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2roadsters (2roadsters)
Posted on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 7:46 am:   

Hello everyone,
This is my first post so here's a little about me.
I played guitar for 20 years but recently switched to bass.
I'm not a big fan of Ibanez guitars but over the years, somehow the best guitars and basses in my collection have almost all been Ibanez...
I started playing bass on a SR1500 custom shop which was very expensive and has fared well over the years. In the last 2 years I've been playing more and more bass and have acquired a couple of roadsters - which are by far the best bass guitars for the money IMO.... although they're really cheap if you're buying by weight at 10-12lbs / bass
My 2 roadsters:

1980 and 1982 roadsters

The 1982 (brown one) was completely passive and had the original electronics in it but that soon changed... Rumour has it that some Japanese engineer made a mistake and use twice the amount of wire on the pickups (which were dimarzio copies). The 1982 is now fitted out with custom wound 2.5kHz/coil split pickups and a new switch which is designed for series pickup operation. The Tone control operates a series/parallel switch for the J pickup. When I get round to it I'll do the same for the P.

For those that don't know, series wiring has 3 main effects on sound:
1)increased output
2) more compression
3) Reduced high frequency output due to the greater incudtance

The 1980 was an active model and someone's put in a set of EMG's before me.
Both basses have a great sound and weight.
I'm missing a truss rod cover on one of them but that's not so bad...

My first bass is in fact my newest ibanez being a soundgear custom made job (well - custom for the German market I believe) and also has some modifications wrt the electronics... It's sound is very compressed with the wenge/bubinga thin neck combination so I devised a circuit that provides separate volume controls for each pickup in series and in parallel. The pickups have been replaced for a set of seymour duncan quarter-pounders which really make it a rock bass.

Well I hope my roadsters tickle your fancy - anyone's welcome to try them... I'm in Cologne, Germany...

Thanks for reading.

cb
Johns (Johns)
Posted on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 1:49 pm:   

CB:

Thanks for sharing your basses with us! The brown one looks like an RS824BB. According to the '82 catalog specs it's laminated mahogany. I never saw a swirl grained mahogany.
2roadsters (2roadsters)
Posted on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 6:14 pm:   

Laminated Mahog????
Wow That's a nice surprise.
It's not a swirl grain wood texture but a swirl paint job.
Have you by any chance got a scan of that catalogue page? I'd love to have a copy.
cb
Johns (Johns)
Posted on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 11:03 pm:   

CB:

Ahhh, I thought that was some wild looking grain.

Thanks to CraigC you can see a scan of the catalog. Look for a message from CraigC at the end of this thread: Miscellaneous: Catalog Scans. Click on the link.
2roadsters (2roadsters)
Posted on Wednesday, April 21, 2004 - 5:23 am:   

Thanks John,
the other one looks like the RS924 TR - solid ash.
Mine has a "quadra-lock system" or had one at least. Is there any catalogue scan of that system anywhere? I suspect mine's been doctored but have no idea where to look for photos of it.
cb
2roadsters (2roadsters)
Posted on Friday, May 07, 2004 - 2:23 pm:   

Some more photos of my Ibanez collection
passive portrait
passive body
active portrait
active body
Soundgear portrait
Soundgear Body

Thanks for looking.
cb
Acetan (Acetan)
Posted on Saturday, May 08, 2004 - 1:56 am:   

I played a couple of late 60's p-basses and a mid 70's p until I tried an 81 Ibanez 924. It was the best playing bass I've ever tried. I have since picked up an 85 924 and it is just as nice. You really should try one.

924

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