# Ibanez BTB33 33" scale with ramp tuned EADGC



## ixlramp (Jan 4, 2015)

Ibanez BTB33-NTF Btb Bass - 5 String - Natural Flat - Rich Tone Music
Ibanez innovation is rapidly catching up with the guitars.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jan 4, 2015)

Oh shit. Now _that_ is interesting.


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## GenghisCoyne (Jan 4, 2015)

ibanez edgy as .....


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jan 4, 2015)

More pics:

Ibanez BTB33 5-String Electric Bass Guitar


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## cGoEcYk (Jan 5, 2015)

I was wondering what the ramp/piece of wood was for. Basically it's to cool down the aggressive player.

_Another innovative feature of the BTB33 is the inclusion of a height adjustable Rosewood Finger Ramp. The ramp prevents players from digging in too hard when plucking finger-style and encourages a lighter playing technique_


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jan 5, 2015)

Yeah, they're something popularized (or invented, depending who you ask) by Gary Willis, because his style involves using a really light touch so you can control the volume/dynamics of your playing more with just your fingers. My Ibby Portamento fretless has a 30 fret fretboard that goes all the way up to the neck pickup, which is where I often play, so it kinda became a de facto ramp. It cleaned up my playing significantly, which has translated over to my other basses as well.


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## ixlramp (Jan 6, 2015)

There's also a 5 string singlecut BTB coming in 2015.


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## MetalGravy (Jan 7, 2015)

What about resting your thumb on the side of the pickups?


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jan 7, 2015)

What about it?


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## Mwoit (Jan 7, 2015)

Tasty.


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## ixlramp (Jan 7, 2015)

Using the pickups as thumb rests only allows you 2 plucking positions, or forces your hand into unheathy postures to reach other plucking postions. I owned the GWB35 which had a ramp, extremely useful and comfortable as a thumb rest and as a regulator of technique, IMO all basses should have a ramp, but, you know, the stupidity of bass design reigns supreme ...


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jan 7, 2015)

I love ramps for cleaning up my fingerstyle, but I gotta think it'd get in the way for slap. Luckily on my Portamento, the fretboard extension/"ramp" only goes up to the neck pickup, so I can still slap between the pickups without a problem.


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## yingmin (Jan 8, 2015)

ixlramp said:


> Ibanez innovation is rapidly catching up with the guitars.


I'm not entirely sure I understand what you mean by this, but bassists have historically been much more open to innovation than guitarists.


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## Hollowway (Jan 8, 2015)

I'm kind of an idiot, but what is innovative about this? The body shape or woods used? The ramp? The short scale?

I love the look, but I'd be worried about that shorter scale, personally.


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## Hollowway (Jan 8, 2015)

I'm kind of an idiot, but what is innovative about this? The body shape or woods used? The ramp? The short scale?

I love the look, but I'd be worried about that shorter scale, personally.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jan 8, 2015)

In this case I think it's less about innovation (there's nothing new here, really) and more about Ibanez being more willing to experiment with their bass lines than with their guitar lines. Their new guitar models year in and year out will have have a new color, maybe different pups or a body wood change, but the Bass Workshop series has been doing interesting things that haven't often been seen on _Ibanez_ basses before.

With this model, they don't have any other 33" models (the BTB is usually 35"), none of their other fivers come stock strung and tuned to EADGC, and before now only Gary Willis basses had ramps. So no, nothing new to the world of bass there, but it's certainly alot more adventurous than another RG with whatever wood, pickup, or bridge the kids are into these days.


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## Harry (Jan 8, 2015)

Unless I'm not looking hard enough, I'm pretty sure outside of going the route of a custom company, no one makes a 5 string specifically designed to be tuned up.
The 33 inch scale length is a total non-issue, nothing to be worried about at all. Even 32 inch scale basses are more than fine in E standard.
The 33 inch scale would still be tight enough on the bottom end but on top you have more room to be a little more expressive with bending and vibrato. 
Hell, if you're willing to get it setup, I have no doubt this bass would work extremely tuned tuned to D/whole step down.
I'd say below C# is where you'd start running into issues with string tension and intonation compromises, but I suspect that most buyers of this wouldn't have a 3 semitone down tuning in mind anyway.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jan 8, 2015)

I'm not sure this is "designed" to be tuned up so much as it's just _intended_ to be tuned up. The scale is the only thing about it that's different compared to other basses when it comes to what'd be suited for a higher tuning, and having a scale less than 34" isn't exactly unique. It isn't too common on fivers, though, I'll grant that. Gibsons were all 30" for a long time and Rickenbackers are 33.5", but as far as I know they either don't make fivers at all, or go up to 34" when they do.

I know Scott Divine tunes his fivers EADGC and he's got a signature model from Overwater basses, but they're small shop and pricey enough that that's essentially the same thing as going custom .


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## Hollowway (Jan 8, 2015)

Oh, yeah, I didn't even catch that it's tuned up like that. We're on SSO, so I don't normally think of tuning UP.


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## yingmin (Jan 8, 2015)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> Gibsons were all 30" for a long time and Rickenbackers are 33.5", but as far as I know they either don't make fivers at all, or go up to 34" when they do.



Gibsons, at least contemporary ones, are mostly 30.5", but you are correct in that the only 5-string currently on their site is 34" (although I believe the 4-string version of that model was the same). Ricks backers are 33.25" and, when they did offer a 5-string, it was still 33.25".


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## Fretless (Jan 8, 2015)

The 33" will be able to hold crazy good tension. With a set of 102's I can get my bass VI's down to drop D with no flub, so I can only imagine drop B on these would sound pretty swell.

On a side note I have tried one of the mini 5's (30") from ltd that they had out last year. They play surprisingly well in B standard.


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## Harry (Jan 9, 2015)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> ]I'm not sure this is "designed" to be tuned up so much as it's just _intended_ to be tuned up[/B]. The scale is the only thing about it that's different compared to other basses when it comes to what'd be suited for a higher tuning, and having a scale less than 34" isn't exactly unique. It isn't too common on fivers, though, I'll grant that. Gibsons were all 30" for a long time and Rickenbackers are 33.5", but as far as I know they either don't make fivers at all, or go up to 34" when they do.
> 
> I know Scott Divine tunes his fivers EADGC and he's got a signature model from Overwater basses, but they're small shop and pricey enough that that's essentially the same thing as going custom .



Really, c'mon, surely you knew what I meant when I wrote that. Apologies for the one poor choice of word  I myself actually use a 34 inch scale bass tuned above E standard.
Quite OT, but been having a look at the Overwater site and there is damn FINE looking stuff on there


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## stevexc (Jan 9, 2015)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> I'm not sure this is "designed" to be tuned up so much as it's just _intended_ to be tuned up. The scale is the only thing about it that's different compared to other basses when it comes to what'd be suited for a higher tuning, and having a scale less than 34" isn't exactly unique.



In fairness, you could argue that it's not tuned "up" at all any more than a standard 5-string is tuned down - it's tuned to standard, but with the addition of a thinner string ;D

Of course I'm just trying to argue with you, Tim, because it's fun 

This is pretty cool. I don't that I'd ever have a use for it, as I tend to stay pretty low in the pocket, but the fact that something like this is on the market as a production guitar is pretty sweet.


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jan 9, 2015)

stevexc said:


> Of course I'm just trying to argue with you, Tim, because it's fun




UR A IDIOT


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jan 9, 2015)

yingmin said:


> Gibsons, at least contemporary ones, are mostly 30.5", but you are correct in that the only 5-string currently on their site is 34" (although I believe the 4-string version of that model was the same). Ricks backers are 33.25" and, when they did offer a 5-string, it was still 33.25".



Fair deuce on the actual scales, haha. I lose track of all the scales companies have used over the years. Suppose I could've double checked first.


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## yingmin (Jan 9, 2015)

yingmin said:


> Ricks backers


Yeesh. I really need to either stop posting from my phone, or start keeping a closer eye on auto correct.


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## Konfyouzd (Jan 9, 2015)

Ibanez... Chill for one goddamn minute... My wallet can't keep up.


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## Konfyouzd (Jan 9, 2015)

MetalGravy said:


> What about resting your thumb on the side of the pickups?



It's for more than that. That's just what some ppl use it for. Gary Willis has tons of videos talking about the values of ramps. It keeps your fingers from going too far past the strings so you can move faster and more consistently across the strings. 

If you don't need one then you don't need one, but they're not just there for resting your thumb on it.


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## ixlramp (Jan 9, 2015)

yingmin said:


> I'm not entirely sure I understand what you mean by this, but bassists have historically been much more open to innovation than guitarists.


I was very tired when i wrote that, what i mean is 'Ibanez bass innovation is rapidly catching up with Ibanez guitar innovation.'. Seems to me a couple of years ago their basses were not as adventurous as their guitars. With Ibanez being a pioneer of ERGs i was waiting for a 7 string bass, now it seems Ibanez bass innovation has exploded, i am so happy. I thought if they're going to sell 9 string guitars they should at least have a 7 string bass. Perhaps they see the lack of bass innovation elsewhere and realise they can dominate the ERB/freaky bass market and therefore still attract a decent amount of custom.


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## yingmin (Jan 10, 2015)

We may just have to agree to disagree on whether or not adding more strings qualifies as "innovation".


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## in-pursuit (Jan 13, 2015)

I thought the BTB 7 string was going to continue to be available in 2015? it's listed in the 2015 EU Ibanez lineup


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## LordHar (Jan 22, 2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asja-G5uhAg


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