Ibanez Bass Workshop EHB1505MS Bass Guitar - Pacific Blue Burst Flat Reviews

First thing first. I have owned and toured with this bass now for a year. I also own a Strandberg Boden 5, which is very similar to this. By all measures, this bass is better by several orders of magnitude. It is super easy to setup, maintains tuning and intonation for months and several air travel trips. Has sound versatility to play anything - I literally play in a pop band and in an Alice In Chains cover band and I have played Paramore covers. Works beautifully with both analog pedals (sansamp etc) and using modern digital pedals (quad cortex captured sansamp but also all QC in general). It also looks beautiful, the photographs here in Sweetwater don't do justice. It's very ergonomic and you'd see right away that Ibanez has thought of everything with this. Small things like the tuners are protected on the bottom end with some additional guitar body, so it can sit in a gig bag or a stand without getting injured and so on. This is how one should engineer an instrument!

This is a great bass and an incredible value. Mine has gotten SO many compliments since I got it. Even if people dislike the headless look, it certainly stands out and will turn heads towards you if you're playing it. This is my first multiscale instrument, and it took very little time getting used to it. I switched to this from the BTB745 and the weight difference is very obvious (about 2.5 pounds), so if you play standing up a lot I would highly recommend this bass cause a 5 string doesn't get much lighter than this. The single coils sound SO GOOD. Coming from a BTB745 I was used to the Bartolinis that come on a lot of cheaper Ibani, and these Nordstrands have a considerable boost in clarity compared to those. The active/passive switch is also very handy and Ibanez is generous enough to give us tone control in passive mode, making this a ridiculously versatile bass. The tuners are rock solid, and Ibanez is also generous enough to give you wrenches for string changing. The gig bag it comes in also pretty sweet. My one and only complaint is that some of the knobs came a little loose. Easy fix so nothing knocked off the rating.
Bottom line - if you're looking for one bass to do it all with the added bonus of saving your back and shoulder AND at less than $, this is the one.

This is my new favorite bass.

Ibanez basses are usually solid, and I have a few of them. This one raises the bar substantially. I have a similar strandberg bass that is twice as expensive and I prefer this one over the strandberg even.

The first and important thing with this bass is it is easy to setup. Ibanez basses are typically very user-friendly but this one takes it to the next level. Intonation and string height could be setup even when strings are fully in tension and the provided accessories (no Phillips screw driver though) makes them super easy. The instrument is very responsive to changes in setup too, a half turn is quite a change in string height or truss rod.

The tone is very wide. With the sweepable mid, you can go from a P-bass to a ding wall sound and anything in-between in a matter of seconds. I use this for an Alice In Chains cover band and I can produce a tone for everything from their old sound to their new modern metal-like sounds with only a sans amp. The preamp in active is also very loud, very much comparable to a darkglass tone-capsule.

The bass is also solid. I travelled the US west coast from Seattle to San Diego with it in one week going through a heat wave and a extra cold air-conditioned room - No changes needed to the neck, it remained solid.

The only issue I have with this bass is the strap button. It is off center and kind of twists the bass in a direction that is a bit uncomfortable. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once adjusted, I barely notice it anymore.

Overall, I highly recommend this bass for someone that plays a ton of different styles and needs reliable instrument with which to travel the world.

Since delivery, I have been playing this bass a couple of hours each day for the past 2+ weeks and gigged with it 5 times so far. I bought it for travel as it fits in an electric guitar gig bag. So far so good with it being portable. The guitar looks great and I have already been asked about it several times.

With the setup out of the box, the bass played fast and has a wide range of tones. I have found a lot of great sounds and I feel like I have just begun scratching the surface of its capabilities. I am still getting accustomed to the fanned frets and tilted pickups. It is going to take me some time getting adjusted.

Overall, I am very pleased with the purchase and would highly recommend this bass, especially to those looking for a modern sound. As always Sweetwater did a great job of taking care of me and delivering a great product at a good price.

Yup, they hit it out of the park on this one! I recently got back into playing and so must spend a lot of time practicing if I want to play with people again. My lower back is messed up from an old injury though. That said long hours on a BTB 1305e was starting to kill me. I realized this when I was playing my old SRX 300 and took it off in significantly less pain. I went and strapped up the BTB and went, I knew it wouldn't be easy to find something with 5+ strings that would be particularly light, but this thing really takes it. I feel like it's a plastic toy compared to the BTB. I love the headless thing going on too. The balance is excellent; there's no neck dive to speak of which is great for my posture. Ergonomic AF. Weight is the only place this beast is light however. The Big Splits really dish out some sweet tone… I think I like em balanced toward the neck just a bit for some smooth mids and pronounced lower end. The neck plays fast and smooth and with only 2" difference in scale the multi scale frets were easy to adjust to. Which is another thing, the intonation is excellent with it running from 33"-35". I love the tightness of that low B vs a shorter scale and it's not impossible to get good tone out of the G since it's shorter. Let's not forget about the active/passive toggle… love it since I prefer passive tone. The EQ, however, is super choice with parametric mid control. The only thing I don't care for is the choice of balance pot because it doesn't snap into place when it's centered. It just kinda hits a soft spot where you can kinda tell it's just right… but that's pretty minor and fixable if you want. I managed to come across one that was done in the tropical sea floor finish. The particular piece of poplar on top is super pretty and I really like the look of the 9 piece neck. All in all a fantastic instrument and a pleasure to play for hours on end.

Three words sums it up I LOVE IT!!!!!!

I was looking for my first headless bass since the first one I bough back in the 80's ! I found what I was looking for and more in the Ibanez line of headless basses .They are beautifully crafted basses with great sound and attention to detail ! Amazing hardware was used in the building of these basses, from the pickup selection to the use of very high end quality woods and materials ! Their sound compares and exceeds those of high end boutique basses ! I have since bought three of them ! A four string White color a Five string matte black with Bartolini pickups and now this one in gourgeous blue color! There are many choices out there but, for me I have found my perfect bass in Ibanez ! Now go and get your own !

Ernie C
Miami Florida USA

I was fortunate enough to get one of the last one of these in the limited run Ocean Floor finish. This is hands down best sounding, best playing, most comfortable basses I've ever played in my life. The time came when I could finally get myself a new bass and I actually had Rickenbacker/Fender American level funds to play with. After weeks of tireless research and YouTube videos, I pulled the trigger on one of these. The finish and appearance of these in person is unreal!!! These bases are boutique level at a much more affordable price compared to a Dingwall. My son actually plays a Dingwall and he was blown away when he played this bass. The Nordstrand pickups are a must. The clarity and tone is unmatched. The tonal possibilities are endless it seems and the active boost takes this over the top. There is so much more to say but I could go on and on. Just research as much as you can on these, but I promise you it will far exceed the hype and give you the feel and sound you are looking for.

Everything about playing this bass is just right. The balance,tones, playability and weight, its all perfect. This is the first multi-scale headless bass I've ever played, and I love it. I have owned four other Ibanez basses and this one is head over heels the best one I've purchased. The mix of ultra light weight and powerful tone are the winning features of this bass. The list goes on as far as great features I highly recommend this bass if you are interested.

This bass has been an absolute workhorse for me these past 3 years. It has literally been the only bass I've played for gigs, recording sessions, music videos, and for any travel. The Nordstrand pickups are definitely the way to go over the bartolini BH2 pickups in the 1005. With the addition of the onboard preamp, Im able to get some very modern proggy, active tones for metal gigs, or dial in a nice passive vintage tone for some more bluesy or rock sounds. The light weight and shorter overall length of this bass also makes it a perfect candidate for travel. I am no longer worried about a headstock getting knocked around in the plane and snapping. The only con so far has been that for a multiscale bass, the B string is not very long. at 35.5" it is still not the greatest bass for very low tunings like drop G or F.

PROS: I own plenty of basses and have played professionally for years, and this bass has an amazing sound! I've owned mine for about 2 years (purchased new). It's also super lightweight, and can use pretty much any strings since they lock-in and get trimmed off at the headstock, rather than require double ball ends like most older headless basses which severely limited your string choice options. It looks great, and I love the stain and the natural wood look and feel of the matte finish for the first week, until it started wearing off.

CONS: If you play with your fingers and typically rest your thumb on a pick-up, it's not quite as comfortable since the pickups are angled and which means your thumb will rest farther away from the strings than normal (which feels odd) and resting your thumb on the corner of the pickup (which basically comes to a slightly rounded point like a triangle due to the angle) does get uncomfortable after a while (compared to a typical perpendicular pick-up that your thumb can rest more comfortably on). The knobs are cheap plastic, but you can upgrade them like I did if you prefer. And lastly, the finish of this bass is not durable, I mean... not at all. Mine literally wore through within a week in a couple places, and it's still wearing off to this day. Looks horrible like this (worse than most other finishes for some reason), but it obviously doesn't affect the playability or sound, so I deal with it since that's more important to me. However, you figured Ibanez would have applied s more durable clear matte finish on it than this. Maybe mine was a defect and wasn't finished properly, but it seemed to look and feel the same as a couple other ESB models that I've played in this same type of finish, so I doubt it. The finish looks great, but absolutely sucks for durability.

OVERVIEW: I would still recommend this bass for the amazing sound and tone, which I'm guessing mostly comes from the Nordstrand pickups and preamp that came with the upgraded model I selected. Also, I'm sure the multi-scale and the wood contributes to the excellent tone as well. I play with my fingers, which is totally doable with this bass, but I do feel it's designed more for players who use a pick. Still overall it's a great bass that I really like, but it hasn't been and I don't think it ever will be my go to bass for the reasons I mentioned above. This bass is 3rd in my line-up of basses I own, next to my Ken Smith jazz bass and a Warwick Dirty Blonde special edition Thumb bass (all of which are 5-strings). Hope this review helps somebody!!

The first impression picking up this thing is that it's a toy. Wow, is it light! And it's pretty. The finish is really attractive and the pictures were quite true.

I don't know if it is the lightness of the instrument or the pickups, but it is exceptionally bright. It's my unsubstantiated opinion that much of that is the pickups. With some work on the setup and new strings, I have a sound and playability that I am super happy with.

When I started playing it, I felt that the sound was unpleasantly bright and raspy. I spent some time taking the action down, lowering the pickups substantially, doing a neck adjustment and got it somewhat better. But overall I just wasn't as impressed as I had hoped to be. With some adjustment between the tone controls on the EHB I was able to get something decent. I use a Portaflex B15R but that doesn't really do a low B much service, so I also use my full range PA amps which go down comfortably to the B fundamental.

Some of the issue is the pickups. They pick up everything. That's good and bad. Things that are masked with other instruments come through with unforgiving clarity. With the original normally-high factory setup, there was a lot of clanging and thrashing that came through trying to squish the strings to the frets. Adjusting the action to my playing style fixed that, but there was still a raspy brightness that I was working to overcome, and the B sounded muddy without a lot of equalization.

Fairly quickly I decided to change the strings. Good idea. I had an old set of DR Hi-Beams I had never gotten around to using sitting in my drawer. Bad idea.

First of all, changing strings on this seemed intimidatingly different at first, but it's actually ridiculously fast and easy. The tuners are super smooth and stable, but weird when coming from a normal headstock. Watch the video on changing the strings, do it once and you'll be impressed by just how easy it is. No more bending thick wires around a pole and trying to make sure they lie properly!

Back to the DRs. As I said at the beginning, this instrument is bright. And Hi-Beams are very bright. Not a good combo. The B sounded like a buzzsaw, and trying to equalize it out was difficult at best. Those lasted about a week before I gave up on them.

Next was a set of NYXLs 45/130. I was hesistant to do an Addario XL derivative because I didn't really like the stock strings that much. But it's what I was able to get on very short notice. I have some LaBella flats I considered, but wanted to try to get a good tone with rounds.

The NYXLs work great. They've got a solid deep punch to them, and a lot of brightness as well. And the harmonic structure is just pleasing. With no EQ even into the FR PA, they sound good. With a little EQ there's a wide variety of really solid tones achievable, from very mellow to pleasant growliness to bright and twangy. There is a ton of bass in these strings and a solidly palpable fundamental that comes through a subwoofer. The second harmonic is strong and audibly pleasing. And the rest just layers on nicely which is what gives the excellent tonal control through EQ. They're a good match for this bass and I'll play them until they wear out before trying something new.

The build quality is good, but honestly not as great as I would have liked. Despite the signed inspection card, the bass arrived with wobbly volume and pickup knobs; the volume knob was exceptionally wobbly. That's an easy fix. Pop the knobs off, tighten down the pot (not too tight! Don't crush the wood) and replace the knobs. I took this opportunity to replace the cheap-ish looking and feeling plastic knobs with some pretty ebony wood knobs that match the finish really well. There is some glue residue around the nut but that's not even cosmetic as it's really only noticeable when changing the strings.

Eventually, I am very happy with my EHB. But it was a path to get there. Be prepared to do a setup. The factory setup is exactly as expected. High and with more neck bend than I like. The bridge has plenty of adjustment and is easy to tweak. The factory nut height is pretty good. The shielding seems to be solid and I haven't had issues with noise pickup from a computer in front of the bass (which I have had with others!) The locking Neutrik plug locks maybe a bit too securely - it can be a bit of a pain to get it to release your cable. The "headstock" flares just enough to hang perfectly in my Hercules stand with the narrow-neck cones on the stand's fingers. And finally, you can stand with this thing hanging on your shoulder for a very long time without getting sore!