Ibanez BTB505

It's a 35" bass with two Ibanez humbuckers, "Mono-Rail Bridge", master volume, pickup blend, and 3-band, semi-parametric EQ. It's active of course, so keep some 9-volts handy.

After using the 3-band EQ for six months, I can't understand how anyone can survive without it. Being able to sweep the middle band around makes an enormous difference in the number and kinds of tones you can get. I can and do get tones comparable to P-basses, J-basses, and Stringrays. It's not an exact duplicate, but it sounds good, and if you don't have the money, the muscles, or the van space to cart around five or six different instruments, this is a pretty darn good choice, better, IMO, than the Bass Variax. Digital only goes so far, after all.

It's also an excellent choice for those questing for the unique and/or bizarre. Using nothing but the EQ on this thing, you can get some pretty funky noises.

I'd also like to make a plug for the Mono-Rail Bridge. It's goofy looking, and it's not perfect at isolating the strings from each other, but it DOES help. My last bass didn't have nearly the sustain that the BTB does, but it had the same level of sympathetic string resonance. As a rather heavy-handed player, other basses have often had me constantly muting the other 3/4 strings I'm not playing.

I tend toward industrial and metal, but I'm an eclectic listener and a rather unfocused player. As a result, I can attest to the instrument's versatility. I frequently sit down and try to hash through a bass line I've heard and capture the same tone, using nothing but the BTB and a J-Station. It may take me a while, but I always get the tone, if not the line. I honestly believe that with a decent pedal setup or multi-FX unit, ANYONE can find a usable tone.

As for noise, there's just about none. I'm almost always playing in front of a 19" CRT that sets my single-coil guitar to buzzing like a kicked beehive. Even so, the noise is almost inaudible, even when run through heavy distortion. Unless you're playing next door to a nuclear power plant, you're not going to have noise problems.

As far as overall sound quality, it's great. The neck pickup has a subtle growl on the low end (removable via EQ, of course), and the bridge pickup has snap and snarl enough for Stingray and J-bass fans. The tone is precise and tight, and the B-string isn't floppy, thanks to the 35" scale.

My big beef with the tone is that it's TOO precise. It's not as bad as most Ibanez instruments, but it's a mite sterile. It's not useful as a DI instrument without something warm and tube-ish between it and the board (the ART Tube MP does wonders, surprisingly enough). The J-station does an adequate job of adding warmth, and running it through an amp (even solid-state) clears it up completely. This thing was NOT designed to be run through hi-fi gear.

I bought the bass barely-used off eBay. There's a few rattles, but I don't know who to fault. It's not bad, though, and that's about the only problem.

This thing is a tank. I've banged the thing pretty solidly without problem. It's traveled on many an airplane without accident. Most of the time I don't even need to retune the thing after the flight. I'd it's gig-worthy.

I've only been playing five or six years, but I've spent an inordinate amount of time looking at different basses (I have G.A.S.) and this is one of the better ones I've played, for any price. There aren't many other basses with the 3-band EQ, and if you're looking for versatility, that's key. 35" basses are not too easy to come by, either, and that extra inch makes all the difference in the fifth string.

A word of warning about playability: this thing is a monster. The fretboard's pretty wide, even for a 5-string, and the scale makes it tough to reach more than three frets near the nut. If you're looking to play blistering fast music, look elsewhere (get a 4-string) or limit yourself to the upper end of the fretboard. If you're a beginner, this is not the easiest bass to start on. It's as easy to play as can be expected, but that's not very easy.

But for what it is, it's almost perfect, and it just sounds so GOOD!

I'm knocking half a point off for the sterility of the pickups (most people won't care, and I don't, either, in the end) and 1.5 points for the poor playability.

5 String, 35" scale 24 frets on the D & G strings, 22 on the BEA strings. Flat black also available in flat walnut. H/H Active electronics Low/Mid/High controls with vari-mid. Individual bridge for each string, for its own sustain. wider neck than almost everyother ibanez bass but almost just as fast playing. Cord-lok system.

You can get any sound you want out of this baby. I play mostly for hobby but it sounded great when I played in a band. I play funk/metal/rock/what ever song i hear that has a bad ass bassline. Playing with the vari-mid and playing some mid-range notes at the same time you can get some funky ass envelope effect. I'm playing through a Carvin 15in. PB-200.

I bought the bass used and set-up by Mike Lull, so I don't know how the bass came out of the factory. I was told it came with blue-steel string but the guy i bought the bass from didn't care for them.

This band could take a beating, it's heavy as hell though. The hardware is awesome. the finish hasn't showed the slightest bit of ware, but it doesn't have that hard polyeuothane shell that most guitars come with so the body dents relatively easily but that doesn't bother me. The strap buttons are screwed into some pretty hard wood so you don't need to worry. I used on a gig with out a back up a couple time, but one time the E string broke and the band I was in relied on the drop D tuning; Good thing I had that low B string to drop to an A. The string broke because it was over a year old but it still sounded great.

I never delt with the company but I can tell you Akai Profesionall sucks some hardcore ass.

List prices was/is $1149. Market price around $800-850, I think. It is the older version of the BTB-405 and probably the better version. I've been playing for about 6 years and own a Yamaha RBX-765A, Fender mexican/korean(which ever one was better) Jazz Bass, and a Washburn. But I love this one the most. They could have put the strings thru body that would have been cool. I was told by another player the pickups could have been better, but they sound fine to me.