Ibanez Talman TMB35 Bass Guitar - Mint Green Reviews

I needed a 5 string bass for some recording work away from my primary location. I bought the Tallman for the price thinking " I'll only use it once or twice so I'll make it work. It was a real surprise. Flawless construction. Excellent set up , variety of useful tones, and most important: very even string to string response on recordings without eq or compression. I like it so much I'm going to buy another when I get home.

I am blown away with this bass! Sounds/Plays as good if not better than some full scale higher priced bass'.

There's some neck drop but switching out to some lightweight Hipshot significantly reduced it. Go with the 1/2" option if you are looking to upgrade and wrap some electrical tape to fill the gap a little bit, easy install.

Highly recommend this bass anyone looking for a short scale 5 string, chords are easy to play on it, Transitions, and the Low B sounds really clear on it for being a shortscale!

I can honestly say that I have zero complaints with the TMB35. It is/was easy to set up to my liking, it sounds great and flat out delivers; That is what one would hope for, at any price point. However, with what it cost to own one of these awesome gig ready instruments, it is a no brainer purchase. It is a treat to play. Plus, I didn't see this coming, the color has really grown on me. I currently own several higher ticket( and undoubtedly "good" basses) to include Fender, Skyline and USA Laklands, Yamaha and Keith B. Roscoe models. I show up at every gig with my Mono double case. The TMB is always in one side. I gig with it all of the time.

I was looking for a short scale bass, but as a five string player that was an issue if I didn't want to spend a ton of cash. I LOVE this bass. I've had it about 2 weeks and have already played 3 gigs on it. It sounds amazing and I'm able to get good tone out of it. All of my band mates wanted to try it out after hearing it. If you're looking to try out a short scale then this is the one.

Mine with P&J pickups sounds more like a Fender than my Fender Precision. High quality, particularly in the fretwork. The color is beautiful. A short scale that doesn't sound like one with deep B string tones at your fingertips. I'm on this page because I was debating a "backup" as I can't imagine not having one in my posse and one as backup.

I'm a former professional musician who currently plays in a semi-professional capacity. I'm in my 40s now, so periodic wrist and shoulder pain are a reality I have to deal with. I wanted to test the waters on a short scale bass, so I figured this would be a good place to start.

First off - you need to understand that this is a $ instrument, so your expectations need to be realistic. That being said, I felt the fretwork, tuners, and overall craftsmanship punch WAY above it's weight class. Will I need to do a full shielding job? Yes. Will I need to cut a new nut? Not immediately, but it's something I'll do eventually. Did I need to do a full set up out of the box? Actually, no… it was pretty good overall, I just tweaked it a bit and through on a new set of strings. I've used it on several gigs so far and I (along with the bandleaders and sound techs) were impressed with the tone. Once the set up is dialed in, it is a pleasure to play on a 3 hour gig. I have mine set up with rounds (DRs), but it would also kill with flats. The only issue is that the "ears" on the J pickup are not in a standard placement, so replacing it may be difficult. That being said, outside of some 60 cycle hum (which you will find on PJ basses at any price point that use a single coil J pickup), they sound pretty darn good.

If you're looking to try out a short scale fiver, but aren't ready to pony up the cash for a Serek, or other custom bass, this is a great place to start.

Special thanks to Vaughn for being helpful with this and all my orders.

My trouble with basses is I cannot dial in the tone I hear in my head. I took a chance on the TMB35 as it had things I was looking for: 5 strings with a low B, short scale, the mint color didn't hurt either. I was surprised how quickly I dialed in a smashing tone. This is amazing, I have never had a bass play so easily or be so intuitive to use. The setup is simple, it's got the Ibanez tone I love (grew up on nu metal bands who favored Ibanez 5 and 7 strings). All in all a great purchase and am very impressed with quality, fit, and function.

This bass is awesome! I got mine yesterday and its been tons of fun! Good for a beginner too!

I was looking for months for an affordable 5 string bass when I came across this used bass in a local music store. I was initially skeptical of it being a short scale 5 string, expecting the E and especially B strings to be rattling all over the place. I could not have been more wrong. This bass is incredibly comfortable, and while I'm sure that simply due to physics the shorter scale length will cause a wider vibration of the strings, there was no rattling to speak of. I thought to myself before checking the price tag that "its too bad this bass is probably $500-600 because I would really like one". When I saw the actual price I was blown away and knew I had found the right bass for me and immediately went home to order one through Sweetwater (The local music store missed out on the sale because there were a good amount of dings and they were charging significantly over MSRP for it, which for my small budget I couldn't justify. Still bought some strings from them at least)

The good:
-The price. Like I said I initially thought this bass was double what Ibanez is charging, it is truly a steal for what you are getting.
-This bass is incredibly comfortable, the neck I would describe as a medium thickness C shape, thinner than what I am used to on other 4 and 5 string basses but not a thin shredder neck by any means. The neck also feels unfinished to me, which I was not sure if I would like but it is very fast with a little bit more grip than the satin finishes I am used to.
-The fretwork is great for a bass at this price point. Some could definitely use some polishing to smooth them out but out of the box there were no sharp fret ends and zero dead spots on the neck which is more than I can say for most $300 basses I've tried.
-PJ pickup combination. This is more subjective but the PJ combo is my favorite bass setup hands down. This thing can sound almost indistinguishable from a Fender P-bass with the neck pickup soloed, and rolling the bridge in provides some really nice bite and clarity. As I am not a slap or jazz player I never turn the bridge pickup above half volume but combined with the neck pickup you get a nice full and clear bass tone.

The bad:
-The Gator GC-ELEC-XL Deluxe ABS Molded Case that is shown as a "certified fit" on Sweetwater absolutely is not. I bought one along with this bass and it is too short and not wide enough for the body or neck. I've already informed Sweetwater and hopefully the issue will be remedied if it has not been already.
-If you look at the size of the headstock and the tuners you know where this is going; neck dive. While not atrocious it is definitely there, and even playing sitting down I've had a couple close calls resting the bass against my body while checking my phone where it almost slammed into the floor. I've watched a video on YouTube where a guy switched out the stock tuning keys with some Hipshot Ultralights and it seemed to actually make a difference, however don't go expecting any miracles.
-Factoring into the previous point, while the almost nonexistent lower horn is great for upper fret access it is so small that it actually makes the bass harder to balance on your knee, I feel like if there was a little more material there it would help a great deal with making playing a little less precarious.
-The bridge pickup. While anyone familiar with the nature of single coils will know to expect some 60 cycle hum and noise it is pretty bad with the bridge pickup on this bass, you barely need to roll in the bridge volume before the noise becomes very noticeable.
-A bridge with a wider range for intonation would have been really helpful. I get that this is a very affordably priced instrument so you can't expect something incredible, but with this bridge and string gauge it is not possible to perfectly intonate the low B string, however it is not off to such a horrible degree as to be unplayable.

The meh:
-This is not really a fault of the instrument, but I imagine plenty of people are buying this bass to do modifications on. I should have looked at the pics more closely but I was hoping to replace both the neck and bridge pickups. While I think the bridge is the same dimensions as any Fender 5 string J-bass pickup the neck pickup definitely is not the same as most 5 string P-bass pickups. Usually the part of the split pickup that would be under the G and D is the standard size and the other part covering the B, E, and A is longer. On this bass they are both the same size so unless I come across some unique or specialized pickups, switching out the neck pickup seems pretty unlikely. With that being said, unless you are a tone snob you probably won't need to. I feel that the neck pickup sounds nice and full with a good amount of classic P-bass thump.
-The nut. While cut perfectly for the strings that thing is sharp! I'd highly recommend filing down the corners a little to save the side of your fretting index finger.
-The color. Entirely subjective, but I am still on the fence as to whether I like it or not, I really wish that they would have also offered it in a more standard color such as a white, black, natural, or a burst finish. With that being said it reminds me a lot of mint chip ice cream which is not a bad thing...mmmmm
-There are not many short scale 5 string basses on the market. If you want to experiment with lots of different string types and gauges you will be sorely disappointed as there are very few string options that will fit this bass.

TLDR: This is a phenomenal bass for the price, but is by no means perfect (not that perfection should be expected for $300 USD). The bridge pickup could definitely be better, but seems easily replaceable, and there are slim choices for replacement strings. If you play sitting down and or are not bothered by neck dive I can't think of any other bass I would recommend at this price point.

I bought this bass for my daughter who wanted a 5 sting to play along with some modern pop songs with synth bass and with the school jazz band that plays in Eb from time to time. She was using a Ibanez GIO Mikro Bass 4 string 26 inch scale prior as she has smaller hands being a 12yo. She was able to switch to this 30 inch scale without any issues. She is really loving the bass so far.

Initial Setup: The relief was set a bit too low and the intonation was slightly off. I was able to correct this quickly with the allen wrenches supplied and a Philips head screw driver. This could have been induced by atmospheric change from the factory to here.

Fit and Finish: For its price it is well finished. It feels like it will last a while. Nothing really stands out as bad from a playability point of view. Tuning machines are touchy but stay in tune once achieved.

Cosmetics: Nothing Flashy here.

Electronics: Good passive electronics but I would pair it with a eq pedal to punch through a mix. If she keeps this bass this will be where an upgrade would be best applied.

Summary: In the 5 String short scale category this is a great beginner and upgrade platform.

I've owned my TMB35 for nearly 6 months, and this is truly a sleeper bass. I've never been able to coax a great tone out of a P/J pickup equipped bass until this bass. Fit, finish and tone are all great, especially for the price! If you are looking for a short scale, check out this bass (or the 4-string TMB30)!

Tip: The Gator 4G Jazzmaster gig bag fits the TMB35 *PERFECTLY*!

I was looking for a short scale bass to add to my arsenal when I came across this one. I'm a five string player, so this fits the bill nicely. I gave it a four and a half for the same reason the other reviewer did, a heavy neck. My solution was to add a second strap peg higher on the back of the body that lined up with the next strap hole. This balanced the bass out very nicely. (see pic) I also replaced the VVT controls with a pre-wired VBT pot set along with better knobs, which I much prefer over the former. (see second pic) The one thing that was wrong was that one of the intonation screws wasn't fully tapped and limited adjustment. That wasn't an issue in my mind because I replaced the bridge with a hipshot nickel model.
All things said, I love the way this bass plays and sounds, and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting a short scale.

Wanted a short scale 5-string with string spacing close to the 19mm of my short scale 4-string. The TMB35 fit the bill at 18mm. First thing I noticed was the weight. Pretty hefty for a short scale, even a 5-string...but not so much as to be at all uncomfortable. Fit & finish were perfect, not a defect anywhere. Neck was straight & frets were level. Most important, the fret edges were smooth...not a sharp edge to be found. Frankly, I've played basses that were considerably more expensive where the fret edges were not finished as well. It was playable right out of the box. I only needed to adjust the action to my liking...as I tend to dig in a little hard. P pickup has that nice growl & the J pickup has good punch. However, these pickups have lower output than any of my other basses. This, along with the (current) availability of only one color, is why I only gave the TMBN35 4 1/2 stars. If you're looking for a short scale 5-string bass that is solidly built, plays well, sounds really good & won't break the bank, look no further.

This bass gets 4 stars, but in many ways it is deserving of 5. The craftmanship is high quality and reminiscent of a more expensive bass. The neck is fast and the fret edges are smooth. The B string was a source of major hesitation for me, but at this scale length it sounds great. The P/J pickup configuration is nice and contributes to the versatility of the bass. My biggest issue with this bass is the neck drop - it is very top heavy and does not sit in a natural position when playing. You have to constantly support the weight with your left hand so it doesn't droop, and it can make playing it more tiresome than usual. I also wish they offered it in another color, but it is a fine looking bass despite that.