I own this Bass. It's beautiful. The neck is extremely large. I have trouble playing it accurately. I will be keeping it. Passing it on to my children and Grandchildren. Incredible insturment. God bless
I've owned 2 of these, loved them both. I used piccolo strings on the fretted side. The contrast between the crisp fretted notes and the soft bloom of the fretless was lovely.
I had them tuned in fourths. B-F. It was a struggle to get the fretless side right, but the piccolos took the downtuning well. The truss rod didn't need altering.
$1500 isn't bad at all for something as unique as that. It would be interesting to see what a high level bass player could come up with after having a few months to woodshed with it. (Yes, I know they mentioned he didn't have much time to practice with it. No knock on them at all.) I would think that working out some alternate tunings on it could yield some really innovative licks.
I think this would have made more sense as a 3+3 with the fretless fingerboard being on the high strings (1st to 3rd) and the fretted portion for the low strings (4th to 6th) because when it comes to that fretless bass MWAH sound that has more presence in the high strings while that deep thump and growl from the fretted bass is more prominent on the lower strings, so that would have made it more versatile for lovers of progressive and technical metal.
You missed the part of the video that explains that the fretless section is tuned identically to the ADG strings of the fretted section. There is one low E string and nothing lower than that.
I have been a bass player for over 30 years. I have always loved Ibanez basses. The construction, the playability, the electronics and pickup systems. For the money they can’t be beat. Except of course there are some things that require a P or jazz bass. But other than that Ibanez is awesome! Currently own a newer Iron Label and have a 90s soundgear.
I personally think this is quite an innovative bass. Much like the Ibanez src6(which Ibanez’s answer to the fender bass IV) of course not a lot of people would be playing this bass live, but for experimental purposes, it’s totally worth checking out.
My Random thoughts... - It is a very beautiful instrument and both the fretted and fretless sides sound amazing! - I personally have no interest in this bass whatsoever but I would love to hear what Charles Berthoud would do with it. - Seems weird to me that they put the fretless part on the top instead of under the fretted side. I wonder what the logic for that is?
I tryied this one some years ago and it was really freaky awesome! So much fun, so much boost for my creativity…wonderful bass 🥰 Sadly i‘ve never seen it again
The first version of the Ashula had the fretted and fretless sections reversed. But only with 2 Strings for the fretless side. I think they changed it due to too many people complaining. 😉
I considered this when I realized I needed a 5(or more) string with frets. I have a great fretless 5 so I wondered if this would be the best of both worlds. I realized that this is simply not. I see no point in more than four strings without a low B. If I ever get a seven string it will have a low B and an even lower F# so I can make it sound like a freight train approaching at high speed. Excellent job with the review of this unique instrument. For my fretted 5 I acquired the Emerald Green Ibanez with Nordstrand single coils by Ibanez and I have no regrets. 😊🎉 loving your channel!
Normally prefer Ibanez's BTB line but the SR profile and string spacing would definitely help make the 7 string more comfortable. Really cool to see a hybrid like this in the non-custom price range.
I love Ibanez..I own a BTB and a 6 string Soundgear, and I had a CTBN back in the 90s that I had converted to a fretless. Though this is a stunningly beautiful bass, I just don't see the point of it. I think that referring to the Ashula as a "novelty bass" is dead on accurate. I am not 100% on board with it nor am I 100% against it. Just seems like a very niche tool. That being said, I would like to spend a few hours with one to either confirm my initial feelings about it or completely change my mind.
Wow...I do have a love for Ibanez basses, but this one looks like a production version of Trey Gunn custom Warr Guitar. Reverse the order of the fretless strings and it'd be my ultimate dream bass.
I love the idea of this bass, but I somewhat prefer the original with the 2 fretless strings on the lower half rather than the 3 on the upper, would be very happy to nab one of those. Both are still very cool regardless 👍
I think if Jaco was alive today, he would have adapted to the times and he would be playing all kinds of crazy bases and making youtube videos of his absolute ridiculous chops
I love Ibanez products. But it is a love/hate relationship. I love their consistency of build quality. I love their customer service and scale of products. I love how they are experimenting and giving artists more opportunity than other companies. The only problem I have always had with Ibanez is their sound quality and timbre. I would say the tamber of the times coming from their instruments are shallower than what I want. Tightness is good for modern music and over produced products, but their feel (for me) misses the warmth I desire sometimes. Please note, this is just my opinion. I love Ibanez and have owned many the past thirty+ years... I just wish they had a different timbre
As is always the case with a bass with more than 4 strings, I wonder about muting the strings. That didn't seem to be an issue in the playing examples in the video. Was that because the pickup selector was switched all the way to one or the other?
"Floating thumb" muting technique, aka playing without a fixed anchor for your plucking hand thumb. Basically you rest your thumb across the strings that are lower than the one(s) you are currently playing on, moving your thumb to follow when you switch to a different string. It's also better for your wrist than the standard fixed anchor on the E string/pickup/thumb rest
@@BenMBass Yes I am aware of that technique… just not seeing it used much here, and you need a pretty long thumb or half of your hand to mute 6 strings,
@@room34 ah my bad. Looking more closely at the video (particularily around 1:10) it looks like he's using a combo of floating thumb and left-hand muting, moving the tip of his thumb to the D-string on the fretless side and muting the fretless A with the side of his thumb, whilst muting the fretless G with his left middle finger when playing the lower fretted strings. Using the thumb to mute the fretless strings whilst using the right hand little and ring fingers to mute the fretted E and A and the left hand middle finger to mute the fretted D would allow playing on the fretted G without the other strings ringing out, and is similar to the technique I use when playing my 6-string bass (allthough i don't usually mute strings lower than the one I'm playing on with my left hand)
Ibanez have always been a brand I respect. They are not afraid to take chances and typically provide excellent value in their instruments. Now bring back the ATK.
Moin, liebens Bass the World-Team! Wie immer, ein sehr informatives, toll gemachtes Video! Gratulation dafür 👍👌 Aber die wichtigste Frage bleibt unbeantwortet: how schwer issen der? Ich habe da schon sehr unterschiedliche Aussagen zum Vorgängermodell gehört. Von 4,5 kg bis 7 kg. Wie sieht es mit dem Neuen aus? Danke und liebe Grüße vom Fritz 🖖
I just love that ibanez makes one. It’s cool. That said, even though I own a fretless I just don’t like the sound much. I want to like it. But I don’t.
I went off Ibanez basses due to the lack of sonic personality in general. This bass is a step back in the right direction, especially the fretted tone.
@@willb1157 Probably the sum of all its parts but yes, the J style pick ups here are different from most typical Ibanez offerings. I think I'm just not a fan of the soap bar tone in general.
just a shame its an SR model, with the narrow spacing and hideous shape. its an awesome idea, id love to have one... but my issues above. :) i really don't do SR basses
This bass is a hot mess. First of all, the FL strings should be reversed with the fretted ones. Secondly, it looks like they glued a scrabble rack onto the bass for a thumb rest. What a disaster
I love your review but I still hate the bass. Maybe it's because I have puny donald trump hands, but if I ever even considered such a thing, a double-neck bass seems much more practical. That way, at least you get 4 or more strings on your fretless neck. That's just me though, I'm sure there are plenty of people who could play the hell out of this thing.