Product: Ibanez CTB-5
Price Paid: 500 (# UK)
Submitted
12/08/2004
at
01:51pm
by
Ian the Walrus
Email: iangreening dot takethisbitout<at>yahoo dot co dot uk
Features
:
8
Features as in the previous review. Can't disagree with any of that.
Sound
:
8
When I bought this bass I was playing a sort of speeeded up dub or backing up techno/acid type bands. The low end is rather impressive (I've got a very heavy gauge set of round-wounds which I play with a fairly light fingerstyle on the neck pickup).More recently I've done Irish & English folk and church worship stuff, which needs a more acoustic tone. It does fine at this, although you'd probably get a more richer sound with two grand of Warwick or something, for this price I'm not complaining.
It may just be my playing style, but the output seems quiet for an active bass - I have to turn the gain up most of the way at the effects unit and the amp to get much movement on the gain meter of my Ashdown MAG-300 combo.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
7
Not too bad - fine out of the box. A few runs have come up on the varnish over the years, but they fit with the knocks and other dents its got...
Reliability/Durability
:
8
Mostly fine in terms of actually playing, well put together and has stood up to 11 years of gigging.
One thing that I have had problems with is the connector for the cable coming loose, thi means that if anything touches the cable you get a loud 'clunk' at the amp.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never tried them. My local guitar tech looks after it just fine.
Overall Rating
:
9
Great for what you pay for it, has suited me fine - I haven't needed another bass for 11 years and it's still doing fine. Worth considering if you can find one second hand in reasonable condition.
Product: Ibanez CTB-5
Price Paid: 330.00 (Canadian) used
Submitted
10/16/2003
at
07:15pm
by
Anonymous
Features
:
8
1992 Korean made Ibanez CTB-5 Five String Bass
22 Frets
Solid body
Two volume controls plus active bass & treble controls.
Active electronics - 9 volts
Two black single coil J style pickups, EMG "Select" design.
Maple neck, rosewood fret board,not sure of body wood.
Translucent glossy dark red/wine
Common Ibanez 1990s two horn double cutaway shape with pointy black head stock
Black surface mounted bridge with independant string screw adjusts
Black unmarked GOTOH-looking tuners.
Thin 34 inch neck regular scale.
Came with gig bag.
Sound
:
8
Active controls give a range of tone and should be fine for my varied praise and worship repetoire.
It'll be run through my Zoom GFX707 and DI to the church sound system, which includes a subwoofer :-)
The two J style pickups seem to cancel hum when both are turned up, ...wired out of phase I'm guessing.
I hear some difference between the neck and bridge pickups, but the effective active tone controls will likely be my main control over sound. The bass can sound bright for slapping (which I don't do anyway) or mellowed out. I haven't recorded it yet. So far everything seems good. I prefer flat wound strings though, so the sqeaky round wound strings bug me a bit.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
8
The bass was used, and set up fairly low when I bought it.
The pickups seem fine as-is.
The joints an alignment seem great.
The only thing I'd design differently is the 7 or 8 little screws that need to be taken off every time the 9 volt battery needs changing.
Reliability/Durability
:
8
The serial number starts with "92", so I gather it was made then, about 11 years ago (now is 2003), and it's looking very good and well cared for.
The hardware and strap buttons seem fine.
This bass hasn't been used for a while but the neck action seems fine.
I expect it'll be a dependable bass guitar and it'll get used without a backup as is usual with me. Why own a bass that I can't rely on?
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No clue as to Ibanez customer support.
I previously owned an Ibanez RD707 bass for 6 or 7 years without any trouble whatsoever.
Overall Rating
:
8
I've played bass for about 36 years off and on.
I own a couple of guitars and a small bass amp.
This bass has been a pretty good buy for the money. The purchase price was $330.00 Canadian, but with associated costs such as taxes and brokerage fees, by the time I got it up to Canada it added up to a total of around $425.00 Canadian (currently worth about $325.00 US). I understand it sold for around $550.00 US (about $780.00 Canadian then) back in the mid 90s.
I like the active tone controls, the like-new finish, slim neck, good action and solid feel without being dead heavy. Thank God for bass players who respect their instruments enough to take good care of them!
I've tried other 5ers in the music stores and this CTb-5 stands up to them fine as far as I'm concerned.
If I had two wishes I'd have it with flat wound strings and a split coil humbucker for the neck pickup.
