The Ibanez SR505 Bass is an incredibly well-crafted and equipped bass for its price. It features a slim, fast SR5 5-piece jatoba and bubinga neck on a sculpted mahogany body. The rosewood fretboard is fitted with medium frets and has oval abalone markers. The Accu-Cast B305 bridge offers easier string changes, single-screw saddle and height adjustment, and improved stability.
For pickups it sports 2 Bartonlini MK1s which integrate perfectly with its active EQB-IIIS 3-band eq, in addition, it has equipped with mid-frequency select switch (250Hz or 600Hz) which provides more tonal versatilities and controls. It's a bass that will excel in any style of music.
Neck
Shape: C
Wood: Jatoba/bubinga
Neck joint: 5-Bolt
Scale length: 34"
Truss rod: Yes
Finish: Info not available
Pickups
Active or passive pickups: Passive
Pickup configuration: SS
Neck: MK-1
Middle: Not applicable
Bridge: MK-1
Brand: Bartolini
Series or parallel: Parallel
Active preamp: Not applicable
Special electronics: EQB-IIIS 3-band eq
Fretboard
Material: Rosewood
Radius: 10"
Fret size: Medium
Number of frets: 24
Inlays: Abalone oval
Nut material: Info not available
Nut width: 1.77" (45mm)
Neck width at 12 fret: 0.85" (21.5mm)
Body
Cutaway: Double cutaway
Construction: Solidbody
Body wood: Mahogany
Top wood: Not applicable
Body finish: Info not available
Orientation: Right handed
Controls
Control layout: Balancer, volume, treble boost/cut, mid boost/cut, bass boost/cut
Pickup switch: No
Coil tap or split: Info not available
Tone switching: No
Special switching: Two-way mid freq. selector
Hardware
Bridge type: Fixed
Bridge design: 4-Saddle adjustable
Tailpiece: Not applicable
Tuning machines: Die-cast
Color: Black
Other
Number of strings: 5
Pickguard: No
Special features: Not applicable
Case: Sold separately
Accessories: Info not available
Country of origin: Japan
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Gold Coverage goes above and beyond the manufacturer's warranty to protect your gear from unexpected breakdowns, accidental damage from handling
and failures. This plan covers your product for one, two, three or up to five years from your date of purchase, costs just pennies per day and gives you a
complete "no-worry" solution for protecting your investment.
Gold Coverage Includes:
Unexpected and unintentional spills, drops and cracks
Normal wear and tear
Power surges
Dust, internal heat and humidity
Other plan features include:
For products over $200, No Lemon Policy applies. If it fails for the same defect 3 times, it is replaced on the 4th breakdown. (Does not apply to failures due to drops, spills, and cracks)
For products under $200 experiencing the above failures, a Custom Guitar's Friend gift card will be issued for the full price of the product + tax.
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This has been my favorite bass for a few years now, so I have really had time to get to know it. The SR 505 is not a fancy bass, but it is solid, sounds great, plays great and never gives me any trouble. It was easy to set up when I got it, took only a few minutes to have my tech find the sweet spot on string height (it wasn't far off when I got it.) The thing is a workhorse and the Bartoloni's have a phat, meaty sound. Great for everything from rock to jazz. Sounds great in the studio, very clean electronics after several years - the pots haven't even needed cleaning yet. I have, and have had much more expensive basses, like my Alembic, but this is the bass I use almost all of the time. I strongly recommend this bass - it's a no brainer for the price.
Ibanez SR505 5-String Electric Bass Guitar Light Violin Sunburst
.I bought this bass to record with. I run a consumer level Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and plug this bass straight in and use Ableton Live 9 as my DAW. This bass sounds amazing, I have been playing for over twenty years and my go-to rig was a 1974 Ampeg SVT with an early eighties Fender Precision Bass, so I would like to think bass tone is something I know a bit about. I am not using an amp, micing an amp or cab OR using a DI and this bass sound fat and warm in any mix. The electronics are great, the Bartonlinis can really get any tone possible. The only negative I would put down is that you do get a little buzz if you boost the treble control, normal in my experience and I won't be boosting treble with a bass, ever, so it doesn't concern me. To be clear, there is no buzz in the neutral position or when you cut the treble, just when you boost it up in what would be the 6 to 10 range. I bought the blackberry finish on an open box deal, it was in MINT condition, arrived in great shape, I did have to tighten the nut around the pick-up blend pot, it loosened up in transit, I backed off the set screw on the knob and then adjusted the nut, put the knob back, tightened the set screw and it was perfect. NO BIG DEAL. I also adjusted the neck to dead-straight, my preferred set-up and it plays and sounds ridiculously fine. The only other bass I have owned that sounds this good was an Alembic Epic and it was over $2K, it also had so much adjustablility that you could really get yourself in trouble. I believe that is a compliment to Ibanez. It is amazing what they can do for the price-point and I was skeptical for years about these basses, YEARS, not until I realized I didn't need top-of-the-line Gibsons and Fenders did I even consider these basses. You pay a lot for those names! Ibanez has the production down! They CNC the body (saves time and labor-costs), they don't cut corners on the electronics and provide a quality product for the money. Unbelievable. I plan on picking up another Ibanez bass soon. Check out their Terra Firma, 35" scale 5-string, looks like a dream and I can't imagine the quality Ibanez would put out for around $1K!
Ibanez SR505 5-String Electric Bass Guitar Light Violin Sunburst
.I'd have to say one of the best things about this bass is the weight. Having played for nearly 50 years, my back has seen better days. That's the reason I bought this bass. Imagine my surprise when I heard the tone. Win, Win! It plays pretty good but there are a couple things that I'll have to do to it to get it up to snuff, 1) File the fret ends. They're a bit sharp. 2) Set the intonation and string heights. All in all it's a great bass. Oh, I forgot to mention that the one I bought was an open box deal. Ods are, if you buy one of the regular basses, the frets and intonation will be ok.
Ibanez SR505 5-String Electric Bass Guitar Light Violin Sunburst
.While I really like the sound of this guitar, it took a lot of work to set it up out of the box. Unlike other basses I've purchased, this one had a lot of buzz out of the box and required a lot of work to get into working order. The quality of the guitar is top-notch, but the QC prior to shipping wasn't good, IMO. I'll probably have to take it to someone to get into a better working order.
Ibanez SR505 5-String Electric Bass Guitar Light Violin Sunburst
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