I've owned my Ibanez SR500 for several months and play it weekly in a contemporary-style church service.

The pros: It's light and comfortable to play. I'm a small dude who's used to playing guitar, so the light body and fast neck are perfect for me. I love the versatility of the active preamp - seriously, the range of usable tones is huge. The hardware all feels very solid, and the knobs are extremely smooth and quiet. It stays in tune very well, and there's no string buzz anywhere on the neck. As for aesthetics, it looks a bit darker than the picture above - absolutely gorgeous!

Cons: I've heard from several sources that the finish wears off and chips easily. They're probably right, so I've been careful with mine and it still looks brand new. The bridge has already gotten a bit worn (splotchy-looking) but it's only noticeable from close-up and doesn't affect the sound or playability. I have no complaints about this bass.

Here's what I love: The finish is awesome, the oil stained mahogany is gorgeous. Love the Bartolini pickups. The 3-band EQ rules. I cannot say enough good things about the electronics on this bass. They really did it right. And the knobs/pots are quiet. Love the feel of the neck, the access all the way up to the 24th fret. I love the playability. Real fast neck, with a non-sticky finish on the back of it. You'll be flying up and down this neck. The inlays are a nice touch with the oval abalone. The bridge is real nice looking, and adjustments are super easy. Overall awesome.

What I don't like, which is not much, but to be fair...

I wish the volume and blend knobs were further down the body away from the strings. You can't freely pick closer to the bridge because it gets tight with those knobs there. Also, though I love the pickups, the size of them, and the spacing sort of crowd the areas, sometimes forcing you to pick where you wouldn't normally, depending on the size of your hand. In a nutshell the knobs and pickup spacing can leave you cramped at times depending on your picking style and hand size. For me, it's a little confining.

The connector for the 9v battery is really really short. It was sort of tough for me to get a new battery plugged in. I had to sort of pull gently to get the connector out enough to snap the connector on to the battery. My hands are on the small side too, so it's not a case of me having big hands.

Overall, this bass is great. I love the bartolini EQ and pickups. The tonal variety is massive, this bass growls. Other reviewers have said that this is strictly a rock/metal bass, but I disagree. You can get terrific mellow jazz and punchy slap tones out of this bass alongside the aggressive ones. The hardware is terrific quality, and keeps the bass in tune for weeks. My only gripes are about the finish of the body and hardware. The black hardware finish wears off and discolours after a while. I've had this bass for about 2 years now, and the finish has nearly completely worn off from the control knobs and bridge. It's not a major problem, just simply cosmetic. The finish on the body is beautiful, but extremely soft and fragile. You can dent it with your fingernail. Be wary if you ever drop the bass, it will dent and chip easily. I had to install a custom pick guard to protect the finish from slapping and popping (the top coat was completely gone under the d and g strings). Other than cosmetic issues, this bass is awesome. I would reccomend it to anyone who would handle it with the care it deserves.

I got this bass for my birthday about a week ago, and there is just about nothing negative I can say about it. Beautiful finish (the pictures don't even do it justice), superb sound, the Bartolini pickups and preamp are amazing...my previous bass was an old Epiphone EB-0 (SG bass), and this Ibanez just blew it out of the water. The long scale was much easier to adjust to than I expected. I played a good of basses in the store, including an American Standard P bass, and other high end basses, and I completely preferred the feel of this one. Buy it!

i got this bass for my birthday(my parents rock) i was looking at a cheeper one but my dad wanted quality and let me tell you quality is what i got. i ordered it on regular shipping and got it in 2 days (order friday night got monday afternoon)it came almost in tune but no problem other wise. plays great right out of the box.