Ibanez Blazer Bass

Serial #800681 Made in Japan. I believe it to be made in 1980. Passive blonde alder body with a one piece maple neck and black pickguard.

The bass reminds me of a combination of a precision, jazz, and Gibson Grabber. It has a single large pickup- not a p bass style pickup. The bridge is a brass fender/wilkinson style bridge. The tuners are heart shaped- too cool! The neck is between jazz & precision width.

No extra bells & whistles, but the meat & potatoes are high quality.

This bass is brighter & tighter than a p bass.

I think that's due to the single pickup position. It's slightly closer to the bridge than a p. The bass is very quiet. I've already done some recording with it and it records like a J bass. I normally roll my tone off quite a bit but I like this one with some treble in it, especially if I turn the mids down on my amp.

I have an all tube peavey VB2 and it sounds great through it.

This bass will be 30 years old next year. It took to a set up very well. The neck is fine. The frets are in surprisingly great condition. It obviously has been played quite a bit too. The lacquer is worn off on the neck above the first 3 frets and where your right arm rests.

The neck pocket is not as tight looking as nitpickers would like it.

Everything looks original and has stood the test of time apparently well. Natural finishes probably do that better than others.

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I found this bass yesterday and it is exactly what I've been searching for. I've been a player for 15 years and this is my fav bass. I have a USA Fender Jazz that is my other fav, but is too heavy for long gigs. I've been pretty much a p or j guy, so not a far leap.

I was planning on buying the parts to construct a p-bodied & jazz necked bass. This one fits the bill fit & finish wise, and the tone is to die for. Must be the pickup placement. Overall this bass is a great value.

The best feature on this bass is the sound. 1981 with all original except the pick ups which I changed when I didn't know any better!

Wow. Deep, pure and buttery. This bass is just a badass. It has a creamy sound that is all bass. Ibanez got it right with this one. I have a Fender P (Mex), Warwick and a Fender Jazz (American Reissue) and it is the most consistent one of the bunch. I keep seeing vintage Fender P's for thousands of dollars and I can't figure how this bass has flown under the radar for so long. I got this bass for $300 back in 1990. I shelved it for close to six years because I thought I was getting a better sound from my new basses. I was - until I actually plugged my Blazer in and compared them all. The best part of the story is that I just found another Blazer online for $175 (with the gig bag!) Today is a good day. Take your over priced vintage basses - I now have two Blazers to rely on.

Set up has not changed in 25 years. "Brick House" must have been written about this bass. Solid and consistent after all these years.

Live playing is great. Cuts through and delivers the bottom. The hardware has lasted for almost 30 years. I don't think it will give up now. Finish looks like a 30 year-old bass should. Very dependable. No backup needed here.

No need to call 'em.

I have been playing for 17 years in prog-pop bands. $300 for my first one and now $175 for my second. What a bargain. If you see one go and get it. Don't be dissuade by the price. It plays and sounds like a dream. I would get another one if this one was lost or stolen. Actually, I would hurt whoever stole it and then get it back.

I have 2 Blazers both made in 1982 .They have the most simple P bass style layout: One pickup,1 volume knob,1 tone knob.Solid ash body and one piece Maple neck.Both weigh around 9 lbs. so they're not too heavy.The bodies are not as beautifully contured as my P basses,but thats not really a problem.

Its amazing how different these two Blazers made months apart sound.One has a very bright middley sound like a Music Man,while the other has a classic Pbass thud. Both sound teriffic!The one that sounds like a pbass is the best sounding bass I've heard and thats no joke! The pickups are loud without sounding "hot" and the notes all over the fretboard are even,so no avoiding the "deadspots"antwhere.

I bought both second hand and they are a little beaten up,but they were both Harmonically perfectly in tune,so I haven't changed a thing,not even the strings are years of playing.

You couldn't design a more simple or reliable bass

Both second hand so no customer support,but check these other reviews if you're looking for customer satisfaction!

I've been playing professionally for 30 years,I owm a 58 pbass,a 63 pbass ,a 66 jazz bass a 76 Music Man and I've owned lots and lots of other Basses over the years.I'm writing this review to spread the good news about these basses.Even though I paid 250 bucks for it in a pawn shop in Launceston,Tasmania:my orange 1982 Ibanez Blazer is THE BEST SOUNDING BASS I"VE EVER PLAYED...there I've said it.

The features of this bass get as close as possible to a classical Fender precision (as close as the lawsuits from Fender would permit).

It has a couple of distinct features: the bridge is brass, which I think contributes to the wonderful sound of the instrument.

It has two pots (volume and tone), and 21 frets.

The instrument is very simple, passive, only one pickup, but that's the beauty of it.

The sound of this creature is just amazing. It's impossible to describe, but I'll try: think of the ideal bass sound, well, this is as close as you get in the real world. Round, full bottomed, warm sound.

I don't know what are the pickups of this thing, it has some dimarzio-like polepieces at the pickup (with allen screws).

The sound is very bloomy, it opens up a little bit after you hit the strings (if you intend to), and it should work great for latin music (when you play on the upbeats and tie over to the downbeats).

I have to say that I was very reluctant about buying old instruments (I never quite understood that people would pay thousands for a "vintage" instrument). Well, this old bass just slapped in the face all my other newer basses.

Well, the neck has held in good shape for nearly three decades.

The only problem by mine is that the frets are sort of unglued, I don't know why, some of them are sticking out. This forces the action to be a little bit high, and yet some of them buzz (those right next to the ones that are unglued).

I think it would pay to do a refret some time, but for now it's still playable.

Other than that, the bass looks really nice (I don't know why that guy in the other review says it looks like an ugly beast, mine is really nice). The bass has no paint, I think there is only lacquer, which has turned a very rich honey color, it looks really nice. You can see through the finish the wood (which shows that they've picked really A grade tone wood). The black pickguard does a nice contrast to the natural wood color.

The nearly 30 years this bass survived speaks for itself. The hardware is very nice (some Fender style tuning machines, with open mechanic, but heart-shaped).

The bridge is very solid and well laid, cast brass, so the sound really gets into the wood. I guess that the soft wood (of the neck plus the body) contributes to that nice round sound (harder woods have more sustain, but also a much higher resonant frequency, which makes them to harsh for my taste).

Unfortunately, the relatively soft wood shows the multiple offenses the instrument had to suffer in its long history, but nothing really serious: some dents here and there, the finish has last, though.

I have no idea, never dealed with Ibanez.

I cannot complain about this bass. I got it dirty cheap, but it's worth about any price you can ask for it. Really lovely sound, plus it looks nice, plus it is built to last, with none of those complicated active circuitry. If you ever stumble over one of these, buy it!

my Blazer was given to me back in 1980 as a gift when i turned 18. i'm still using it now and is still my favoured gigging bass. mines the natural finish with black scratch board, maple neck and 21 frets. to this day i still don't know what type of pickups they are but they were the factory fitting. the bridge and knobs are brass, something i still haven't seen on any other bass.

the sound is brilliant. it's very versatile for the music i play. it originally came with black, flat wound strings. i changed them to round wounds for a while but i switched back to flats later as it seemed to produce a better sound.

other than changing the strings and lowering the action a little it's still pretty much set up the same as the day i got it..... 27 years ago!

again! 27 years, never gone wrong! it's been bounced, dented, dropped, fallen over and been through raising 3 kids. i still gig with it. i do always have a backup though, but thats only if a string goes, i'm confident enough that the Blazer won't let me down.

i've been playing for just under 30 years now and this bass has followed me pretty much throughout. i used to use a custom sound trucker bass amp and a peavey after that died. now i'm using the blazer through an Ashdown MAG300 for gigging and practice through a Fender Rumble 25.
i picked it out in the music shop originally because i just liked it. don't know why, just did. in the years i've played in various differnt types of bands and always used the Blazer. it just works. it's solid, can't ever see me using anything else.

1982 Japan
Solid ash yellowed natural finish (Nicotine!)
Passive original pickups

What a sound. Vintage P bass all the way!

Built like a tank. Has survived much abuse and hard knocks and still goes on unfazed.

My bass was loved by an unknown possibly deceased previous owner who spent countless hours playing it and wearing trails up and down the fretboard. This is a testament to its magic! Wow!

Havent tried to contact Ibanez, wish they would reissue th Blazer.

I have an active Fender Jazz bass ,
but this one is the first bass guitar that I have ever owned, and I can't believe my good fortune that I began my journey as a dedicated bassist with this precious axe. I will always cherish it, and I hope to give it to my son one day if I ever have children. If it were lost or stolen I'd be heartbroken, and I'd search for another one.
If you own one of these its pointless for me to tell you not to ever sell it because I'm sure you won't. And if you dont own one of these and you ever have a chance to buy an Ibanez Blazer , BUY IT!!!!

Okay , now the kicker, I bought mine at a Salvation Army thrift store for forty five dollars. Now thats salvation...

1982 Ibanzez Blazer bass. All natural wood finish. P-bass copy basically. One volume knob, one tone knob. You can read the other reviews for the rest. The bass is a solid workhorse bass with tones that kick the ass of most basses in this price range.

I loved the sound when I plugged it in. It's definitively stronger with it's stock pups than my other bass with the boutique hot pups. It's got defined highs, good midrange, and lows like a mofof.

I'm using it with a Mesa Boogie Bass 400 (sometimes a Yorkville) and it sounds beastly. You could play blues, rock, metal... it's pretty maleable. And you can get great punch if your looking for that percussive slap or pluck sound.

The action is suprisingly good. Not ultra-law (my preference) but it's not like playing a upright either. No string wierdness. The finish is worn out of control but it still looks fine. Any defects it had were from age and I had them fixed when I had the bass set up.

Like I said, it's a workhorse. Solid, heavy, no loose or problematic parts. I'd feel safe playing it without a backup...

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I was looking for basses around 700-1500 to be a backup for my Ric and saw this solid looking bass for some ridiculously low price on e-bay and looked up other reviews. After weighing it out, I decided to take a detour through impulse shoppingland. Now, I might get nice backups for my other gear before I get a third bass.

Ibanez Blazer Bassis a Precision Bass Copy, better said a P-Bass at its best. It hasn't "tons of features", it is still a very puristic P-Bass, but every feature contained in this 20 year old product is perfectly made. Hardware and wood is magnificent, everything works great. It was a joy to set it up, even after 20 hard years this bass has gone through.

P-Bass, classical. The Pickups are no exception in the high level of the other hardware. Great mids, decent highs, Boomboombass! No Quarterpounderultrarocksound, a well balanced, original, vintage sound which is suitable for everything!

Everything works like on its very first day, never had a neck that was so easy to set. The finish is in a very bad condition, telling from no easy life, so far. It s the only thing that has grown old.

What could I say more than this bass seems to be immortal?

This Bass has brought me back to music, it is a bass with quality and charakter but also a bass you have to search for. Without a doubt I belive the inscription on the headstock "custom Made".

Got me one of them Ibanez Blazer Bass Guitars.
1982 P copy with no frills.
The guy who sold it to me said that it's only claim to fame was that Bill Wyman from the stones puked on it at Altamont.

I paid extra for that - oh yes.

Sounds like a dream though and works in all environments.

Feels good. Plays Good. Smells like puke.

I park my truck on it.

Been playing for 48 years and this bass has it all.

Early 80's (I think) blazer - finished in blue with white pickguard. 21 fret. Standard P-Bass configuration. Passive split pickup P-style with one tone, 1 volume control. Maple neck, solid wood ash body.

All you need in a bass in the same way that a Precision is all that you need.

Sounds like a precision on steriods - the most thunderously powerful sounding passive bass I have ever played or owned. Absolutely incredible. The bass player in Supergrass plays one - not hard to see why.

I have the original pickups in - they have individually adjustable magnets - looks exactly like a DiMarzio precision pickup to me.

It rocks.

The build quality is very good - nothing to worry about at all. Machines work fine after 25 years, neck is stable - bridge is solid. Wearing very well...

No problems - this bass is as solid as the day it was made.

This is a great bass - nothing to dislike about it really.