Ibanez SR305EB-WK Reviews

Awesome for the price

I bought this for fun to try after 13 years of playing only 4 strings. Is it the best bass ever, probably not. Is it really good for the money, absolutely!

I've had way more expensive basses with lower quality control and set up out of the box. The frets were nice and the setup playable.

Recommended to anyone who's just getting into 5 strings and wants to try out.

Solid bass for the price

Bought it as first bass. For the price the perfomance quality is pretty good, no scratches, fine tuners, convenient neck, light weight. But there's something that I wasn't expecting before the byuing:

1. Weight is light but the neck is heavier than the body, so the neck is constantly ducking.

2. Besides the ducking, the fulcrum of the guitar on the foot is tiny, and in spite of light weight, it presses on the leg at one narrow point. I personally experience some pain on my foot because of it, especially when long playing. It would be better if the lower horn of the guitar body was wider and bigger. Then the guitar wieght would be spread evenly across the foot.

3. Scratches on the body appeared very fast after some playing. The black paint lies in a very thin layer and the paint is peeling off when a pick or nail hits it. So after some slapping you may find out a lot of scratches on the body. I'm really dissapointed with the paint, it makes the guitar a cheap work horse. Cheaper than it is.

4. Very noizy pickups in single mode. But maybe it's normal.

In general sound is fine, but I can't compare it to others because this is the only bass I have. Regarding pickup selector and features - it's too much I guess. I don't use 90% of the modes.

Pretty good bass not only for beginner

Very stylish appearance and versatile sound parameters. Lightweight and ergonomic. Definitely costs its price.

Amazing bass

I've been watching this specific bass since 2018 when I first got into bass playing, but I couldn't afford it.

Here's the pros and cons:

PROS:

-Playable out the box

-Decent setup, even the intonation was spot on

-Neck is very snug in the joint

-Tuners are bit tight, but stable

-Pickups are strong

-Preamp makes tons of difference in the tone

-The 3-way switch makes a difference too, the Tap (coil split) sounds great for slap, the humbuckers are beefy and not too muddy

-It looks and feels amazing to play

-All the knobs, except volume, are notched at the middle. Didn't see anyone anywhere mention this, but they are, in fact, notched.

CONS:

-It's playable only when it's powered. Even though the pickups are passive, they go through the active preamp and there's no bypass. Meaning that when you don't have something to power the preamp, your bass sends no signal. That's the biggest CON for this bass, but as long as you remove the cable when you're not playing it, your battery will last pretty long. Make sure to have 1 or 2 spare 9V batteries around.

-Nut is plastic and mine had lots of burring on the edges. It's not low, in fact it's .001 higher than normal, but it's not a big deal. Probably the first to be replaced. The burring was easily removed by hand.

-Knobs are not uniformly straight, they go from the body curvature, meaning that the EQ knobs are pointing out at an angle. Treble knob has a weird "notch" towards the cut side where it has extra resistance, but it's no more than an annoyance and most likely an individual issue on the bass I got.

-The Power Tap option is not very good. It makes a difference, but I haven't been able to get a tone I like with it. I think it keeps the neck pickup as humbucker and coil splits the bridge one.

-Frets are uneven on a perfectly straight neck. Most of the frets I tested with a rocker were noticeably uneven. The only problems with fret buzzing comes around the 15th fret to the end, but it's easily managed by setting your saddle action a little higher. It's not a huge problem.

-The E string is much more dull than the rest. I'm pretty sure this one is just on my model, but it's not as bright as the other strings. I used GHS Fastfret liberally on it and it didn't make much of a difference. Just bad luck with the string set they put on it.

Overall, great bass. It has its problems as any bass for that price will, but they're not making the bass unplayable or tough to play. Just not at its highest ability. A nut replacement and fret level will make this bass play like an absolute dream!

Great Bass

Not just great for the price, absolutely beyond my expectations.

An excellent starting bass if you are metal-oriented.

First of all, the sound quality is very good, the dual-coil pickups produce a great bass sound so no complaints here. This applies especially if you are into metal bass.

The instrument is quite comfortable, for a 5 string bass, the neck is rather slim and easy to handle. The finish is nice and smooth.

The only cons that I have noticed after using this for 4 months or so are related to the switches and knobs. For switching between the pickups, there is a turnable knob instead of a switch, which I dislike.

Recently, the knob for the mid frequencies came loose, then again I am quite a violent knob turner so it might be on me. A similar thing happened to an Ibanez 8-string guitar that I own. This is easily fixed with a small wrench.

The bass is also surprisingly lightweight so it won't strain you much when having it strapped to you.

Last but not least, this bass is one hell of a looker so that already adds to the feeling of playing the thing.

Great Bass

I always wanted a 5-string bass and this one does everything I wanted.

My review

Amazing sound, the tones are awesome, I like to play a heavy dark tone and this bass allows that to perfection.

The fretboard feels smooth and allows for a quick hand movement.

All in all, really great.

Can't possibly go wrong with this

This is a workhorse.

Lightweight, comfortable, with unexpected sustain and tons of features.

Versatile and trustworthy, it's a proper, proper gigging musician's instrument.

Only minor drawbacks, the fretboard edges (not fret edges) are a bit sharp, so I lightly sanded them with a soft sandpaper and now it feels played in. Also I would slightly move the Mid and treble Q of the Equalizer about 500Hz higher if I could, but that might be my personal taste.

All in all this is a bargain, I would recommend it to any gigging player, you can count on this bass feeling and sounding great anywhere.

This'll get you there.

No faults to be found. Well over a year of ownership and still not a single problem. It'll do anything you want, great if you have an eclectic style or a bedroom jammer.

Totally satisfied

For the price this instrument is amazing. You can't expect the handmade quality and beauty you get from expensive or exotic instruments of course. Very versatile sound due to the active 3-way eq, pickup balance and preamp options switch. I bought this as my first 5 string bass and I'm very pleased with it. Everything is there to set it up to your playing style, it's surprisingly light and pretty easy to play. I wouldn't think of buying an Ibanez when I first started researching considering my play styles (blues-funk), I will put the brand high on my list when I go for my next instrument. Make sure you also buy a set of strings because the ones that came with it is pretty off-putting combined with the poor set-up which I wouldn't say was done if the factory didn't state so. I also don't like the plug placement which kinda forbids you from using angled or thick jacks.

Would recommend to a friend.

Astounding

The 3-band EQ is the most astonishing feature here. It actually gives you access to any bass timbre you have ever thought of. The series-parallel switch DOES make a difference and the volume of the pickups on the B string is simple phenomenal. While this bass is obviously manufactured for metal it's actually more-than-good for anything you can think of. The 16.5mm string spacing is totally subjective but it does limit the slapping possibilities a tiny bit. Overall, a great, very comfortable bass, with fantastic capabilities and sound colours.