CTO
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2025
I bought this bass elsewhere. However the its all the same price everywhere for a new one. One major pro about this bass is the neck, its perfect. The texture and feel, size of frets all are just right. The weight is really another pro. They do vary in weight but not wildly of course. mine is just over 7lbs and it feels like you can stand up and play for hours no issues. I do have issues with back pain, and I don't worry about that with this bass. The only real con is the pickups are a smidge dark and can take away from some articulation. .But if you want to change them out, there's multiple options to swap them with out there.All in all its a great bass and I highly recommend it. If you can see it before you buy it, that would be a plus too because the birds eye maple has some really crazy affects. I received one that was slightly damaged on the neck but it had the most beautiful neck Ive seen. Unfortunately the replacement was a lot more mild looking
アキト
Reviewed in Japan on May 24, 2024
あまり商品説明見ずに見た目で購入して気に入ってますがまさか電池いるとは…私の確認不足なんでしょうが購入考えてる方は電池いりますよ
Ryan Ingram
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2023
Alright final review time. I have had a chance to get about 40-50 hours of playtime; rehearsals, practice, recording and gigging with this bass over the last month.Let’s get the bad out of the way first, I absolutely hate the locking Jack input. I’ve never broken cables before I started using this input style, since then I’ve broken nice sturdy cable on this bass as well as one my other Ibanez BTB. However, I finally learned the trick of removing the cables but it’s still non-intuitive and it works best using right angle terminals. RIP to my faithful Pig Hog cables 🙏🏾 🪦As much as I love the color and texture of the finish on the body, it is not very durable at all. Despite being fairly gentle this bass, it’s still somehow gotten some serious nicks and dings and I haven’t dropped it or banged it into anything yet. I can be fairly rough on my gear onstage sometimes so we will see how this holds up but I may seal the body in a transparent gloss to protect it.The luminlay side dots have not proven to be very consistent. While on stage they SOMETIMES work. But most other times under even moderate light I can’t see them because the dots blend in really well with the birdseye maple fretboard (see pictures). To offset this, I ended up using nail polish to mark the frets.Lastly, it really breaks my heart to say that the stock Bartolinis are really wimpy and lack definition on their own. I love Barts but not these. However, the bass has a built in active preamp and when it’s engaged and dialed in, it brings the pickups to life and saves the day, but only barely. The in-house Ibanez pickups in the BTB605MS are monsters compared to these, even without engaging preamp. This both frustrates and disappoints me a little because at this price point (it’s more expensive than the BTB) the pickups shouldn’t be this anemic. However, there is one great upside to playing in the weak passive mode, it doesn’t wake up my wife when I play late at night ;)Alright for the things I do like. Hands down THE MOST comfortable bass I have ever owned. I hate putting the thing down and going to bed, I’ve even fallen asleep holding it. Even after a long rehearsal, I will sit and noodle on it. It’s super light, (around 7lbs) and I never knew I’d enjoy the compactness of headlessness (is that a word?). When I became a bass player I figured I was doomed to bearing monster sized burdensome instruments but this has been a savior for my poor neck and shoulders. I’ve had surgery on my neck over the last few months so this bass has been my ace.I absolutely love the neck and fretboard. For a 5 stringer it is a dream to play and would be a great way to transition if you’re used to 4 strings or even a guitar player. I’ve always been a sucker for birdseye maple, but ROASTED?! Takes things to a deliciously darker new level, yeah the inlays blend in but I personal rely on side dots, which also blend in… but I fixed that. I was nervous about the tuners going in because they were pretty tight when I first used them, but they’ve loosened up a little and now I find them very intuitive. I haven’t changed the strings yet so the verdict is still out on that aspect but I don’t anticipate any major issues after watching a few tutorials online. The medium stainless steel frets are a really nice touch, though I may install jumbo frets later on as they are my personal preference.As mentioned previously, the pickups are passive and kind of lame however thanks to the brilliant active pre-amp this alone saves the day. I feel that you could probably put any junk pickups into this bass and the preamp would rescue you almost every time, this is a testament to its flexibility and power. Just make sure to keep batteries on you so you never have to get stuck playing in passive mode. If you’re the guitar player who got stuck playing the bass or a barebones bass player who doesn’t care (or know) about low/mid midrange overtones and frequencies then you probably wouldn’t mind the passive mode tone… but then why would you even buy a bass like this instead something much cheaper?!I give this bass an 8/10, it’s definitely designed and built for ease of play, comfort and performance but misses the mark with a few shortcomings. The side dots could’ve been just plain white and a little gloss too coat on the body would’ve went a long way, but would’ve probably driven the price up another $400…If it weren’t lost or stolen I’d probably replace it with the higher end model, because it addresses some of my issues, except for that damn input jack.
dvbssman
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2020
I have owned just about every USA made bass (Fender Jazz, Fender Precision, Gibson Triumph, Gibson EB3, Rickenbacker 4001, Musicman Stingray, and Washburn XB-925) and this EHB1005MS is better than all of them in so many ways. The roasted maple neck feels awesome and is very stable. It is so much lighter and fits so comfortably against my body with that slant carving the designers built in. The sound is wonderful and you can hear that for yourself on YouTube. The surprise to me was how great the tuners on the bridge feel. They are very precise and easier for me to tune than the standard tuning pegs on the headstock. With the roasted maple neck and precise bridge tuners it definitely stays in tune better than all my other basses. While playing my other basses I would often bump the headstock into things like a mic stand and have to retune. Not a problem with the headless EHB1005MS. The bass comes with a nice gig bag that is the same size as an electric guitar gig bag and I think it will fit in a airplane overhead bin. The build quality is first rate and I highly recommend this bass.