Ibanez TMB30-IV Reviews

The best short scale bass of my collection

I order it for my son but mostly i play it if this says you something

Great Buy!

Ive owned lots of basses in the past, and this one is one of those basses that has a special place indeed. It produces a very nice soft growl on its own perhaps due to its short scale. Very light which is good for gigging but no compromises on the tone. Build quality is superb for the price! The frets just feels right and theres no huge adjustments whenever ill play with the regular bass which i thought I would feel but having this for quite a while I never felt of any transition adjustments from this to regular bass.I really love this bass. Highly recommended if you are interested with short scale bass. This fits well with most electric guitar gig bags too just saying this in case someone might be interested in learning that. Anyways I give this 5 out of 5 overall.

Price/quality ratio very good, straight from the package to play, no adjustments needed.

great bass guitar

very nice bass guitar, easy to play

Lovely shape, horrible nut

I am a big fan of the Talman series, owning 3 others (2 guitars, 1 bass). This shortscale bass is well ballanced, no neck issues, no problems with anything but a nut that looks like a dog chewed on. It may be that the material is too soft and slapping the strings caused this, but most of the material just out towards the head. I can't say I noticed on first inspection.

So I will replace that and continue to enjoy this easy to handle bass.

great & easy !

Great bass, cool design and very well finished ! ( Cleaner than my 600€ guitar )

-> great sound, beautiful object, easy to play...

-> After playing it for a few months, i see it needs to be verified by a professional... however, it is normal for this price.

Recommanding it 100%!

Best value for money beginner bass?

Probably the best value for money bass you can get. I wouldn't say it can only be used by beginners. I use it on my recordings. Sounds amazing! Fret job is great, no extra work needed. The short scale makes it so comfy to play especially if you are a guitarist like me.

If I had to say something negative about the bass is that you can change the pickup height as far as I know. I found out that some hard hitting bassists got noise from the string hitting the pickup.

Awesome instrument absolutely worth a buy. Great sound & feel.

Good entry level bass

Very simple, no thrills bass, solidly constructed, size is perfectly adequate for a child wanting to learn to play the bass. The sound is nice and "fat" - not a technical term, but that's how it feels one a Marshall amp.

Definitely recommend this as an entry level, very reasonably priced instrument for beginners, who can then graduate to something better :-)

Perfect for the price

Nice pickups (especially the p), light weight, and cool design. Overall a very good bang for the buck

What a pleasant surprise

For the price (very low) it's a fantastic short scale bass guitar. it feels like a guitar ;)

Fun to play, but doesn't age well

First off, this is definitely the best buy short scale bass. For the money, you won?t find a better bang for your buck.

Warwick RB short scale would surely be better, and I think that the ultimate semi-affordable option would be the Chowny SWB-1, but at the 250 EUR range, the Ibanez TMB-30 is the best choice.

The construction quality is decent, woodwork is generally ok, but nothing to be excited about.

My bass has a factory error, the hole for the J pickup is routed 3-5 millimetres too low so the strings don?t align properly with the pickup. Other than that, the fret ends could have been filed a bit more, but I?ve seen a lot worse.

My biggest disappointment is in the electronics. After only a year of light use, the volume pots started crackling which become annoying to the point of unsuitability. I had to buy and solder new ones. The tone pot feels ok so I didn?t touch it. Also, the input jacks has a habit of unscrewing itself, like in a lot of Strat-like jacks. I hate that. A standard side mounted jack would be so much better. Ibanez really wants us to use straight cable jacks apparently.

The sound is as expected. Cheap PJ with a fatter tone due to the short scale. Although the bass is pretty versatile and can accommodate a lot of styles. It can pull off a decent slap tone with new strings. The thing that bugs me though, is that there is constant acoustic rattling while playing. It?s not fret buzz, it?s the pups and wires in the body that vibrate. I didn?t put a lot of effort into it, but I didn?t find a quick way to solve that problem, and It?s really annoying when playing it dry in the dead of night. Amplified, I?d say it doesn?t affect the sound much, maybe a little on certain notes.

On the positive side, I simply adore playing it. The neck feels great, and this bass made me a big fan of the short scale. I?m looking into medium scale (32??) for my next bass, but I would always like to have a 30? bass in my arsenal. I can definitely play faster on the shorter scale, and it makes you play a bit differently. It?s hard to explain, other than to say it?s very enjoyable.

Overall, I like the Ibanez short scale Talman, but didn?t fall in love with it. After long consideration, I decided that it wasn?t worth investing in new pickups and other hardware. But you might feel differently.

Because of the affordable price, I would strongly recommend this bass for anyone.

It might be an easier option for a guitarist looking to play a bit of bass without too much finger strain. It?s a good choice for a total beginner. And it?s a great deal for any experienced bassist who wants to try out the shorter scale and see how they like it.

Bottom line: Cheap but groovy!

Unbelievable value for money!

Its always difficult to ascertain the physical dimensions and suitability of a bass just from photographs but if, like me, you are a guitarist who switches to playing bass, THIS is the instrument for you. Ibanez dont cut corners on quality and this is no exception. I was staggered at the tone and resonance when I plugged-in for the first time. Highly recommended.