Ibanez Bass Workshop EHB1000 Review

Well built / versatile passive and active tones

This is a very well constructed bass which arrived with no visible fit and finish flaws. Fretwork is top notch. Tones are versatile from punchy / modern to a more vintage sound. The mid range shaping control is key to dialing in vintage growl tones so there is a lot there to work with. Intonation was perfect after a set up and I ended up putting slightly lighter strings on it. The… read more neck woods are dark roasted and the fretboard was nicely figured with Birdseye. The fretboard feels wide. Lots of real estate there but may not be great for people that like very narrow boards at the nut. Overall I think they really did a great job with this design.

---

Cancel Comment

EHB1000 Review

This is a really nice bass. Very well built, very comfortable, light, and what I can only describe as "quick". I found myself running up and down the fret board a lot quicker and more comfortably than before. I have experience with an LTD and Schecter basses and its a step above those. There's a ton of EQ settings and I'm sure you'll find something you like with some tweaking. I… read more agree with the previous reviewer, the side dots are pointless. I just can't see them in anything other than bright lights. I've never seen any kind of luminescent. Not sure what I'm going to do about it yet. If you get a chance give it a noodle, you won't be disappointed.

---

Cancel Comment

Awesome Bass

The EHB1000 is insanely fun and easy to play, has tons of useful tones, and is super comfy and light, which is great because it begs to be played for long stretches at a time :) I really dig the sustain and a gorgeous piano-like sound with nice overtones/ringing...presuming that's a byproduct of the monorail bridge/independent strings and the chambered body. Sounds great even… read more when just played acoustically as a result. A minor trade-off for that is the bass can be a bit prone to sympathetic ringing on adjacent strings if you're heavy handed and your muting game is sloppy in ways you won't necessarily encounter with more typical bass construction. A worthwhile tradeoff if you ask me but something to be aware of. The neck is great - similarly fast to SR necks, but a little wider string spacing which feels really comfortable. I was worried I'd find the Barts to be a bit dark and muffled given their reputation, but I love em. EQ is nice and I've had no problem finding the sounds I want and then some. Cosmetically, this bass is a looker. The pearl white finish is much more pearlescent in person than the pics can convey and it looks incredible. The roasted birdseye maple on the fretboard is probably my favorite part - I can't get over how great it looks. Two downsides that keep this bass from being a 5-star...First, the side dots on the neck are a bummer. They're meant to be luminescent - and they can be...sorta...for like 3 minutes max if you blast them with UV light or a spotlight for ages, which is really annoying and not useful at all. This wouldn't bother me so much if the side dots weren't so dark when not luminescent...As-is, they just disappear into the gorgeous dark roasted maple of the neck - see side view pic. They're visible but you have to really focus to see them. Normally not something I'd consider a big deal but this is my first time with a headless bass and it can be a bit disorienting not having a headstock AND not having side dots. I'll probably take it to a luthier to replace with plain bright white side dots down the road if I continue to find it disorienting. Secondly, the bridge does not give you a "wide intonation range" as advertised, unless Ibanez is shipping basses with a different scale than the one I have. After a setup (minimal needed, arrived in great shape!) two of the 4 strings have the bridge at the extreme short end of travel range (no threads left showing on adjustment screw) to only just get intonation dialed in. Not sure what's up with that, but it's good now and all seems stable so far - knock on wood - so hopefully no issues with that in the future. Also not specifically related to the bass itself so not letting it affect the review score, but the provided gig bag is a bit of a stinker, I thought it was kinda junky for a bass at this price point. Has solid storage on it but not nearly enough protection. Writing this review in the thick of COVID times so not sweating it as there's no real need to travel with the bass anytime soon. If I did need to, getting a new gig bag or HSC would be a priority and I'd consider budgeting for it if you're checking this bass out. Overall this is a killer bass - my quibbles are fairly minor and this bass is a ridiculously good value. I would buy it again in a heartbeat (this is my first EHB, doubt it'll be the last) and would highly recommend this bass to anyone considering it. Ibanez has something pretty great going here with these basses.

---

Cancel Comment