Ibanez Talman TMB30 Bass Guitar - Ivory Reviews

Outstanding bass. Quality sound and maneuverability. Fun to play.

Every now and then you get more (lots more) than you pay for. This is it. Wanted a fun knock around bass, instead of my main Stingray. Need: Lite, fast neck, short scale, smooth frets. Perfect frets, Was setup out of the box. Little buzzy, but raising the saddle a turn will get rid of extra rattle. I love the split P-B pickup growl. Its very Ric-Like with punchy middle like a full Pbass. The only defect was the neck pickup wire came loose, was a 5 minute fix, and I added a .047mf orange drop cap, and it got the mids back.. Pots were noisy, needing a spray of De-ox-it, and now its prefect. Unfinished neck is an irk, (satin or clear would be nice) oh well. I compared to my '87 Young Chang E7 Squire bullet Pbass (main backup) and its a bit brighter & has a much better bridge tone, and my Squier sounds magnificent.. The Ibz is heavenly. Mods are really unnecessary, its hard to improve this little bass. This is a best kept secret. Squier Mustang feels like a toy in comparison to Ibanez, and its high quality yet inexpensive. Except for the minor Q.C. issues (Sweetwater should just pay attention), its a 10/10.

Amazing bass. If you have a back problem this might be a solution. The only thing you need to get used on this is the size of the bass because the shorter neck functions different than classic neck. For example, tone c on the g strings sounds warmer with better sustain than tone c on the d string. It doesn't need a low action setup to be softer to play. It is really soft to play it almost feels like you put DGCF tuning. if the slapping or heavy music is your thing this bass might not be for you because the attack of the bass aint like on standard bass but with the proper adjustment of the preamp ( in my case bass battalion) this problem is solved so even before mentioned metalheads and slappers might find this bass interesting. the only downside of this bass at least in my case, when i turn on both pickups some phase cancellation happens, the sound is lower and low attack, but i prefer a p bass sound so it doesn't matter to me... the neck is a bit wider than jazz neck but very comfortable. there is no neck diving. due to the playability shortscale functions a bit different than the standard bass so you might need a few gigs and rehersals to train your muscle memory

Love this guitar. We shopped around for an easy to play bass. I like it because it has 2 pickups to give you a variety of sounds. It's an Ibanez so the workmanship is fine. The short neck makes it good for a beginner or a guitar player that wants to learn bass. The tailpiece pickup has a slight hum, but that is to be expected. It's not a humbucker. I would recommend this to anyone looking for an inexpensive bass. You can't beat it.

I've been playing guitar for over a year and finally decided to cave in and buy a bass. I got this thing in the mail today and I am totally impressed by it, especially for the price. It came perfectly set up out of the box (props to Ibanez and Sweetwater for that) and I can't seem to find one con about it... no blemishes, good tuners, no sharp frets, no loose output pack, etc. The tone is spectacular, and I love the pickups.

Huge props also to Sweetwater for a great setup and excellent packaging. I ordered it on a Thursday night and it was here Saturday morning.

When I pulled the trigger and bought this bass I figured it would be you know ok I wasn't expecting a whole lot but I was dead wrong. When mine showed up the intonation was perfect the strings contoured to the neck also perfect it wasn't even that far off in tuning. The finish looks great the neck and fretboard are nice and smooth, plays fast. I had a tiny buzz if I was aggressive with the E string I literally made one full turn of each screw on the saddle of the low e string and the buzz was gone VOILA! literally this bass is by far the best bang for your buck purchase I have ever made. The pickups are dynamic and smooth the volume and tone knobs make a noticeable difference even with small adjustments I am blown away. Well done Ibanez well done. The only thing that I really noticed that could maybe down the road use an upgrade is the tuners. They tune perfectly fine the metal just feels a little thin but so does every other bass tuner with a clover shape so with that said at under $200 don't even think about it just buy this thing already. It may be short scale but that's the only thing it's short on.

Great little bass. Easy to play, and sounds excellent with very little effort needed to dial in a range of pleasing tones. i found no need to change the stock pickups. i've got two TMB30's, both from Sweetwater. i put D'Addario tape wounds on one....sounds and feels super. The other one currently has round wounds on it but at various times has been strung with flat wounds. As with all basses, adjust the intonation when changing out strings. ...the TMB30 bass is a deal too. The folks at Sweetwater, Michael Eads, Wendy, and all have been first class. Always great customer service.

I have an Ibanez SR700 as my go-to studio and playing-out bass and decided I wanted to own a short-scale but didn't want to spend much on one. I looked at basses under $500 on Sweetwater and decided to stick with Ibanez and the only 30" scale was this one. The reviews were good and there wasn't much to lose. Well, after owning this for about 2 weeks, I'm amazed at everything about it. Electronics are all perfect. 2 pickups work independently and there are a variety of sounds to be gotten, from attack to mellow and rounded bass. The finish is stunningly perfect. I got the Ivory color. Fret ends are rounded and smooth. Neck has no dead spots. Sweetwater techs did an excellent job to give me the lowest possible action. The bass is so inexpensive that neglecting a set-up is a big mistake. In fact, I can't find anything about this instrument that's not comparable to a bass costing up to $500 or more. My choice was a good one. Shipping was relatively quick, even in a pandemic. So glad I didn't spend more for another bass since I can't imagine it being any better than the Talman TMB 30. Follow-up by Sweetwater reps is outstanding.

Amazing Bass. I had to get a short scale bass as I had injured my shoulder. I was so surprised at the feel, balance, and sound this bass has. Even after my shoulder heels, this bass is staying in my rotation.
Thank you Sweetwater for recommending it.

First, many thanks to Jonathan for alerting us that the bass was in stock. This bass is roughly the same price as my wife's Fender Squire Hot Rod Precision, same configuration of pickups and controls. The major difference is the Ibanez is short scale and MUCH lighter. There is no question that the Ibanez is a better instrument. The Fender's bridge pickup has an annoying hum, and the bass weights a ton. The Ibanez has superior pickups. What impressed me the most, besides the sound, is the playability. The jatoba neck color is a rich warm brown and very smooth, and the frets are perfect. There are no bad or flat spots, no buzzing, and no sharp ends.

Here's a little trick for seniors, people with arthritis, or people with small hands. Buy a set of short-scale flatwound strings. Tune your bass to a D rather than and E and put a capo on the second fret. What this does is 1 - Lessens the tension on the strings 2 - The flatwound strings are easier on the fingers 3 - The second fret capo shortens the distance between the frets so you can reach the notes easier 4 - It lowers the action making it easier to press down the strings. We got the neat ivory color. There are no finish flaws of any kind. I would rate it the equal of any Fender bass made in Mexico, for a WHOLE lot less money. My wife loves it and we give it our highest recommendation.

First, many thanks to Jonathan for alerting us that the bass was in stock. This bass is roughly the same price as my wife's Fender Squire Hot Rod Precision, same configuration of pickups and controls. The major difference is the Ibanez is short scale and MUCH lighter. There is no question that the Ibanez is a better instrument. The Fender's bridge pickup has an annoying hum, and the bass weights a ton. The Ibanez has superior pickups. What impressed me the most, besides the sound, is the playability. The jatoba neck color is a rich warm brown and very smooth, and the frets are perfect. There are no bad or flat spots, no buzzing, and no sharp ends.

Here's a little trick for seniors, people with arthritis, or people with small hands. Buy a set of short-scale flatwound strings. Tune your bass to a D rather than and E and put a capo on the second fret. What this does is 1 - Lessens the tension on the strings 2 - The flatwound strings are easier on the fingers 3 - The second fret capo shortens the distance between the frets so you can reach the notes easier 4 - It lowers the action making it easier to press down the strings. We got the neat ivory color. There are no finish flaws of any kind. I would rate it the equal of any Fender bass made in Mexico, for a WHOLE lot less money. My wife loves it and we give it our highest recommendation.

I have always preferred a short scale bass but there aren't many options available. I ordered the TMB30 from Sweetwater based on my experience playing a TMB300 in a music store. I was completely blown away! The finish is perfect, the workmanship is superb. The hardware is good for the price. I may replace the bridge at some point but, then again, it sounds so good that I may just leave it alone. I have played basses costing five times what I payed for this little bass and they didn't come close. What a HUGE tone! I'll be keeping this one.

Additional feedback: We replaced the stock tone capacitor with a traditional orange drop, and this bass became a 5 star investment. The stock pickups really shined, the tonal options available by backing off the volume of either one pickup or the other, and using that orange drop's legendary mojo on tone....amazing change. Didn't realize a cap could be so essential. The body cavity had a thorough shielding job,very good job on factory solder points,too.Tight,very good wiring by Ibanez.Excellent buy.

I wanted a short scale bass to relieve stress on my shoulders during practice and gigs and also have a .105-.045 string set to help maintain a nice bass sound. The Ibanez does the job really well and at a "don't break the bank price". When I received the bass and completed my setup, I didn't have to change anything; neck relief, string height, or intonation. The bass sounds great running through a Behringer Bass BDI 21 XLR output to a T8 Bose board or through a Fender Rumble 40 with the XLR out. I was really surprised at the quality of both the bridge and the input jack plate. The tuners also work well. I won't hesitate to gig with the bass in the future.

Extreme Bargain. Near shocking,actually ..Pots could be better, better pick-ups out there, I suppose,.....but bottom line, THIS BASS IS NOT CHEAP JUNK...Excellent low action, buzz free neck, No headstock dive, lite weight, sounds good, plays very well, top notch fit and finish.....Short Scale, feels more like a guitar...As a Guitar player, I really like that..Kudo's to Ibanez.and Sweetwater...Good stuff, Good people...

I was gratified to discover that the pickups on this bass had good, strong output, that the circuitry employed had broad usable range on both volumes and tone, giving me a wide tonal palette to work with. The original roundwounds came off within a week and were replaced with a set of LaBella 760FM-S flatwounds. The Labella's seem a good fit for this bass, having a nice tension that is not too soft.

As a bass player with a non-articulating little finger on my fretting hand this bass has returned a level of comfort to me and brought much relief from ever-constant shifting. I don't feel I have sacrificed anything going
short-scale, in fact the tone I am getting is so much more to my liking. Setup was a breeze: tweak the truss rod, dress the nut, adjust string height and intonation, all easily performed due to quality hardware.

Overall very impressed with quality on this modest investment.

Our TMB30 was delivered in show-room condition, within two business days. This was the second Talman we have purchased from Sweetwater. Not a single blemish, ready to play straight out of the box. Promptly replaced the strings which added some tonal love. Nice,playable neck-no weird fret edges or other problems. The bridge saddles seem to be upgraded,a nice touch. Not the best tuning machines, not the best pickups, yet the bass stayed in tune and recorded some really nice bass tracks with the stock pups, so all good. Simply upgrading the pickups made this a recording workhorse. An inexpensive, fun to play bass from Ibanez, that's well worth the money.

These TMB30 Talman's are great for playing-they are easy to jam on, plus Ibanez has loaded up a nice set of pickups that perform above their price-point. The electronics are above par,too...quality pots,input jack,wiring and soldering all top notch. Nice fret job on a neck that's easy to play. We recorded some really sweet bass tracks with our stock TMB30(purchased via Sweetwater), so we just ordered a second one to fully mod for studio use. Good material and quality craftsmanship all the way and one of the best deals out there in a short scale bass. Price is ridiculous considering the overall ability of this axe, a super bargain from Ibanez.

I overlooked this bass a few times because of the low price. Once I went to Sweetwater and put my hands on it I knew it was going home with me. The p-bass pickup was making a slight clicking noise through my amp. I took it out and made an adjustment to the springs (stretched them a little). Put it back together and it's great. I like the fact that the pickups can be blended together to get more tones. The neck is a little chunky but I like the feel of it. I actually play this bass more often than the more expensive short scale basses that I own.

I didn't expect much from this bass at such a low price point, but it exceeded my expectations and turned out to be a great purchase. For those starting on bass, I can safely recommend the Ibanez TMB30 Talman as a great choice for beginners, even better than Squier. The tone is actually much better than other cheap-ish basses, I like its tone way more than my $350 Squier Vintage Modified 70s Jazz Bass. Also, Sweetwater made sure it was set up properly, so it sounded great right from the start.

Despite liking the tone, I specifically bought it to be a piccolo bass. Bought some piccolo bass strings, put them on, and it sounds very interesting, almost like a guitar but still more round in tone.

Regardless, if you're looking for a cheap short scale, or a good starter bass, this one won't disappoint. At $..., it may not get you a professional sound, but it is still fun to play, and sounds better to my ears than more expensive alternatives such as Squier. Also, as other reviewers have stated, it would be a great choice to invest in modifications for this bass to really bring out its full potential.

I amazed at the quality of this bass for the price. I have been playing short scale basses exclusively for the past six years or so, after playing 34" long scale basses for twenty years. Short scale basses are sometimes seen as beginner models that you will outgrow when you get more experience or become "serious" about playing bass. Make no mistake, this is a perfectly gig-worthy bass!! The tones and play-ability are great! These are not the cheap, unplayable, crappy sounding basses of yesteryear.

I also own a Squier VM Jaguar bass that I've had for a few years and likewise, it is perfectly gig worthy bass. The neck on the Ibanez is a little chunkier than what I was used to and took just a little bit to get used to, but now it's great and I can switch back and forth instantly.

Before these affordable short scale basses were available I had a custom short scale Jazz style bass made. It cost me eight times as much as the Ibanez TMB30 or the Squier VM Jaguar. It is a "nicer looking and built bass" and I enjoy it for sure, but they all do the same thing for me. They get the sound of the music in my head and heart, out to the audience and sound great doing it.

You can definitely pay more if you wish, but nowadays you do not have to!!!

Just wanted to start the love for these Talman short scale basses. Pretty amazing what you get for the money. Bass is light. The finish is flawless. The tone is great. Balances very well. Solid alternative to Squier SS Jag. In fact, if you find the Squier neck too thin, check out the Talman. Very comfortable neck. The chrome hardware is on par with the price point, but will get you by. The pup really do have nice tone. There is no need, imo, to swap the pups.

The ivory is very creamy. A buddy online bought the Coral Red and says it looks like prehistoric tomato soup. I take that as a good thing!

A lot of bass for short cash and plays VERY well stock out of the box. And as always, Sweetwater is the best place to buy gear. Mine arrived ready to play after minor tuning.

Sounds great, feels great. Set-up was good out of the box. Slight neck dive, not problematic though. Colorwise, I'd say it looks not so much like Ivory as it does Pantene Replenish Honey Yogurt. Good value here; I heartily endorse this event or product.

Nice, light, and surprisingly good tone. Wanted a short scale for fun. Right out of the box its a great fit. Setup, and intimated, but The neck pickup was doa. So, i opened up and found a loose pickup wire. The neck is narrower than a p-bass, and makes easy fingerings on the shorter scale..Tone is punchy like a full scale. the back of the neck is unfinished, but smooth. Prefer a satin finish..frets are perfect. For the price its a super bass. Like.a.high performance version of a Mustang bass, with vastly better available sounds.

I've owned many basses over the past 50 years and recently started playing my short scale Danelectro Longhorn ( odd name for a shortie!) a lot for ergonomic reasons, namely a bad left shoulder. I wanted something a little heftier and was considering the Fender Mustang. I didn't want to spend so much and decided to give the Talman a try. Since Sweetwater is very cool with returns, I thought if it didn't work out I'd send it back. I won't be sending it back. It felt great in my hands right away. The neck size is just right ,a little chunky and just a hair wider than a Fender Jazz in the first three frets. The pickups were fine but a tad uninspiring so I changed them to a Bill Lawrence/Wilde PJ combo that I had in my modding closet. I also had a Badass bridge lying about and swapped that out too, Voila, a fabulous sounding and playing bass. Fender parts will fit exactly on this bass, a great thing in my book. The neck needed a slight loosening and fret buzz is gone! Also, The fret ends are smoother than you will encounter on much costlier basses. I can't believe the low price of this bass. It's an amazing bargain. Even without the mods, it was really a good bass . With mods it is excellent! P.S. they were out of the Ivory model and I got the black one.

This is a solid bass,$179 gets you an instrument thats fun to play, pick ups sound great,finish is perfect, electronics great. I chose this one after a year of compairing the cheapest short scale basses. I am a guitar player that wanted some thing different to mess with,and throw in my sound when making a loop,its great to jam on top of a bass through a looper.

The instrument was set up very well right out of the box...kudos to Sweetwater! A check of the bass from the top of the headstock to the bottom strap pin revealed zero flaws. Impeccable construction and finish for this price point (or higher...for that matter). I swapped out the strings for D'addario XL's (my preference) before gigging. My bandmates were blown away by the tone of this bass, and amazed when I told them how much I paid for it. Fits fine in a regular bass gig bag. The reason that I didn't give it 5 stars is the balance. It does neck dive a bit. As with my other bass, I will replace the tuners with Hipshot Ultralites which should mitigate this completely. A lot of folks compare the Talman to the Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar SS bass. I owned a Jaguar SS, and it is also a great bass. If you find the neck on the Jag too skinny as I did, then the Talman is for you. Once again, I cannot say enough about the customer service at Sweetwater. Robby is a pleasure to deal with!!!

I also have an SR700 series Ibanez bass, and while this economy model is nowhere near that Goddess, it is worth twice the $$ payed. This model arrived in perfect/pristine condition, set up and ready to go.I couldn't find a single blemish anywhere. NICE! Not one music store I know of sets up their instruments like Sweetwater does before shipping. It matters, man! This bass has tonal options not available in any other bass in this price-range....for reals. Plugged into an EDEN floor pedal/pre-amp, it became a real do-it-all instrument. Easy to play, fun to play, and cool to look at, too.
Do yourself a favor, buy one.

I'm not a full time bassist, so don't let me scare you here. It's a short scale bass, atleast that's how it feels. I adjusted the action slightly because it was really setting down on the frets and a little clangy, but I also play too aggressive. I find it a bit tinny, but I've only ever played a Fender PBass, and it played very warm and buttery as opposed to this Ibanez. I love the looks of this thing and it's sufficient for my purposes, but I believe these pickups are more suited for plunky bass, such as funk. I'm using mine more for learning purposes. I don't think it suits Praise and Worship music, which is what I primarily play. You get what you pay for, and this was an impulse buy, so I'm not complaining. If you're serious about bass though, I would save up a couple more hundred dollars and buy a better bass. Just my honest opinion.If you want a bass to meet the needs of your kind of music, I'd suggest speaking with your Sweetwater representative, these guys are great and very knowledgable. I wish I would've.

This is the first time purchasing a low-cost guitar since the first guitar purchased for me by my parents when a young boy. I've played for many years, and thought that playing a bass might be a nice transition, especially with a short scale model that is somewhat reminiscent to the scale of a guitar. Not wanting to spend a great deal at first on a bass, I opted for the Ibanez TMB30, based on favorable reviews on YouTube. When I received the bass, my first impression was favorable until I noticed two green marks on the back of the neck. Apparently natural to the wood, but should have been discarded and replaced with a better neck stock. Looking more closely at the guitar, I saw that, in general, it was not properly cleaned. The back of the tuners were filthy with pieces of fluff in the tuning gears. The set up wasn't that bad from the factory, but because of the marks on the neck, Sweetwater obliged me with a replacement. When I received the replacement, I was very disappointed. The string alignment on the neck was way off center. The bridge was mounted slightly crooked, and after playing, fret buzz was abysmal. Unfortunately, because of the price of the guitar, it didn't qualify for the 55-point inspection. Shame, because the technicians would have had a good laugh regarding the replacement guitar.

Sweetwater has been very accommodating. Absolutely no fault on their behalf, but Ibanez is going to hear from me. The quality control in their Indonesian factory needs to be seriously addressed. I've owned Ibanez guitars in the past and have been very pleased, up until now. I guess this experience gives proof to the saying, "you get what you pay for."