Ibanez EHB1506MS-BIF

Ordered this bass the 26th of February and have had to wait until late September in order to have it in my hands. This bass is absolutely gorgeous, a true pleasure for the eye. Finitures are top notch and weights less than a feather. Really a beautiful instrument to have in Your collection.

Talking about tech specs, the bass correspond to the description 100%, also it has the classic Ibanez SR style neck, which is super comfortable and easy to adapt. The fanned frets positioning is actually perfect for someone who has normal length arms, the hand keeps finding the right fret, this applies also for first timers like me. The transition to multiscale has been so easy I couldn't believe. The luminlay side-dots are so cool, don't expect them to light up like leds, but still, if You get them the opportunity to charge properly, they can be very helpful in dark environments. The hardware is very refined and high quality, Ibanez has been making very good stuff lately on their hardware production side.

Sound wise, there are lots of pros and cons. The body and neck woods are dark, so the tone tends to be less bright and warmer compared to lighter woods such as Ash or maple. This offers by default a more organic and less tight controlled tone.
The onboard electronic is the latest revision of the 90s Vari-mid ibanez electronic, so Volume, balance, and stacked Treble/bass and Mid/Mid Freq pots. This electronic offers an infinite amount of tonal range but lacks of that clarity any modern ergonomic bass should have. The bass center freq is around 100hz, so very near the low-mid area, were things get boomy and muddy. Treble's freq center is around 6k while the mids can sweep up to 1k. I'm not sure about the levels but it's possible it has a 12dbs Boost/cut per control. The pickups are Nordstrands BigSplit, very Mid range oriented.
Put all of this together and You get one very versatile bass which is capable of getting near every tone You want but still, not as modern as You would expect from a bass like that.

So my final suggestion is: Buy this bass if you like a vintage sounding bass with all the modern features one can desire or, buy this bass if You're in search of a top notch quality modern instrument with all the features one can desire minus the electronic/pickup section, which definitely needs an upgrade if You want to have that modern, tight, surgicaly defined tone other basses are getting these days, like the multiscale spector with Fisham Fluence pickups.

Weather you like this bass or not it's upon you. I love it and it's a great instrument.

Unfortunately, mine (like others around the world I see from Forums) came with small defects that simply didn't pass the QC.

In my case there were 3 screws in the saddle of the strings that were not fully screwed in (and can't be screwed any further because the hole is apparently not deep enough...2-3 mm maybe but still...) and ..... wait for it.... one of the side withe-pearl dots in the neck simply was missing :) it escaped the QC.

Again... nothing of the above affects sound and playbility, but it's sad to see how these things passed both Ibanez and Thomann QC.

Everything else, shipment, customer service, and the bass itself is simply good.

This multiscale bass is very slick and comfortable to play. The Nordstrand pickups sound fantastic in both passive and active modes - plenty of warmth and definition. Overall, especially using the active preamp, this is an extremely versatile bass and can cover pretty much any genre.

However, while the bass is functionally good, the quality of fit and finish is poor. Mine has lots of unsightly white pore filler on the neck, as well as some cosmetic blemishes and a small chip next to the fingerboard. The volume knob was not properly attached.

So I guess I have to review two basses here, the first bass I received had lots of problems with the neck, the binding was being distressed by the fret tangs in multiple places, the fret ends on the treble side were extremely sharp, the back of the neck had lots of white spots where the finish didnt go into the pores of the panga panga and the truss rod was maxed out, the body was dented, the knobs were not centred in their countersinks, the battery compartment did not close properly, the more i looked the more issues i found and unfortunately I had to return this one.

The second bass Thomann sent me however had nicely dressed frets, there was no distressing on the binding (although there was some fibres and glue drips on the treble side of the binding which will go away with time), the truss rod works and overall this bass was far better than the previous one I was sent, however there were still qc issues, the aforementioned glue drips and fibres on the binding, there is some sanding/scuff marks on the neck surrounding the binding which should dissapear over time (my left hand should polish them out while playing), some of the bridge saddle height screws are slightly bent, however overall this is a very nice instrument to play.

The neck is wide but thin, the 35" scale on the low B does not make fretting difficult even at 1st position as the bass is designed with ergonomics in mind, the abalone fret markers are pretty but almost unnoticeable when playing, the stainless steel frets are a nice addition as are the luminescant side dots, the instrument is very light and resonant (the body is chambered) and the active eq is very powerful, in fact it was able to overdrive my solid state amp, the eq is also very versatile and its possible to get traditional as well as modern tones thanks to the nordstrand pickups. The body contours make the bass very comfortable to wear and the schaller straplocks are a nice touch.

Overall this is a great bass for the money and due to the weight and ergonomics you almost forget its a 6 string bass with a 35" scale B string, but the qc issues unfortunately let Ibanez down in this case, Ibanez really need to ensure proper qc is being done before these basses are sent out.