Hyped AF... Finally a successor to the Portamento series. I love my SRF705, but the changes sound completely logical to me, Nordstrand pickups instead of Bartolini for better output, a semi hollow body for the piezo sound, an MR bridge. Thanks Ibanez and thanks Gregor for the demo❤️🔥
Ibanez is one of thse companies that rarely misses the mark (at least when it comes to basses) and their pricing is somewhat reasonable, it's difficult to go wrong with any of their lines. Anyways, great video as always!
Finally! This does not disappoint! Make Ibanez pay you for demos because if I only had their official demo for this I would have passed it up. Now I have it on Pre-Order! Thank you for the wonderful videos!
Sophie is so relaxed, love her tone and style. I have a headless short scale and the fret-board dots are practically invisible in the dark. The same is going on with the fret-less which doesn't really have a color difference on the fret-board divisions. Why can't Ibanez listen to the bass players observations?
I really wish that Ibanez had simply done nothing with the fingerboard, but just left it as a single unmarked slab of panga panga like on the SRF70* series. When you take a bass like this and put fret lines *and* dot markers on the fingerboard, when there are already dots on the side, it just adds visual noise without really being useful. Also what is up with those sound holes? Some weird visual design choices from Ibanez on this one.
It's clear they built this one to a price point. Grabbed an already slotted and marked board from the regular SR line and put it on this. The "sound holes" also look really roughly finished. I agree the aesthetics of this bass are not good. The Gary Willis or the Portamento look way better.
Was just given one of these and I have to say it’s a very versatile smooth playing instrument. I am not a fretless player but have been having a lot of fun on this one and sure I will be expanding my playing immensely.
Even with Sophie's small intonation mistakes, this is so much better than the trash Ibanez uploaded to their channel to introduce this bass... It really doesn't make much sense to make the lines black when the fingerboard itself is already quite dark; I had an Ibanez SRH500F with a rosewood fingerboard before they changed it to the panga panga one, and unless I positioned myself in a good way in front of a light source, those lines were barely visible.
Habe diese Pickups in meinem Cort Modern GB 4 string und dachte schon länger , dass diese prädestiniert für einen Fretless Bass wären...Ibanez did it...klingt klasse..!
I love my cheap old fretless Ibanez Soundgear! Practiced on it constantly for years, to the point where I wore the fingerboard down at the 3 5 7 9 positions :-)
I've considered to buy one, but fell for the SRF705. Similar specs, but the 5th string and neck-through construction made the difference for me. The piezo is the same. Stunning pickup. Before that I had an Ibanez Musician 1982 fretless for 40y. Also a great bass, which made me an Ibanez fan for life.
I bought one of these basses after watching your review. I’ve been playing bass for over 40 years but this is my first fretless bass. It’s light, has a great neck and looks nice. The lines on the fretboard are completely pointless as you just can’t see them. It does sound good though and I’m having a great time playing it.
Very nice, especially for the price! A piezo pickup makes so much sense on a fretless bass. I have an Esh Sovereign Fretless with 2 J-style pickups and a piezo as well. And I don't want to miss it. Sandberg has the Custom Thinline (which is semihollow as well). A beautiful bass, but far more expensive. Same with the Bassline Viper - awesome, but expensive. Now people can get something similar for way less money.
In my opinion the dots are confusing; it´s way better on the srf700; but no doubt - this is another great bass from Ibanez and as allways neice demo video and playing
To me Ibanez makes the most fretless sounding fretless basses. This one seems interesting, but I like the SRF more. It sounds even more fretless to me and doesn't have questionable design choices.
Not a fan of the Piezo but being able to blend and mixing it could be interesting adding just a touch of the Piezo sound. But why in the hell they don't have a 5 string version of this?
Actually, you can tell she is definitely not a fretless player. She reverts to string-bending vibrato intuitively and uses none of the basic tools of a fretless player, such as how she doesn’t naturally approach a pitch but rather picks the fingerboard position and sticks with it. That is not normal behavior for a fretless player. I am not criticizing her. This is just an answer to a comment.
I remember this one’s debut. I went ahead and ordered a 4 string it played so easily and was expertly built. Here’s where it got weird. I’ve never used Nordstand pickups and electronics. It may have been a problem with this specific instrument. It was a dream at maybe 6 lbs. then I turned it up : thin sounding at any setting. It was sterile and felt simulated. Big disappointment. I hear the new Ibanez fretless models are much better. I think I payed 699 for it on sale and a day later I gave lay away to a kid wanting it. I felt the same when I got a headless bass a while back. It seemed like an imitation bass and sound. I think it was steinberger . I can’t remember
Thanks for sharing your experience here, man. The thin sound of the stock Ibanez preamps drives me up the wall. I replaced the one on my fretted bass with a Mike Pope preamp and it sounds great. This one sounds exactly the same as all the others which is such a bummer. You’d think they would go with a more fretless-friendly voicing. I don’t feel like figuring out how to wire up an active bass with a passive piezo system, so there’s no chance I’m getting this one even though it cool and has all the features anyone would need. Have you tried the cheaper Ibanez Portamento? It’s basically this one but with a rounder sound to it and a nice clean fretboard. I tried one in-person and it didn’t have that awful shrill sound most stock Ibanez preamps have. I wish they just put those electronics in this one.
Nordstrand is a real sleeper in an underrated boutique bass pickup maker. Kerry really gets it and this bass would be lost without the pickups and preamp which are well beyond normal Ibanez gear.
Nordstrand is a pretty big name in the pickup game these days among US boutique builders and working bassists, so not sure I'd call them a "sleeper" or underrated at this point (though maybe outside of the US Nordstrand may be under-represented in much the way European options like Delano are under-represented in the US). They do make some killer pickups though (and some fairly unique option in the soapbar shapes like these pickups), and their collaboration with Ibanez is a big step up for these mid-range bass models and give a taste of otherwise quite pricey pickups to a wider audience at import prices- it should be noted that these pickups aren't made by Nordstrand though, just designed by Nordstrand and licensed/built by Ibanez (this particular pickup design is proprietary to Ibanez and isn't even available direct from Nordstrand)- the same is true of the "Bartolini" pickups in other import Ibanez'. The preamp in this bass (and all the other Ibanez models as far as I know) are still in-house Ibanez systems, though my experience with a recent EHB bass and it's Vari-Mid pre suggests that they are decent if a bit bland (the bass in this video uses a different Ibanez pre than the EHBs though, so I can't comment on it specifically). Still the EHB pre is a step up from some past Ibanez preamp systems I've used, so this one may well be too.
Nice bass, I’ve never had an Ibanez before, the only fretless I used to play was a fender jazz long ago, I like to see them reviewing Steve DiGiorgio new signature fretless bass
This is basically an srf700 with 30th anniversary holes, inlays and fret lines... the 700 is neck through as well. I like my 700 better in the looks department.
No, it doesn't say Rob Allen on the headstock :) Very nice playing. I didn't like the official video for it to be honest. I'd love to try this with tapewounds!
I see the pickups inching closer to the bridge for the higher strings. I guess that's so the bass can have an uneven sound? Idk, P basses are set up like that and people think they're amazing, but people also drink michelob ultra so I'm not convinced
First of all, Alain Caron fretless have the perfect fretless sound, and that's what important in an instrument. How it sounds. It will be quite problematic to get up to the and of the fretboard. The bass body blocks the way and unlike fretted instrument that you can twist the hand and get away with it, on fretless the result will be playing out of tune. Speaking on out of tune... well the bassist woman here shows it all.
Nope, sounds metallic. A fretless bass shou;ld sound deep and warm with a buzz at the end of the note partly because of finger technique but mainly of the bass quality.
Played fretless for about 30 years and don’t like the sound of this at all. Maybe round wounds would help but don’t like the sound at all from the vid. Playing also doesn’t really showcase it well . Shame
Am I just too spoiled or this bass fails to deliver the expected "mwaah", "farty" sound. Yes, it is clean, articulate and beautiful but when I hear the Kristall Room 4 Cherry bass, it's just another level.
Ibanez basses are the best kept secret.. I've been using them for going on 40 years.. From the original ground breaking MC924 to my BTB 5str today... Just a pity you didn't call out a proper fretless player for the video.. no offence tho , but I'm missing the singing vibrato tones one can get that would make an instrument like this fly..! 😍🤩😎
... it 'would' be perfect, were it not for the ugliest and most misplaced inlays. Love the dark lines; almost as good as none ... what's with all these distracting markings they all put in their fretless basses? Still looking for one with nothing anywhere and the nut cut from the same plank of wood - just as on a double-bass - so that open strings finally sound as close to exactly like stopped ones as possible. All that money and then one has to get a luthier to fit a clean fingerboard. I don't have that kinda cash 😢. C'mon, Ibanez, your can do it; give us some real pro gear, please! That said, maybe they can't or don't want to. Since my last 5-string from 1985 (fretted), I have long-gone disliked where Ibanez have been going with their artificial-sounding bass gear: low notes but no wood and no character. Innovative, comfy to play (some), but bland. So, no, not perfect at all. Afterthought: and why is there no cutaway for the upper registers? Surely we don't that little chunk of wood for it to sound 'better' (which is a fairly relative term on this instrument).
No I didn’t. What you just did can’t even be considered to be paraphrasing. I said she’s not a fretless player, so please excuse the little intonation struggles here and there.
Sophie just has such solid no frills playing I love it. I feel like with her demos I really get a feel for exactly how the bass sounds.
Sophie is an amazing melodic player! Wow. Loved listening to her demo.
She sounded great! I was surprised when Gregor mentioned intonation. Nothing to apologize for!
I’m just glad Gregor had to say Panga Panga.
PANGA PANGA
Hyped AF...
Finally a successor to the Portamento series. I love my SRF705, but the changes sound completely logical to me, Nordstrand pickups instead of Bartolini for better output, a semi hollow body for the piezo sound, an MR bridge. Thanks Ibanez and thanks Gregor for the demo❤️🔥
Ibanez is one of thse companies that rarely misses the mark (at least when it comes to basses) and their pricing is somewhat reasonable, it's difficult to go wrong with any of their lines.
Anyways, great video as always!
Finally! This does not disappoint! Make Ibanez pay you for demos because if I only had their official demo for this I would have passed it up. Now I have it on Pre-Order! Thank you for the wonderful videos!
I think they do pay him for reviews.
Sophie is so relaxed, love her tone and style. I have a headless short scale and the fret-board dots are practically invisible in the dark. The same is going on with the fret-less which doesn't really have a color difference on the fret-board divisions. Why can't Ibanez listen to the bass players observations?
The Piezo sound was shockingly great
I play a lot of fretless and IMO the piezo is the secret sauce.
Beautiful playing Sophie, thank you!
Great playing by Sophie and nice bass, it has all covered.
Sophie's phenomenal in many ways 😊
I love it. Wondering if it’s available without the fingerboard inlays - lined or unlined would be fine.
I really wish that Ibanez had simply done nothing with the fingerboard, but just left it as a single unmarked slab of panga panga like on the SRF70* series. When you take a bass like this and put fret lines *and* dot markers on the fingerboard, when there are already dots on the side, it just adds visual noise without really being useful. Also what is up with those sound holes? Some weird visual design choices from Ibanez on this one.
It's clear they built this one to a price point. Grabbed an already slotted and marked board from the regular SR line and put it on this. The "sound holes" also look really roughly finished. I agree the aesthetics of this bass are not good. The Gary Willis or the Portamento look way better.
Was just given one of these and I have to say it’s a very versatile smooth playing instrument. I am not a fretless player but have been having a lot of fun on this one and sure I will be expanding my playing immensely.
Thanks for your joy and enthusiasm!
Even with Sophie's small intonation mistakes, this is so much better than the trash Ibanez uploaded to their channel to introduce this bass...
It really doesn't make much sense to make the lines black when the fingerboard itself is already quite dark; I had an Ibanez SRH500F with a rosewood fingerboard before they changed it to the panga panga one, and unless I positioned myself in a good way in front of a light source, those lines were barely visible.
I hated the sound of the bass in the Ibanez video. I can hear effects any old time.
Habe diese Pickups in meinem Cort Modern GB 4 string und dachte schon länger , dass diese prädestiniert für einen Fretless Bass wären...Ibanez did it...klingt klasse..!
I love my cheap old fretless Ibanez Soundgear! Practiced on it constantly for years, to the point where I wore the fingerboard down at the 3 5 7 9 positions :-)
I've considered to buy one, but fell for the SRF705. Similar specs, but the 5th string and neck-through construction made the difference for me. The piezo is the same. Stunning pickup. Before that I had an Ibanez Musician 1982 fretless for 40y. Also a great bass, which made me an Ibanez fan for life.
I bought one of these basses after watching your review. I’ve been playing bass for over 40 years but this is my first fretless bass. It’s light, has a great neck and looks nice. The lines on the fretboard are completely pointless as you just can’t see them. It does sound good though and I’m having a great time playing it.
ouch... that fretboard abrasive vibrato lol
awesome playing and bass though
Very nice, especially for the price! A piezo pickup makes so much sense on a fretless bass. I have an Esh Sovereign Fretless with 2 J-style pickups and a piezo as well. And I don't want to miss it. Sandberg has the Custom Thinline (which is semihollow as well). A beautiful bass, but far more expensive. Same with the Bassline Viper - awesome, but expensive. Now people can get something similar for way less money.
In my opinion the dots are confusing; it´s way better on the srf700; but no doubt - this is another great bass from Ibanez and as allways neice demo video and playing
To me Ibanez makes the most fretless sounding fretless basses. This one seems interesting, but I like the SRF more. It sounds even more fretless to me and doesn't have questionable design choices.
Very pretty. Not enough different from my Portamento to make it a must have.
Those dark fretlines......why? Otherwise sounds and looks great.
I wish the markers for 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th (and up) markers lined up with where the frets would be, instead of where the markers are on a fretted bass
It has top side dots and you can actually see the black lines where the frets would be.
How reachable is that 30th fret? It has some incredible looks
You'll need double bass technique, but it's perfectly reachable
Not a fan of the Piezo but being able to blend and mixing it could be interesting adding just a touch of the Piezo sound.
But why in the hell they don't have a 5 string version of this?
They do have one also.
Do they make this in a 5 string?
Yes they do
The best sounding fretless bass I have heard
oh damn.... this sounds great
Love the piezo sound. Is this available fretted?
“Sophie is not a fretless player”…..proceeds to play the most tasteful fretless lines ive heard in a long time 😂
ahahaha just thought the same
She has no idea about fretless bass playing.
Sorry... truth to be told 😢
Actually, you can tell she is definitely not a fretless player. She reverts to string-bending vibrato intuitively and uses none of the basic tools of a fretless player, such as how she doesn’t naturally approach a pitch but rather picks the fingerboard position and sticks with it. That is not normal behavior for a fretless player. I am not criticizing her. This is just an answer to a comment.
Gorgeous ❤❤❤❤
I love this so much, but without lines that you can see I'm hesitant to get it
I remember this one’s debut. I went ahead and ordered a 4 string it played so easily and was expertly built. Here’s where it got weird. I’ve never used Nordstand pickups and electronics. It may have been a problem with this specific instrument. It was a dream at maybe 6 lbs. then I turned it up : thin sounding at any setting. It was sterile and felt simulated. Big disappointment. I hear the new Ibanez fretless models are much better. I think I payed 699 for it on sale and a day later I gave lay away to a kid wanting it. I felt the same when I got a headless bass a while back. It seemed like an imitation bass and sound. I think it was steinberger . I can’t remember
Thanks for sharing your experience here, man. The thin sound of the stock Ibanez preamps drives me up the wall. I replaced the one on my fretted bass with a Mike Pope preamp and it sounds great. This one sounds exactly the same as all the others which is such a bummer. You’d think they would go with a more fretless-friendly voicing. I don’t feel like figuring out how to wire up an active bass with a passive piezo system, so there’s no chance I’m getting this one even though it cool and has all the features anyone would need.
Have you tried the cheaper Ibanez Portamento? It’s basically this one but with a rounder sound to it and a nice clean fretboard. I tried one in-person and it didn’t have that awful shrill sound most stock Ibanez preamps have. I wish they just put those electronics in this one.
I just want a six string version of this so badly
Make it 6 string please 😍
Ibanez, please please make this for left-handed players, too!
Nordstrand is a real sleeper in an underrated boutique bass pickup maker. Kerry really gets it and this bass would be lost without the pickups and preamp which are well beyond normal Ibanez gear.
Nordstrand is a pretty big name in the pickup game these days among US boutique builders and working bassists, so not sure I'd call them a "sleeper" or underrated at this point (though maybe outside of the US Nordstrand may be under-represented in much the way European options like Delano are under-represented in the US). They do make some killer pickups though (and some fairly unique option in the soapbar shapes like these pickups), and their collaboration with Ibanez is a big step up for these mid-range bass models and give a taste of otherwise quite pricey pickups to a wider audience at import prices- it should be noted that these pickups aren't made by Nordstrand though, just designed by Nordstrand and licensed/built by Ibanez (this particular pickup design is proprietary to Ibanez and isn't even available direct from Nordstrand)- the same is true of the "Bartolini" pickups in other import Ibanez'. The preamp in this bass (and all the other Ibanez models as far as I know) are still in-house Ibanez systems, though my experience with a recent EHB bass and it's Vari-Mid pre suggests that they are decent if a bit bland (the bass in this video uses a different Ibanez pre than the EHBs though, so I can't comment on it specifically). Still the EHB pre is a step up from some past Ibanez preamp systems I've used, so this one may well be too.
Gorgeous 😍
Somehow, Sophie was the inspiration of a song... Thanks
@basstheworldofficial can you tell me, please, the name of the piece played in the "piezo only demo"?
Sophie plays great 🤟
I 💜 IBANEZ....but I 💜 SOPHIE more 😊
How does it sound with round wound strings?
thank you, great review
Nice bass, I’ve never had an Ibanez before, the only fretless I used to play was a fender jazz long ago, I like to see them reviewing Steve DiGiorgio new signature fretless bass
Nice, but those position markers between the feet positions are just wrong.
This is basically an srf700 with 30th anniversary holes, inlays and fret lines... the 700 is neck through as well. I like my 700 better in the looks department.
It does sound good. I'm not a fan of that red color, but that's just me. Do they have a 5 string version?
Yeah they do, but same color.
Dope
No, it doesn't say Rob Allen on the headstock :)
Very nice playing. I didn't like the official video for it to be honest. I'd love to try this with tapewounds!
Perfect? I gotta go with the Ibanez EHB1005F. I love mine.
I see the pickups inching closer to the bridge for the higher strings. I guess that's so the bass can have an uneven sound? Idk, P basses are set up like that and people think they're amazing, but people also drink michelob ultra so I'm not convinced
Sounds like a bass for playing Rush but not fretless.
Maybe cuz the strings are too fresh, it just sounds a bit too much treble to me. But still great sound
Bella/Linda.😮😮😮😮😮😮🥵
Schade, dass ich immer noch VIEL zu schlecht bin, um auch nur daran denken zu können, einen Fretless Bass zu spielen😂
First of all, Alain Caron fretless have the perfect fretless sound, and that's what important in an instrument. How it sounds.
It will be quite problematic to get up to the and of the fretboard. The bass body blocks the way and unlike fretted instrument that you can twist the hand and get away with it, on fretless the result will be playing out of tune.
Speaking on out of tune... well the bassist woman here shows it all.
is that AnnenMayKantereit's bassist?
The E string has almost no body to it to my ears. Boxy
well, it's an active bass so no: it's not the perfect fretless :)) but I see why it could be for others
Nope, sounds metallic. A fretless bass shou;ld sound deep and warm with a buzz at the end of the note partly because of finger technique but mainly of the bass quality.
You are complaining it wasn't stringged with flatwounds. Just put flatwounds on it and it will sound like you described it.
She actually sounds like she's playing real songs. You know, like how a bass player who is in a real musical band would play....hint...hint....
Very strange design choices. GWB has no peizo, Portamento and EHB have no fret lines, come on Ibanez! I am still hoping.
Played fretless for about 30 years and don’t like the sound of this at all. Maybe round wounds would help but don’t like the sound at all from the vid. Playing also doesn’t really showcase it well .
Shame
Am I just too spoiled or this bass fails to deliver the expected "mwaah", "farty" sound. Yes, it is clean, articulate and beautiful but when I hear the Kristall Room 4 Cherry bass, it's just another level.
Until they offer a lefty, no, it's not the perfect fretless for me.
Ibanez basses are the best kept secret.. I've been using them for going on 40 years.. From the original ground breaking MC924 to my BTB 5str today... Just a pity you didn't call out a proper fretless player for the video.. no offence tho , but I'm missing the singing vibrato tones one can get that would make an instrument like this fly..! 😍🤩😎
Honestly I'm not a fan of the looks or the sound, it sounds worse than the SRF700 basses from this video.
... it 'would' be perfect, were it not for the ugliest and most misplaced inlays. Love the dark lines; almost as good as none ... what's with all these distracting markings they all put in their fretless basses? Still looking for one with nothing anywhere and the nut cut from the same plank of wood - just as on a double-bass - so that open strings finally sound as close to exactly like stopped ones as possible.
All that money and then one has to get a luthier to fit a clean fingerboard. I don't have that kinda cash 😢. C'mon, Ibanez, your can do it; give us some real pro gear, please!
That said, maybe they can't or don't want to. Since my last 5-string from 1985 (fretted), I have long-gone disliked where Ibanez have been going with their artificial-sounding bass gear: low notes but no wood and no character. Innovative, comfy to play (some), but bland. So, no, not perfect at all.
Afterthought: and why is there no cutaway for the upper registers? Surely we don't that little chunk of wood for it to sound 'better' (which is a fairly relative term on this instrument).
No that’s the GWB
No. No it’s not. 😊
Not much about bass here. Just product placement. Sad. Unsubscribed
I have a 64 Fretless J Bass.......not even close
Exactly
Mr Greg, you clearly don't play bass, prove me wrong ❤
sorry but I got better things to do than proving things to strangers on the internet ❤️
So the answer is no u can't @@basstheworldofficial
He does... You have not been attentive...
Watch other videos…you’ll see. And learn cool stuff about basses…
Nothing to learn here, is just product selling
Meh. Nah.
About the lines. I find them off putting. So it's great Bass but not perfect.
i don't think it sounds that good - there is a thin sound to some of the spectrum 1 sorry
"Please excuse Sophie's crappy bass playing...
She's just a girl"
Did he really just say that? 😬
No I didn’t. What you just did can’t even be considered to be paraphrasing. I said she’s not a fretless player, so please excuse the little intonation struggles here and there.
@@basstheworldofficial please excuse me, I was being cheeky.
I used the wrong emoji I think... 👍