fretmeister

I've been playing my Ibanez Mezzo 5 string - 32 scale - since Wednesday and I'm completely in love with it. It's very easy to play, it's only 7lb and it sounds excellent. The only slight fly in the ointment is that the medium scale low B that comes with it - a D'addario .130 - does not seem to be available to buy as a spare. I am making enquiries with Ibanez and D'addario. There are not many medium scale B strings out there. Warwick Black Labels have a set in 2 different gauges, La Bella do some, including the White Nylons. I'm a big fan of D'addario strings and I've used them for at least 25 years so I hope the unavailability is just because the bass is very new and it just hasn't filtered through to the shops yet. In the meantime I've ordered some of the Warwick Black Label so I have some spares, but I'm hoping I won't have to change the strings on it for months. I've never used Warwick strings before. For my big band jazz band I tend to use flats - my P is loaded with Rotosounds Monels. They do a medium scale 4 string set, but no B. I've measured the bass properly from ball end anchor to just past the nut and to the tuning post and a regular scale B won't fit - especially on a flatwound it is likely to break. So I've emailed Rotosound just on the off chance they have made some and have any lying about.

I’ve had 2 Italian heads and 1 Indonesian. 1 Italian head failed. The others were fine, including the Indonesian one I still have.

Start flat. Then tweak for the room. Cut rather than boost wherever possible.

It’s very good. Ran one for years. Only sold it because it took up too much room and had side jacks.

Loving the deepness. As it happens my new Mezzo sounds that deep too - I wonder if Ibanez are going for that approach on the new models. Still - I prefer too much deep than too little. Far easier to cut than boost.

The black is a Matt / Flat and is nice. I do really like the sea foam as well though. I think I’m going to end up with both. And maybe a 4 as well!

So what's the deal with having to bend the round core before cutting them? I've never heard of that before. Mind you, I have no idea what core any of the strings I've ever used are! Are any of the Newtone ones similar to D'addario nickels?

It was indeed a P "Patrice Rushen" though. Love her stuff. Washington plays on most tunes on the "Straight from the Heart" album. Really tasteful playing.

£100 more than the Boss. Mmmmmmm

I had the EMG one. It was very good, but not very ray like. It was smoother, less aggressive in the treble. If you want real Ray tone it’s probably not the one to go for.

I had forgotten about the white nylons. I had a set on my old Marleaux for a while, and even put some on a Zon Hyperbass. Very good strings. Quite round sounding but with very low finger noise. If I can’t get the D’addario for a while I might get the white nylons. Got to have some spares in the house!

I mod 90% of my instruments, including signature models. But for some reason that Harris P looks perfect to me and I'd leave it alone. If you want another PJ then you could build a parts bass really cheaply - it is only a P after all. Routing - especially visible routing that cannot be covered by a scratchplate - will definitely kill the used value. Maybe by as much as 50% of the usual used price. Just because it has an extra pickup in it doesn't mean it will go up, and it's not like you can leave the hole empty if you well, that would look worse. Before I got the router out I'd want to make sure that the bass was perfect in every other way before I took that sort of hit.

Could be - the 5 string is a very new model. Probably take a while for me to get an answer from D'addario and Ibanez with the current lockdown situation. The B feels and sounds identical to the others so I would be surprised. I've used D'addario for at least 20 years so I'm hoping I would be able to spot a difference!

A slight annoyance... the medium scale D’addario B string. Can’t seem to find them for sale anywhere. Not on the d’addario website either. The specs say it’s a set of nickel 170M being the medium 4 string set with an extra 0.130. It’s definitely a medium scale B as the speaking length gets just over the nut. So cannot be a long scale. Ive emailed D’addario and Ibanez and I’ll update if I get a reply. They sound great on the bass. Warwick do a low B medium steel and so do Dunlop, but I’d prefer to stick with the D’addarios nickels. Dunlop also do what I think is the only 5 string set of medium scale flats.

Nice to see some slap on a P bass as well. Very different sound to a J, and to my ears, much nicer. More 70s disco!

The pickups seem fine. I think you'd be better off upgrading the preamp instead.

It does look cool. But being a luddite I think I prefer the Boss EQ-200 for ease of use and old fashioned slidey things!

The 802 sounded amazing there. But I see US prices are about $2500 so it will probably be about the same in pounds, or maybe £2000 ish. I'd never get away with that.

I've got the 10 inch cone cabs. But I'd like to get something from the other range just to see what it is like with my existing amps.

I don't think I've ever tried a 5 string Soundgear so I can't help with that. It's a tiny bit wider than my 2005 Stingray 5, and a little thinner front to back. I like a medium ish neck and sometimes my Ray is a bit big and hard work depending on the tunes. The Ibby seems more comfy - but some of that might be the smaller stretches with the shorter scale. I should probably mention that I've managed to do zero work this afternoon as I've just been playing the damn thing. And I've gone into the pedal trunk to see what I can off load to get the other colour!

You and your child sized 16.5mm!

Ok... I'll help. Negatives. 1) No bag or case 2) Only 2 colour choices 3) Err..... I'm running out here!

I've had 30 mins with it so far. First impressions - it's remarkable, and not just for the money. The Low B is full and fat and not twangy. It's genuinely up there with my Stingray - and it has the same D'addario strings. I haven't set the action up to my usual as yet but out of the box it plays very well. Will only need a tweak or 2. The neck profile is lovely. 18mm bridge spacing (I find the Ray at 17.5mm a touch tight. Amazing what another 0.5mm can do!) and a nice C shape on the profile. The Flat tone is very balanced and nicely away from the over-bright trend that seems to afflict many modern basses. The EQ is ok. Bit noisy with the treble boosted to max, but 1) it's a cheap bass, and 2) that's not my sort of sound anyway. I would say that the bass is good enough for an EQ upgrade in future if I feel like it. However I tend to set my sound up on the Amp and then only tweak on the bass for the room if needed - and most of the time that will be to cut rather than boost. P pickup alone is very much like a P except I think the pickup is a little bit closer to the neck (difficult to assess on a different scale) so it's quite deep. Similarly the J seems further from the bridge so it's doesn't quite bark as much as a J on my other basses but it's a good sound, if not quite full Jaco. So far I've tried it with my Helix using a "straight into the desk" sort of DI sound with compression, then into Yamaha HS7 studio monitors. I'll try my real amps and other amp patches later. And for those of us afflicted with age and injury... it is 6.9lb - that's nearly 2lb lighter than my PJ-Ray 5. I have a youtube playlist of the tunes my Jazz band plays so I'll be cranking it after work for a proper run as close to being in the mix as I can. I am now seriously considering getting the other colour as well!!! @therealting

That's the V2 I was under the impression it was fixed on some V1 as well. Is that not the case?

I'm pretty sure they changed that Mine's a very early one, but I'm sure I read it was sorted out later. Don't know how long or what serial numbers though. Doug is on facebook and IG a lot and is responsive. I bet he could tell you.