Anyone tried the new Ibanez SR1200?

[mashup]

Hi there, Im looking at getting a lighter weight bass guitar & have obviously stumbled across the Ibanez SR range in my searches. Im particularly interested in the new SR1200. Has anyone played it? If so, what were your impressions of this bass. Is the EQ On/Off swith the same as a Active/Passive switch? & will i will be able to get more traditional sounds out of this puppy, as well as the newer hifi sounds (im guessing?)?

Im also looking at the SR4500E, which comes with the USA Bartollini pickups. What would be the best choice?

Are either of these a marked improvement over the SR500 - 700? If there's not much in it maybe i should save my money & go for the cheaper option.

Please advise if you can

Thanks

Edited July 21, 2011 by mashup

[aldude]

[quote name='mashup' post='1311994' date='Jul 21 2011, 08:06 PM']Hi there, Im looking at getting a lighter weight bass guitar & have obviously stumbled across the Ibanez SR range in my searches. Im particularly interested in the new SR1200. Has anyone played it? If so, what were your impressions of this bass. Is the EQ On/Off swith the same as a Active/Passive switch? & will i will be able to get more traditional sounds out of this puppy, as well as the newer hifi sounds (im guessing?)?

Im also looking at the SR4500E, which comes with the USA Bartollini pickups. What would be the best choice?

Are either of these a marked improvement over the SR500 - 700? If there's not much in it maybe i should save my money & go for the cheaper option.

Please advise if you can

Thanks[/quote]

Hi

I'm a big fan of the Ibanez SR range and particularly the Prestige ones. I have two, the SR4005E and SR5000E.

They are great instruments, light with slim necks and fantastic build quality. As they are both Prestige they both have the same Bartolini pickups and the same preamp.

You can get a good range of sounds out of these instruments, particularly by using the pickup select control. A nice P-bass style sound comes from using the neck pickup alone, and a good modern tone from using both, which is what I do mostly. I'm guessing you can get a jazzy tone out of the bridge pickup but I don't have much use for that sort of sound so haven't explored it much. I don't know if the switch puts the bass in passive mode or just EQ off, I guess I can find out if I take the batteries out - unusually it uses 2xAA.

As for whether the more expensive Prestige models are worth it, I think so, but the cheaper ones are still quite highly regarded. Standard advice would be to try some out and see what you think - you may notice a difference, you may not.

PS if you look really hard, there's a 5 string Prestige in the For sale section....