SR500 Review

If you are looking for a fast fretboard and the ability to play different types of music, this bass is for you. Very comfortable neck and a wide range of sounds with the EQ.

Features:	9.5
Sound:	9.5
Action:	9
Reliability:	10
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	8.6
Reviewer rating:	9.6
Users rating:	7.6
Votes:	102

overall: 9.6

Reviewed by: Dyuha, on january 05, 2005

Price paid: $ 525

Purchased from: Music123

Features: - SR4 neck
- 5pc Wenge/Bubinga neck material
- Mahogany body
- 24 medium frets
- Rosewood fingerboard
- Accu-cast B20 bridge
- Bartolini MK1-4 neck pu
- Bartolini MK1-4 bridge pu
- Abalone oval inlay
- Bartolin MK1 3-Band // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The action was very low right out of the factory, but the intonation was way off. Setting the 12th fret intonation was no problem, but the 24th was almost impossible. The pickups were just fine, and there were no flaws whatsoever in the construction and finish of the instrument. The pickups give it an excellent tone, and the neck is extremely comfortable. // 8

Reliability & Durability: 5 piece neck stays true through all but the most difficult climate changes. Extremely easy to play, and the tone is to die for. For the most part really solid, but the finish scrathes very easliy. The hardware will survive anything; the strap buttons are fine, especially since the instrument is so light. Otherwise no backup needed, you might want to bring an extra battery though. // 10

Impression: The overall look of it is astonishing - a lot better in person than picture. If you are looking for a fast fretboard and the ability to play different types of music, this bass is for you. Very comfortable neck and a wide range of sounds with the EQ. The mahogany body with the Bartolinis make for a nice sounding, flexible bass. For the money, this is a very decent guitar. // 10

overall: 9.6

Reviewed by: Littlefroman, on march 13, 2007

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Sound: Its sound is completely based upon what style you want to play. It's definitely more of a rock bass, but I've played with the settings enough to be able to get it more jazz or metal. It's always very clear with every note, especially with elixirs on it, and it stays in tune pretty well. No complaints at all. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: I was fortunate enough to get a Brand New version of this bass, before it had been on the shelf long enough to get touched by endless people. The action came a little high, but I had a worker lower it before I purchased it. There weren't any dents, dings, scratches, etc at all. The finish is different, it has a slight grainy feel to it, which I personally like. // 10

Reliability & Durability: It seems like a very durable bass ever since I bought it, which was 4 months ago. I take excellent care of it, and have played a couple shows with it too. I feel like the 9v battery dies a little quickly, but I think 9vs are just short lived as is. // 10

Impression: I primarily play rock (RHCP, Incubus, etc), and it more than gets the job done. With the different tone settings at my disposal, I can mimic most sounds and give songs a very personalized feel. I've been playing for about 2.5 years now, and this is my second bass, which I got after I had been playing for 2 years. What I liked most was it's perfect balance, sleek feel, and slender style. It's lighter in weight and feels very comfortable to play, especially since the next isn't as wide as other basses. My first bass was an Ibanez Geo, which was an excellent beginner's bass, and I just liked the feel of Ibanez. I highly recommend this bass for any intermediate/semi-expert player. I can't imagine needing another bass for quite a long time. // 10

Comments

[Metallica798]

moo

[liam177lewis]

metallica798 makes a good point

[Trivium!]

indeed.

[sbass12]

i like it, might try one out

[lcblvr13]

I have played this bass before. It is great for jazz and slap. It also sounds good with a low hard rock or metal.

[Nightmare_xxx]

I played it in the shop today, totally fell in love with it, I want one

[Virage]

I played at a shop and left a deposite. Can't wait till i get it. Such a lovely instrument to play and look at.

[Tooltillidie]

This is my bass through and through...

lcblvr13 wrote:

I have played this bass before. It is great for jazz and slap. It also sounds good with a low hard rock or metal.

ummm great for jazz and slap? this bass is best for metal and low end sounds.

But anyways this bass is amazing has an awesome sound, great EQ, and the neck is so fast and comfortable.

[sam?bass]

I can't get over that smooth body contour. Anyone with me?

[SteveHeyn]

I have this bass for 4 months now...it's versatile, I had the action and intonation set up for free by the bass player of the store were I bought it, and it works out for me. I can't play slap yet so no comments on slapping. About fingertip play I can tell you: it sounds too good. Even trough a Line6 LD15 i has very good tone! The clean,metal and rock presets on de amp combines great with this bass.
If you want a badass metal bass I would say go for the SRX700series they have a 2band eq and passive pickups (i believe) where this SR500 has active bartolini's and a 3 band EQ.

The SRX had prescooped midrange and lets you control the bass for a lot of oomph and the treble to adjust your percussive sound. Where this SR lets you control the full soundrange more precisely. In my opinion this SR500 is a superb allround bass where the SRX lets you jump on stage and jam away more quickly. So tooltillidie, you might be right but the SRX would be an even better choise for metal.

Anyways, the finish is great nice wood feeling, the 5pc neck is very stable and it's SOOO "IBANEZ" fast, thin, smooth... very good. And were not even talking about the prestige series.
It balances very well, I've had different basses in my hands at the shop and this one has a rather thin body, wich makes it more lightweight of course.
You might want to know: it has a 24-FRET neck bolted on the body where as the SRX has a 24fret necktrough construction.

I would also keep the elixir strings, it comes standard with them (in europe at least) and man these strings are so good...they just don't wear off it seems.
I would give this bass a 9.5/10 given the fact it's very allround, has beautiful design, very stable, accurate tuning, high quality wood, bartolini pickups... impressive bass at a reasonable price.

[5lX5TRlNG5]

Metallica798 wrote:

moo

moo who?

[seljer]

The finish, however nice it may feel, really is soft. I've worn patches into it from fingerstyle playing! (albiet I pluck rather vigorously).

Otherwise, I don't think you could get more features and quality for the price. It sounds and plays great, the two pickups and EQ cover most of the sounds you'd need (the only thing I can't get it to do is the obvious rickenbacker tone and p-bass with flatwounds tone). Its miles ahead of the SR300, much better detail on the fretwork and the electronics are silent as the grave when you're not playing (can't say that about the 300).