Ibanez GSR200

I've got a 2003 model with all stock parts except the strings. 22 frets, rosewood fretboard, maple neck, agathis body, P/J passive pickups, P Vol./J Vol./Tone, standard bridge, soundgear style body, standard tuners, 34" scale with a thin neck. The only thing with less features than this is a Fender Mark Hoppus Bass, pretty standard fare. For being the standard though it works really well, Indonesian made which, in my experience, makes it better than a mexican made bass.

I run mine with a Peavey TNT115 that has a 7 band EQ, with the amp I can turn it into just about any sound I want. I can get it sounding deep and throaty to high-pitched and whiny and everything in-between but that's mostly the amp. As for the bass itself, the tone control kinda sucks and the J-pickup has enormous amounts of hum, but that's probably just a defect in mine. The P/J combination is great because you can get most sounds you want so that's a plus. I play pretty much everything but mostly I do slap and it can sound great but again, that's the amp talkin'.

The second I got mine I started playing it (after tuning naturally) and it worked pretty well. Everything is put together quite well, Ibanez didn't short me on that aspect, however the action was quite high. I've since gotten the action lowered and now it plays beautifully. The finish holds up decently, since this bass is my first I've beaten the hell out of it (something I regret now that I know a bit more about the musical world) and its only got minor scratches.

This thing was made with the fact it's cheap in mind. I've given it hell, drops, banging it around, studded belts, you name it, this thing has probably lived through it without getting hurt at all. Like I said earlier, the finish has got it goin' on. Since I intend to keep the bass as a backup I'm going to replace the tuners (they aren't the worst but are definately far from the best) and I'm going to get locking strap locks but for now they'll do (I use a locking strap that doesn't need the strap locks). I've only gotten the truss rod adjusted once and it didn't need much of an adjustment. I'm thinking of replacing the bridge too...the stock one is pretty much equivalent to a chunk of aluminum. Biggest problem I had was the input jack crapped out on me in the first 2 months, a wiring problem, and I'm finally getting around to getting the J-pickup hum fixed...another wiring problem. Electronically not that sound.

Haven't dealt with Ibanez.

For a beginning bass this is an awesome one to get. I've been playing for a year and a half now and it's gotten me pretty far so I can't complain too much, but after going out and searching the bass world for something I can save up and keep for a long time, this starter bass just doesn't do it for me anymore. I'm going to keep it as a backup, and I would trust it to work without cringing to the idea of having to grab it. I've played Music Man, Ernie Ball MM, Fender, Ibanez, Peavey, G&L, Tribute, and Yamaha in all price ranges, and this bass kicks the shit out of most basses in the same price range, it also holds it own as you climb up too. If it was stolen I would probably just save up and buy a better bass (which I'm in the process of doing anyway) but the person that steals it would be pretty stupid...I've decorated mine with stickers so it's unique and I would know my bass when I see it.

Neck Type: Agathis

Body: GSR4

Fret: Medium

Bridge: Standard 4

Neck Pickup: PSNDP

Bridge Pickup: PSNDJ

EQ: Passive

And everything else the people said.

I play alot of punk/alt/ska/rock/metal and this bass can do it all. It also works for jazz too. I'm not much of a slapper but it sounds okay. With new strings, everything sounds fine, but I noticed that the E string is a little weaker than all the other strings and will give you a "cardboard" sound.

Right out of the box, it needed a bridge adjustment on the G string. Other than that, it's good! It kinda smudges easy.

This bass seems solid. I wouldnt play it live, but it could take it. I've been playing it for a while now and the only thing that's scratched it was my ring. The strap buttons stay on perfectly.

When I bought it, the guy at Guitar Center tuned it up for me and adjusted the bridge.

I got this for 200 bucks and it was my first bass. It's worth the money. It has a nice PJ config with alot of different tones. I love it's slim neck, perfect for beginners. It's very comfortable and all in all a very good bass. But, the E string sounds like cardboard through every amp I've played it through. It took me a while to really notice this since I was a beginner, but once you hear alot of different bass tones, you realize that there is better out there.

2003 model I believe. Not the newer active models. Everything else has been said enough times someone's eyes have to be bleeding. All standard beginner stuff.

Versatile enough for anyone new to bass. Slaps well for the pickups, but they wouldn't raise high enough. I ended up putting in shims to keep the pickups high, to suit my tastes. Good P sound if you can raise the pickups.

Great finish. 8 months and not a scratch. I didn't know enough about setups when I first got it, so I can't add much in that regard, other than I've been having some minor poblems with the action. 1" circle of green wood, not well seasoned.

It has sustained the small amounts of live playing I've put it through. Hardware is solid, except that the input jack is popping loose from the solder, once it breaks off I'll take the 5 minutes to solder it back on. Never adjusted the truss. Solid as a rock.

Never dealt with Ibanez.

Solid hunk of wood (Well, agathis is more like a bush than an actual tree, so it's and excellent chunk of brush) The best thing for a beginner. If it was stolen, I would buy a different bass built more for my taste. It is easily the best new bass in this range, hands down. I wish it had a lot of stuff, but then it would be too expensive.

You should already know the features of this bass, but here's a refresher. Two pickups, p/j config with seperate volume knobs and one tone knob. Gloss black color, you should know the rest. Gets a seven because I like to have a little more control over my sound. It would easily be a ten, but I've been spoiled by my SRX500.

Great sound for the price. The stock pickups aren't all that great, but I've been meaning to replace them for a while now. You can get everything from a chunky rock to a clean, pure harmonical jazz. Run it through the Phat-Hed distortion and you can get into the metal style of bass. It lacks a little on slap, but like I said above, i've been recently spoiled. It gets an eight, just because of the stock pickups.

I bought mine at a pawn shop, and I knew the guy that owned it before me. He treated it like a red-headed step child. It wasn't uncommon for him to take it off and throw it around on stage, slam into the stage, and generally beat the living hell out of it. But it still works and looks just fine, with the only visible damage being one of the strap locks breaking loose, but that was an easy fix. The neck works, but like I said, i've been spoiled. It looks absolutely beautiful, I've added blood-red pinstrips on the front of the body, and a pinstrip rose in the same color on the back, and it looks just awesome.

Refer above to how it was treated before me. It takes a good deal to kill this bass. The only shaky things are the pups, but what can you expect? You could gig without a backup, but its just plain stupidity not to. No matter how durable the thing is, stuff happens that you don't expect.

I've been playing for a couple years now, and I still like this bass. I don't know if I would go and buy another one, because this one has a good deal of sentimental value, but I would definatly track down whoever took it and take it back.

Indonesia made, not sure of the model year but it has four controls and a 9V in the back, which sets it apart from most I've seen. Controls seem to be volume, pickup balance, tone, and a low-end booster. 4 strings, 34 scale, 22 frets, P/J pickups, Agathis body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard. Black finish, no pickguard, precision/soundgear style body, standard bridge, very thin neck and very lightweight body.

I play a lot of rock/alternative/jangly folk- A lot of rambling, complicated basslines where each note really has to deliver, and for the most part, it does. There's a bit of fret buzz with too low an action. The sound is full and rich when it's balanced to the P pickup, brighter and crisper when balanced to the J. Very versatile sound, three main sound 'areas' to play over that allow you to craft your sound without messing with knobs. The pickups are a bit weak on the D and G, and the factory strings sound crap - replace them as soon as you can. Overall a very consistant and good quality sound, especially for the price range.

Bass was perfectly set up right off the wall. Haven't had to adjust the truss or intonation since, and it holds a tune remarkably well. Everything seems to have been fit together perfectly - Ibanez seems to take a lot of time to do these things right, even on their lower-end models. The black finish is a little plain but has a nice overall look, pretty slick, and despite having no pickguard it's been amazingly resistant to dents, scratches, and damage in general.

The one real flaw is that the agathis body, while very lightweight, is also very soft and has a tendency to strip at the upper strap peg. Needs a stripped-screw jacket from a hardware store to fix it. Otherwise, I've dropped it, smacked it around, and had it fall off of the strap without it coming out of tune or picking up any marks, much less taking real damage. Definitely a player for the live performer on a budget, or a good backup bass for a higher-end player. The hardware hasn't come loose after a lot of use and the finish seems there to stay. I don't like ever being without a backup(this usually -is- my backup) but if I had to, I'd use this one alone - it's never failed me.

Never dealt with the company, so I can't really say.

Been playing for about a year now, and this was my first bass. I've since moved to a Fender American Precision as my primary bass but I don't think I'll ever get rid of this one - it's the absolute best thing out there for the price, and is the only 'cheap' bass I'd trust to be a backup. So yes, I'd replace it if it were lost. The only real complaint I've had is the loose/stripped strap pegs.

no idea when it was made, but i think it's indonesian. they make hella good guitars there, i must say. 22 frets, 4 strings. so far as i can tell, it has separate volume knobs for its P and J pickups, and a tone knob that affects both. they're standard ibanez pickups, which means passive. i don't know enough about bridges on basses to say what this thing has, but it looks a lot like every other bass bridge i've seen. nice black finish on that cool looking soundgear-style body, matching and equally cool looking headstock. the tuning pegs are nifty too, not like those funky fender ones. it came with... uh... the 4th string that they put on it for me. as you can probably tell, i got it used. strikes me as a rather basic bass, but it's got all i wanted and nothing i didn't.

i play bass when i want to try something different from my guitars, but mostly, i stick to a slow, kind of upbeat style. think of 311 and you'll be pretty close. anyway, i really like the sound of this thing. it can do most anything... i've gotten it to go from a metal bass (a tone kind of like cotton candy... shapeless, fuzzy, and good) to a ska bass with a sound that's tighter than a B-cup on pamela anderson and punchier than tyson on fight night. anyway, crappy analogies aside, this thing is nice for whatever it is you want to play. i've never tried it on an actual stage (i'm running it through a guitar amp for the time being, and i don't want the poor thing to blow up on me) but i'd imagine it sounds as good there as it does in the music store through a nice, big hartke amp...

basically, i like the sound. i don't like the difficulty of learning slap bass, but hey, i'm a guitarist. it's not supposed to be an easy transition.

well, this was a used bass, so i have no clue how the last person treated it. it's got a couple little chips on one of the cutaways, but hey, sh!t happens, as they say. looks nice all the same, though...

the only thing that i noticed was, well... aside from the fact that it was missing the top string when i first saw it, i kind of accidentally pulled one of the knobs off in the store... nothing a good push couldn't fix, and it hasn't bothered me since, but... eh...

in any case, it's nice for its usual price, and amazing for the one i paid... gets an 8 because i'm not sure if that knob thing was the fault of the previous owner or not...

i'd say this thing could probably take anything i throw at it... or throw it at... i've heard good things about ibanez, and while i haven't really tested it out yet (still waiting on that bass amp first), it looks like something i could use live. and probably will. and, seeing as no other bass in its range could possibly compare, i'll be using it without a backup.

never dealt with ibanez, doubt i ever will.

i've been playing guitar for going on 4 years, bass for... uh... i don't know, not even 4 months yet. i don't have any other bass stuff, but i'm getting a hartke B-900 soon. great for my new guitar and my semi-new-used bass. anyway, i like the feel and sound of this thing. the price was nice, too. the only thing i don't like is the whole getting used to the (relatively) enromous distances between frets (compared to guitar). chords are a pain in the ass, too. ah well, that'll come, with time. as for the bass itself, get it for 210, it'll still be a damn good deal. that i got it for only 125 was... well... i don't think i've ever gotten such a good deal on anything in my life, honestly.

34 scale, 22 frets, walnut fingerboard, medium frets,maple neck, 4 string, 2004 model I got, so it has a tone, 2 volume, independent for each pickup, a P and J style. And a Phat EQ booster. So it does have active eletronics with a 9 volt battery. Red finish, inproved bridge, with 6 thick bolts instead of 4 from older models.

Sick ass sound for a 230 dollar bass. Only problem is the J pickup, it buzzes like a bitch, the P pickup almost never. Great as a punk/funk/slap bass. Blink sound kinda, very ringy like a fender. I have ddario strings, came with it when I bought it. I prefer Rotosound strings for any bass i play, if its fretless maybe Darco ones.

My music store set it all up for me, perfect ten, no bugs or nuttin.

Built like a tank. My old model was a 2001 version. Unfortunatley it received the business end of an angry size 12. (Dad got pissed at me and stepped on it) Rest In Peace My Friend!!!

5 Year warranty with my music store, sick!!!!! Known the guy there for years, sold me the original GSR200!!

Down pat I love this bass. The newer model has vast improvments over earlier modles. The tonal capability has also increased as well. Has more meat to the tone witht he Phat booster. It is a great beginner bass.

My GSR was made in 2001 i beleive in Indonesia. It has 22 frets. I mostly use D'addario Strings. A couple monthes ago i sanded the finish off because the black finish was getting way too scratched up. When i bought it, it had a Precision Bass Pickup and a Jazz Bass Pickup, but after about a year the P-bass pickup literally died, it had almost no output anymore, so i removed it. I now use only the J bass pickup. Its a fairly noisy bass after a while, and it gets worse when you have the EQ on your amp dialed up. Its passive. My bass is made of agathis. The bridge is a cheap B-10, and it buzzes alot on the G string and the D string. I'm going to eventually get a badass bridge on it. The neck is the greatest part. It feels so freaking awesome. Its a skinnier neck and dosen't have a gigantic headstock. Its made of maple and has a rosewood fretboard.

I play stuff like the beatles, NOFX, Sonic Youth, Talking Heads, Anti-flag, Get Up Kids and more, and this bass does it all, though it dosent sound very good when i dont play it through my digitech BP200. Its a very noisy bass and ive had to resolder most of the connections. Flourescent lights make it go nuts. It makes wide variety of sounds when you turn the tone all the way up or all the way down.

I don't really remember how well it was set up when i bought it. Ive tweaked it a lot though, and now it feels very nice. The Frets were very well dressed, but the bridge saddles don't seem to fit the higher strings, ie G and D strings.

This bass is a beast. You could set a bomb off on it and nothing would happen. It stays in tune. The body feels great. The strap buttons could use some work. the button on the cut away i replaced with a bigger screw and a bunch of washers and it hasent given me any trouble since.

Haven't Tried

Its a great bass. I wouldnt trade it for the world, atleast once i change the pickup and the bridge. Its a real work horse. It dosent mess up the strings after heavy playing. I'm not even planning on getting a new bass and i've been playing this hog for 2 years now. I would reccomend getting a Digitech BP200 though. The BP200 makes it sound whatever you want. Its a great peddle. This bass is so much better than a squier, cheap washburn, or a cheap yamaha. Ibanez is definately the best beginner bass manufacturer.

Well...the same features as mentioned by everybody else. The key ones being active Precision and Jazz pickups.

I bought the Jewel Blue version because it was all the shop had left (but I really like the color anyway).

The sound is great. I play it through a 20w Orange amp. My dad's 30 year old Precision doesn't sound quite as good through this small amp. He says it sounds a little "muddy" compared to mine (though it is in a different class through a bigger amp).

The shop where we bought it had already set it up, and all we had to do was adjust the tuning when we got it home. There is a tiny bit of fret buzz, but the strings are new and the guitar needs a little playing-in...so no biggie.

My only concern is that the knobs come off a little easy. But for the price, I don't expect it to have the wear and tear of a more expensive bass.

No dealings.

My dad was a professional bass player for many years, and he helped me choose this as my first bass. He was very impressed with it, and as he doesn't play much these days he is even thinking of selling his old Precision (which is worth a lot of money) and buying one of these just to have a bass lying around home for him to teach me with (he is left-handed, so I can't have his Precision!!).

For the money, there's nothing I can think of complaining about. If it was stolen I would definitely consider buying another one.

Unknown manufacturing date; made in Indonesia--4 string 22 frets
Controls individual volume controls for P and J style pickups, common tone, passive pickups
Neck--maple with joined headstock, Agathis body
Finish--black polished
Body style--double cutaway and contoured
Bridge--P style with individual adjustments
Tuners-- Schaller type
Neck--narrow, full scale
accessories--gig bag

ok for a variety of sounds
using with Peavey amp,occasionally with mid 60's Dynaco
Full warm sound without Fender rumble; can be bright if tone is not cut, plenty of fullness when played fingerstyle
Cheaper and better than most of the other 12 basses I've had over the past 35 years, light weight for a solid body, fast neck

Bought at the local pawn shop. Was unplayble due to overtightened truss rod. Backed it off about 3/4 turn and irt was fantastic. Raised the pickups because I mostly use a pick and this gives thicker, hotter sound

This looks to be as durable as the '71 Jazz that I used six to seven days a week--lasted five years

40 years
No
yes--even if I had to buy new
I love the price and sound--I paid $360 discountedfor my '71 Jazz when new--figure in inflation and even the current American Jazz is cheap! My last new bass was $300 for a Kramer aluminum neck in '79