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.
