road. Too many risk factors involved with an instrument as fine as these are.

Nothing to repair, the person(s) who set it up are true masters, asn I wrote them a letter thanking them, which they replied to personally, which was very impressive.

I've been playing for 40 years, had literally hundreds of stringed instruments. There are few that will touch this bass in so many ways, I actually want to finish this review to go play it :D

I bought my 405 new from George's Music in Orange Park, Florida back in 2002. It's a fretted five-string, 24 frets, quilt-maple top with basswood body. It has all the standard features everyone else here has mentioned-three band active eq with variable mid selector. The neutrik locking jack is awesome. Every bass and guitar should have this feature, IMO. The monorail bridge to isolate the strings is nice, too. And I like that it's a 35" scale. The neck and fretboard are to me incredibly comfortable.

Okay, so I'm Ibanez' demographic. I play metal. I play through a Genz-Benz GBE 500H with a Triad cab. Through this set up, this bass sounds absolutely great. Of course, I've played it through other rigs and it still sounds great. The eq with the variable mid makes for a ton of tonal diversity. Rich highs. Thundering lows. You name it. I've used it for both stage and studio. It's excellent for either.

When I bought it the set up from the factory to the store was fine. I may have had to adjust it a tad, but overall it was set up well. I love the qm finish over trans black. Online pics really do it no justice. No flaws that I could see. And the pickups were adjusted perfectly to my liking. In fact, I don't think I've ever had to adjust them as a result.

Will it withstand live playing? Well, I've gigged with it countless times in the last 7 years since I purchased it. The hardware seems built to last and I've cemented some schaller straplocks/buttons into it with Gorilla Glue, so they're going nowhere. The finish still looks great. Of course, I try to take immaculate care with my gear, but there's been no chipping or fading. I would gig without a backup for sure.

I haven't had to deal with Ibanez, so I have no idea how to rate them. Time will tell, I guess.

I've been playing over 20 years, now. I own a G&L L-2000, an '86 Peavey Foundation, another Iby (Roadstar II RB850). The BTB is my only fiver and I've owned several others at the same time I owned this one. The BTB has been the only one to survive trimming down my fiver collection to only one bass. Don't be put off by the Ibanez name or image. While I do use this bass to play metal, it could easily be used in a setting where jazz, latin, funk, country, r&b, pop, or anything else imaginable is the style. It's that versatile.

I bought it used. It was made in 2003 in Korea. The color is honey sunburst - very nice finish BTW. For specs visit the manufacturers site. Nice feature to mention is the locking jack socket - saved me couple of times since I mainly play in blues clubs where you always can find beer-heads who think it's funny to pull out the cable from your guitar while your playing. Plus the EQ is very versatile for a stock guitar - there are very few guitars where you can adjust the mid level, and here you not only get to adjust it, but you also get to adjust the mid sweep. For me, considering the price paid, it's a 10.

As I mentioned before, I play in blues clubs, so you have probably already figured out that I play mostly blues. I also play rock and some metal on various occasions, but modern blues is mine main focus. And I must admit the sound suits my needs very well. It's not very classic, but I never expected it to be. I actually like the growl and crystal highs this guitar produces - it suits my technique and blends nice into the music my band plays. I play it through Hartke 5500 and two Trace Elliot 1048 cabs and never had any complaints about the sound. So I guess it's 10.

The guitar is quite heavy, not as heavy as the classic bases, but still. I never adjusted the rod, I was satisfied with the factory settings. I only adjusted the ridge a little bit, but nothing radical. Action is quite low, but there are very little fret buzz - unless of course your technique is poor, then you will always get the buzz no matter how high the action will be.
The neck is just the way I like - thin and wide. It's a matter of taste. I have some friends who prefer the neck to be thick and narrow, like Warwicks or Musicmans five strings, but I prefer the other way around so the Ibanez is ideal for me. The electronics are very well designed - it runs on two 9V batteries, and it's very economic on them. I haven't changed mine for a year now, and I've been playing it on daily basis, so I give compliments to the people who designed the electronics for this guitar.
There is one thing that I don't like. The bridge construction prevents you from using string repaired on-the-spot. When I broke my first sting playing this guitar at a gig I realized I didn't have a replacement for it, so I repaired it quickly as I used to do million times before just to find out that the string repaired this way won't fit into the bridge. Since then I always have a set of spares with me. If you want to revive a broken string to use it with this guitar, you need to unwind it to a certain point and then carefully wind it so that it's not wider from what you get at the store. It's not a great drawback, but noticeable for players low on budget.
I give it 8, because I would like it to be slightly lighter. And there's this issue with the bridge.

The only thing that broke over the four years I own this guitar were the little plastic gaskets on two tuning machines, and they broke only because I disassembled them once and then screwed them to tight while assembling then, so it's kinda my fault. Haven't encountered other problems so far. Definitely 10. It's not idiot-proof, but you may rest assured that it won't break on its own.

Contacted them once, when I broke the gaskets I mentioned above. They didn't want to sell me the gaskets, so I asked them to sell me new tuning machines. It turned out they haven't had any at the moment, and that wasn't going to change for a next month - and that was far to long for me to wait. I had my friend, who works in a machine shop, make me new brass ones. They turned out to greatly improve the tuning machines precision, so I had my friend make me more of them. But even though the story had a happy conclusion, I didn't find the customer support very helpful. But they did pick up the phone and answer my email so I guess I'll give them 3.

In the past I experimented with few guitars, and after few disappointments I found a guitar, no - a whole series of guitars - I felt was designed for me. It's the Ibanez BTB series. I played Music Man, Warwick, Fender, Cort, Yamaha, and many more. Some of them I liked, some of them not, but the Ibanez BTB was the guitar I felt in love with. If I would be stolen or destroyed I would definitely buy one again and I would only trade it in for a higher model of the BTB series basses. The BTB 405 QM has a very good price-for-money factor. Even bought new it is still much cheaper than the basses its competing against.

Korean-made, with excellent craftsmanship. 24 frets on the high strings, 22 on the low strings. It's a bolt-on neck, made of 5-ply maple and walnut. Has two bright single-coil Ibanez pickups (as opposed to the muffled sounding Bartolini humbuckers in the 450 series). It has an 18-volt active 3-band EQ with sweepable Q, along with a master volume and pickup blend (and all knobs except master volume have a center detent). Also unusual is the Mono-Rail II bridge, with a separate fully adjustable bridge piece for each string. It has a transparent finish over a figured (quilted) maple body. Neck scale is a bit longer than normal, at 35, which gives the low end a little extra tension but also more depth.

I expected a bright sound, but I was really surprised at the the brightness. Also, if you work the EQ, the low end seems to be fairly subsonic, with some extreme depth to the overall sound. However, it is a bit thin in the mid range.
This makes it the perfect complement to my Spector 5-string, which has humbuckers and a growly midrange and low end. I expected to use it in a completely different way, but I really like it, now that I've got it.
This is more appropriate for funk, jazz, and probably country (not that I play much country, the closest I get is a ballsy alternative version of Bad Moon Rising), but I could see someone playing Korn, and other music with that kind of jangly top end and deep low end. I don't use it that way, now, but I might in the future. My sound is more hard rock and alternative, but it leans more towards an old Geddy Lee sound, with a lot of mid punch and thick low end.

It has jumbo pickups, which are finished properly but still are a tad rough on my left hand, once in a while. I didn't have any major issues with it, after I put two batteries in it, but I had to unscrew the back cover to get to the battery slot. It also has a locking 1/4" jack, which is absolutely great.
The neck is a bit wide, but that makes it pretty easy to play slap and funk. I don't play that style much, because I have to slap the crap out of my old Jazz Bass to get a good sound, and my Spector never sounded really great, when I played that style. The BTB is a slap and pop machine, though! We play one song that has a lot of slapping and popping, and the rest of my band about passed out, when I played it the first couple of times on the BTB. It just sounded so good, with that style. They are asking me if I can play more in that style, now.

The only real gripe I have about it is the strap buttons. They are in a good location, and they are plenty strong, but they keep slowly working themselves loose, and I have to keep tightening them up.
I'd use it without a backup, if it were my main bass. Although I use it in conjunction with my main bass, I could easily pick this up and finish a show, if something happened to my other bass.

Haven't dealt with them. Some okay info on their website, but not much is model-specific.

I've been playing about 24 years. Did some studio work when I was younger. I play it through a Peavey BAM 210 with a 15" extension cab. I like this bass a lot for slower songs and songs that my guitarist plays acoustic guitar on. It is fast, smooth, and quiet, and I sometimes use it for very fast low-end lines.
The 18 volt output is pretty hot, but the 9 volt system on my Spector actually produces larger peaks at the input on my bass amp.
I expected a slightly different sound, but I am happy with the sound I get from this. This guitar is a big part of me getting rave reviews on my tone from a lot of other musicians. I just played with the EQ until it sounded good, and apparently a lot of people like that sound...

Korean Production 5 String Bass Guitar.

See my Review of the BTB 455QM

The quality on the 450 Series seems to be just a little better than the 400, or it might just be me becasue I was shipped one with a Truss Rod protruding from the Neck.

The difference in this instrument of the 400 Series is the 400 does not ahve the Bartolinin Mk-1 Pickups.

This means that the 405 does not sound compressed, adn is considerably Brighter than the 450 Series.

What a Bassist is Dreaming of is this Bass. Everythng that you need to just to drop it off to your favorite Action Wizard and go gig.

See my Review of the BTB455 QM

The Pr-Amp is just as versitile and I Like it over the P/A on the Warrior, which was a Bartolinin to my recollection.

The Sweepable Variable Mid Control beats out a 250, 400, 800 tri position variable switch any day.

There might be more that the Bart accelerates at, but for me it is not worth spending 8X as much, and on stage I am happy with what this Bass does.

400 v. 450 series - This Bass is very ready to Rock and spit high-end.

The Tuning Keys are not mounted at the stylish angle of the 450 Series.

I have not been able to detect any discerable difference in teh overall Quality of the 400 to the 450 Series. SOme might feel a difference in the necks, but if there is any difference, it escapes me.

The reason there are no more collor offerings in teh BTB line up may be due to some problems with matching, as one will see at the colored part of the face of the neck at the Body.

But I really wanted a Blue Bass, so I bought one.

It is an Ibanez. See my BTB 455QM Review. In Firearm analogy it would be...its an AK-47, it is unstoppable.

No dealings w. the Co.

Never needed help.

One YEar warranty.

See the BTB455QM Review.

I wanted a BTB 455 in Blue.

This is all I could find.

Thought about replacing the pup's w/ Bartolinin's, but it was not worth the hassle, and I saw an instrument with Brighter output as a nice option to keep.

5 string, neck spacing is just right, solid, stays in tune very well, graphite nut, quilt maple top with transparent blue finish, 3 band EQ and soapbars. Satin chrome hardware is unique, Claw shaped body looks sexy, both according to the ladies, and to my eyes when I let ladies try it on! You can't go wrong!

The 3 band EQ can dial in practically any sound you want and the soapbar pickups are on the bright side, but I like bright pickups so its all good. VERY little noise, even with the trebble cranked and playing under fluorescent lights.

As soon as I got it, it was set up. It played real smoothly the way it was set up. The blue finish is really pretty. There was one small chip missing from the finish when it arrived but I covered that with a sticker. Besides that, I couldnt ask for more.

This thing is built like a tank. It could probably take a beating, but I like it too much to test that out. After upgrading from my budget OLP bass, I am happy I got this. No adjustments have been needed. It could gig without a backup but dont think Im gigging this one. If something happened to it Id go crazy.

Havent needed to deal with em yet

Ive played for going on 10 years now. Ive owned many a bass, all cheapos until this one. Ive played on more expensive basses at stores but this one is just as good as some of the more expensive warwicks at a fraction of that cost. If it were stolen, I'd go crazy, I'd cry and then save up and wait until another one just like it appears on ebay. Pity it had to be discontinued. This is my dream bass and I finally own it. I dont need to regurgitate a lot of money on a custom made one when everything I'd ask for was already built into this one for less than that. Nothing comes close.

2006 with Bartolini. The string spacing is just perfect for slapping. The Bridge is very special: I don't know if it is sonically better than others, but it looks very cool. The mid frequency sweep button is very appreciated. Neutrick locking jack is now a must-have for me. I'll keep this bass for a long time. Tons of features for the price.

The sound is clear and precise. The Bartolini pickups do a really good job combined with the mid frequency sweepable EQ. The B string is thight. By blending different amount of each pickup, you can get very good sounds.

Really beutiful bass for the price.

I expect this bass to stay in my arsenal for years.

I had a thight budget, but needed a lot of features in a good sounding bass. I got it all and more with that one.

Features as per previous posters and here:
http://www.ibanez.co.jp/eb_page.php?PAGE_ID=284&COLOR=CL02&AREA_ID=3

I wanted a flexible-sounding bass as it needed to cover all my playing roles, from church through to "pub" gigs and home recording. It is an incredibly flexible bass and is able to offer smooth single lines and bright percussive taps and slaps. The active 3-band EQ allows a lot of sound shaping.

The shop I bought it from set the bass up for me, so I can't comment on the factory set up service, however, there were no obvious flaws or set-up mistakes

I've only used this a couple of times at church so it's too early to say. From my previous experience with Ibanez guitars, I don't foresee any problems

1 year warranty through the shop I bought it from

I've used and played a number of basses, but this one is proving to be the best - even better than Fender Jazz basses, which I have a lot of affection for. I can't believe how easy it is for me to play, and how quickly I adapted to playing with the extra low-B string. Recommended

It's a 2005 Ibanez btb, it was hand made in japan. it has a fretted neck with 24 frets on the D an G strings and 23 on the B E and A strings (looks kinda cool to me). It has a beautiful Big leaf oak top and is painted in some kind of honey-like color. The active electronics contain a volume, bass cut/boost, treble cut/boost and a pickup switch (neck/bridge). It also has a equalizer on the bass itself. Big neck made of maple and rosewood with two (!) trussrods and a five piece back with double skunk stripe.
Its a briliantly featured thing for the 560 euro's I paid.

I play all kinds of styles from jazz to rock and it can handle just about anything! the sound ranges from muddy double bass (neck pu and treble cut) to wooten-alike growling (both pickups bass and treble boosted), you can even get a jacostyle sound out of it (on an ibanez! -wow-). you can let the sound range from warm fingering to cold slapping using the EQ (I always boost my low-end). It's briliant for both studio and stage work. I love it!
downside: the active elctronics ar somewhat difficult to maintain control of, your sound can be just as bad as it is good.

the set up wasn't al that good at first, a lot of fret buzz at the low end and some loss of tone at the high end. fixed it by putting on thinner strings and just tightening the trussrods a but.
The action is comfortably low and gives enough punch without having to dig into your strings. I have to note that my hands are quite big so I prefer the big distance between the strings (almost 1.8 centimeters) over the smaller distance of, for example, a five string jazz bass.
the rate for this part is my out-of-the-box rate, after ajusting it (takes half an hour) it will be 10 out of 10

simple: it stands everything, the bolt on neck feels great, the hardware is solid and doest flaw or break and I have been gigging with it for one year now without any backup.

didn't need any.

I've been playing for 3 years now and this is the best bass I have played so far (believe me, I did a LOT of research). the bass hasn't been letting me down so far, just make shure you change the batteries often (once maybe twice a year). I love the looks an feeling of this thing just as much as the sound. you do need to spend an couple of sunday afternoons to get your sound right because it can be quite a hassle (especially live). overall I'd say this is one of the best around, just try to look trough the metal image of ibanez and you'll see a fine bass that can be used for any style of music.

Made in Korea, 22/24 frets, quilted maple top, 3 band active EQ, Ibanez soapbar pickups, Maple/rosewood neck with rosewood fretboard, heavy duty monorail bridge, stable tuners, 35" scale, came used with hardshell case.

sound was pretty good. Personally, I thought the B string was a bit muddy. But the rest of the strings were very punchy and modern sounding. If you're into that tone.

Fretwork is pretty good compared to other imports. Finish was flawless. Hardware is heavy duty.

This thing is a tank. The hardware could withstand centuries of playing. Double truss rods are interesting to get used to.

N/A never had to contact Ibanez.

It was a nice bass. I've since sold it, just not my tone. I reccomend it for anyone playing heavy rock.

-made in Korea, 2003
-24 frets on D,G strings, 22 on B,E,A.
-Master Volume, PU balancer, bass boost/cut, Mid boost/cut, Mid Sweep, High boost/cut. Vari-Mid III EQ.
-Ibanez pickups. 5 string extended
-Active EQ, Passive PU
-Basswood + Maple Top body, rosewood fingerboard
-mine was blue with Maple pattern, but black, red with maple pattern also available
-Fat, big body. Pretty heavy
-Monorail 2 bridge (not body thru)
-ibanez tuners
-35 inch neck scale, fat cause 5 string
-I got a gigbag and extra set of Elixirs with mine, but extra stuff depends on the dealer

-I play everything metal except for Power, and NU, and this bass seems to fit in with pretty much everything. You can dial in any tone you want, basically. I can get Jaco's tone from using the neck PU, but with a little tweaking Lamb of God tone can be done easily after.
-I use this through an Ampeg half stack, which sounds great. You gotta tone down the mid sweep a bit on Ampegs cause Ampegs are sensitive. I had a gig with a treblely tone (mistake in setting) and it sounded like slapping even though it was all fingering. We played Cowboys from Hell, and after the song, this guy in the back stage said "whoa you sound like Fieldy man, you're like faster than him in slapping." I laughed my ass off.
-It is a bit noisy if you cut the bass and turn the treble and mids to max, and it is also noisy on the neck PU (very little noise though). so with right settings, there's no noise, its noiseless.
-It's got a full sound, but sounds kinda hollow in certain settings. it sounds good in every setting, but on the treblely Jazz solo setting, I find it not quite rich enough. Mahogany body would've been better on this bass
-whether on stage or studio, it sounds really really versatile, and if you set the EQs right, it can be the best bass.
-I don't like the Locking Cable thingy. I just want it to come out easily.

-the action and the neck was perfectly seted up at the factory. Some ppl had problems with the truss rods, but mine was good. there's not even slight clue of flopping (not even on the B string)
-Pickups are pretty low, and it works. its comfy
-no flaws, as far as i know... its all good

-its pretty sturdy, and it would certainly last a few thousand gigs
-the tuners are the bridge seem to keep a tune forever, so I bet it wouldn't crap out on you despite of temp change or physical damage
-finish looks hard enough. it looks kinda like plastic, but its wood, so its hard.
-strap buttons are solid, but they're kinda small, so if your strap is worn out, I suggest getting those metal ring shaped plate thingys and stick it between the strap and the strap button.
-I never had to adjust anything, so I think this would last for decades.
-this bass should be able to withstand anything, but I'd bring a backup, just in case if a string breaks, or your strap ripps, or one of the battery explods.

-I haven't dealt with the company, but the headquarter is located in Japan, so you have to contact them through your dealer
-the warrenty is 1 yr, if purchased from a proper dealer
-I heard that even small parts like pots are $20, but I haven't experience those kinda rip offs from Ibanez, so I got no opinion.

-I have played this bass for 3 months now, and I love it. I have a GSR200 (beginner bass), ESP viper 5 string, and this bass. BTB is the best, and my main bass, so others are backup and backup of a backup
-I don't regret buying this bass at all, im happy with this
-it it was stolen or lost, I'd buy higher end BTB with Bartolini PUs and Mahogany body. I played it in a shop and higher end models are even better (well, no shit)
-I love everything about it, I hate the heaviness. I love the EQs the most.
-i've compared this to 2~3 times more expensive models like SR905, Warwicks, Fender Jazzs, Yamahas, and higher end BTBs. well, this btb was the best in my price range, but even if I had twice as much money, I probly would've bought this (since higher end BTBs are approx $2000).
-Although Ibanez is famous for cheap tricks, this bass does not sound cheap at all. and it looks pretty expensive too, so Im happy. And the head stock does not have IBANEZ printed huge on it, so ppl will probly think that this bass is some other brand much more expensive.

Made in Korea in 2004. X-long 35" scale 5-stringer with lotsa decent features for the price range...these features just aren't as *refined* i guess you could say as you'd find in a proper boutique-style bass. But like I said, excellent for the price range. Monorail bridge, locking jack, VERY flexible controls and high-output preamp top that list. Finish is a quite pretty transparent black on quilted maple...I kinda wished Ibanez would finish some BTB1005e-style, with the natural oiled quilted maple, but this is pretty nice too. Brushed chrome finish on hardware looks gorgeous, but I've seen a couple of these basses with a lot of the finish eaten up by green corrosion...hasn't been an issue with mine so far. Sale price included hard case and strap.

I play a pretty diverse mix of stuff...reggae, rock, blues, Uncle Tupelo-style alt-country, jazz, often with one song incorporating several of these styles. This bass has very good tonal flexibility, and the controls are sensitive and intuitive enough to use that it's fairly easy to change tones on the fly. Boost the bass, cut the treb, roll off the mids a bit and blend in more of the neck pup, and you get a HUGE subsonic bowel-shaking dub reggae tone. Boost the bass and treb, cut the mids and slap with impunity. Set the pups dead even, flatten out the mids and treble and boost the bass a bit for unobtrusive jazz. I wish it had a bit more clarity and warmth; as it it, it usually sounds a bit dark and muddy...the upper registers hit a little tinny. Thinking about putting in some Barts, and I think that would make this bass about perfect-sounding. The 35" scale is a thing of BEAUTY though. One of the best low-B strings I've ever played, tight and articulate, just a HINT of that damned floppiness and rattly farting. Play it mostly through a couple of crappy Peavey 115's, one TKO and the other an older TNT, and I've gotta be carefeul not to push them too far with this thing, cuz it can get LOUD and LOW...easy to distort into a mess, though this is not an issue with the bass as I have played it through better, higher-wattage multiple-speaker stacks and they can handle it no problem. Gotta get me one of those...Played multiple gigs with no problems yet, haven't gotten a chance to record with it yet. So basically, tone could improve, but for the money, she has a good voice, and remarkable range and power to boot.

PLayed well in the shop, action and pup height were good, neck was fine...and then, a couple of days later, it got really cold in my house (a classic Texas weather-ambush), and the neck went CRAZY. Rattling everywhere, etc. Broke open the truss-rod cover and was surprised to find two truss-rods, one of which had been loosened COMPLETELY (don't know if it was GC or Ibanez that did this...my money's on GC). Decided it looked sketchy, tried to get GC to work on it, which they wouldn't because they only do that kind of thing the DAY THAT YOU BUY the instrument (the fuck? GC has shit-all when it comes to continued customer service), so I took it to Mr E's (they rule) who fixed it up good as new, on the house. Since then, problems and adjustments have been minimal, although the neck does seem to be more sensitive to temp. changes that other basses I've played. Battery compartment seems a little haphazard; the batts are just hanging out on loose terminal assemblies with a piece of foam shoved in there to keep it all still...unimpressive. A simple battery harness would keep it so much tidier and more secure. And a screw on battery comp. cover...I hate the damn thing. God help me if they decide to die on the middle of a show, I'll have to tool away at the cover for a good few minutes to get inside, and no active/passive option...all relatively minor things I guess, but that means it probably would've been easy for Ibanez to incorporate too.

Thing seems built like house. Finish looks sturdy enough, but collects fingerprints like a mother. Like I said, I have seen hardware corrosion in other examples of this bass, but not in mine so far, but it probably wouldnt hurt to keep it dry...obviously. Neck IS sensitive, like I said. I never play without a backup, just in case, but haven't needed it with this girl so far.

Haven't dealt with em.

Been playing bass for a couple of years, played guitar for 5 years before that, and own a Peavey T-40, a Samick acoustic-electric, and a MIM Fender P. I like this bass better than any of my others because of its versatility, projection, articulation, tone, and playability. If it were stolen, I'd try and find a better deal, but I'd probably be hard-pressed...there ARE better basses out there of course, but if you can't blow the money needed for a Warwick or Pedulla or Fodera or what-have-you, this is a fantastic bass for a fraction of the aforementioned brand's prices. Great value.

Recently bought 2004 Model. Basswood body, with quilted maple top. 24 frets for the G and D Strings (or G and C depending on which string sets you prefer). Active Equilizer, with Bass, Treble and Mid Boosts, plus a Mid Frequecny knob. Beautiful Transparent Black Finish. Passive PU's. Monorail II Bridge. Great features overall, I just wished that there would be Active Pickups to get an even better sound. But then again, this thing carries 2 9v batteries as is, and I don't think it would need two more. One more gripe is that I wish you didnt have to undo two screws to get the the 2 9v batteries. If you are in teh middle of a gig and this thing desides to bite the big one, you'lkl have to take a minute or two to undo the backplate.

My equpment includes a Fender Frontman 15B for home practice, Peavey TKO115 at school gigs, and a Fender Rumble 100 for other gigs. The effects that I use include a Morley Dual Bass Wah, Boss Mega Distortion, Johnson Stereo Chorus, and I use an Arion EQ pedal if I'm running into the house. I play many different styles of music. I play Funk, Jazz, Metal, Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Progressive Rock, and Rock. The sounds of this bass fit well into all of these styles. The EQ makes this all possible. Slaps sound great for funk, and has a great fingerstyle sound with the Mids up. Jazz has a great upright tone with bass and a hint of treble. For metal, turn up the bass and treble. This bass seems to excel best at these sounds, but works in other genres amazingly well. Pickstyle is great too. Turn the balance towards the bridge, and pick away. Gets a very grindy sound, great for Punk, Speed Metal, and if you're looking for a Dirty Rock Tone (Something along the lines of Geddy Lee). Overall sound is great, and it borders on being bright. Otherwise has a very warm sound. One complaint I have is that with the Eq turned completely off the Pickups sound like absolute crap. They have almost no tonal characteristics whatsoever, and sound dull. So make sure you have two 9v bolt during any kind of gig because you may be sorry.

Factory action was wonderful. Seemed absolutely perfect to me, which is one of the reasons why I picked this baby up. However, came with Elixir Polyweb strings. Nice to have these strings on there, being that they're $50 alone from Musicians Friend, but the tone I got out of them were horrible, and they felt very slippery, so I changed them to my normal GHS Boomers which are roundwound and Nickel coated. Overall, beautiful finish, no dents, or blemishes of any kind.

Overall, reliability seems good. THis bass does not seem fragile at all, and that it could take a good beating (I wouldn't want to test that. This bass is my baby). I have played some outside shows with this, and despite my weekly maintenence, some hardware is already showing signs of oxidation (small brown spots here and there). Over teh seasons, I have yet to have to adjust the truss rod. The elements don't seem to have an effect on the neck. I would go to a gig with a backup, if for some reason the batteries decided to quit on me. I wouldnt want to stop the show to have to change my batteries.

Have yet to deal with them. No problems as of yet.

I have been playing for 3 years, since I was about 14. If this thing was stolen or whatever else could happen, I would efinitely get a new one. It is a good piece of equipment to have in any repertoire. I love the feel of this bass, and the 35 inch scale of it. The strings have the tight feel. I hate the the sound of the pickups with the EQ off. Best feature is the Active EQ. I did try other basses in the price range, and this one was had teh most features, and best quality by far. One thing I wish was that it had active Pickups.

Same features as the others listed here. Mine comes with the blackest 'transparent purple' finish I have ever seen. I have to look at the bass at an angle under artificial light and the I can kinda see a bit of purple - otherwise it's essentially a transparent black bass. I would have preferred a transpatent red model but at the price I got it I'm more than happy with the way it looks. the only feature I'm not particularly fond of is the one everyone else seems to like - the locking jack. I use right angle cables and always loop the cable through the strap so I've never really had problems with jacks falling out. When I want to disconnect an insturment (especially an active one you've gotta unplug every time you set it down) I want to be able to simply pull the cable out, not futz around trying to hold down a release button while pulling the cable.

Oh man, I love this bass. The day I got it I spent the afternoon finding the resonant frequencies of various surfaces of my apartment (my living room wall is a C# for example). My mini drum set was practically dancing around the studio. This bass gives me all the tones my jazz bass could only dream of producing and has the flexibility to adapt to a wide range of musical styles. After a few weeks of playing around on it I've found my sound - volume 10, balance just slightly towards the bridge pickup, bass and treble boosted just past the center notch and the mids left dead center unless things get too muddy and the i dial out some of the low mids and I'm set to go.

I'm currently playing the BTB through a Korg AX1B into an old Roland Bass Cube 100w amp when playing live. In the studio I run it into an ART Tube MP V3 preamp and then into Amplitube via Cubase SX.

This bass was an ebay purchace so the action was set to the previous owner's liking. Aparently he was into liking a whole lot of string buzz because the strings buzzed like heck on every fret. No problem here though - I just gave it some more neck relief and lowered the action to compensate. Now it plays with only the slightest hint of fret buzz and the action is not noticibly higher than it was before. The BTB plays wonderfully. It's got nice low across the board which makes fast runs and two hand tapping a breeze. I love the wide fretboard which makes slapping almost as easy as it was on my 4-string and I've had no trouble whatsoever adjusting to the 35" scale. There were no noticible flaws on this bass other than minor wear and dings from the previous owner. The edges of the nut were a little sharp (common on Korean insturments) but this was solved with a little bit of careful filing.

My other Ibanez is an RG440 which is still in top shape after almost 20 years. Nothing about this bass leads me to thing it can't last as long or longer.

I haven't dealt with Ibanez personally.

This is the bass I've wanted for a few years now, finally found at a price I could afford.

The technical features of the BTB 405 QM can be found at the Ibanez homepage or other reviews.

What I liked most on this bass first of all was the neck shape, following classical guitar measures, substancially and slightly wider than most of the models I tested but yet very easy to handle. Although I've got quite a small hand, it fits to me even better than the wizzardlike neck of my Ibanez SRX 505.

The hardware, especially the mono rail bridge system, is perfect. Set-up (if ever necessary, up to now I didn't have to turn one screw) will be very easily and precisely made. Tuners work very smooth and keep the tuning even in our cold and rainy open air season in Western Europe (brrh). Two (in words: two!) truss rods will hold the neck as long in shape as Niagra falls...

The Neutrik locking jack is a feature not often found, at least not on an instrument of this price range. And the 18-V-circuitry provides great headroom and very low noise at extreme settings. By the way: needed one set of batteries (normal quality) in 18 months (that's to say about 1000 hours playing time).

The sound is great and very versatile. What we play is some soul and funk, jazz standards, and very little Top 40. The pickups are offering a large range of tone at flat control settings with warm jazz sound in neck position, funky slap when both pickups are balanced out and rocking punch using the bridge PU. The active sound control gives you any further adding color of tonality that makes sense, from deep bass growl to singing highs. The semi-parametric midrange control is able to add what you need in between.

I use this bass with a Boss chorus and a Hughes and Kettner XXL bass combo. In most cases controls both on the BTB 405 and the amp rest in 12 o'clock position and the basic sound only needs to be adjusted with the pickup balance knob.

Set-up was done perfectly, as mentioned before. Action and finish was great.

The original strings were of no good quality. I mounted Ernie Ball Slinky Bass 45...130 and they turned out to be the best choice for both punch and clarity.

When testing a new BTB at your dealer, it will be equipped with Elixir strings. Handling and action is to my opinion by far not as smooth and fast as with conventional strings.

And when talking about handling: before you are going to make a decision which instrument to buy, don't only play it on your knees. The BTB might have a bigger body size compared to a Warwick Corvette, but it balances out better when hanging around your neck.

Besides a control knob (my fault, see Customer Support) no weak parts.

I'm expecting this BTB 405 to be a good fellow for the next 25 years ;-)

To be honest: there is a BTB 406 auction at Ebay closing in two days. I'm thinking about making the next investment...

I had to change the midrange control knob after the warranty (it is slightly higher than the other controls and might be damaged on stage).

Contact to Ibanez was okay, delivery within a two days, but 25 $ is a joke for such a small item...

As I'm playing guitar already for 30 years, I first came into contact in 1979 with Ibanez when buying a George Benson GB 10. This awesome instrument is still in nearly perfect condition after this long time (except the gold parts). And, please guys in the US forgive me, the action, fit and finish of an ES 345 I compared it to was lightyears away from that what the Japs offered! Besides this I own two LPs, two Strats (one midi-mized), several acoustics (steel and nylon string), a greek bouzouki and an Ibanez Artist 300 that is also a 9,5/10.

Before buying the BTB 405 I compared it to several other basses, also in a higher price range. To me it was the perfect deal, and whenever we start playing it is a pleasure to take it out of the stand and plug it in.

If it was stolen or lost, I would surely make the same choice.

Ibanez 5 string bass w/active E.Q. and Passive Humbuking pickups
Guitar is korean made, pickups are Ibanez Stock, config is H-H.
Control pots on this guitar are VOLUME, PICKUP BLEND, TONE, BASS, MIDRANGE CUT, MIDRANGE SWEEP.

The neck has a slightly extended scale than the other ibanez BTB404 and this helps the tone and intonation of the B string largely.
The B string sounds fine acoustically, and fine when plugged in.

The body is solid and I believe the wood to be between alder/basswood/maple. It is large, but not to heavy. strap locations are ideal.

The Neck is very stable and is made from 3 pieces of wood.

For the price asked (#400 - England) I believe the features are more than adequate. I very much doubt you'll find a better 5 string in the same price range. I compared this guitar with the equally priced yamaha range which didn't even compare to be frank, and the mexican made fender P-Bass, which although being very good, didn't offer the features this one did.

This guitar will handle any type of musical genre you throw at it. Musicaly it is very versatile because of the added B string. It will handle itself in rock, jazz, and metal easily. I personaly will be using this guitar for funk and metal e.g. korn, RHCP, metallica e.c.t

I play straight into my amp, and at present I play through a 100 watt Trace Elliot. The Sound though this amp is excellent.

The combination of active E.G and active electronics on the Trace Make for a very versatile sound combination.

The low B sounds clear through this amp because the amplifier can accomadate the ectra added B note, and it takes a low A when tuned down just as well, But on cheeper amps there may be problems in getting the same sound quallity.

THe guitar is quite a simply a Lower verison of the Ibanez K5, so It's obviously designed for Rock And Metal, but it's suprising how many other musical areas it excels in.

The action an intonation are perfect on this guitar. No complaints.
Pickups are correct hight. Only complaint is there isn't much space to slap it, but you soon get used to it.

Don't know how relaible this is yet, appears to be trustworthy though

havn't delt.

I've been playing 4 years. I've played guitar and bass in a good few bands now, And I currently own a Yamaha Pacifica 112 Retrofitted with 2 Active EMG 85 Humbuckers, an Ibanez RG RoadStar series Guitar, An Ibanez RG7321 Solid Body 7 String, and a Squire Deluxe P-bass Special. My amps are and Orange MatAmp head, a Marshall MG series DFX 50, a Fender Champ 50, and a Trace Elliot 100.

This guitar is a welcome addition to my current collection, and will no doubt be an asset to my music

Made in 2002 ( I guess) in korea.
5 strings and 24 medium frets.
quilted maple top, on a walnut/basswood body.
one volume control, one bass control, one treble control, onepickup balance, and a mid freq/ mid boost-cut control.
Ibanez dfr n4 bridge pickup, Ibanez dfrn4 neck pickup
Vari mid3 active EQ system
Transparent black finish
Ibanez Mono rail2 bridge
non locking tuners
Neutrik locking jack
Came with allen keys

This bass is a great all-rounder-it caters for all my needs-it ahs a great funk slap tone, it's heavy enough for a rock-metal sound, and is even great at some high-end jazz tones.
I'm currently running it through some BOSS, digitech and zoom effects, into a laney 154 watt combo and an additional 15" speaker, and i dont get any noise from it, apart from when a large amount of treble is dialed in.
The great thing about it is, due to the EQ you can get any tone you want from the most basic of amps, and I've always used it live, and frequently in recordings. I like the amount of tonal contrast you get, however, the mid controls are a little confusing

The action was a little low, especially on the B and E strings, but it hasn't been bad enough for me to do anything about. I've never noticed the pickups as being badly set up, and the elixer strings supplied just annoyed the hell out of me

I've only encountered two problems in this area; the strap pins, although good at holding straps on, came loose after a few months, and recently the volume control knob fell off. The finish is smooth and still is in good condition after a year of zealous playing. The truss rod has never been adjusted, and it has withstood a year of demanding gigs/rehearsals perfectly.

I've never dealed with ibanez

I've been playing bass for a while now but as a serious musican about 3 years, I also own a Peavy milestoneIII and a stagg fretless. If it was stolen I would definitely buy the same bass, it's given me a lot of good playing and I can use it loads of styles. I love the way it looks, it changes colour in the light form grey to green to brown to purple and how it can be used in music as diverse as jazz and metal. It's a tad awkward to play(I play with the bass high up like jaco), as the angle of the horn makes you wanna play real low, but then the weight of the thing makes that idea not comfortable. It has the weight of jazz without being too heavy too. All in all it's a beautiful bass, that tonally does it's job, and for the price is a great all rounder

- Made in 2003
- 5-string bass
- 35" scale -- very clean tones, particularly on the low B string
- 24 medium frets on D and G; 23 on low B, E, and A
- Controls: volume, pickup pan, bass, mid, mid frequency, treble. Powerful 18V EQ -- bass: +/-17dB @ 36Hz; mid: +/-13dB @ 77Hz-5kHz; treble: +/-18dB @ 17kHz. These numbers are based on the manual, but from my experience, the EQ is even more powerful than described (especially the mid control)
- Dual passive IBZ DFR humbuckers
- Basswood body, maple and walnut neck, rosewood fingerboard
- Transparent black or bright blue finish. Mine is transparent black; I like it more.
- Mono Rail II bridge. This bridge design features fully adjustable individual saddles, one for each string. Supposedly the individual saddles prevent vibrating strings from making other strings resonate, but I haven't been able to test this out.
- Neck is 47mm wide at the nut and 76mm at the 24th fret. To me this is a bit thick, but I guess it's a good for slapping. The thickness is 20-22mm, which is comfortably thin.
- Instrument is about 10.5 or 11 pounds. A little on the heavy side, and enough to get me a sore shoulder after a while.

I play a whole variety of stuff and I alternate between finger playing, picking, and slapping. I usually hook it up to a Hartke Kickback 12.

Because the EQ is so versatile and powerful, I can usually adjust it to suit any type of music I play. When I play with my fingers, I can get anything from a rich, warm sound to a sharp jazzy sound. The low B string kind has a way of dying on me, but I'm almost entirely sure it's because of my amp, since it's only rated down to 50Hz and the B string is 30Hz. When I hooked up the bass to a Fender Bassman head and cabinet at Sam Ash, I got a solid, clean tone on the low B. I'm very satisfied with the finger tone.

Picking and slapping only get me okay tones. One complaint I have is that the bridge pickup sounds nasal to me, and it kind of ruins the jazz pickup sound I try to get when I pick or slap. That's one problem that's hard to remedy with the EQ.

Overall, though, the tone is better than that of any other guitar I could find in its price range. Also, the 18V EQ is so good that it blows my mind.

When I got my bass the action was a tad low (some strings buzzed) and the saddle positions were a bit off (some of the strings had inaccurate intonation when I played high on the fretboard). They weren't serious problems, though, because the bridge is very easy to adjust, and the bass comes with a small wrench to make such adjustments.

I raised the action on a few strings and pulled the saddle back on a few others. There we go, now it's perfect.

The pickups didn't need adjustment, and there were no flaws that I could see.

This bass is solid. Besides a G&L 4-string that I played for a short while, this is the first bass I played after learning the acoustic guitar, and it took me a while to to get used to how big the instrument is. Needless to say, I banged it up a bit, except no one can probably tell, because the instrument still looks perfect to me. The only sign of age on the instrument is the fact that the coating on the strings is wearing off.

I haven't needed to contact customer support yet. I believe the warranty is for one year only.

Before I got this bass I played a G&L Tribute SB-2 for a short while, and this bass is a million times better (it is a little more expesive too, but still...). The only things I don't like about this instrument are its weight and its jazz pickup, but I would still buy it again if it were stolen or lost. I would say its 35" length and (of course) its EQ are its best assets.

I tried out several Ibanezes as well as a few other basses from other brands before I decided to get this one. The Ibanez SR's are pretty good, but not as good; I also liked the Ibanez K5, so be sure to check that one out. The other brands in the same price range (such as Yamaha) just didn't compare.

I just put this bass on layaway, and b4 i had to sit down with this bass, and just play frantically with it, to test its limits, its a great bass, very durable

This Bass truly has many different styles, from heavy metal to jazz, you really gotta play with the settings on it, experiment

the bass is beautiful, its heavy but thats how i like em, its got a wicked quilted maple finish the one i have is the transparent black and its great

i havent really had this bass yet haha, but judging from the other reviews, it lasts long

i didnt get a waranty with this bass but im going to

This is my First 5 string bass, hopefully i enjoy it, ive been playing for about 2 years, jazz, classical, and rock---metal. i was inspired by sam rivers from limp bizkit, because its an awesome bass, hopefully its great for me like it is for him

I love everything about this Bass

I don't know what was wrong with the guy below me's Bass, but i play this thing for hours straight at a time and I'm still on the same battery. the sound is undescribable.

Everything looks very well made. Of course mine is a blemmished model, but The construction is very hightech. The pickups are really sweet. The only thing i am noticing is that the hardware scratches easily and can get worn pretty good.

This is an extremely reliable bass, like i said earlier the battery has a very long life to it. as long as you make sure you unplug it when not in use. This bass was definately made for the stage and mine has seen the stage many a time.

Mine was not under A direct Ibanez waranty because it was blemished, but the store i got it from has a really nice 2 year waranty. I havn't needed to use it yet.

I've been playing bass for years. this was my first 5-string, but i've played other ones. I played a Yamaha of the same value, and it was shameful compared to this thing. Trust me , whatever style of music your into this bass is extremely versatile. and it is nicely well built

BTB405QM trans black passive soapbar pickups active EQ indipenent string sattle bridge bolt on neck 1 volume, bass boost/cut, trebel boost/cut, EQ,and mid sweep

this is where the problem is with this bass bought this bass at guitar center and sounded great when I first played it and the frist few times after I played it at home, the frist time i played it with my band it fell flat on its face. played fine for about 4 songs than the tone seemed to start change on its own, and seemed to get worse every song, after an hour of playing i had lost all most all tone and volume, thinking the batterys where bad we called it a night the next day i put in brand new $12 each lithium batterys it and it sounded fine again. that night we jamed again and with in an hour the same problem was right back. took the bass to a known good guitar tech, after replaceing all electronics and both pickups over the next 6 mounths with nothing seeming to work i finnly sold the bass. after selling it i started to here that 6 other people in my area had the same problem with diffent ibenez basses. if your looking at an ibenez I would srongly suggest you dont wast your money unless you like stopping in the middle of a set to change batterys!

dont get me wrong this seems to be a very well built bass, ther just seems to be a problem with the electronics. IBENEZ, if your listing this seems to be a big problem im hereing for a lot of people! if not for this problem this bass sounds very good and tons of head room with the active EQ

WOULD NOT PLAY GIGS WITH THIS BASS due to loss of tone over a short period time

been playing for 8 years playing gigs 3-5 times a month, have been playing a fender jass speical great sounding bass. bought the ibenez for playing heaver muisc than ive been playing {blues-classic rock}iuse only mesa-boogie 1 15" cab/and powerhouseJr 1-12"-4-8" cab and mesa 400+ all tube head and a sansamp Di, the best sounding combo ive heard! replaced the ibenez with a dean rapsbury {ive have now found my dream set up!} tone to die for!

- was made in Korea 2003;
- 24 frets (last only for D & G strings);5 strings (Elixir equipped from NANO Series, B string is I think 130);
- Rosewood finger board with beautiful groovs on it; basswood w/quilted maple top. In Ibanez catalog it was bright blue, but in reality it's bright blue + green (you should see it - marvellous);
- 5 knobs -->Volume, bass boost/cut, treble boost/cut, balance, mid boost/cut, mid frequency (in Ibanez catalog or www site when you see electronics it's (from top) volume, bass, balance, terble, mid, frequency - but in mine bass the treble boost/cut knob is change with bass boost/cut knob.
- two passive Ibanez DFR (Dynamix Full Range - medium output passive pickups with quick attack and superior dynamics) pickups, humbuckings
- Vari-mid 3B 3-band eq, active
- THIS IS COOL SHIT - Mono Rail bridges for each string (you can bang the strings for hours and they will be tune!!!!)
- 35" neck scale (this is also very gut specially for slapping), medium frets
- I bought this guitar (535 euro for guitar) with a case (only 25 euro!!!! - That's what I call THE OPPORTUNITY)

I play over 3 years and I use mostlly slap & pop technique, and I must tell - THIS BASS IS PERFECT FOR THAT TYPE OF MUSIC. I play on Ashdown ABM-C210h-500 evo + Digitech BP 200. What you can get out of this guitar it's just incredible. I have my own band and we play almost everything (from jazz, funk to metal) and BTB 405QM is gut BUT NOT PERFECT WHY?. I noticed that knobs are getting dirty very fast (offcourse when you use your gitar every day for at least 4 to 5 hours) and this cause sound problem, because turning the knob brings (in most cases loud) creak!!! But like I said you have to torture your guitar very hard. Active Eq it's gut and when you add knob possibility it's just pleasure to play on it. You can even hear the WHA-WHA sound turnig mid frequency (18 volt circuitry). When you play only with your fingers the bass sound gut (it's very soft, warm), but when you go on slap (during the same volume arrangement) IT WILL KILL YOU!!! Treble are beautiful on this machine!!!

And this is the part which I was afraid of. When I bought my beautiful guitar it been all over fill with fingerprints - some one just can't resist not to touch my guitar. What is more there was scratch unger neck pickup (I suspect that someone play on it during trip from Korea to Poland), but all the top layer is scratching very fast - I don't care. All I care is sound, and it is perfect.

Like I said the top layer is scratching very fast, but the varnish which was used to paint is very bear, so it looks like a new all the time. I'm sure it'll hold on.

12 month warranty. I was back in the company to grease the knobs and they were very helpful and friendly - I got from them new fender strings for free (pure nickel roundwound Original bass). They even found for my request diagram of eq electronic.

I have been playing for over 3 years. I compare this bass with warwick, fender and yamaha and to be honest with you it's the best deal in Europe for that money. If it were stolen or lost I would buy another - no doubt. It sound great, it looks beautifully - is there anything you need more? Buy it or just try out and you will know what to do.

2003 - Korean made
24 fret @ G & D strings
18V active EQ - bass, treble & mid cut/boost + vari mid shaping
2 Ibanez HB DFR-N5 @ neck DFR-B5 @ bridge
passive PU's
Basswood w/Quilted Maple top Body, 5pc. Maple/ Walnut Neck Material
Transparant black finish
Mono- Rail II bridge (unconnected saddles for each string)
35" scale neck 5pc. Maple/ Walnut medium frets
I got a used Ibanez case in good condition for $35, but I have found that my standard SBK bass case fits as well (will probably use the SBK since it will probably provide better protection)

I am in a rock/metal band and I like a very warm, punchy, articulate sound - this bass delivers! It is currently being run through an Ampeg BA 210SP 230W combo, which works great with it. I was thoroughly impressed with the variety of tone it was capable of producing - if you wanted a nice standard Jazz bass sound - you got it. You want a nice HiFi slap & pop sound - it's there. If you want to really get crazy, you can move the pickup balance neckward and shape the mids to the lower frequency and get a slap tone that will bring down buildings. Because of this feature, I have found my presence has increased 10 fold since I have been playing it which keeps me from sayin' "Hey soundguy! more bass in the monitors!) I haven't had the opportunity to use it in the studio as of yet, but the PU's are quiet, which will be nice. The only thing that takes getting used to is the weight of the instrument and the width of the neck - a small price to pay for the tone you will receive.

Everything was set up beautifully - not a scratch on it, action was great - suprisingly low (you would think the B string would be rattling against the frets like a jackhammer as on most lower cost basses.) The articulation was fantastic! you can hear the detail of every note you hit with no 'off coloration' from other strings. The longer scale neck keeps the lower strings (especially the low b) from 'farting'

I just got the bass within the last few months, so I'm not 100% sure, but I can tell you the moment you will see and play this instrument, you will know it's quality. The strap buttons are pretty solid (I use a locking strap, and it hasn't fallen on me yet.) I am a firm believer in having a backup no matter what - Strings will snap, straps will give out - it's much quicker to retire your wounded bass and pick up the spare than it is to rectify the problem right in the middle of a show.

Haven't had to contact them yet.

I have been playing bass 5yrs (1 1/2 yrs in a band.) I own an Ampeg BA210 SP amp, the BTB and a vintage '82 Ibanez X series bass. If it were stolen, I would buy it again. The thing I love about the BTB405 is the surprising quality this instrument posesses at such a low cost - I played Warwicks, G&L's, and Musicman Stingrays, and didn't see the same quality or tonal variety. If it has a more narrow neck and went on a diet, it would be perfect.
Oh and if you've mad it this far...check out www.chaptersend.com, listen to some tracks, and download a free screensaver or winamp skins if you wish. There is also a message board if want to add your 2 cents. Hope to hear from y'all - peace!

I just got this bass, and to be honest with you. IT ROCKS! I got it brand new on a Christmas sale from guitar center for $600 marked down from $800. It was made in Korea, and has a different number of frets for each string. The 35" neck is perfect for the five string (there's no flopping around on the b)It has 6 different controls: volume, bass boost, treble boost, mid boost, mid frequency, and a balance. It has two standard ibanez soapbar pickups, but I'm going to get bartolini pickups pit in professionaly. I got it in transparent black over the quilted maple top. Two things that really sold me on the bass was the neutrik locking jack and the monorail two bridge, with individual saddels. The bass also has a huge neck that really works out your fingers. It also came with a hardshell case. One thing to know is this bass is fairly heavy.

I play everything from punk and grunge to worship and jazz, and this bass does it all. I play through a big hartke combo and a giant peavy sub, and its amazing how much tonal variety I can get out of it. See what I did was went out and tried all the really expencive "high end" basses and compared them to the ibanez, and found out that the warwick's sound and the musicman's sound can be almost perfectly duplicated by the BTB. So the Ibanez is definetly the best bass for the money. It will be even better when I get Bartolini pickups. The only thing about the tone I don't like is, too many control nobs. Because if your playing a fast bass riff and need somthing changed I always accidently turn the wrong nob and it gets really bad.

The bass came from the factory with perfect action (though dramaticly out of tune) and sounded great. One problem was it fingerprints all over it, like someone in the factory just couldn't help but get therre greasy paws all over my beautiful new bass! The hardware is a cool frosted silver which I believe they call platinum. The finish is beautiful and flawless.

I have not had enough time with the bass to answere alot of these questions. The strap buttons are getting replaced very soon with schaller strap locks, and is so far very dependible. No I would never gig without a back-up, that's just plain stupidity!

Nope, I think the warranty is limited lifetime (don't quote me on that)

I have been playing a little over two years now and have owned a Dean and a Yamaha. If anyone stole my bass I would hunt them down, shoot them in the knee caps, place them in a burlap bag, and beat them with reeds! As I said I compared this to all the "high end" basses like: MM, Warwick, Fender, Gibson, and Schector Dimond series and have decided on this bass because of tonal flexibility and the overall price. This Bass Rocks!

Okay - the features: 2002 - Made in Korea. 35" Scale - 23-1/2 Jumbo Frets - 5-string. Transparent Black, Quilted Maple top (with a lacquer finish) - looks good. Controls: Volume, Pan/Balance, EQ-Bass, EQ-Treble, EQ-Mid, Mid-frequency. Pickups: Ibanez Soap bar style passive pickups with 18v Vari-Mid 3B EQ. Neck: 5-piece laminate, bolt-on.

Sound is thin when compared to Ibanez BTB1005E. Has a decent amount of growl and bottom end.

Action was way too high from the factory so I tried to adjust it. I couldn't get the bass set up in with the same setup as my BTB1005E. It would always rattle on the 11th fret of the A string - very bizarre.

Tuning machine-heads needed to be tightened. Knob screws needed tightening as well.

Neck does not feel "silky" as with BTB1005E.

Questionable, but I wouldn't know - it got returned to the store after only a week.

Overall, I would rank the bass as a dissapointment given the quality of the BTB1005E, I would have expected more from the BTB405QM. Might make a good starter-to-intermediate bass for someone who likes high action.

Spend the extra money and upgrade to a BTB made by Ibanez's Prestige builders.

- made: 2001 Japan
- 5 strings, on 24 (medium/large )fretts (only the D & G string has 24 fretts)
- Solid top -> Quilted maple... very nice with the transparant finish
- Controls => I like basses with this setup: 1 master vol. and 1 balance to mix the to pup signals.
- pickups: 2 Ibanez humbuckers. passive, very dynamic
- Electronic: ACIVE -> this is very good on this bass. What you can tweak on this baby is jus unbelievable. If you alter the mid frequenties fast jyou even hear a WAH sound! So big are the diffrences you can create!!! Well it's very logic because it's a 18 volts circuitry. This reminds me: BUY 2 good guaranteed not to leak 9 volts batterys with it, theone they put in are not that good!!!
- Neck: material = ???. it's a neck for 35' scale. This makes the tention on the string very tight even on the low B!
+ 1 nice detail. the headstock matches the color of the body!
- Finish: Great idea to use transparant finish on the quilted maple. Mine is trans. black, when it'ds dark it looks purple, on pictures it's more brown and real it's black and gray. Looks very thick, so I think it will last.
- Body: made of walnut, basswood and maple. An unusual shape. The upper horn points to the neck, very cool. The curves are like the ESP LTD series... It's not a heavy body allthough it's pretty big. The balance is good, even if you play it on your knee.
- Bridge: good point: MONO BRIDGES!!! What an invention. Better tuning then ever! This also isolates the vibration of the strings! 1 negaticve thing... if you like to slap & pop alot and your hands are not that big you may have some trouble cause the string spacing is very wide...
- Tuners: standard tuners. The same color as the bridges and knobs; cosmo white. It's very hard to turn them, so they must be good!
- jackplug, Nice shit, mad by neutrik. It locks, never lose you cable again!!!
- Another point..> It's a bolt-on. The connection is made with 5 screws on smart positions. No metal plate like Music man or Fenfer. This way it's much better. Conklin makes basses with 7 strings and use only 3 bolts! It's not how much but where you put them is more important!!!

Ok read carefully, because sound is objective...

I like the sounds. The 18 volts circuitry allows you to change it all. But, all the sounds gives you that lil' fuzz. Like the *roar* of a Jazz bass. his is what I like. Compare it with the sound of Jason Newstead on The black album (Metallica).
If you want round, ore agresive, lots of lows, lots of highs, fuzzy mids, warm, bright, dark..... just a matter of tweaking the knobs. The balance knob for the Humbuckers are also very important in the process in finding the sound that you want.

This is my first bass with Humbuckers and I really like how quite they are. I have to play a note to notice of my amp is on. When you use enormous loads of high then you'll hear some noise...

studio/on stage.... I think it will do a great job on both.

Likes: the variety of tones and the pure bass sound. The sounds stays pure because of the passive pups, and with the 18 v. eletronics they are enormously tweakable .

I heard a BTB with Baronilli pups and it sounds better than this one, so I onlly give a 9.

The only remark I have is that it was not tuned sharp when I got it out of the box...

seriously; everything was good. The action is very low, and no buzz at all!

The finish looks like a brick wall. Try to cut into it and you'll break your knife...

Finish is great.
Bridges will last, tuners too.

Looks like it's been made for playing live.

1 remark: The strap buttons are not that tight. I think it's time to buy strap locks. <- lowers te rating to 8 because straps are so important for live performance!!

Feedback is in Holland the biggest music store. Their price was very sharp. Nice guys, at least on a normal working day. In the weekends and friday evening they turn into beasts. All they think about is: busy...got to sell...no time for info for bass...busy...sell stuff...

I bought this bass on a saturday. The guy had no time to look for a Ibanez box, so he gave it in a Yamaha box... Bad idea.

I like to talk with the guys when it is not so busy. I knew more of the BTB before I bought it than them, but I forgive them. I know I'll get a great service when I have troubles...

1 year warranty...
an 8 for the Yamaha box...

For me this is the best bass I could get. Why....?
I live in Europe. There are not so many good progressive basses like this one available here. I looked for a schecter stiletto, but it would cost me $1000!!! In Europe this is the best deal you can have for an (allmost) high-end bass.

I like to play rock and metal. I'm recently looking for a new metal band. I thin this bass will do great in a lot of music styles. Remember what I said in the features about string spacing!!!

I want to play it though an Ampeg SVT. I have a Korg AX1b multi effect. I use the compression on it and a lil bit' of chorus and I get the most fantastic tone out of it.

When it got stolen? I'd kill the bastard who stole it. Lost it? I'll buy another one. No doubt!!!

I compared this one with others. The Schechter was way to expensive and the Dean Q5 just doesn't feel right to me (I heard more people has this with Dean basses).I would never compare this bass with a Fenfer 5 or a music man Stringray. Way to diffrent! I'd never buy them either, alltought I would like to have another Jazz bass! (4 strings).

1 of my oher basses is the Soundgear 300dx. This is a way diffrent approach to bass than the BTB! Nice to have 2 whole diffrent basses.

on the whole:
10... 'nuff said

Well well... let's see now... the finish is excellent - looks a lot more expensive than it is... transparent blue.. although it feels as though it wont look that nice forever; I've already imprinted some scratches on it while slapping wildly, but hey.. I don't care... the bridge is actually five mono rails - recognize ;) Without doubt one of the most beautiful basses I've ever seen... m-hmm It looks like a spaceship with a hard-on... you're the man on the stage with this one... the active EQ is first class too: you just gotta love the ability to make wah-wah-sounds without any boxes... cool... the supplied gigbag is just plain rubbish though... throw it away immediately 'cause it wont protect your bass at all...

It's almost as if it was made for me, and only me.... totally right on the money... it's got a deep sucking sound...marvellous.. but ye can get almost any other sounds out of it too... just turn those knobbles till yer pleased...nice attack too

The only string I needed to adjust was the low B...other than that they did a first class job at the factory... nothing to complain about

Only one month has passed since I bought it, which makes it hard to predict for how long it will last, but I'm betting it will sound great for a long, long time...the only thing to worry about is the finish which probably will be full of scratches within a year from now...but as I said, I don't care about that...I'm happy as long as it sounds good... it feels solid enough to use as a woodchopper though

haven't had any reason to talk with them yet

I've played guitar for about 9 years now, and this spring I felt like playing bass for a while. Normally I act as a lead guitar player in my bands (I'm currently involved in two bands as a bassplayer). My bands frequently perform live and the BTB 405QM feels solid enough to be used without any backup. Just as my Gibson Les Paul does. Nice. I'd probably buy an identical bass if it was stolen. The thing is that you can't get any more bass for the price you'll have to pay...it's cheap as hell considering the sounds you can get out of it

Made in year 2001in Japan. 24 frets. Is a 5 stinged bass. Solid top.
Pierzo. Madeout of pure Maple wood. Is a dark wine/purple in color. The wood is visible through the color. Can be played with any piece of music. Was cleaned every week. Was used for only a month. For sale for I bought another bass. Is really comfortable to play. Is in a really good shape.
For a large image go to:
http://img.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/51/519445.jpg

I played Jazz and metal with it but can be played with mostly any kin d of music. It can ajusted very well and is quite simple to use.Makes some extrodinary sounds that are heared in many musical groups.

The picks are well ajusted and not too tight for they will not use quickly. The wood is well, it can be cleaned very easily, without leaving any undisireble marks.

It will stand a long time for i used it for a month only and its strings were chaged several times. The strap is not sold with the bass.

Was bought from 'La boite a musique', they were very friendly.

I've been playing for around 2 years and a half now. I own a music man ernie ball. If it were stolen i would get something else. I love the color, the feeling of the wood, its sound and its weight(quite light).
Was bought unused. Is foe sale for ONLY $750!!