# NBD: 90's mij Ibanez sr800



## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

Just picked this one up for a decent price last night. 










It's a 1990 or a 1991; the date is hard to pin down as this seems like a transition year bass.

The finish has been pretty beat up because this thing spent its entire lifetime playing in the dive bars of downtown st.johns with some local legend musicians. I saw it on Kijiji and I had to have it. The ruby red finish was only offered on the sr800 in 1991 and the hardware is a mix of Japanese gotoh and Japanese Ibanez production.










I think the coolest part is the Ibanez "Regulated Lo-z" pickups which were only available from 1988 to 1991. They sound great, but the preamp in this bass is fairly basic compared to the later models with shiftable mid controls.



















The neck is absolutely stunning. The fretwork is immaculate and the neck is a skinny three piece maple affair that is as slender as the neck on my US Peavey Fury; I wanted this Ibanez because I knew it had a similar profile. These late 80s and early 90 SRs are what eventually became the prestige line of basses.

I've wanted another Ibanez sr bass in my stable for a long time; I used to own an sr300fm that was an awesome bass, but unfortunately it was stolen. Luckily this sr800 popped up for less than I paid for the sr300 new. This one won't be leaving me anytime soon.


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## bigboki (Apr 16, 2015)

Congratulations, great bass and great story!

Keep Rockin'


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

If anything ever made me want to play bass, that thing is IT

Congrats, it's a beaut


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

Not my style of bass, but they are workhorses and they at least got the split pickup the sensible way around. Can't argue with an accessible 2 octive neck either. 

Are those pups actually low impedence, cuz I love Lo-Z pups and never knew those existed.


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## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

Granny Gremlin said:


> Are those pups actually low impedence, cuz I love Lo-Z pups and never knew those existed.


I'm fairly sure they are low impedence pickups. The writings on the internet are few and far between about these pickups; Some claim the pickups themselves are active, but after popping open the control cavity, you can see the active preamp and all of its accompaniments. So, low-z pickups with a two band preamp.

These pickups are different than more recent Ibanez lo-z guitar pickups. Apparently the newer Ibanez ones aren't well regarded, but I really enjoy this PJ setup.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Nice snag, congrats!

I have an Indonesian SR500 and that's a really great bass, loving that one.


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## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

I shimmed the neck today in order to bring the neck angle to where I wanted. This bass had spent the last few years in a hard shell case and only saw the light of day again because the sellers family was moving, so it needed a few small tweaks.

The saddle heights at the bridge were all bottomed out, but the action was too high. The shim has allowed me to dial it in exactly as I wanted, and I could possibly go even a little lower.










It's difficult to illustrate from the picture, and please excuse my fat fingers, but that's a Dunlop Jazz III under the string at the 24th fret. The Dunlop measure 1.38mm, and there might be room to slide a piece of paper between the pick and the string, but I doubt it.

The action all the way up is perfect with no buzzing, even when I dig in with a pick. This bass continues to impress.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Nice Gem...

Set it up to your liking and Grove it !!!


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I don't think I've ever met a Soundgear bass I didn't like.
I think that's why I held out on buying a fretless until I found a Soundgear one.

Nice bass--enjoy!


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## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

zontar said:


> I don't think I've ever met a Soundgear bass I didn't like.
> I think that's why I held out on buying a fretless until I found a Soundgear one.
> 
> Nice bass--enjoy!


There's just something about them, that's for sure. Even the lower end models I have played have been excellent; I recently owned a 5 string sound gear from the gsr lineup, and even that bass was pretty good after a setup. 

It's hard to knock these basses; thin multipiece necks, versatile electronics, great balance and ergonomics, and they're still one of the lightest production basses on the market.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

Ronbeast said:


> and they're still one of the lightest production basses on the market.



Gotta put my Musician on a diet !


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Ronbeast said:


> There's just something about them, that's for sure. Even the lower end models I have played have been excellent; I recently owned a 5 string sound gear from the gsr lineup, and even that bass was pretty good after a setup.
> 
> It's hard to knock these basses; thin multipiece necks, versatile electronics, great balance and ergonomics, and they're still one of the lightest production basses on the market.


My SR500F might be my lightest electric--and that includes guitar that are smaller than it is...


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

zontar said:


> My SR500F might be my lightest electric--and that includes guitar that are smaller than it is...


That's one of the main things that I like about mine, sounds good and easy on the back.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

sulphur said:


> That's one of the main things that I like about mine, sounds good and easy on the back.


I know someone who bought an ATK but lamented the weight afterwards--they didn't try it out standing--then they later bought a BTB--which is considerably lighter than the ATK--and they used a strap & played it standing...


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## Ronbeast (Nov 11, 2008)

zontar said:


> I know someone who bought an ATK but lamented the weight afterwards--they didn't try it out standing--then they later bought a BTB--which is considerably lighter than the ATK--and they used a strap & played it standing...


I also have an ATK; it's one of those "a few songs or a single set" basses. The damn thing is every bit of 11lbs haha. I'm thinking about defretting mine and just having it as a studio fretless, because I hate dragging it to gigs, even though it sounds amazing.


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