Ibanez AGB200 Bass Black Flat

Plays like butter. I have the action set medium-low, and it's strung with flats. Love the flatter fretboard. Neck is fast and almost slick. Neck pickup is fat and full. Bridge pickup is hot and gainy. I don't like the plastic tuners and will likely swap them. I was thinking about getting an acoustic bass, and decided on this instead. Very very pleased with that decision.

I had to return this because of numerous high frets up and down the fretboard. A lot of notes were unplayable due to fret buzz. If it was just one or two high frets I would have filed them down, but there were quite a few -- more of a project than I felt I should have to do, on a brand new bass. Physically it was pretty comfortable and a convenient size for me.

Fit and finish was good. I didn't care for the plastic wings on the tuners or the volume and tone controls. It had a lot of fret buzz and I had to raise the bridge significantly to get rid of it. Neck seemed straight. I didn't try to fine tune it because I just couldn't fall in love with it. The front is very bland, no real grain. The banding in the F holes is about the same color so no character there either. The sides and back are georgeous. It had a broad tonal range, but I couldn't get the warm low tones I get out of my Fender Mustang, which has flatwounds. I swaped the E and A flatwounds off an Epi EB 0 and tried it. That brought it closer to what I was looking for, but still not like the Fender. I also heard a very very slight buzzing that was not fret buzz that I could not locate, perhaps something loose inside The AGB 200 was a little larger than what I was expecting and the neck projects out farther than the Mustang or EB 0. Played unpluged, it was not as audible as I was hoping. These are not knocks on the instrument, it just wasn't what I was hoping for. I couldn't talk myself into keeping it when it couldn't produce the lows I get with the Mustang, but it did sound good and although the fretboard is wider and farther out, I found it easy to play. If I didn't have the Mustang, I would have kept it. I would recommend this to someone who is looking for a semi-hollow sound.

Great bass! The finish is gorgeous and the sound is there to match. Great sound! Wouldn't change a thing!

After a week I still haven't found a good setup. The setup out of the box was almost unplayable. Looked like a violin the action was so high. It's a lot better now. No string buzz anymore and the action is lower, but still much to high for my taste. I can't gig with it like this. I own another setneck bass. It's better than this one but still the same thing. I did figure out that although it's a short scale bass, short scale strings won't fit. Much to short. You have to use medium scale strings because if the 2 piece bridge. It adds a couple of inches. It's a pretty bass. Nice craftsmanship. Interesting sound. It's just doesn't play like it should. Hopefully I'll get the action figured out. If not, adios!

Often, what we like in an instrument is based upon what we've had prior experience with - its pros and cons. I used to have this bass's little brother, the AGB140. It was a beautiful brown bass with a single passive pickup and a 34" scale. It was from the mid 2000s. But I gave it up due to the lack of much tone control and the long scale length. Now the AGB200 returns with, of course, 2 pickups and a short scale (30") length. This is just the bass for me. The fit and finish are impeccable. I put some black nylon-wrapped strings on it for some old school thump. The neck is perfect on my bass - low action but no buzzing anywhere. The sound is incredible - almost an upright sound. It is fairly light and with the short scale, it is a very comfortable bass to hold and play. And, of course, it is gorgeous, very classy retro look. Ibanez does it again!