# NBD!! Ibanez SR505



## Adrenaline (Jul 7, 2012)

It came in today and im freaken in love with it. It feels and plays so nicely, I got practice on sunday and im really going to break it in. Its my first New in box guitar/bass I've ever owned. And one hell of an improvement over the ibby 4 string I picked up at a pawn shop, although it has played quite a few live sets and never failed me*and she was purple like my first bass*










*edit: Fixed, it was like 2 am brain no work well!*


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## Hankey (Jul 7, 2012)

S*R*505 

Congrats. Those are nice basses. My main bass is a SR605, which is basically the same bass as the 505, but with an ash body instead of mahogany...


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## revlover (Jul 7, 2012)

Looks really nice. I'm very interested to hear what you have to say about this when you have spent some time with it. I tried a used SR500 at a local shop today and I liked the feel but never plugged it in. What kind of music are you going to use it for?


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## Adrenaline (Jul 7, 2012)

Most the time I play at home I go for either some Maiden style or a little bit of funky rush stuff.
But I play in a 3 piece death/thrash band so I play a lot of tremolo picking doing a weird mix of following the rhythm guitar part while playing to my drummer. So far it plays really nice and is a lot easier on my hands on the fatigue and stress issue I had with my other bass. I have my first practice with it tomorrow on my bass rig instead of my crate practice guitar amp I use at home. Ill report back how well it holds up after an hour or more of beating it around.

After sitting down playing a lot of different basses at a lot of shops I always came back to this one because it felt so damn nice to play. Honestly I think it may be one of the best bangs for your buck out right now.


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## Ocara-Jacob (Jul 7, 2012)

Nice, Ibanez basses are awesome, and to me, they seem to have the best value for the money.


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## Lankles (Jul 7, 2012)

That's hawt. I will have to collect the full SR50x set.


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## ZEBOV (Jul 7, 2012)

These have some mega bang for the buck, and I enjoy how they sound and feel. My only complaint is the weak bridge.


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## VBCheeseGrater (Jul 7, 2012)

Awesome, my main bass is a 4 string soundgear - love the tone and playablity of 'em. is it an active EQ?


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## Adrenaline (Jul 8, 2012)

vbshredder said:


> Awesome, my main bass is a 4 string soundgear - love the tone and playablity of 'em. is it an active EQ?



Yeah its active, my first active bass. I was worried about it but so far so good. Really adds to the pop but also I feel like the string buzz is thrown way higher but could just be my practice amp.


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## VBCheeseGrater (Jul 8, 2012)

^^ yeah i know what you mean on the buzz, active really lets every little sound be heard. lots of options there, EQ it out, better set up, or just raise the action a bit. I'm starting to prefer medium action just to let the notes ring better, for both bass and guitar - lots of legendary players preferred high action for that reason - SRV for one.


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## Adrenaline (Jul 8, 2012)

Yeah im in the process of setting it up a little more. Im just gonna lift the action a tiny bit because I still love the sound of the buzz but I dont want it that loud. Their is something about that sound that is just cool to me.


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## revlover (Jul 10, 2012)

ZEBOV said:


> My only complaint is the weak bridge.


 
Could you elaborate on this please?


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## Adrenaline (Jul 10, 2012)

FYI 
My first experience with it playing with my band was amazing. The only real complaint I have is the bridge design, it has a couple pieces of raised medal. But that is just a minor annoyance where i had to move my hand just a bit to fix it. Change my picking style up a little bit and there we go.

Sounds friggen amazing.


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## ZEBOV (Jul 11, 2012)

revlover said:


> Could you elaborate on this please?



The bridge might have been improved since the last time I played an SR50X, but every time I plucked a string, the bridge itself moved. Not the entire bridge, but just the piece that the string rested on. I would pull up on the string before plucking it, and that piece of the bridge would move up too, and after plucking the string, the part of the bridge mostly moved back to where it belonged. The K-5 still has that same bridge, and it just fucking sucks.


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## Hankey (Jul 11, 2012)

ZEBOV said:


> The bridge might have been improved since the last time I played an SR50X, but every time I plucked a string, the bridge itself moved. Not the entire bridge, but just the piece that the string rested on. I would pull up on the string before plucking it, and that piece of the bridge would move up to, and after plucking the string, the part of the bridge mostly moved back to where it belonged. The K-5 still has that same bridge, and it just fucking sucks.



The bridges on mid to high end SR's have been significantly improved since then. They're very strudy. My 605 (the 505 has the same bridge in a different finish) has none of the problems you mentioned.

Here's a good shot of the bridge:


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## ZEBOV (Jul 11, 2012)

That's a lot better!


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## revlover (Jul 12, 2012)

thanks for the input guys, very interested in this.


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## hairychris (Jul 12, 2012)

Congrats from another SR505 user...!


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## revlover (Jul 13, 2012)

Guys, the general consensus seems to be that the 500 series is great bang for the buck in general. What about the sound properties? I' ve noticed that some basses are acoustically loud and metallic sounding (my preference) others are really quiet. The one I tested was somewhere in the middle. How Do you rate the ability to cut through in a mix? Is the high/low mid switch working in reality?


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## hairychris (Jul 13, 2012)

They're active with a 3 band EQ so can punch quite well. Acoustically my one's pretty loud fwiw.


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## Nag (Jul 13, 2012)

the SR500 and SR505 are really great basses, one of those they sell the most I've heard. I had the 500, gonna get the 505, cause fuck you'd have to be dumb not like them 

HNBD !


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## ZEBOV (Jul 13, 2012)

Despite the fact that I own a $1600 Carvin bass and LOVE it, I think the SR500/505/506 sounds great too. You really can't go wrong with it as long as it's a newer one with the newer bridge.


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## Adrenaline (Jul 14, 2012)

The sound is amazing out of it really. I've played some nice warwicks, fenders, and recently got my hands on a 7000 dollar Wal bass. i'm not gonna say that the 505 sounded as good as the wal, but it is 10% the cost. But I would put it up against the warwicks and most boutique basses ive played. Its not just great sounding for a 600+ dollar bass its great sounding for just about any price point. 3 band eq + balance + MHz switch gives you so many possibility's in the sound. Go from a low thud to some twangy slap really really easy.

I play in a death metal band with it and it cuts through really well. Way better than my last bass even though I turned down my amp. I put on a bit of overdrive and just a bit of chorus and goddamn it sounds perfect. Than when I get home and jam out to some Tool or something and just a couple tweaks to the eq and it sounds like a new beast.

Bang for your buck this is the best bass out there in my opinion. Again not even bang for your buck this is still a contender in my mind for anything but the top of the top.


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## Adrenaline (Jul 14, 2012)

On another note, the 500's finish is pretty damn durable. It suffered its first ding to the body and i tried to point it out to my guitarist and he couldn't see it till i held it up to his face. 

If and when I decide to get a 6 string, It will be a 506 or a 606*just to change the finish*. Unless something happens where I can afford a multy thousand dollar bass. Comeon big commission check!!!!!!!!


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