Ibanez miKro GSRM20 Bass Guitar - Transparent Red Reviews

Love this bass, the color is amazing and the sound is great. It came nicely packaged and Cody had it shipped quickly to arrive in time to play for Easter service. The bass is light weight and easy to travel with.

This lil devil's got "Napoleon Syndrome"-- it must not know it's a short-scale, so it raises hell like it's twice the size and ten times the cost! I have a few guitars and basses, and this is MY choice for bass. A triple threat, it sounds wonderful,... feels comfortable with a great weight-- not heavy, but just solid,... and is a dream to play right out of the box! My only complaint is that I don't have the money to have one in every color.

I love this instrument! It provides hours of fun and improvement of my bass playing skills! The strings are looser due to the Short Scale neck and quickly reaching each note is a snap. Great tones too! It sounds awesome as well! Love it!

I've had the bass 3 days now, & loving the way it plays & sounds! It arrived in perfect condition, not a flaw that I could find. The neck is perfect, no fret sprouts. First thing I did was put a set of LaBella 760FS-S flat wound strings on. Then went through the set up procedure. The factory did a great job on this one. The only thing I had to do was set the intonation & it plays & sounds beautiful! I've been playing bass for 58 years, this bass plays & sounds as good as a bass that costs 4x as much. I have about 4 hours of playing time with it so far. It holds tune really well considering the new strings. Very happy & highly recommend this bass,

I own a dozen basses, all but 3 are short scales. If I had, had to give them all up but one, and this probably changes every few days or so depending upon what I just got done playing for a few hours or what music I was just playing or just on my mood or whatever but only being allowed to keep one, just ONE of my basses I think the majority of days, it would be this one. My Ibanez Mikro. Now when I bought mine the only color available was the red. Now I wish it could've been the sunburst but other than that it would still be my #1 pick most every time, it's THAT great in quality and fun to play and sounds that good. Now I just saw that as of January Ibanez is FINALLY coming out with this little jewel in ORANGE.Now if that were available when I bought mine THAT would have been my first choice, it's my favorite color. And I absolutely promise that when it IS available I WILL OWN ONE.Even though I already own one my name is already on the list in line to be one of the first for an orange one. Can't wait til January already.

Great sound as it came. Made some adjustments. Then converted it to a piccolo bass. Works great,

Let me start off by saying that I don't have large hands. Having smaller hands makes playing a full size bass very difficult, I have a full size 6 string bass and it's very hard for me to play. This short scale bass is the perfect solution for me, absolutely perfect size for my hands and very easy to play. The setup from the factory is flawless with very low action and almost no fret buzz. You really can't beat this bass for the price it sells for. I'm very satisfied with my purchase and as always, you can't beat Sweetwater's customer service. If you have smaller hands and have trouble with a full size bass, then this might be just what you're looking for.

I've owned this bass for about 4 years and I love it. I'm a crappy bass player as my profession was drums, but I do play every weekend sometimes outside and this bass is great as a knockabout. Put some new round wounds on it, set it up and you've got a nice bass. I have a Fender Mustang also and I alternate.

Excellent instrument. Far better than the price would indicate. I primarily play Rickenbackers, but have suffered a shoulder injury and needed the short scale to practice while my shoulder gets better. This bass is perfect for tha. It is also a much more than a practice device. I would not have a problem playing this on stage. The playability is excellent and the sound is very good.

Still brand new, so the wood is still settling (this is one of the very few brand new instruments I have ever purchased, for just that reason), so we shall see how things go for the next few years. But the Ibanez reputation is excellent, so...

The setup needed a little bit of work (the intonation was a bit off), but that is to be expected.

The service and attention I received from Sweetwater was beyond unexpected, including several clearly "handwritten" (not form-letter) emails from one of the people there to see how things were going. This was very unexpected and extremely nice to experience (Amazon, are you watching?). There is very little additional equipment I need at the moment (40+ years of playing have left me with more than I really need), but I will definitely go to this company first for any future needs.

Purchased this for my wife to learn bass.
I could not be happier for her. This is a great bass. Fantastic quality for the paltry purchase cost.
Very wide tone spectrum.
I play guitar and have dabbled at bass over the years. Would not hesitate to gig with this or use it in recordings.

It may be small,but it packs a punch. I love the small scale bass's, I'm hooked and you will be too!

I bought this bass guitar for my wife. She was having problems reaching and playing a full sized bass and this guitar was like a little miracle. It fits her like a glove and her playing improved instantly! Besides that, Ibanez did a great job making this bass. The fret work is beautiful and the overall quality is top notch. And this guitar is priced very reasonably. Thank you Sweetwater!

I've been a guitarist for 50 years but never really messed with bass. Flash forward to now and I have been doing a lot of writing and wanted a bass for use in my studio. I'm only 5'4" with smallish hands so the full sized basses I looked at felt cumbersome. Then I found the Mikro. It's size is perfect for use in my home studio. As for sound well it delivers a solid bass punch or smooth bass strains as wonderfully. And switching from one of my guitars to my bass doesn't require a compete new mindset. It feels like I'm wearing a guitar when it is strapped on. The J pup volume and combined tone knobs were a bit askew or maybe not formed well in the factory but I'll probably switch them out to dress her up a bit anyway. So, all in all, for the price you can't go wrong with this little bass.

Bought this for my daughter as a beginner bass and it is perfect for her.

Awesome short scale bass. I love it. Great finish, great setup, and it sounds awesome. I've been playing guitar for 40+ years and I bet I've spent over 100 grand in guitars and equipment over the past 40+ years. This is my first bass and quite frankly I don't see a reason to get another. (Unless it's the Ibanez short scale semi hollow model) The red transparent finish looks awesome and is flawless. The set up out of the box
was spot on....on guitar I like low action and the action on this bass was perfect for me. The tone is awesome, although I will admit I've been playing through my guitar amps........so it will only get better when I get my new Fender Rumble 40 from Sweetwater this week!!! Now about the short scale.....going from guitar to this short scale was a natural fit.

My 13 yr. old son picked this one as his first Electric Bass and he is very pleased with sound,
the tranaparent red looks great and with the shorter length along with everything else, it's a great
little Bass for my son.

This bass has a gorgeous finish, top quality for an easy $100 more. Nice thin neck, good thump, fun as heck to play. Sweetwater even sent it perfectly set up. My favorite short scale bass.

I had no intentions of buying a new bass prior to seeing the Mikro. I was looking for new strings for my Fender Prophecy II when I came across the Mikro. I was intrigued by the size and after a few YouTube videos, I decided to buy one... Without a doubt, this is a very nice instrument.

Shortly after receiving the Mikro, I ran it through its paces and I was very impressed. Out of the box, playability was very good. After a few days of acclimating to its new home, I did some routine setup on the truss rod, bridge and pickups. Being that the my Prophecy II has active electronics, and the Mikro has passive electronics, I had to spend a little time dialing in my amp, as well.

I have already done some tracks with the Mikro and it sounds excellent. It's very punchy and the P-J setup gives very nice tones. Overall, I am impressed with the quality of the bass with a couple of caveats that I will get to in a minute. The neck joint is tight, and the fit is excellent. The bridge is very solid and appears to be good quality. The tuners are good quality as well. The fretboard is nice and, surprisingly, the fret ends are smooth and require no dressing. This is unusual for an instrument at this price point.

Now for the not so nice stuff: The finish on the body (mostly on the back) could have used another round of buffing. There are some light swirls that are noticeable when light hits it at a certain angle. All the potentiometers were loose. When I opened the electronics cavity to tighten the pots, I noticed a rat's nest of wiring. The wiring could have been done better, although there were no issues caused by the excessive wiring. The biggest issue is the tone pot. At full (no treble cut) the volume drops considerably; backing the pot off to about 80% takes care of the problem and I am still able to get the amount of treble I like. Replacing the pots and cleaning up the wiring will be a future project, although the bass performs fine as is.

I highly recommend this bass. It sounds great and plays great and for the price point the quality is pretty good. I had to knock off half a star for the minor issues I found but, I REALLY love this bass! BTW, I sold my 1992 Fender Prophecy II because, this thing dances circles around the Fender.

I'm a musician, focusing primarily on guitar. I am going to be playing bass in a live act, so I picked this bass up for that gig. It's a really short scale instrument, which I think is perfect for a guitar player who wants to try to play bass.

Pros:
inexpensive, sounds great, stays in tune, lightweight, short and feels great on and in your hands.

Cons:
The knobs and pickups are plastic and feel cheap, but hey,,, it is cheap. The bass I got really could use a setup. It comes playable enough, but an hour with a tech would make this perfect.

If I ever lost this, I'd buy it again.

Disclaimer: I am not a bass player. I'm sure a real bass player could and would find faults that I don't but here's my guitar-playing Dad's-eye-view of the thing.

I got an Ibanez miKro bass for my 10 year old last Christmas. He couldn't live without a non-stock color, Starlight Blue. One call to Chris Jenkins @ Sweetwater was all it took to get a Starlight Blue model ordered fresh from the factory. Chris even helped find a suitable gig bag and, as an added bonus, managed to get the thing delivered in time for Christmas. So, yeah, Sweetwater kind of rocks...but you knew that.

The bass itself was a steal. I've played cheaper guitars and there's almost always something missing in quality, tone, and/or playability. Finding no fault in it myself, I handed it off to my brother who has played bass for 25+ years for a demo. Playing through a vintage SWR head & 118 cab, the thing rocked. Even on the shorter strings, it got seismic. It sounds good in standard tuning, the pups and controls give a very wide range of timbre. It is completely playable, per the player. The fit and finish are good. It's holding tune. No complaints in design or build. It's legit.

My 10-year-old is right on the verge of outgrowing his 3/4 guitar and this short-scale bass works for him. At this price, it was a great way to give him the opportunity to explore playing bass without breaking the bank. It works in grown-up hands, too, so I don't think outgrowing it will be a huge concern. At 28.6" The scale is closer to an average full-size guitar than to an average bass so going back and forth with guitar is not that disorienting.

Ibanez has really managed to strike a nice balance between price and quality here. I'm very happy with the purchase and, as always, I'm very happy with the Sweetwater buying experience. Thanks, Chris!

First, Sweetwater's service is top notch, as always!

This Mikro bass is our second…our daughter dropped the first one and she liked it so much we got her a replacement of the same type. Good tones for such a small bass but they desperately need a setup and new strings out of the box. Once you do that they're great.

I bought this guitar for my grandson and he loves it.

I teach bass, guitar, and drums to middle schoolers. The short scale is easier for my students to navigate. I tried several inexpensive basses, but chose this one both for its price and sound.

So, I'm a musician focusing primarily on guitar but have never owned a bass. Bought this for a duo a friend and I are starting. I love the size, being a shorter scale it's perfect for a guitar player to make the switch. It's light, and it sounds and plays great right out of the box. It's also not terrible to look at.

If it has any issues, it's that the plastic parts are somewhat cheap feeling (knobs, for example), but hey.. it's a cheap bass.

It's possible that a real bass player would take issue with this instrument, but for me, it'll do exactly what I need it to do.

This short scale bass is beautiful and very comfortable to play, but appears from my experience to be poorly made. The first one I ordered had static through the pickups, a touchy connection with the cable jack, and very unequal volume across the strings the the D string being especially low volume regardless of pickup setting. I also noticed that the pole pieces on the pickups were not well aligned with the strings and there was no way to adjust for this. I returned it and Sweetwater sent me an exchange immediately (amazing service!!!). Unfortunately the replacement had the same volume on the D string problem so I had to return the second one. The pickup pole pieces were better aligned on this example. I then bought the Ibanez TMB30 short scale bass which seems to be MUCH better constructed and had none of the above problems and I am delighted.

One last point. The transparent red finish I thought was very attractive, but it is transparent. So each guitar with this finish will have a different appearance due to the variation in the wood used. Sometimes the wood grain is completely even and very subtle and other times there will be pronounced variations in the wood as it appears that the body is constructed in pieces. My first example was even across the whole body. The second example had a much darker piece of wood running along the top of the body so it had a somewhat pronounced "stripe" of darker wood. It wasn't objectionable, but was clearly noticeable. So each guitar with this finish will have its own "look".

Lastly Sweetwater standing behind its products was spectacular. What a great company.