Ibanez BTB515E

What a beauty! 2002 Made in Japan. The body is 1pc. solid mahogony with a natural walnut flat finish, not too heavy, very well-balanced. 35-inch scale length, 24 frets, rosewood fretboard, passive Bartolini pickups with 18-volt 3-band active EQ, volume and pickup balance knobs. Mini 3-way EQ switch to change the midrange frequency (250hZ, 500hZ, and 1khZ). Nice and beefy 5pc. matte finished neck that really fills up my hand with a built-in thumb scoop for thumpin'. Neutrik locking input jack, monorail bridge system which eliminates string "cross-talk", Gotoh tuners. A joy to stare at as well as to play. Feature-ama!

This is a man's instrument. Well balanced. It has huge tone, and the low B rings clear as a bell to my ears. Very clean and full sounding overall. This is also the most versatile bass I have ever played on. My BTB has vibe and versatility nailed to the wall. I use a Fender Bassman 400 combo amp with this baby and can get any type of sound I can imagine. All the tones of my favorite players are available. Paul McCartney, Sting, James Jamerson, Bootsy Collins, Victor Wooten, etc. Oh yeah, babe.

I had to raise the action a teeny bit which only took a minute after I got it home. Totally flawless after that. The knobs are firm, and turn very smoothly, and that little midrange switch is pretty tough. A total workhorse, this instrument is made to be played alot!

For my purposes, this really is the best bass for the money. I made a teeny little chip next to the thumb scoop from practicing Victor Wooten thumping techniques, but why buy an instrument unless you are really going to play on it? Built like a tank, and withstands live playing very well. I am totally satisfied with this rig because it can fit just about any musical situation. I have one of those comfy Fender Neoprene straps, which really holds up big-time. So no worries when it comes to strap buttons. Very dependable. This thing seriously stays in tune for weeks! I would go without a backup, sure. No sweat with this bass.

Ibanez should have email available for its regular customers in case they have questions, and I'm sure there are plenty out there who do. Other than that, I have no gripe with them.

Been playing bass for almost a year developing right hand thumb and finger skills, but played guitar for 12 years prior. I made the switch because it's easier to get gigs as a bass player, you can afford to be a bit choosier. The simplicity of bass, cable, and amp makes life so much easier, plus it's a fun instrument to take up. I had considered playing bass for a couple of years, and always knew that I'd want a BTB and a Fender Bassman amp. To me, this has always been the ultimate working musician's bass rig. I would be hesitant to buy the exact same model if it was stolen, because I've tried 3 other BTB515's, and they simply don't have the same vibe or feel as mine. I think I'd go for the BTB 1005 with the flame maple top in that case. I just am having a blast playing bass, especially with my gear. Overall, I give it a big HI-OH!

I believe it is a 2002 model. 5 strings. Features a solid mahogany body with a walnut finish. This bass looks gorgeous. Active electronics, with a midrange control switch, low, mid, and high knobs, and two other volume knobs. It has a 5 piece neck, which I believe to be maple and Mahogany, but don't quote me. It two Bartolini soapbox pickups and a Bartolini 3 band equalizer. The pickups are passive. It has a very unique body style that is very comfortable to play on. Also features Ibanez's monorail II bridge (each string has it's own bridge), which is great because it lets each string vibrate without any interference from other strings. This idea is genuis and I find myself wondering if they have a patent on it because I've never seen another bass with this type of bridge. 35 inch scale so the strings are kept nice and tight, with jumbo frets. Included a leather strap with straplock (recommended! you'd hate to drop this thing as it will get dinged easily), and a padded gig bag. The only complaint I have about it is that while the oil finish looks stellar, I'd kind of prefer a clearcoat, because this finish will definately scratch very very easily.

The Bartolini pickups sound incredible. I play in an acoustic/surf/blues/jazzy type band and it fits the sound perfect. I prefer a really low sound with tons of growl in all registers and lots of clarity and this bass does it all. It can be adjusted to shake the earth which works perfect for hard rock or metal, or to sound mellow which is great for my style of music. Gets a killer slap tone. The pickups are nice and silent as well. The strings are spaced quite wide so it makes slapping alot easier than I expected moving from a 4 string to a 5 sting. On that note I recommend steel wound strings on this bass, they get much clarity. I have not played this bass on stage or in the studio, only in practice settings. I run it through a 150 watt Ashdown 15" combo amp. I can only imagine how it will sound hooked up to a bigger rig.

I bought this bass used, but the setup was perfect for my needs. It had a relatively low action. The fretboard is as true as you could ask for all the way up, with no variance in pitch. Example: you get a perfect octive on the E string at fret 12 and the D string at fret 14. VERY thin neck. It was alot easier to play on that I expected in the shift from 4 string to 5 string. My only complaint is that you will most definately need a strap lock for the bottom of the strap. There is no way that your strap would stay on for long without one.

Can't really comment too much here because I havent had it for that long. The only real complaint about durability is that you must take care of it well because of the oil finish.

Never had to deal with Ibanez, but I hear their customer service doesnt match the quality of their instruments, but I can't comment personally.

I've been playing bass seriously and exclusively for only about a year, but growing up my entire family for as long as I can remember consisted of guitar players, bass players, and musicians alike, so my experience goes back much farther. I got it used for 575 bucks (retails at around 1,000 depending on where you find them), and I couldn't have asked for more of a bass in this price range. Alot of research went into this purchase and I ended up with this one. Of course it's no Warwick, Pedulla, Zon, Tobias, or Musicman, but for only a fraction of the price I'm amazed at how it stacks up in the looks and sound department. I've had my hands on just about every bass in about 10 music stores in this city, and this bass can compete with the best of em. If it were lost or stolen, I'd probably go into a fit or rage and break something, and then start my search for another.

2002Ibanez BTB515E Bass. 35" scale 5 string. 24 frets on a Wide-Thin neck. Walnut color stained mahogany body, five-piece laminate bolt-on neck. Two Bartolini soapbar pickups (Passive). Active onboard 18V preamp with 3 Band EQ (Bass, Mid, Treble) and midrange shift 3-position toggle. Also has blend and volume knobs. Gotoh tuners. Monorail bridge. Neutrik locking mono jack. Can't rate a 10 because of the lack of case and straplocks.

I currently ride the fence between Prog Rock and Jazz. This bass has a variety of tones well suited for either. I can take it from slap-rock-funk tone to warm jazz tones with some minor tweaking of the 3 EQ knobs. I currently run the bass into a SansAmp PSA-1 and out to a biamped Carvin R1000 which drives an SWR Goliath Sr. (6x10") on the high side, and a Sunn 215 (2x15") on the low side. In the effects loop of the Carvin is an old ART SGX 2000 Express that I use for simple chorus and other modulation effects. The bass gives bright clarity and excellent slap tones, and also deep lows that can rumble you from head to toe. I don't forsee myself doing it, but if I were to change anything about the bass and it's tone, I would probably just toss in an Aguilar OBP-3 instead of the stock onboard preamp.

I picked it up in the music store and was immediately impressed with the setup of the instrument. It felt like someone had actually taken the time to set the action right. When plugged into my tuner after bringing it home, I found the intonation to be dead on all the way up the neck. The neck relief and pickup height was also set perfectly. The frets are sheared off smoothly at the necks edge, with no jagged burrs or snags at any point. The neck joint is snug and clean. The rounded edges and crevasses are smooth and consistant with the rest of the finish. I can find no flaws in the stain finish. The only thing that I could call a flaw with the overall craftsmanship would be the three-way midrange shift toggle. It makes a little noise when switching from position to position.

This bass is a monster. It feels like it is built like a tank, however, I have seen a BTB1005 with the control knobs pushed in and the body cracked around them. I would imagine it took quite a blow to cause the damage, but I will be protecting mine from such an incident, for fear that the wood may be thin in that region. The hardware is all high-quality and comes from well-known manufacturers with reputations that are industry standard. I think Ibanez got it right by outsourcing and avoiding their own components this time. I had to change out the strap buttons to my usual Schallers, and that was a gripe for me, but I have never picked up anything else that had them standard either. I imagine I will have this bass for at least as long as my previous bass which I have played faithfully for the past 13 years.

I have only ever dealt with Ibanez once to replace a proprietary 5 way toggle in a 540S guitar. At first I was frustrated because I could find no numbers to call to order parts, but a quick trip to my local Ibanez authorized dealer solved the problem. They were quick to ship a replacement, and the dealer had no trouble swapping it out for me in no time flat.

I have been playing bass for 14 years now. I have a collection of basses and guitars that I have picked up along the way. Most of them (4 to be exact), strangely enough, have been Ibanez. Every time I shop for something I find the features and playability to meet or (in this case) exceed whatever products the competitors are offering. In the two weeks prior to buying this bass I played a Lakland, a Zon, several Warwicks, some Pedullas, a Conklin, a Spector, and a few different Tobias basses. At the end of all my testing, the Lakland and one specific Tobias ended up being the only thing that came close to the comfort, tone, and playability of the BTB515E. The only reason I hesitated on purchasing it the first time I played it was because I was sure that there had to be something better out there. I should have trusted my first instinct from the start and I could have saved myself alot of time. If it were stolen I would cry alot on my way to go get another one.