Ibanez BTB685SC 5-String Bass Review

New in the arsenal from the Ibanez Bass Workshop series of basses is the Ibanez BTB685SC 5-String Bass.

Not too long ago, I did a review of the BTB686SC 6-string which is the big brother of the BTB685SC.

Right out of the box, this bass is setup to go play and do it beautifully. The string spacing is wider than that of any other 5 string I have played which is nice, especially for those of us that are more comfortable with the spacing of a 4 string bass. The BTB685SC is a single cut 35” scale bass with the upper part of the body having contact from the 12th to 24th fret which allows for a great deal of sustain. The body is ash with a rosewood top, and the neck is maple and bubinga with a 24 fret rosewood board. The back of the body and neck area is shaped to allow clear access to the 24th fret.

The electronics of the bass consist of the Bartolini BH1 pickups for both the bridge and neck positions and really give the bass warmth with a lot of bottom end like a bass is supposed to have. Rounding out the electronics is the EBQ-IIIS 3 band EQ that also has a mid frequency switch allowing you to switch between 250Hz and 600Hz on midrange. The boost and cut range of the bass, mid, and treble controls of the EBQ-IIIS 3 band EQ leaves you with almost endless options of boost and cut for the frequencies.  There is one volume control and one balance control for selecting between neck and bridge pickups. All of the hardware is cosmo black and includes the mono-rail II bridge system which has string to string isolation which allows each string to vibrate without affecting other strings as with a standard bridge. This bass is a lot of fun to play, great to look at, and even harder to sit back down once you pick it up.

Check out the Ibanez BTB685SC 5 String Bass at an Ibanez retailer near you!